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PRESS
Films Examine Queer Spirituality at Frameline’s 30th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival
San Francisco, CA—Frameline, the world’s premier showcase for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cinema, proudly announces Frameline30, the 30th anniversary of its annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. This year’s Festival runs June 15-25 at the historic Castro Theatre, CinéArts @ Empire, Roxie Film Center and the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, as well as at Oakland’s Parkway Theater. Highlights at this year’s Festival include several films that examine the intersection of religion, faith and identity in the LGBT community.
Five feature documentaries and one short investigate the challenges of spiritual expression and religious faith in the lives of persons in the LGBT community. These films explore the opportunities, tragedies and personal triumphs experienced by those living in two worlds that are historically and currently at odds with one another. A recurrent theme in many of the films is that the two seemingly disparate worlds of religious faith and the LGBT community are not necessarily or inherently mutually exclusive.
Todd Hollands’ The Believers, recipient of a 2005 Frameline Film & Video Completion Fund, chronicles the history of the world’s first transgender gospel choir. The film documents the choir’s tentative beginnings to its present day status of an award-winning choir. The film weaves together intimate stories of choir members as an examination of the personal crossroads of culture, identity, and spiritual expression. Kirk Marcolina and Larry Grimadis’ Camp Out tells the story of the first ever overnight Gay Bible Camp for young gay Christian or questioning Christians. The film follows a group of LGBT Christian teenagers as they embark on a week-long camp-out. During the course of their time together, they frankly discuss everything from Christian faith to romantic longing and their dreams and aspirations for the future. In Luane Becks’ God and GAYS: Bridging the Gap, gay and lesbian persons speak to the struggle to reconcile and integrate Christian faith and being LGBT. In the moving film, The Saint of 9/11, Glenn Holsten pays tribute to the persevering spiritual and social dedication of Father Mychal Judge, an openly gay Franciscan priest, a tireless advocate for the dignity of people living with HIV and AIDS and the fire chaplain for the NYFD. He was also one of the first recorded casualties of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Two films speak to the experience of LGBT persons of the Islamic faith and culture. Claudia Laszczak and Kay Wishoths’ Half A Life, examines the private and public lives of five LGBT people living in Turkey and the pressures they face in a Muslim Country. Gregory Greenes’ short film Suhail’s Jihad tells the story of a man, who emigrates from Jordan to Canada seeking political and social refuge but encounters severe racism in the aftermath of 9/11. Suhail finds a spiritual home when he becomes a member of Salaam, a queer group that dedicates itself to progressive Islamic faith.
Frameline30: the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, screening June 15–25 at the Castro Theatre (429 Castro Street), CinéArts@Empire (85 West Portal Avenue), Roxie Film Center (3117 16th Street), Victoria Theatre (2961 16th Street) in San Francisco and the Parkway Theater (1834 Park Blvd.) in Oakland.
Advance tickets will be available at the Festival Ticket Outlet located at 474 Castro Street in San Francisco. The Ticket Outlet will be open for Frameline Members only from May 26th through June 1st. General public ticket sales begin on June 2nd. Tickets may also be purchased by phone (925.866.9559), fax (925.866.9597), or mail (Frameline30, P.O. Box 2229, Danville, CA 94526-7229). For more information on the Festival and how to purchase tickets call the 24-hour hotline at 925.866.9559 or visit http://www.frameline.org/festival.
The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival is presented by Frameline, a nonprofit LGBT organization whose mission is to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts.
Media contact:
Seema Arora
seema@frameline.org
415.703.8650 x323 |
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