Thursday October 25, 9PM
National Archives Auditorium
Ticket includes VIP reception at 8PM

Shelter
Jonah Markowitz, USA, 90 minutes

A year out of high school, Zach is stuck in San Pedro, California working as a fry cook, skateboarding and stenciling guerrilla artwork on abandoned buildings. His bedroom is his oasis - he draws on the walls, in his notebook, in sketches piled up on the floor. But he's squashed his dream of attending Cal Arts in order to help his sister, Jeannie, raise her five-year-old son. Enter Shaun, the gay older brother of Zach's best friend and a writer taking a break from Hollywood to recover from a bad relationship. Zach and Shaun start hanging out, surfing and drinking too much beer, much to Jeannie's concern. "You're not a fag," she tells Zach. Wishful thinking! It isn't long before Zach and Shaun are falling asleep in each other's arms. Zach's slow awakening to desire is at the heart of this gritty, romantic debut from talented writer/director Jonah Markowitz. A sensitive performance by handsome newcomer Trevor Wright anchors the classic story of a young man forced by responsibility to grow up fast -with strong support from Tina Holmes ("Six Feet Under") and Brad Rowe (Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss). With a pitch-perfect emo soundtrack and plenty of guys in wetsuits riding waves under gorgeous sunsets, Shelter is a sensory treat.

The first film from a new independent production initiative at here! Networks, Shelter proves that the premium cable network is definitely hitting its stride and fulfilling its commitment to bringing authentic stories to the LGBT community.

www.heretv.com

Preceded by:

Black Men and Me
Michèle Clarke, Canada, 6 minutes

A woman explores her position as a Trinidadian dyke and her complex relationship with black men.

Best Female Short, Inside Out 2007.
Filmmaker in attendance.

Friday October 26, 7PM
National Archives Auditorium

Nina's Heavenly Delights
Pratibha Parmar, UK, 94 minutes

Set against a culinary backdrop, this mouthwatering comedy by noted queer director Pratibha Parmar centres on Nina Shah (Shelley Conn), a feisty young Indo-Scottish woman who returns home to Glasgow after her father's sudden death to run the family-owned Indian restaurant, The New Taj. Her return stirs up some spicy surprises: her father's gambling debts, a bitter ex-fiancé , a childhood friend turned Bollywood drag queen and confusing romantic feelings for her new business partner Lisa (Laura Fraser), a charismatic young woman to whom Nina's father lost half of the restaurant. The secret Nina's father was hiding turns out to be that The New Taj has been selected for 'The Best of the West' curry cooking competition, a highly coveted prize in the world of Indian cuisine. In the turbulent days that follow, Nina, with help from Lisa, embarks on a personal mission to win the trophy in tribute to her father. But when things between her and Lisa start to heat up, family secrets unravel and Nina must face her feelings if she is to win both the competition and the girl. Her father always told her, 'No matter what the recipe says, always follow your heart.' But will Nina decide to put love on the back burner or will she have the courage to dish it out? Nina's Heavenly Delights is a heartwarming love story where Scottish humour meets Bollywood spectacle! It is a romantic feast, flavoured with the spices of life, love and happiness.

www.heretv.com

Preceded by:
Private Life
Abbé Robinson, UK, 15 minutes

In 1952 England, Ruth leaves the monotony of her work at a textile mill and secretly takes the train to Manchester, where a secret rendez-vous reveals that nothing is quite what it seems.

Friday October 26, 9:30PM
National Archives Auditorium

Poltergay
Éric Lavaine, France, 93 minutes

Introduce Saturday Night Fever to La Cage Aux Folles and have them pick up Poltergeist for a three-way and the resulting menage-a-trois would be this glittering, high-camp spoof that could only come from France. Marc (Clovis Cornillac) and Emma (Julie Depardieu) are the proud new owners of a mansion abandoned for almost 30 years. Unaware of the basement's history as an underground gay disco, the couple are in for a few treats. Back in 1979, during the disco's heyday, a foam machine malfunctioned, causing a huge fire that destroyed the bar and claimed the lives of five flaming disco dollies.

Today, the house is haunted by the ghosts of the mischievous queens who are caught in a disco purgatory. Marc sees the ghosts while Emma does not, prompting everyone to think that Marc is not seeing phantasmagoric apparitions, but rather fantasising about members of the male sex. This quickly prompts Emma's departure and leaves Marc desperate and alone in the mansion. Touched by Marc's situation, the ghosts band together in the spirit of the 1970s and do all in their power to help him win Emma back.

With an impressive disco soundtrack, cutting-edge special effects and a cast of hilarious troublemakers, Poltergay is the perfect date movie for Halloween weekend.

www.poltergay-lefilm.com

Preceded by:

The Saddest Boy in the World
Jamie Travis, Canada, 14 minutes

Timothy Higgins is the saddest boy in the world: he always gets picked last for the team and his only true friend was deported. So when his oblivious mother prepares an over-the-top party for his ninth birthday, complete with cake and musical chairs, Timothy plans a show-stopping suicide.

Winner of Best Male Short, Inside Out 2007.

Saturday October 27, 5PM
National Archives Auditorium

Small Town Gay Bar
Malcolm Ingram, Canada/USA, 81 minutes

In a country where our right to smoke a joint while we marry our same-sex partner is ingrained in law, we forget that people in some of the developing world don't have the same rights and freedoms. Welcome to Deliverance-country, USA.

Malcolm Ingram's compelling Small Town Gay Bar reveals that, not surprisingly, in the rural Deep South, life as an openly queer person doesn't appear to be a barrel of laughs. In fact, if you're anything other than a god-fearing, beer-swilling redneck, you're likely to be in for a tough time. The documentary focuses on two isolated gay bars in Mississippi: Rumors, in Shannon (pop. 1,657), and the wild, anything-goes Crossroads in the woods outside Meridian (pop. 39,968), which shuttered two years ago and was replaced by the tamer Different Seasons. Jim Bishop (tart-tongued drag queen Alicia Stone) is the glamorous show director at Rumors by night and a veterinarian's receptionist by day. His partner Geoff is the DJ at the club. In Meridian, Lori and her lover Ruby purchase the dilapidated and abandoned Crossroads and convert it into the popular bar Different Seasons.

The film is a moving portrait of the men and women fighting to create and maintain community for themselves in the face of great opposition, hypocrisy and prejudice. Small Town Gay Bar was produced by Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy and Clerks) and features a soundtrack that includes local music icons The Hidden Cameras. By turns funny, shocking and uplifting, the documentary is ultimately a life-affirming experience that celebrates the real-life heroes who choose to stand defiant and stay put in their hometowns.

Best Documentary, Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary, Outfest Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nomination, Sundance Film Festival.

Filmmaker in attendance.

Preceded by:

Smalltown Boy
Moby Longinotto, UK, 13 minutes

Fey and fierce, 15-year-old David has never felt at home in the rural English village where he lives - he's been bullied at school and even thrown out of foster care. This uplifting mini-doc follows David as he makes one of the bravest coming out statements of all time: he's been crowned queen of the annual summer carnival and is about to be paraded through his small-minded village in a floor-length lilac dress.

Saturday October 27, 9PM
National Archives Auditorium

Curiosity of Chance
Russell P. Marleau, USA, 99 minutes

Proving that Molly Ringwald isn't the only one who looks pretty in pink, The Curiosity of Chance pays homage to the classic John Hughes films of the 1980s with the story of a social outcast looking for his chance to fit in. Chance Marquis is a military brat and sophomore about to start at his fourth new school in four years. On his first day at Brickland International High School, located 'somewhere in Europe,' Chance struts in sporting a top hat and tails. Needless to say, his unique fashion style doesn't win him many friends, at least not the popular ones. Eccentric, alienated and openly gay, he is a teenager marked for harassment.

Before first period has even begun, football stud Brad is already jamming Chance's head into a locker. As Chance struggles to find his place among the jocks, misfits and breeders, he forms his own brat pack to fight back against the bullying that threatens his peaceful high school existence. He recruits a bizarre circle of friends including fellow outcasts Hank and Twyla, his hunky next-door neighbour, Levi (Brett Chukerman), and a local drag queen who helps him find his inner diva.

Together, there is nothing that can stop this motley crew of social outcasts as they help Chance navigate the tumultuous waters of high school. In his feature debut, director Marleau transports us back to the big hair and the even bigger shoulder pads of the 1980s. The film simmers with teen angst while gently poking fun at the decade of excess. In the end, The Curiosity of Chance proves that sometimes the only way to fit in is to stand out.

Jury Award for Best New Director, Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

www.thecuriosityofchance.com

Preceded by:

Marco Solo
Adrian Bosich, Australia, 9 minutes

Accidentally born into an overcrowded Australian Italian household, Marco was forced to share a bedroom with his parents. Now, at the age of nine, armed with a vivid imagination, an obsession with Dame Edna and a warped sense of Catholicism, Marco is fighting for a space of his own.

Sunday October 28, 2PM
National Archives Auditorium

Red Without Blue
Brooke Sebold, Benita Sills and Todd Sills, USA, 74 minutes

In 1983, Mark and Alex Farley were born minutes apart in the Big Sky country of Missoula, Montana. The twins' early lives were quintessential by-products of their all-American family: picture perfect holidays, a second home by the lake and supportive parents who cheered them on every step of the way. However, by the time the twins were 14, the perfect façade of their life was shattered: their parents divorced, they came out as gay, and a joint suicide attempt precipitated the forced separation of Mark and Alex for two and half years. Shot over a three-year period, Red Without Blue follows the lives of each sibling as they awkwardly enter adulthood and migrate towards opposite coasts. Today, Mark is attending art school in San Francisco, and Alex is now Clair, a trans woman living in New York City while considering gender reassignment surgery. While Mark and Clair have grown apart physically, geographically and emotionally, the bond that anchored them together as identical twins still exists. While the once comforting similarities strain their relationship to a tenuous uncertainty, each one sees reflected in the other what they like and dislike in themselves. The film explores the singular bond that the twins shared as children; the dark periods of drug use and sexual abuse; and their evolving perspective on each other now that the identical twins are no longer identical. Red Without Blue is a compelling document, portraying the unwavering bond of twinship through times of transformation.

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, Inside Out 2007 and Slamdance Film Festival 2007.

www.redwithoutblue.com

Invulnerable
Alvaro Pastor, Spain, 25 minutes

Elias, a young high school teacher, discovers he is HIV positive just as he is starting a relationship with his co-worker, Pedro. Fearing rejection, Elias struggles with whether or not to tell his lover about his status.

Spanish with English Subtitles

Sunday October 28 at 5PM
National Archives Auditorium

Chinese Botanist's Daughters
Sijie Dai, Canada/France, 98 minutes

In this sumptuous and groundbreaking romantic epic, forbidden love blossoms on a lush jungle island in modern China. It's a place of haunting beauty and centuries-old customs, at once a liberating Eden and a repressive backwater. Li-Ming (played by the stunning Mylene Jampan) is an orphan, sent to intern with a renowned medicinal botanist, who has cultivated his jungle acres into a vast greenhouse pharmacy. But while Li-Ming disappoints her unforgiving teacher time and time again, she forms an instant bond with his shy daughter, An (Chinese TV star Li Xiaoran). On her own side of the island, An exposes Li-Ming to the secret world of roots, plants, tinctures and potions, and opens her up to her own lost and lonely soul along the way. Li-Ming is captivated, and the affair that ensues is at once giddily innocent and electrically erotic. This romantic idyll is threatened, however, when An's macho military brother (Wang Weidon) comes swaggering back home. With tender lyricism, director Dai captures the emotion of this taboo love affair with precious few words and a treasure trove of intoxicating images: an illicit sexual rendezvous on a mossy jungle bridge; a nude encounter in a steam bath of hallucinatory herbs. Similarly, the two lead actresses lay bare the women's growing love through quiet gestures, shared secret looks and charged physical touch. But what's truly revolutionary is the film's unflinching depiction of modern China's enduring patriarchal and homophobic repression. In this world, the gravest threat comes from two kindred spirits who simply dare to love.

Entertainment Partners Award for Best Canadian Feature, Inside Out 2007. Program note courtesy of the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

www.lesfillesdubotaniste.com

Preceded by:

If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now
Tamar Glezerman, Israel, 10 minutes

Noa just wants Shira out of the house. The afterglow of the break-up lasts a little longer than either expected.

Hebrew with English Subtitles

Sunday October 28, 8PM
Centre de production Daimon

Québec New Wave / Nouvelle Vague

In this special program, we present the new wave of Québecois filmmakers. Featuring acclaimed director Joe Balass and relative newcomers Sébastien Gauthier, Jim Verburg and Pascal Robitaille (director of Canada's first Dogme95 film), this screening has enough cinematic chops to satisfy the most discerning festival-goer.

Derniers mots (Parting Words)
Joe Balass, Canada, 8 minutes

Anwar is accompanied by his friends, Marc and Paula, in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Anwar is near death but to the surprise of his friends, the good looks of a paramedic provide a distraction from his critical situation. Things get out of hand, and as they arrive at the hospital, everyone is abruptly reminded that this may be their last goodbye.

French with English Subtitles

Dogme 41: Lonely Child
Pascal Robitaille, Canada, 50 minutes

William is constantly shooting video journals of his life to have as souvenirs for himself. Feeling the end of his relationship with Médéric, his young lover, William spends two days camping with him, taking advantage of the situation by filming the trip and their time spent with another young gay couple. The camera never stops shooting, even when Médéric decides to get it on with another guy in a tent. As Canada's first Dogme95 film, the story is shot on location, with natural lighting and live sound, the camera is handheld and all superficial elements are forbidden. Yet somehow, in spite of these harsh restrictions during the filmmaking process, the result is warm and beautiful.

French with English Subtitles

Vaguely Romantic (Vaguement Romantique)
Sébastien Gauthier, Canada, 20 minutes

Best friends and roommates, Alexandre and Agathe share everything. But after a birthday celebration of alcohol and drugs, they might end up sharing too much.

English and French with English Subtitles

For a Relationship
Jim Verburg, Canada, 4 minutes

In this visually daring work, Jim Verburg sorts through 2 years of photographs to make sense of the relationships in his life. Sexual, romantic and familial ties blend together in this intimate reflection on the artist¹s relationship with his practice, his lovers and his closeted father.