After 12 days of screening 120 queer
films, and the mountains of popcorn that accompany such an event, the
votes have been counted at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the
winners announced.
Director Jonah Markowit'z Shelter
won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. This is
Shelter's 3rd top prize, winning Audience Awards in
both Seattle and Tampa Gay & Lesbian Film Festivals.
Finding oneself and coming out issues
are explored in the film. Zach is in a dead-end fry cook job when he
meets Shaun. Despite being warned that Shaun is gay, Zach pursues a
friendship. The pair bond while surfing the waves of Southern
California and soon Zach starts to realize who he really is.
Shelter is set for a May 27th
DVD release.
Director Peyman Khosravi risked it all
when he fled to Canada from Iran to finish his controversial
documentary I Know That I Am. The film brings to light human
rights abuses suffered by transgender women at the hands of Iranian
officials. According to Iranian law sexual “deviancy” is
punishable by hanging.
What happens in the final hours before
you say goodbye to someone you truly love? Director Sophie Hyde asks
that question in her short film My Last Ten Hours With You.
Hyde manages to capture moments of intimacy, anger, and pain as two
men find themselves at the final moments of their affair. The short
won the Audience Choice Award for Best Australian Short Film.
Portuguese filmaker Monica Pallazo won
the Audience Choice Award for Best Short. In Pallazo's Pages Of A
Girl (Paginas De Menina) Ingrid applies for a job at a
bookstore in 1955 Portugal where she meets Sylvia. Ingrid's life
opens new options as the women's intellectual friendship becomes
emotional.
The science of love in a modern world
sets the theme for Director Emily Brindal's Love Is Blue. The
short won the Selector's Choice Award for Best Film in Celluloid
Casserole. Angus signs up for a scientific study that promises to
find him love. He begins to see love all around him, but things do
not turn out quite as promised.
The Melbourne Queer Film Festival is
the largest queer film festival in Australian, screening over 120
films in 2008.
Gay Entertainment Report is a feature
of On Top Magazine and can be reached at ontopmag@ontopmag.com