French director Christophe Honore's Man
at Bath starring gay porn star Francois Sagat and The Kids Are
All Right will open the Hong
Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on Friday.
Man at Bath premiered in August
at Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival, a showcase for arthouse
films.
Sagat, who can be seen under the same
name in numerous Titan Media titles, plays Emmanuel, a gay hustler
living with his lover Omar (played by Omar Ben Sellem) outside Paris.
After the pair quarrel, Emmanuel is
left brokenhearted to fend for himself as Omar makes his way to
Manhattan. Even as Emmanuel is busy turning his best asset (his hot
ass) into cash, he resentfully pines away for his lover.
Honore told French
gay website Yagg.com that he was interested in Sagat because he
“redefines the notion of masculinity.” (The film's trailer is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Festival-goers will also have an
opportunity to view Sagat's portrayal of a schizophrenic gay zombie
in director Bruce LaBruce's controversial film L.A. Zombie.
Police
last week in Australia raided the home of a filmmaker who screened
the film.
The lesbian moms flick The Kids Are
All Right stars Academy Award nominees Julianne Moore and Annette
Bening. The couple's marriage is tested when their children seek out
their biological father, whose anonymously donated sperm impregnated
the women.
Writer-director Lisa Cholodenko, who
drew from her own experience in writing the film, said
in a behind-the-scenes promo for the film's release on DVD that she
desired a family because she wanted “something to tend to.”
Other films screening at the 13-day
festival include Howl,
starring James Franco as gay poet Allen Ginsberg, and the
romantic comedy BearCity,
which proves romance can be hairy.