The mature coming out gay film
Beginners, starring Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor,
will open the 54th annual San Francisco International Film
Festival on April 21 at the Castro Theatre.
Mike Mills, the film's writer-director,
and Plummer will appear at the screening.
Beginners is partially based on
Mills' own true-life experience with his father.
In the film, Oliver (played by
McGregor) tells the story of his father, Hal (Plummer), trying to
catch up on lost time after coming out gay at the age of 75. Hal
begins to openly embrace his sexuality by socializing with other gay
men and dating a man about the same age as his son (Goran Visnjic).
Hal is also attempting to reconnect
with his son after being told he's terminally ill. (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Focus Features, the company that brought
us Milk and The Kids Are All Right, acquired Beginners
at its premiere last year at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The
company recently acquired worldwide distribution rights to the
lesbian teen drama Pariah, which premiered in January at
the Sundance Film Festival.
Beginners opens nationwide in
June.