One of the main reasons that London’s GFest is always one of queerguru’s favorite Festivals is that they constantly surprise and delight with the eclectic mix that they curate for this event every single year. Now in it’s Ninth Edition, GFEST (Gaywise FESTival®) produced by arts charity Wise Thoughts , combines all queer art disciplines for the LGBTQI community, and at the same time they profile human rights issues and make a creative case for ‘Equality in all walks of life.’
The festival with this year’s theme OUT (in the Margins) showcases film screenings, art exhibition and performance works by LGBTQI artists and debates, but as regular queerguru readers will know that it is film that we are most passionate about, so here then are our Top Picks Of GFest Films that we think you should so not miss.
Brothers Of The Night : Austrian filmmaker Patric Chiha’s new movie is a gritty fascinating documentary about a small group of young Bulgarian Roma men who flock to Vienna in search of a better life It comes at a very heavy price though as ‘sex for money’ plays a major role in economic migration in Europe where poor countries sit shoulder to shoulder with their wealthier neighbors, and it is inevitable that kids like these will get exploited.
Jonathan : The movie is the debut feature from Polish-German writer/director Piotr J. Lewandowski and he has made this intriguing family saga, that is both a coming of age and a coming out drama, a real visual treat. There is both the very beautiful country setting, and also the fact that from the moment he meets Anka, Jonathan just simply cannot keep his clothes on at all! However the real twist in this drama is that it reverses the more traditional intergenerational conflict in one of the major secrets that is eventually revealed and is totally unexpected.
Gender Troubles: The Butches : this intriguing documentary from first time filmmaker Lisa Plourde comes at perfect time as the queer community are increasingly more aware about how different groups and individuals chose to be identified, and with this comes a greater understanding of what this means to them/us. Butch lesbians have far too often been portrayed as one of the most cliched of all stereotypes, which now seems so removed from reality. Plourde’s excellent interviews with a whole variety of articulate butch women gives one very strong message that they just want to be just one thing : themselves.
Kudos to GFest and its artistic director Niranjan Kamatkar for showcasing some many great LGBTQI short films too, and we spent a glorious afternoon previewing them all, and here are our favorites from one of the most diverse selections we have watched for a long time.
Dawn: In his 4th short movie the multi-talented British trans-filmmaker Jake Graf once again plays with our expectations in this delightful wee drama that he fills with surprises. When two rather lonely total strangers meet at an isolated bus-stop in the dark hours of early morning and strike up a conversation, they both gently reveal their unhappiness over which they neither have control.
If I Met A Magician : is a beautifully sad tale from Israeli first time director Shaked Goren about Omri a reservist soldiern who gets released on the National Memorial Day, to attend his uncle’s memorial service. However for once he stops doing what is expected on him and he wanders off in the Tel-Aviv night, even though he has no idea what he wants.
The Mermaid And The Whale written and directed by Aurélien Jégou is one of those gloriously silly tales we need to watch when we are in danger of taking ourselves too seriously. Adrian, a young Chilean gay guy living in Taipei, falls in love with West, but West is not interested in anything other than a one night stand. Adam’s friend Aja tells him that when she wants to trap a man she just says she is pregnant, so he now does the same with funny (and cute) consequences.
GFest runs Monday the 7th November to Saturday the 19th November 2016 : venues, tickets, information : http://www.gaywisefestival.org.uk/
