Synopsis Q! Film Festival 2007
at CCF Salemba
6.15 From Ostkreutz - Train Station
18.15 Uhr ab Ostkreuz
Director: Joern Hartmann
Germany 2006/105 minutes/black and white
In German with English Subtitles
Karin Höhne, a retired teacher living in Berlin - Haselhorst. On her way to
meet her best friend Rosa Brathuhn (Andreja Schneider) she involuntarily
witnesses a horrible murder on a passing train. A young woman (Susanne Sachsse)
gets chopped up by an axe murderer. Sadly the police, in particular exchange
commissioner Rock Milchester (Dieter Bach), thinks that she is a slightly
senile old lady, especially because no corpse was found. So what else can she
do but to try to solve the case on her own. Rosa is quickly persuaded and off
they go...
Festivals: Berlin Film Festival, Mix Brasil Film Festival, Queer Lisboa Film
Festival
Screening Time: 28 August 19.00 CCF
A Thousand Peace Clouds Encircle the Sky, Love, You Will Never Stop Being Love
Mil Nubes De Paz Cercan El Cielo, Amor, Jamàs Acabaràs De Ser Amor
Director: Julian Hernandez
Mexico 2002/80 minutes/black and white
In Spanish with English Subtitles
17-year-old Gerardo and his friend Bruno have split up. Gerardo finds himself
wandering aimlessly about the streets of Mexico City. As he meanders, he is
tortured by images: every male body he sees rekindles memories of his lover,
who is with him once again in his imagination. However, his wet dreams do not
alleviate his suffering, nor does masturbation provide him with any kind of
relief. Even his brief, surprising sexual encounters with strangers can't help
him get over the pain of his loss.
Award: Winner Best Film Teddy Award Section Berlin Film Festival
Screening Time: 30 August 13.00 CCF
Conception, The
A Concepçao
Director: José Eduardo Belmonte
Brazil 2005/96 minutes/colour
In Portuguese with English Subtitles
Alex, Lino and Liz are sons of diplomats; they live together in Brasilia inside
an empty apartment with no parents. Their place is full of globalized trinket.
They share affectionate caresses and seem to be unaware of the world outside.
Feeling bored, they try to live each day as if it was the last one. The process
is radicalized when X, a person with no name or past, arrives to the house and
suggests taking more seriously the idea of living every day as it was the last
one. For that to happen he creates a new movement: the Conceptualism. It's
mainly based on the death to the ego, being everything in everyway, abolishing
money, among other things and following the path of excess, even if for that it
is necessary to use drugs, false documents and behave with complete immodesty.
For them the world will become a great theater and the conceptualist is someone
who makes up characters that last only 24 hours.
Awards: Best Editing and Best Music - 38o Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema
- Brazil, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Music - 3º Fiesp/Sesi Prize -
São Paulo, Brazil
Screening Time: 29 August 16.00 CCF
Locked Up
Gefangen
Director: Jörg Andreas
Germany 2004/96 minutes/colour
In German and English with English Subtitles
This fiercely erotic and often harrowing story of love behind bars was shot
almost entirely in an abandoned East German jail. New arrival Dennis, is
horrified by the harsh and abusive realities of prison life; his cell block is
dominated by a vicious gang of drug dealers who delight on abusing others,
especially the meek Lutz. Eventually Dennis finds escape in the arms of Mike,
an older black inmate. To keep their romance alive, they must fight off the
anger of other prisoners, the indifference of the prison bureaucracy, and even
a parole board.
Festival: New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Screening Time: 30 August 19.00 CCF
Madame Sata
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Brazil 2002/105 minutes/colour
In Portuguese with English Subtitles
>From a run-down boarding house in the heart of Lapa João Francisco shares his
>world with Laurita, prostitute and "wife"; Firmina, Laurita's daughter; and
>Taboo, accomplice in petty crimes and "slave". The patriarch of this chosen
>"family", João Francisco is well acquainted with the local underworld: he is
>on good terms with Amador, owner of the Blue Danube bar, where prostitution,
>drugs and police corruption run wild. His strong temper, his skills in
>capoeira-style fighting make him a feared and fascinating character. He is an
>excellent fighter, and always reacts to provocation, whether from bar
>customers or the police. One night, João Francisco meets Renatino, with whom
>he falls in love.
Awards: Best Film-Chicago International Film Festival, Best Actor-Cinema Brazil
Grand Prize
Screening Time: 29 August 13.00 CCF
Mysterious Skin
Director: Gregg Araki
USA 2004/107 minutes/colour
In English
When he was eight, Brian Lackey woke up in the crawlspace beneath his house
with his nose bleeding, having no idea how he got there. After that, his life
is different. Now 18, Brian believes that he was abducted by aliens. Neil
McCormick is the ultimate beautiful outsider, the boy everyone loves from afar
but is afraid of when they get too close. Also 18, Neil longs for the
relationship he had with his baseball coach when he was eight years old. Neil's
search for what he thinks is love leads him to New York City. Brian¹s search
for what happened to him leads him to Neil. Together they come to realize that
the events that shaped them most were not what they seemed to be.
Festivals: Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival,
Rotterdam Film Festival
Screening Time: 28 August 13.00 CCF
An Early Frost
Director: John Erman
USA 1985/100 minutes/colour
In English
Set in the mid-eighties Michael Pierson (Aidan Queen), a young gay man, is
struck with AIDS in the prime of his life. He's forced to be open about the
disease and his homosexuality for the first time with his co-workers (he's a
successful lawyer) and family. He, and the people around him, must face up to
the inevitablity of his death and the disease that's killing him. "An Early
Frost" was many people's first look at an AIDS victim as a human being instead
of a statistic.
Awards and Festivals: Emmy Award for Best Outstanding Cinematography
Screening Time: 28 August 16.00 CCF
WESTERN FLAVOUR
Films: And Everything Nice, Cowboy Forever, It's A Guy Thing, Possession, Ron &
Leo, Stray, The Day I Died, With Me
Total Running Time: 112 minutes
Screening Time: 1 September 13.00 CCF
And Everything Nice
Director: Craig Boreham and Peta Jane Lenehan
Australia 2006/7 minutes/colour
In English
The curiosity of a schoolgirl leads her to skip a day at school to observe a
classmate as she wanders through the city.
Awards/Festivals: Best Sound Design Award-Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival,
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Cowboy Forever
Director: Jean-Baptiste Erreca
France 2006/26 minutes/colour
In Portuguese with English Subtitles
Not enough of Brokeback Mountain? In the Pantanal area of Western Brazil, two
handsome cowboys, Jones and Govinda experience a true love story in the open
air. Jean-Baptiste Erreca proudly assumes this similarity. He pays a tribute
directly to Ang Lee in this documentary film.
Awards/Festivals: GLBT Film Festival Paris
It's a Guy Thing
Director: Richard Reyes
United Kingdom 2006/13 minutes/black and white
In English
Follows the story of friends - Mark, Zane and Paul for a day out on the beach.
Whilst Mark wants to preach about women, sex and relationships, Paul wants to
talk about Greco-roman wrestling and Zane is more concerned about the right
moment to reveal his secret?
'It's a Guy Thing' is an emotional journey about friendship and trust.
Possession
Director: Herve Joseph Lebrun
France 2007/24 minutes/black and white
In French with English Subtitles
A man, after spying his neighbour night and day, decides to kidnap him. Love
and pain, torture and tenderness... A death love story.
Festivals: Turin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Inside Out Film Festival-Canada
Ron & Leo
Director: Oliver Husain
Germany 1999/13 minutes/colour
In German with English subtitles
Ron and Leo are twins, lovers, a boyband and plushy toys. They go through the
phases of a popstar-crisis: Sell-Out, discontent, fighting at the press
conference, etc., shown as a musical melodrama. The computergenerated space
they inhabit is constructed from elements and textures taken from the
metrosystem of Frankfurt. Just as the narration, the space mixes private and
public, virtuality and everyday experience.
Festival: Slingshort Festival-Jakarta
Stray
Director: Craig Boreham and Dean Francis
Australia 2005/15 minutes/colour
In English
A contemporary retelling of the classic tale of the City Mouse and the Country
Mouse, Stray follows the story of Mouse, a teenager who leaves his home in the
country in search of his place in the world. Along the way he is exposed to the
seedy underbelly of the city and the people who live there including the broken
drag diva Lame` Doe Ray, who takes him under her wing.
Awards/Festivals: Melbourne Queer Film Festival
The Day I Died
El Dia Que Mori
Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Argentina, USA 2006/11 minutes/colour
In Spanish with English Subtitles
A girl, her brother and their best friend on a long, hot summer's day in
Chascomús in Argentina. A love-triangle takes its course.
Award: Best Short Film in Teddy Award Section-Berlin Film Festival
With Me
Mit Mir
Director: Kerstin Cmelka
Germany 2000/3 minutes/colour
No Dialogue
A woman is lying on a bed. Her double is stretched out next to her, and she
slowly turns to caress it, to kiss and lick it before the two cuddle up to each
other and the scene darkens. A straightforward etude. A simple setup, though
with a false bottom: The woman is played by the filmmaker, who has cloned her
ghostly actors by means of multiple exposures.
Award/Festival: Youth Jury Award-Diagonale Film Festival-Austria, Slingshort
Festival-Jakarta
Cold Shower
Douche Froide
Director: Antony Cordier
France 2005/102 minutes/colour
In French with English Subtitles
A trio of French teens experiences a love that will change their lives forever
in this erotic coming-of-age tale. Mickael's obsession with Judo often helps
him to focus his frustrations in life, but when he's alone with longtime
girlfriend, Vanessa, his guard fades, leaving a loving and easygoing boyfriend
where the aggressive martial artist used to be. Clément is the new kid in town
with a similar obsession with Judo and a pair of nouveau riche parents who
stand in stark contrast to Mickael's working class mother and father. When the
pair bond over an upcoming tournament and Clément helps Mickael to lose some
weight for the meet, Vanessa is hesitant to accept the outspoken newcomer. As
the bond between Mickael and Clément strengthens, Vanessa's increasingly
complex role in the pair's friendship leads the trio through a series of
sacrifices and emotional revelations that will result in a profoundly affecting
sexual encounter for all three conflicted teens.
Screening Time: 27 August 16.00 & 31 August 13.00 at CCF
La Cage Aux Folles
Director: Edouard Molinaro
France 1978/91 minutes/colour
In French with English Subtitles
Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the
son of one of the men announces he is getting married. They try concealing
their lifestyle and their ownership of the transvestite club downstairs when
the fiancée and her parents come for dinner.
Screening Time: 31 August 16.00 CCF
La Cage aux Folles 2
Director: Edouard Molinaro
France 1981/91 minutes/colour
In French with English Subtitles
Sequel to La Cage aux folles has homosexual nightclub owner Renato and his
transvestite companion/lover Albin becoming involved with the local cops and
foreign spies when Albin unwittingly gets his hands on a role of stolen
microfilm. The gay couple then hide out in Renato's native Italy, but find
little peace there with their frequent bickering among themselves.
Screening Time: 31 August 19.00 CCF
For more information, more films, more locations or more schedules
please log on to http://www.qfilmfestival.org
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
