The 20th Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival takes place at Nu Metro Hyde Park in Johannesburg and at both Nu Metro and Cinema Nouveau at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town from 18 to 27 October.
The programme will feature 10 international films and three South African shorts, along with workshops, guest performances and seminars.
The South African programme features Durban International Film Festival winner The Brave Unseen. Directed by Duan Myburgh, the short film is about two woman’s battle against a homophobic rapist and the love affair that is tested along the way.
Somagwaza, directed by Oko Macanda, examines common cultural taboos that surface between two young men, as they prepare for their traditional initiation and circumcision ritual in the Eastern Cape.
South African comedian Alan Committie stars in the short film White Lies, directed by Benedicte Roumega, in which he runs a successful hair salon in Cape Town.
Blue is the Warmest Colour, has its South African premiere at the festival and is a passionate and controversial love story about two lesbian women and their 10-year relationship. The French film won the Cannes Palme d’Or earlier this year.
Festival guest, Louis(e) de Ville will perform live burlesque in both cities with screenings of Louis(e) de Ville, Portrait of a Bad Girl. This French film tells the story of a small-town woman from Kentucky who transforms herself into a Parisian stripper.
Director Patrick Shuckmann’s film, Lose your Head, is based on a true story about a young Spanish tourist who finds himself in a dangerous situation when he is captured from Berlin’s gay underworld. Schuckmann will present screenwriting seminars in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
A policeman’s life unravels when he falls in love with a male colleague in the German film, Free Fall and two couples test the boundaries of monogamy in the romantic drama, The Happy Sad.
The gay underworld of Los Angeles is brought to light in the humorous action thriller Hot Guys with Guns while the documentary In their Room: London reveals a behind-closed-doors look at different gay men across London.
Israeli film, Out in the Dark, exposes the complexities, politics and difficult choices that come with being in a gay Israeli-Palestinian relationship.
Bookings will open on Monday 30 September and tickets are available through www.numetro.co.za; www.cinemanouveau.co.za or Ticketline on 082 16789.
For more information visit: www.oia.co.za.
