SPOTLIGHT FILMS: 24 OF THE BEST 2017 MIFO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL MIAMI EDITION MOVIES
Photos provided by MiFo LGBT Film Festival
A CHANGE OF HEART
(U.S., 2017)
Director: Kenny Ortega
Cast: Jim Belushi, Virginia Madsen, Aimee Teegarden, Gloria Estefan
Frustrated with his life, Hank (Jim Belushi) is man whose circumstances have driven him to fear diversity, yet his Central Florida town is adhering less and less to the white, straight profile with which he's comfortable. After suffering a heart attack, Hank's life is saved by a transplant… from a Puerto Rican drag queen? Playing on both the literal and symbolic significance of that most treasured of organs, A Change of Heart reminds us that even the most hardened among us can learn to embrace difference, accept love, and move on with life.
APRICOT GROVES
(Armenia, 2016)
Director: Pouria Heidary Oureh
Cast: Hovhannes Azoyan, Narbe Vartan, Samvel Sarkisyan
Aram, an Iranian-Armenian trans man living in the U.S. since childhood, returns to Armenia to meet his girlfriend's conservative family. Over the course of the day-long journey, Aram's brother helps him prepare for the meeting, while also coming to terms with his transition. Aram sees many cultural, religious, and national differences on the one-day trip, but harder obstacles are ahead. Apricot Groves is a quiet and introspective film which beautifully illustrates the bittersweet notion of reconnecting with a culture that may not be accepting of who you've become.
B&B
(UK, 2017)
Director: Joe Ahearne
Cast: Sean Teale, Paul McGann, Tom Bateman
Handsome gay Londoners Marc and Fred plan a weekend of mischief, returning to bait the owner of a remote B&B who they successfully sued a year prior for not allowing them to share a bed. Events take a deadly turn when another guest, with far more sinister intentions, arrives. Marc and Fred's weekend of fun turns into a suspenseful battle for survival in this smart, comedic dark thriller. B&B will keep you guessing 'til the end.
BOYS IN THE TREES
(Australia, 2016)
Director: Nicholas Verso
Cast: Toby Wallace, Gulliver McGrath, Mitzi Ruhlmann
It's Halloween 1997 – the last night of high school for Corey, Jango and the rest of their skater gang. When Corey encounters Jonah, a former childhood friend now victimized by Jango's cruel streak, Corey takes pity on him and agrees to walk him home for old time's sake. What starts off as a normal walk through empty suburban streets descends into something darker and magical. On the night of the grave's delight, even the most buried truths will surface.
CENTER OF MY WORLD
(Germany/Austria, 2016)
Director: Jakob M. Erwa
Cast: Inka Friedrich, Sascha Alexander Gersak, Thomas Goritzki
After a summer spent with his best friend Kat to escape his family, Phil goes back to school and starts to question his feelings towards Nicholas, a new classmate.
HANDSOME DEVIL
(Ireland, 2016)
Director: John Butler
Cast: Fionn O'Shea, Nicholas Galitzine, Andrew Scott
This hilarious coming-of-age comedy follows Ned, a willowy, rebellious music-loving outcast forced to share a room with mysterious star athlete Conor, after being sent away to a rugby-obsessed all-boys boarding school. Opposites in almost every way, the pair form an unlikely bond over the course of the school year as they navigate the trials and tribulations of being teenage misfits. When a new English teacher arrives at the school, the oddball friends finally begin to see a way to have their voices heard.
KEPT BOY
(U.S., 2017)
Director: George Bamber
Cast: Jon Paul Phillips, Thure Riefenstein, Greg Audino
Interior designer/reality show star Farleigh Knock has a knack for keeping beautiful things around his home – like Dennis. So when Fairleigh gives him the unthinkable ultimatum for his 30th birthday to get a job or get out, Dennis goes from kept boy to lost man. Based on a novel by Robert Rodi who specializes in gay satires on queer archetypes, George Bamber directs this dark gay comedy that shows life with a sugar daddy is bittersweet and poses the question, what is love and what is the price to keep it?
LIKE FOAM
(Spain, 2017)
Director: Roberto Perez Toledo
Cast: Sara Sálamo, Diego Martínez, Daniel Muriel
An emotional journey of lost human beings trying to find themselves takes place in what could be considered a fairly strange place – an orgy in a Spanish mansion. A message circulates from mobile phone to mobile phone and it is started! All at once, a diverse range of strangers get together, searching for sex, and in doing so they expose their funny, sexy and profound sides. Like Foam shows that things are not always what they seem and never has an orgy been so funny and full of love.
POLITICAL ANIMALS
(U.S., 2016)
Directors: Jonah Markowitz and Tracy Wares
Cast: Jackie Goldberg, Christine Kehoe, Sheila Kuehl
Political Animals tells the story of one of the largest civil rights struggles of this century – the gay rights movement – through the eyes of four elected women, often left out of LGBT histories until now. An emotionally charged film, it follows four groundbreaking lesbians who took the fight for the causes most personal to them and their communities off the streets and into the halls of government. Fierce, determined, focused and passionate, these women had the courage and foresight to begin the critical work of legal rights for the LGBT community.
PROM KING, 2010
(U.S., 2017)
Director: Christopher Schaap
Cast: Julia Weldon, Mikaela Izquierdo, Lionel Thomas
Charlie is a college student who loves love. He loves the way James Dean and Natalie Wood passionately kiss with the sublime punctuation of a swelling orchestra and Laurence Olivier's vow to take Joan Fontaine behind a tree and make "violent love" to her. But when Charlie finds his romantic pursuits leading to icky online encounters, seedy back rooms in leather bars, and the unexpected tears of cute freshmen who aren't "really out," Charlie starts to worry that his homosexuality is an incompatible factor with the classic, Hollywood romance he's always aspired towards.
REBELS ON POINTE
(Canada, 2016)
Director: Bobbi Jo Hart
Exploring universal themes of identity, dreams, family and love, Rebels on Pointe is a film celebrating the famous Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. The all-male, comic ballet company was founded in the '70s on the heels of New York's Stonewall riots and has a huge worldwide cult following. The film juxtaposes behind-the-scenes access, rich archives and history, intimate character-driven stories, and amazing dance performances. It's a story which ultimately proves that a ballerina is not only a woman dancing, but an act of revolution in a tutu.
SEAT IN SHADOW
(UK, 2016)
Director: Henry Coombes
Cast: Henry Coombes, Ross Hunter, Jonathan Leslie
Out of the imagination of acclaimed artist-filmmaker Henry Coombes comes Albert, an eccentric, aging painter doubling as an unconventional, Jung-inspired psychotherapist. When Albert's friend asks him to counsel her lethargic grandson Ben, whose ongoing boyfriend problems are rapidly fueling an already deep depression, their subsequent therapy sessions reveal as much about Albert as they do about the troubled young man. Coombes' debut feature is a witty, perceptive study of social mores, sexual excess and the bizarre, symbiotic relationship between doctor and patient; teacher and pupil; artist and muse.
SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER
(U.S., 2017)
Director: David Berry
Cast: Grant Davis, Davi Santos, Ben Baur
Benjamin is the only guy at his high school with the courage to come out of the closet. Putting up with the bullies and his classmates' whispered condemnations keeps him from pursuing his dream of being a singer. Instead, Ben spends his summer vacation stalking Tim, the handsome athlete who just moved to town. Something Like Summer follows the course of true love over the span of a dozen years, from awkward adolescence through challenging adulthood, featuring seven original musical numbers and the artwork of a talented young artist.
THE LAVENDER SCARE
(U.S., 2017)
Director: Josh Howard
With the United States gripped in the panic of the Cold War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower deems homosexuals to be "security risks" and orders the immediate firing of any government employee discovered to be gay or lesbian. It triggers a vicious witch hunt that ruins tens of thousands of lives and thrusts an unlikely hero into the forefront of what would become the modern LGBT rights movement. The Lavender Scare shines a light on a chapter of American history that has never received the attention it deserves.
THE PASS
(UK, 2016)
Director: Ben A. Williams
Cast: Russell Tovey, Arinzé Kene, Lisa McGrillis
Nineteen-year-olds Jason (Russell Tovey) and Ade have been preparing themselves for a lifetime in professional football for as long as they can remember. On the evening before their first big match, the two of them play out their insecurities in a Romanian hotel room; mock-fighting, preparing their kit, slinging insults, and then one of them kisses the other. The ramifications of this 'pass' reverberate throughout their careers. In a profession where image is everything, fame and fortune comes closely tied with secrets and lies.
VARICHINA: THE TRUE STORY OF THE FAKE LIFE OF LORENZO DE SANTIS
(Italy, 2017)
Director: Mariangela Barbanente and Antonio Palumbo
Cast: Totò Onnis, Federica Torchetti, Ketty Volpe
Varichina was the first openly out homosexual man in Bari in the '70s. Ugly, flashy and campy, he was well known for making coarse advances to every man he saw. He was gay, had nothing to hide, and lived a life of celebration! Funny and heartwarming, Varichina: The True Story of the Fake Life of Lorenzo de Santis is a documentary/fiction hybrid looking at someone who was way out, long before it was socially acceptable.
MEN'S SHORTS: MAN, OH MAN
FAW
Director: Dany Campos, Spain, 22 mins.
IN THE PAINT
Director: Ashton Pina, U.S., 7 mins.
JOHNNY IS GAY
Director: Pablo Tobon-Gallo, Spain, 11 mins.
LIGHTRIPPING
Director: Marcio Miranda Perez, Brazil, 22 mins.
MARZ
Directors: Bobby Yan, U.S., 11 mins.
MY SUGAR DADDY
Director: Dawid Ullgren, Sweden, 13 mins.
ONE DAY TO THE NEXT
Directors: Julio Montesino & Alexis Bosch, U.S., 16 mins.
THE NIGHT CLEANER
Director: Blair Fukumura, Canada, 6 mins.
This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 16.2017
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