For the second time this year the Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film festival is back on the Calendar!

This festival of the LGBTI Community will be running from Thursday, 1 November 2007 to Sunday, 11 November 2007 in Johannesburg at NuMetro Killarney Mall and from Thursday, 8 November 2007 to Sunday, 18 November 2007 in Cape Town at Nu Metro V&A Waterfront. 

Don't miss the screenings, especially not Alexis Arquette: She's my Brother. This candid look at sexuality and gender under the glare of celebrity follows Alexis Arquette, a guest of this Festival in 2002, and the youngest of the famous Arquette family.

Johannesburg Schedule

Cape Town Schedule

Tickets

Ticket Prices:
R25 all shows. Buy a Festival Card and get a 10% discount – 20 tickets for R450, and there are no limitations of how many tickets you can draw for a single screening.

Exclusive Books Fanatics earn 400 bonus points for each ticket purchased, but remember to bring your Fanatics card.

Buy tickets at the box office or go online www.numetro.co.za

Killarney Mall 011 486 00 03   /   V&A Waterfront 021 419 97 00

Credit card bookings (Mastercard and Visa only) may be made through Computicket (www.computicket.co.za or tel 086 11 00 220)

Sugar Rush screenings are free, courtesy of the British Council. Book tickets through the box office only.

Guests

Émilie Jouvet

Director One Night Stand (Pour une nuit)

Photographer and filmmaker Jouvet studied at the Artschool, and at the French National School of Photography. Paris based Jouvet has made a career of capturing women's intimacy. She says: ‘human bodies are shown everywhere, but they are polished and perfect.’ Rather, she looks for the flaw, the intensity, the release that makes us human. Her pics of andro-girls, hot fems, bad transboys and cute babes question notions of masculinity, femininity, beauty and sexiness. Her photos appear regularly in magazines - La Dixieme Muse, Tetu, Del'air, Enville and Muteen - and have inspired a collection of lesbian short stories, Immersion totale. Her provocative videos have screened at film festivals in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, San Francisco and Mexico, and on television - Arte, Canal + and Pink TV. She co-founded Très Très Méchantes Filles (Very very bad girls), an association to promote artists, and organises parties to develop a queer and feminist artistic space.

Jay Brannan

Actor Holding Trevor

Brannan is a singer/songwriter living in New York City who recently appeared as Ceth in John Cameron Mitchell's latest feature film Shortbus.  As a musician, he performs regularly at a variety of New York City venues, and he has also appeared at premier music venues and film festivals in Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Cannes, Athens, and Tel Aviv.  Brannan writes and performs his own music, including the song "Soda Shop" which is featured in Shortbus and can be found on the film's soundtrack.  More on Brannan as both an actor and a musician can be found on MySpace, YouTube, and jaybrannan.com .

Jesse Archer

Writer / Actor A Four Letter Word 

Archer grew up in the beaver state of Oregon, which inspired him to get around. He has since lived and worked in Los Angeles, Paris, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and New York.

Since graduating from the University of Southern California with a BA in Theatre, Archer traveled the world before landing in New York. He appeared in the Off-Broadway hit Birdy’s Bachelorette Party, on film in Boy Culture, and starred in the gay romantic comedy favorites Slutty Summer and A Four Letter Word (which he co-wrote with director Casper Andreas).

Archer also writes freelance, including a monthly column for Out magazine. His first book, You Can Run, will make you appreciate flush toilets and is based on a two-year adventure spent sparkling through South America, published by Haworth Press in 2007. www.jesseonthebrink.com

Parvez Sharma

Director / Producer A Jihad for Love

Gay and Muslim, Sharma has devoted the past six years, filming in 12 countries and in 9 languages, to make this groundbreaking documentary. " I have worked with a very Muslim camera in my own communities, always knowing that as a defender of the faith, I would need to depict the Islam I knew, which has little to do with the violent discourses that characterize Western media depictions of my faith.”  Born and raised in India, and educated (for his first Masters degree) at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, he has worked as a broadcast and print journalist in South Asia. Parvez believes that “the end of the creative process of a film is just the beginning of a movement, because films such as A Jihad for Love have the potential to change lives and begin long overdue discussions, for years to come.”

Sandi DuBowski

Producer A Jihad for Love

DuBowski, raised in Conservative Judaism, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1992. As a research associate for planned Parenthood, he made videos on the Christian Right and anti-abortion movement, before making Trembling before G-d (festival award winner in Berlin, Chicago, L.A. Outfest and Seattle, among others). He and Steven Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, have traveled to 60 cities and organized over 400 Q&A sessions, dialogues, events and inter-faith discussions. DuBowski was named one of The Forward 50 (an award for Jews who have demonstrated leadership, offered new ideas and represented a distinct Jewish presence in American life), and is a recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship.

To commemorate the 5th anniversary of Trembling before G-d There will be a single screening if his short film Trembling on the Road, hosted by Jewish OutLook and followed by a Panel Discussion, on Sunday 4th at 4pm. Made by DuBowski, the film documents how Trembling before G-d profoundly touched and transformed the lives of individuals, their families, communities, rabbis and teachers.

Happy Snaps Filmmaking Workshop

ut In Africa is committed to the production of locally made queer films. It is not enough to develop scripts only, and so we design workshops and raise the money for intense 2 week programmes, that take scripts into production, resulting in completed films. To date, since 2004, we have produced 16 short films, which have screened at some 35 local and international festivals. This year, with the support of the Italian Institute of Culture, the British Council and the National Lotteries, we are proud to present the Happy Snaps. All ambitious projects, they are the result of hard work and the kindness and generosity of all involved, particularly the producer Beth Tindall, and the Assistant Director, Diego Praderi.

The Workshop Director is Laura Muscardin, an award-winning Italian filmmaker. Her first feature, Giorni (Days) screened to full houses at this Festival in 2002. Her second feature, Billo Il Grand Dakhaar, took the Critics’ Prize at France’s 2006 Villerupt Festival and the Jury Prize at Pierre Cardin’s Italian Film Festival in Paris 2007. At the Syracuse International Film Festival, nominated for best feature, it won best musical score for its sparkling sound track—the first by Senegal’s prolific pop star Youssou D’Nour, also one of the film’s producers. Her next projects include a Bollywood feature and an Italian–South African co-production to be shot in Cape Town.
Muscardin travelled courtesy of the Italian Institute of Culture.

Half a Lifetime 

11min
Dir: Howard Smith

Two young men meet, become aware of and find ways of expressing their mutual attraction, as conscripts in the 1960’s apartheid Army. The charm of their liaison is contrasted with the dehumanising regime, at the time of Prime Minister Verwoerd’s assassination. Their go their separate ways, only to meet 30 years later.

Benni has two Mothers 

10min
Dir: Vivid Tjipura

Soccer mad Benni has two mums. The story unfolds as the Civil Union Act, allowing same-sex couples to “marry” is passed into law. Benni must contend with his school mates reaction to the news of his mothers’ impending marriage.

Self-help for Sapphists

6min
Dirs: Jenny Radloff & Karen Rutter

The un-PC middle-aged dykes who brought us the hilarious Tai Chi for Tipplers are back with important tips to assist the sisterhood with, well, just about everything… from clothing to health, and the essential tool to find a girl.

Inkanyezi Yobusuku - Night Star 

13min
Dir: Kekeletso Khena

Traditionally, Zulu women were barred from household chores during menstruation, and the maidens were isolated in the girls hut, a time for rest and contemplation called Ukuya Enyangeni, going to the moon. Lindiwe’s dreams are disturbed by her desire for the Amaqhikiza, her guide during this time.

After Nine

South Africa 2007 4x 48min
Dir: Sechaba Morojele & Lesego Majatladi
Starring:  Sidu Majola, Aaron Moloisi, Lucky Khoza, Bokang Maema, Khanyisile Mbau

One of two home-bred, four-part experimental gay mini-series to hit the South Africa’s local screens early this year, After Nine explores a successful but closeted man with all the outward elements of South African life: entrepreneurial success within the BEE framework, societal pressure and the expectations of culture.

China is a success – his construction company has hit the big time and he’s in a steady relationship with Bokang. Then China meets Hector, an architect who shares China’s passion for basketball and when they fall for each other, the wheels begin to fall off. China’s new association with Hector is complicated further when his girlfriend announces that she is pregnant and he is pressured into marrying her. China finds compromise by living straight during the day and gay after nine, but pressure from both sides of his unsteady love triangle makes living a lie difficult.

The actors, director & writer / producers, have been invited to attend the screenings in Jhb and CT.  Visit http://www.oial.co.za   for updates.

JHB    Sat 10 / 3pm + guests
CT    Sat 17 / 3pm + guests

Courtesy of the SABC

Alexis Arquette: She’s my Brother

USA 2005 70min
Dir: Matthew Barbato & Nikki Parrott

This candid look at sexuality and gender under the glare of celebrity follows Alexis Arquette, a guest of this Festival in 2002, and the youngest of the famous Arquette family.

Eloquent, creative, talented and clever, Alexis has always felt at odds with her gender, but completely comfortable with acting - the more extreme the character, the better. Her life has become a haze of acting appearances in over 60 films, shocking the unshockable at celebrity parties and movie premières, and performing at drag clubs. But ultimately Alexis wants to become a woman, physically as well as emotionally, and so she approached the film crew to document her last year as a legal, biological male.

Over the year, as she goes through the sexual reassignment process, Alexis is by turns beguiling, petulant and out-and-out entertaining. With refreshing humour and honesty she also thinks long and hard about her life-altering decision, and begins to confront her lifestyle, her facile friendships, her devil-may-care attitude and her ideas around being in the spotlight.

JHB    Sat 3 / 6pm         Sun 11 / 4pm
CT    Sat 10 / 3.30pm     Tue 13 / 7pm

Anyone and Everyone

USA 2007 56min
Dir: Susan Polis Schutz

Coming out to your parents has to be one of the most terrifying, and defining moments of your life. In this extraordinarily simple, but powerful documentary, parents from various religious and cultural backgrounds discuss in detail the day and way that their son or daughter came out to them, the impact it had in their relationships, and how their positive response has opened up new horizons in their lives. 

From Mormons to Catholics, Japanese to Cherokee, Jews to Hindus, each parent shares their previous prejudices, shock, fear, uncertainty and heartache at the time, and the dawning realisation that, as parents, they are not alone. They discuss being introduced to the pain that their child was experiencing and, by accepting their child, being similarly ostracised by their communities, churches and relatives.

Not everyone’s parents are going to react with such love, understanding and dedication, but if you are intending to come out to your parents, or even anticipating your child’s announcement that s/he is queer, this film might just give you some courage to broach the subject, and give them some tips on how to deal with it and return to being a normal, supportive family.

Screening:

Johannesburg:
Thu 1 November 2007 - 7.30pm
Sun 4 November 2007 - 8pm
Sun 11 Nobember 2007 - 6pm

Cape Town:
Thu 8 November 2007 - 7.30pm
Sun 11 November 2007 - 6pm
Sun 18 November 2007 - 6pm

Brothers of the Head

UK 2005 93min
Dir: Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe
Featuring: Luke Treadaway, Harry Treadaway, Ken Russell, Howard Attfield, Jonathan Pryce

This raw mock-rock-doc is an inspired, unsettling and intriguing assault on political correctness, celebrity and the personal implications of our throwaway culture.

Tom and Barry Howe are twins born joined at the stomach. To protect them from 50’s small town ignorance and ridicule, their father isolates the family in rural England. However, when the boys develop into stunning-looking teens, Zak Bedderwick, a morally-dubious music promoter, finds them and convinces their father to part with them. He locks them up with minders in a run-down mansion and grooms them into becoming the next big thing – a boy band with a difference - Bang Bang. Leaving behind their naiveté, Tom and Barry take to their task with gusto, and soon take the band’s music and performance to a completely different level of Brit-grunge rock.

This fascinating film, tinged with moody homoeroticism, moves freely between reminiscent interviews, archive docu footage and clips from Ken Russel’s Two-Way Romeo. If you ever wondered what Oasis brother’s Liam and Noel Gallagher would have been like if they had been performing in the 70s and were physically inseparable, this fabulously lurid, daring expose of exploitation comes as close as you are ever going to get.

Based on the 1997 novel by renowned sci-fi writer Brian Aldiss, famed for his surreal imagery and liberal attitude towards sex.

JHB     Fri 2 / 11pm          Mon 5 / 9.15pm         Fri 9 / 11pm
CT    Sat 10 / 10.30pm     Wed 14 / 9pm             Sat 17 / 10.30pm 

Combat

Belguim 2006 56min subtitled
Dir: Patrick Carpentier
Starring: Léo Joris, Tomas Matauko

Evocative and sensual, this is an elegiac ode to new love. Seen through the reminiscences of the slightly elder protagonist, Combat is a mood-piece that innovatively captures the evolution of love from lust.

Hidden away in a sparse forest cabin, the couple chase through the lush undergrowth and violently test each other’s boundaries of intimacy, emotion and commitment. Poignantly and beautifully captured, each image and deep-felt musing evokes love’s rush of emotions, excitement, uncertainty and yearning, and explores the physicality and tenderness of love through combative desire.

Teddy Jury Award – Berlinale 2006

JHB    Sat 3 / 10.30pm      Tue 6 / 7pm             Fri 9 / 7pm
CT    Fri 9 / 6.30pm         Mon 12 / 9.15pm         Thu 15 / 7pm 

East Side Story

USA 2006 88min
Dir: Carlos Portugal
Starring: René Alvarado; Luis Accinelli; David Berón; Steve Callahan

This light, appealing, love story is set against the traditional Mexican community of Los Angeles that feels under threat when gay ‘gringo’ couples move in and buy up their homes.

For gorgeously muscular, quiet Diego (Alvaredo), who still lives with his grandmother (DeBari) and works in the family restaurant, this has little impact on his life, which currently revolves around secretive fantasy sex with the über closeted real estate agent Pablo. Love-struck Diego is eager to come out with Pablo, but on his impassioned declaration, his lover heads for the hills and into the arms of Diego’s superficial aunt, Bianca (Jimenez). Adding insult to injury, and blithely unaware of its potentially ruinous impact on the restaurant, Bianca casually outs Diego.

This releases Diego to follow his dreams of opening an avant-garde, award-winning Mexican restaurant in Phoenix. But when delicious Wesley (Callahan), and his less delectable, bigoted boyfriend Jonathon move in next door, Diego becomes torn between living his dreams and loving his dream man.

JHB    Fri 2 / 6.30pm         Thu 8 / 9.15pm             Sun 11 / 8.30pm
CT    Sun 11 / 6pm         Wed 14 / 7pm            Sun 18 / 4pm

Feast of Love

USA 2007 102min
Dir: Robert Benton
Starring: Morgan Freeman; Selma Blair; Missi Pyle; Greg Kinnear; Radha Mitchell; Alexa Davalos; Toby Hemingway; Billy Burke

Love, in all its chaotic, humorous, miserable, sexy, extreme, painful heartbreaking and magical manifestations, is explored in this thoroughly modern, breezy reinvention of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, expertly delivered by an all-star ensemble cast and a multi award-winning director.

When tragedy throws his world into turmoil, the local professor Harry Stevenson (Freeman) wanders the streets of his Oregon town, observing the torrid lives and loves of his group of friends. While exposing us to the boredom-induced mischief of the Greek Gods, Harry introduces friend and café-owner Bradley (Kinnear) who, only just cottoning on to his women-loving wife Kathryn (Blair), turns to real estate agent, Diana (Mitchell) who, in turn, just cannot resist sleeping with married David (Burke). Love-struck young couple Oscar (Hemingway) and Chloe (Davalos) also come to terms with love’s boundaries when dealing with the punches life throws them.

Filled with pithy one-liners and tragically authentic situations, this light film underscores the essential insecurity, torment and joys that love, a vital and compelling force, brings.

JHB    Fri 2 / 8.45pm          Wed 7 / 7pm             Sun 11 / 8.30pm
CT    Fri 9 / 10.45pm         Fri 16 / 9pm             Sun 18 / 8pm

Courtesy of Nu Metro

Four Letter Word

USA 2007 87min
Dir: Casper Andreas
Starring: Jesse Archer; Charlie David; Cory Grant; Steven M. Goldsmith; J.R. Rolley; Virginia Bryan   

Fabulously superficial, gorgeously coiffed Luke (Archer) is happy and content with his life, which consists of enthusiastically shagging his way through gay Manhattan by night, and lazily assisting at a sex shop by day. His ecstatic bubble bursts one night when the deliciously macho Stephen (David) accuses him of being a ‘gay cliché’.

This sends the playful and outrageous Luke into a flat spin of hilarious self-contemplation as he half-heartedly attempts to find meaning in his life. While Luke becomes absorbed in his quest, his friends, colleagues, new lover and the members of Sexual Compulsives Anonymous find it increasingly difficult to come to terms with Luke’s witty quips, blatant flirting, daffy introspection, unsuccessful stabs at fidelity, and paranoia. All the while, they all have to deal with their own out-of-control love lives, alcohol dependency and a multitude of other issues associated with living.

Jesse Archer is a guest of the Festival

Outfest, Los Angeles   - Best Screenplay
Forth Worth, Texas  - Best Gay Feature
Fire Island Film Festival - Audience Award - Best Film,

JHB      Sat 3 / 8pm + guest     Tue 6 / 6.45pm + guest         Sat 10 / 8pm
CT    Fri 9 / 8.15pm + guest     Mon 12 / 9.15pm + guest     Fri 16 / 7pm + guest

Glue

Argentina/UK 2006 108mins subtitled
Dir: Alexis Dos Santos
Starring: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Nahuel Viale, Ines Efron, Verónica Llinás, Florencia Braier

Fifteen year old Lucas (Biscayart) is at that awkward, painfully gawky teenage stage. Living in a small town on the edge of a desert with his dysfunctional family, Lucas eagerly anticipates adulthood, but cannot find a way to get there. He bides the boredom of his summer days, aimlessly cycling around town, curing his athlete’s foot, listening to the Violent Femmes, and writing song lyrics for his band. He also sniffs his father’s model-making glue, gets drunk and explores his burgeoning sexuality with buffed, best friend Nacho (Munoz) and mousey, eager and bespectacled Andrea (Llinás).

A remarkable and honest film, Glue’s intimate and lyrical atmosphere is infused with the golden Patagonian light and expertly merges digital and Super8 footage to portray the three timeless teenager’s excruciating but achingly-universal and reminiscent fumble through puberty.

International Film Festival Rotterdam:   - Official Selection "Tiger Awards Competition"  - “MovieSquad” – “Young Jury's Award”
BAFICI: - Audience Award - Best Film
Nantes Festival des 3 Continents: - Best Actor": Nahuel Perez Biscayart
- Young Jury's Award"
DIBA: Digital Barcelona Film Festival: - Best Digital Film - Best Director - Best Actor: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart - Young Jury DiBa Screen Award: best film
Turin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 2007:  - Special Award of the Jury
Frameline 31 - First Feature Award

JHB    Fri 2 / 11pm           Mon 5 / 6.45pm            Fri 9 / 8.45pm
CT    Sat 10 / 5.30pm     Tue 13 / 7pm             Thu 15 / 8.30pm

Holding Trevor

USA 2007 110mins
Dir: Rosser Goodman
Starring: Brent Gorski, Jay Brannan, Melissa Searing, Eli Kranski, Christopher Wyllie   

When Trevor (Gorsky) finds his eager, but heroin-addicted boyfriend, Darrell (Wyllie), in a state of collapse, it’s the last straw. His life revolves around a tedious call-centre job, his best friends are his flat-mate Andy (she drinks), and Jake (a self-proclaimed sex-addict) played by Brannan. And now the nebulous Darrell is showing little or no commitment to his ‘get clean’ programme. Worn down, depressed and a little adrift, Trevor reluctantly allows himself to bask in the little bit of emotional sunshine offered by the dashing, irresistibly positive Dr. Ephram (Kransky). A skilfully-directed, relentlessly self-deprecating, yet moving dark comedy that vividly captures the conundrums of 20-somethings, Holding Trevor explores the emotional footwork that Trevor must do when Ephraim begins to demand more from him than he is able to give, especially as he cannot abandon his friends in their time of need.

Actor, Jay Brannan, is a guest of the Festival

JHB    Fri 2 / 6.45pm         Tue 6 / 8.45pm + guest         Wed 7 / 9.15pm + guest
CT    Fri 9 / 10.45pm + guest    Sat 10 / 8pm + guest         Fri 16 / 11pm

A Jihad for Love

USA/United Kingdom/France/Germany/Australia 2007 56min
Dir: Parvez Sharma

Spanning the world, from France to India, Morrocco to Iran, Cape Town to Cairo, this controversial and enlightening documentary presents the painful, often life-threatening, incongruence that devout Muslims find between the conventional interpretation of the Qu’ran and their homosexuality.

Shariah Law stipulates that homosexuality is an offence, punishable by death. Whether they are four Iranian refugees waiting in limbo for a life where they are free to express their sexual orientation, a lesbian couple fraught with guilt, an ex-iman aching to see his family and serve his community, or an exile fitting into a new community, each devotee faces their own personal Jihad, or challenge, with courage, poise, frustration and despair.

Compassionately filmed over six years under secretive and dangerous circumstances, the filmmaker presents emotional and intimate stories from staunch, every day Muslims who search for faith and understanding, yet find it difficult to reconcile being a ‘perfect’ creation of Allah and still being rejected by their community.

Director Parvez Sharma and Producer Sandi DuBowski are guests of the Festival. 

Please note the second screening of a Jihad for Love in JHB is on a Monday, 12 November, “outside” of the Festival.  It is not listed on the programme schedule – Sharma and DuBowski will attend.

JHB    Wed 7 / 8.45pm   Mon 12 / 8.30pm + guests
CT    Wed 14 / 9pm + guests Sat 17 / 8pm + guests

The Man of My Life

L’Homme de sa vie
France 2006    114mins subtitled
Dir: Zabou Breitman
Starring: Bernard Campan; Charles Berling; Léa Drucker; Jacqueline Jehanneuf; Eric Prat

Visually elegant and reflective, first time director, Breitman, evocatively captures an explorative journey into the self amidst the emotional demands of family.

During the annual summer exodus to the sun-drenched French countryside, the chaotic and loving extended family of Frédéric (Campan) and Frédérique (Drucker) arrive at their rambling country house. In the midst of hot languid days, the husband meets their solitary and self-possessed neighbour, Hugo (Berling), and invites him to dinner. Well into the early hours of the morning, the husband and Hugo discuss love, passion, relationships, sex, family responsibility and emotional commitment. As a result, a connection that borders on a crush develops between the dedicated husband and father and the openly gay commitment-phobe. Along with unforeseen events, the ensuing emotional turmoil and uncertainty begins to jeopardise the squeaky clean worlds that the two men have separately fought long and hard to establish.

JHB     Sat 3 / 5.30pm         Thu 8 / 9.15pm             Sat 10 / 10.15pm
CT    Sun 11 / 8pm         Fri 16 / 11pm             Sun 18 / 8.30pm

Nina's Heavenly Delights

UK 2006 94min
Dir: Pratibha Parmar
Starring: Shelley Conn; Laura Fraser; Ronny Jhutti; Art Malik; Raji James

Brought up by her father to revel in the romance, evocative aromas and sensual flavours of Indian cuisine, Nina (Conn) returns home to Glasgow devastated that her father has died and her mother has sold off half of The Taj Mahal, their family restaurant, to Lisa (Fraser), a delectable Scottish woman. Her indignation is further fuelled by the overtures of a smooth, sleazy rival restaurateur (Malik). Feisty and stubborn Nina decides the only way to keep her beloved father’s legacy alive is to win the televised ‘Best of the West’ curry competition one more time.

Fighting her entire family (who all have their own secrets), Nina retires to the kitchen to hone her competition recipe. There she is ably assisted by Lisa and together they cook up a spicy, irresistible concoction of desire and love where each exploratory taste tingles on the tongue.

JHB     Sat 3 / 8pm          Mon 5 / 7pm         Thu 8 / 7pm
CT    Sun 11 / 8.30pm     Thu 15 / 7pm         Sat 17 / 8pm

Courtesy of the British Council

One Night Stand

Pour Une Nuit
France 2005 110min subtitled
Dir: Émilie Jouvet

Determined to break the visual taboos that continue to surround Lesbian sex, photographer Émilie Jouvet collected together a group of her lesbian and tranny friends, loaded up her digital camera, and asked them to make a no-holds-barred, explicit porn film, the first of its kind to be made in France.

Evidently, a lot of fun and excitement was had by all in the making, but what takes the film to a different level are the preceding confessions by its stars (from dreamy sex kitten to leather-clad boi) revelling their fears, exhilaration, reasons for, and expectations of, the film and thoughts on porn in general.

The porn film itself begins in a hot, smoky dyke bar, where singles mingle and the loos have other reasons to exist. But soon, as with most porn, the plot peters out all together and through five diverse, gritty, short and erotic scenes, the gals get down to it in graphic, x-rated detail (it is porn after all!).

There are 4 screenings in each city and, as indicated in the schedule, 3 of these are for women only.  Men accompanied by women may attend the one screening.

Guest Director, Emilie Jouvet travels courtesy of the French Embassy

JHB     Sat 3 / 10.15pm      Tue 6 / 9.15pm         Fri 9 / 11pm     Sat 10 / 10.15pm
CT    Fri 9 / 8.45pm + guest     Sat 10 / 8pm + guest     Thu 15 / 9.15pm     Sat 17 / 10pm

Puccini for Beginners

USA 2005 82min
Dir: Maria Maggenti
Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Justin Kirk, Gretchen Mol, Julianne Nicholson

Writer and opera-loving Allegra (Reaser) is taken by surprise when girlfriend Samantha, driven away by Allegra’s fear of intimacy and commitment, walks out on her to return to her ex-boyfriend/new fiancé. Samantha’s impassioned allegations seem like water off a duck’s back, until Allegra meets, and is instantly attracted to the charming, (worryingly male) professor Philip (Kirk). Determined to explore her sexual freedom and options, Allegra puts her fling down to adventure, and is equally blasé about her growing attraction for the equally gorgeous, straight and ditsy Grace (Moll). Fascinated by both but unable to decide between them, Allegra becomes the pivotal point in an unconventional and increasingly troublesome threesome.

Playing out under the scandal-mongering eyes of two New York sushi-chefs, this light, witty, and unrepentantly fluffy romantic comedy intelligently explores gender preference, sexual politics, and the terrifying process towards commitment.

JHB     Sun 4 / 8.30pm      Wed 7 / 6.30pm          Fri 9 / 8.45pm
CT    Tue 13 / 9pm         Fri 16 / 6.30pm             Sun 18 / 6.15pm

Shock to the System:  A Donald Strachey Mystery

USA 2006 91min
Dir: Ron Oliver
Starring: Chad Allen; Sebastian Spence; Michael Woods; Daryl Shuttleworth; Morgan Fairchild; Anne Marie Deluise; Rikki Gagne; Stephen Huszar

Following hot on the heels of the first Donald Strachey film Third Man Out, the charming gay Private Eye-candy is back. This time the plot thickens from the onset. Gorgeous, young, but terrified Paul Hale (Keeso) arranges a clandestine meeting with Strachey (Allen) and flees before he can give him his investigative brief. When Hale dies of an ‘overdose’ a few hours later, Strachey smells a rat and delves deep into Hale’s life. Posing as an ex-soldier who was drummed out of the service for being gay and wants his ‘old life back’, Strachey goes deep undercover, delving into the nefarious and desperate activities of Dr. Trevor Cornell (Woods) at the Phoenix Foundation, the local gay ‘rehabilitation’ centre. But Strachey’s cover is just a little too close to his own story and the unsettling ideas bandied around at the centre begin to penetrate his loving relationship with husband Timmy (Spence).

Well plotted and neatly packaged, Donald Strachey’s second outing is based around an intriguing concept that makes it a more entertaining, fun, diverting and polished film than the first.

JHB     Sun 4 / 6.30pm         Fri 9 / 6.30pm         Sun 11 / 4pm
CT    Fri 9 / 6.30pm         Mon 12 / 7pm         Sun 18 / 4pm

Society

South Africa  2007  4 x 48 min
Dir: Vincent Maloi
Starring: Lele Ledwaba, Sibulele Gcilitshana, Zandile Msutwana, Samantha Tyelbooi
Written and Produced: Lodi Matsetela & Makgano Mamabolo

The SABC’s first foray into locally-commissioned edgy-content, this groundbreaking drama broke onto South African screens in February and left audiences clamouring for more.

Society revolves around the reality of four Xhosa female BEE Buppies who live and love in the urban jungle of Jozi. Dineo commits suicide, and her four best friends – Akua, Lois, Innocentia and Beth – reunite to help Dineo’s mother pay for and organise her funeral. In the process they help each other find meaning amid the chaotic situations each has created while they have been apart.

Akua has desperately tried to fill her emotional void with a toyboy and adopted baby, while Lois is happily married and about to embark on a successful medical career, but resents her unborn child. A femme fatale plagued by a stalker, Innocentia lives a jet-set lifestyle (or does she?) and Beth, on the surface a private-school teacher in a loving, happy, and affluent relationship, is living with Thuli and must find a way to come out to her old friends.

The actors & writer / producers, have been invited to attend the screenings in Jhb and CT.  Visit www.oia.co.za for updates.

JHB     Sun 4 / 3pm + guests
CT    Sat 10 / 3pm + guests

Courtesy of the SABC 

Sugar Rush 2

UK  2006 10 x 24min
Dir: Sean Grundy, Harry Bradbeer; writer: Julie Burchill
Starring: Olivia Hallinan, Lenora Crichlow, Sara Stewart, Richard Lumsden, Kurtis O'Brien, Sarah-Jane Potts

Exploding back onto the Out in Africa screens in this second riotous series of Sugar Rush, Kim (Hallinan) is 17, out and still juggling her disturbingly dysfunctional family with her lust for the dazzling, lippy Sugar and any other gloriously available girl that comes along.

With her hot pursuit of Sugar (currently incarcerated in a Young Offender’s institution) on hold, Kim spends the majority of her time in her bedroom avoiding her parent’s sex therapy sessions and dreaming of living life to the full in Brighton, the UK’s bohemian gay capital. Then Kim’s head is turned by a chance meeting with gorgeous sex-shop worker, Saint (Potts), who moonlights as a DJ at the hot CC, a mysterious club bristling with beautiful women. Suddenly Kim is living her dreams, but when it comes to the crunch with Saint, insecurity leads Kim to pursue an eye-opening fling with the dangerously addictive Anna, avoid the attentions of class-swot Melissa and confess all to the soon-to-be-released Sugar.

JHB Sat 10 / 3pm
CT  Sat 17 / 3pm

Sugar Rush Screenings are free, courtesy of the British Council.  Book tickets through the Box Office only.

Water Lilies

Naissance des pieuvres
France 2007     85min subtitled
Dir: Céline Sciamma
Starring: Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachère, Adèle Henel, Warren Jacquin, Serge Brincat, Jérémie Steib

Graceful and precise, the award-winning synchronised swimming team have become objects of awe for awkward, serious and unsophisticated 15-year-old, Marie (Acquart). Turning her back on the forthright and childish antics of Anne, her rotund best friend, Marie begins to shadow Floriane (Haenel), the team’s gorgeous captain. Floriane is desired by the male water polo team and shunned by her own team for her perceived loose morals. A bit of a loner, she starts using the adoring Marie as her cover for sessions with Francois (who Anne obsesses over). But although Marie is initially complicit in Floriane’s plans, over time she discovers that Floriane is more insecure than femme fatale, and is terrified that her well-honed slutty cover will be blown, and her virginity discovered, by the increasingly demanding Francois. Her desperation leads the two to explore their sexuality and friendship.

Sharp, perceptive and uncompromisingly honest, this charming film of youthful self-discovery is carried by excellent performances from the three leading ladies

JHB     Sat 10 / 8pm         Sun 11 / 6.15pm
CT    Mon 12 / 7pm        Wed 14 / 7pm 

The Witnesses

Les Témoins
France 2007 114min subtitled
Dir: André Techiné
Starring: Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Sami Bouajila, Julie Depardieu, Johan Libereau

Beautifully shot in two parts, this lively, sharp, colourful and impressive adult drama delves into the unexpected consequences of a summer of fickle loyalties, guiltless dalliances and fluid love.

It’s the summer of 1984 and Sarah (Beart) is finding it difficult to connect with her new baby. Her depression is compounded by writers block and her vice squad husband, Mehdi (Bouajila), who cannot understand what she finds so difficult. Meanwhile, Sarah’s best friend, Adrien (Blanc) is besotted with young, delectable and carefree Manu (Libérau). In need of a holiday, the four head away from the heat of the city to the coast. When Manu is rescued from the sea by Mehdi, the two embark on a summer affair. But the summer cannot last for ever and soon the darkness of winter and the emergence of a new, mysterious life-threatening disease casts a sobering shadow on their lives.

JHB     Fri 2 / 8.30pm          Mon 5 / 9.15pm     Thu 8 / 6.45pm
CT    Sat 10 / 10.15pm     Tue 13 / 9.15pm    Fri 16 / 8.30pm 
 

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