In celebration of the Lexington LGBTQ community, and as a way of saying thanks, independent counter/queer culture bookstore sQecial Media will sponsor four films to be shown throughout the month of October, three of which will comprise the first official GLSO Queer Film Series.
First, as the final installment in this year’s Rosa Goddard International Film Festival, sQecial will feature Weekend (2011), a British art house release from director Andrew Haigh. This boy-meets-boy indie ode to new love will be shown at the Kentucky Theater on Wednesday, October 3rd at 7:15pm. Tickets will cost $5.
Only a few days later, the GLSO Queer Film Series will begin! In partnership with the GLSO, sQecial will present three films to be shown at the downtown branch of the Lexington Public Library in the Farish Theater on Sundays at 2pm. Free admission.
October 7th – North Sea, Texas (2011)
After nearly two decades of making acclaimed gay-themed short films, Belgian director Bavo Defurne adapts André Sollie’s novel Nooit gaat dit over for his beautiful and highly stylised first feature length film, 2011’s Noordzee, Texas. It is the story of young dreamer Pim, a Walter Mitty of sorts, who grows up and falls for Gino, the somewhat older and über-cool boy next door with attitude and a motorcycle to boot. In writing about the film, Defurne says, “It explores many of the same themes as my short films – like the discovery that you are different. But my short films didn’t explore what happened after that discovery. This film is about what’s next, and I wanted that to be something happy.”
October 21st – Pariah (2011)
Coming out is generally a well trodden path in the land of queer cinema; luckily Dee Rees’ brilliantly engaging Pariah gives us new eyes with which to see this often awkward and difficult ritual. Brimming with tenacity, optimism, and verve, Alike is a 17-year-old African-American woman navigating the complexities of family life and community while trying to figure out just where she fits in. Rees’ ability to show the humanity of all the film’s major players, and the overall sidestepping of one-note characterisations make Pariah a genre-defying tour de force.
October 28th – Heartbeats (2010)
Xavier Dolan’s amorous and candy-coloured Heartbeats is a glossy and darkly comic look at the lengths gay man Francis and his gal pal Marie go to in the battle for the heart of the same fellow, the strikingly beautiful, albeit sexually ambiguous Nicolas. This acerbically astute Cannes Film Festival award-winning feature plums the depths of friendship, love, obsession, and the fragile yet resilient intricacies of the human heart.
Hope to see you there! Please e-mail sqecial@gmail.com or call (859) 255-4316 if you have any questions.