/ 15 October 2010

Pick of the Out in Africa festival

Pick Of The Out In Africa Festival

South African cinema
A Kind of Language (23 minutes) screens with The Cutter (30 minutes) by Jacque Oldfield and Adelheid Reinecke, a two-person meditation on cutting as in self-harm and also as in editing.

Also screened together are Joan and Verne’s Wedding (35 minutes), about two women who get married within their Jewish tradition, and There Comes a Time (35 minutes), about the struggle of a young Methodist minister to marry the woman she loves, and how the church reacts. Accompanied by panel discussions with activists and religious leaders.

Road to Pride (50 minutes), by Lesedi Magoatlhe and Inger Smith, is a documentary about what it means to be a lesbian and the significance of Pride.

The Sisterhood (52 minutes) and Queen Diva (30 minutes) form another pair. Both are documentaries. The former is about life on a farm for a group of cross-dressers, their hopes and dreams; the latter is the story of Lindiwe Ringane and all the trouble she caused when she attempted to register for a Miss South Africa workshop, despite her not having been born a woman.

Difficult Love is a documentary about the uncompromising and controversial South African lesbian photographer Zanele Muholi — it was her work that gave the minister of arts and culture a nasty shock.

International highlights
Brotherhood is a brooding Danish film about a young man, just out of the army, who joins a neo-Nazi group, where unexpected attractions emerge.

The Owls is an edgy thriller about a group of lesbians fighting for justice. Beautiful Darling is a documentary about the late Candy Darling, Andy Warhol “superstar” and drag-transsexual pioneer.

Sea Purple is an intense period piece about a rebellious woman challenging the mores of 19th-century Sicily.

Loose Cannons is the latest feature from Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek, who made Turkish Bath, The Ignorant Fairies and the OIA favourite Saturn Returns. It’s the story of a gay man dealing with his family of “loose cannons”, described by gay critic Brandon Judell as a “gentle farce — layered with humanity and wit”.

The Kids Are All Right is a mainstream drama starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple bringing up two kids — one of whom wants to find the sperm donor who is their dad. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko. Warm and funny.

I Killed My Mother is a darkly compelling Canadian production, written and directed by Xavier Dolan, who also plays the lead — at the age of 21.

The Out in Africa (OIA) gay and lesbian film festival runs in Johannesburg from October 14 to 31 at Nu Metro Hyde Park and The Bioscope and in Cape Town from October 21 to November 7 at Nu Metro V&A Waterfront and Foxy on Broadway.

For more information about screening times, go to www.oia.co.za