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2010 Mardi Gras Film FestivalLaunches

Feature, By Christian Taylor, 21st January, 2010

The 2010 Mardi Gras Film Festival opens February 12 with a program filled with the latest and greatest of international gay and lesbian cinema. The line up is brimming with stars, and includes Robert Pattinson, Colin Firth, Con O’Neil, John Hurt, Cynthia Nixon, Kevin Spacey and Sigourney Weaver.

Once again, the festival will open with the My Queer Career competition screening. Eight exquisite new films from Australian queer storytellers will screen to 100 people at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place vying for the Best Film prize of $3000, courtesy of the Stephen Cummins Film Trust. There will be a host of guest presenters, and the screening will be followed by a party in the entrance hall of the City Recital Hall, with DJs Matt Vaughan and Seymour Butz to celebrate the beginning of 3 week long festival.

Here are some of the highlights from the Festival Features line up.

Prayers For Bobby
Stars Sigourney Weaver, and tells the true story of Mary Griffith, gay rights crusader, whose teenage son committed suicide due to her religious intolerance.

A Single Man
Tom Ford’s directorial debut. Looks at an English professor who, after the sudden death of his partner tries to go about his typical day in Los Angeles.

An Englishman In New York
The later years of Quentin Crisp’s life in New York. Stars Cynthia Nixon and John Hurt.

Big Gay Musical
Paul and Eddie have just begun previews for the new Off-Broadway musical Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made ‘Em, and their lives strangely mirror the characters they are playing.

American Primitive
Recently widowed Harry Goodhart struggles to withhold a secret from his two teenage daughters that risks tearing their family apart.

Drool
A queer comic take on Thelma And Louise.

Eating Out 3
The third installment of this riotous, raunchy, mistaken-identity romps.

Fruit Fly
This delightful and delirious musical film from San Francisco is a must for all the fag hags!

Greek Pete
An unflinching documentary about a young, greek boy working as an escort in London.

Hannah Free
Hannah and Rachel grew up as little girls in the same small Midwest town, where traditional gender expectations eventually challenge their deep love for one another.

Make The Yuletide Gay
A whimsical gay romance with a heart of gold, Make the Yuletide Gay follows a young gay couple Nathan and Gunn as they face their first Christmas apart.

Older n’ Last Time
David and John have been foster carers for the past 18 years and their two foster sons Rowen and Delk are leaving home. David wants to foster more children, but at 55, John is ready for a life without kids.

Pornography – A Thriller
In 1995 gay porn star Mark Anton went missing after deciding to leave the business. Years later, a New York writer-researcher uncovers a snuff tape that may shed light on what happened.

Redwoods
Set amidst the romantic splendor of Russian River, Redwoods portrays the difficult choices one faces when confronted with an unshakable love.

Topp Twins
Fun, disarming and musically provocative, the Topp Twins are New Zealand’s finest lesbian country and western singers.

For the second year running, the Mardi Gras Film Festival will host Centrepieces – four fundraiser screenings, each of which sees 25% of the box office being donated back to a number of community organisations. This year’s beneficiaries are the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, ACON’s Anti-Violence Project and The Sydney Convicts Rugby Club. Last year’s Centrepiece screenings raised up to $2000 for each charity. The line up includes:

Little Ashes
Stars Robert Pattinson, and looks at the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.

And Then Came Lola
In this comic, sexy lesbian romp-loosely inspired by the art house classic Run, Lola, Run – a talented, but distracted photographer, Lola, on the verge of success in both love and work, could lose it all if she doesn’t make it to a crucial meeting on time.