They are back – the 20th Out In Africa Gay & Lesbian Film Festival’s 2013 final edition takes place in Cape Town at both Nu Metro and Cinema Nouveau V&A Waterfront from 18-27 October.
The sure-fire hit of the Festival will be the French title Blue is the Warmest Colour, Abdellatif Kechiche’s 3-hour epic, awarded the Cannes Palme d’Or by a jury headed by Steven Spielberg. Courtesy of Ster Kinekor Cinema Nouveau, this will be the South African Première. It will screen at Cinema Nouveau V&A Waterfront.
Continuing the French theme is the documentary Louis(e) de Ville, portrait of a bad girl!  This is not to be missed by anyone. Louis(e), a guest of the Festival courtesy of the French Embassy / IFAS will attend all screenings, and perform her inimitable style of live burlesque in both cities. Intelligent, articulate and political, she performs in burlesque shows throughout Europe. Details of her performances and workshops are on the OIA website. Portrait screens as a double bill with In their Room: London directed by Travis Mathews, who often collaborates with James Franco. In their rooms are a surprising cross-section of gay men who share what’s on their minds and.. Intelligent and insightful, compulsive and compelling, voyeuristic and sometimes just plain crazy, the film is also surprisingly tender.
German director Patrick Schuckmann will present his film Lose Your Head, a tense and sexy psychological thriller based on the true story. Luis, a young Spaniard, comes to summery Berlin to party and meets the sexy, intriguing Viktor. It all becomes scary and sinister when a Greek woman mistakes Luis for her brother who has disappeared.
Schuckmann will run Script Writing workshops in Jozi and Cape Town.
Another German offering is the award winning Free Fall (Freier Fall) directed by Stephan Lacant. Set far from the gay world, it is a gritty, intense study of a riot squad policeman whose life comes apart when he falls for a colleague. Beautifully shot, exquisitely acted, Free Fall is part Brokeback Mountain, part Undertow.
Director Rodney Evans, a guest of the 2005 Festival with Brother to Brother, has delivered a well-scripted, often pin-sharp delving into the new rules of engagement as permanence makes way for pleasure in The Happy Sad. Here two couples, one (nearly) straight, one gay, find themselves exploring alternatives to the usual ’til-death-do-us-part monogamy roundabout, with intriguing consequences and more twists than a 5th Avenue pretzel.
Doug Spearman’s Hot Guys with Guns is a modern take on the old-fashioned detective story. It’s Chinatown meets Boystown. A series of raids on exclusive parties leaves a raft of LA’s most influential gay men high and dry. Will our amateur PIs catch the bastards, or just the clap? By turns tense and dramatic, it’s also titillating, funny, cruisey, filled with Hollywood insider-humour and some pretty decent acting. Lots of fun.
Out in the Dark, directed by Michael Mayer, is a multi-award winning Israeli film that delivers a gripping tale of love that both comments on, and uses the backdrop of, Israeli-Palestinian politics to great effect. Palestinian Nimr sneaks across the border at night to the gay bars of Tel Aviv where he meets the sexy Israeli lawyer, Roy. The cinematography, music and editing all contribute to an edgy, urgent drama of star-crossed lovers.
And for a truly South African experience the Festival includes a programme of three local shorts:                                                     Benedicte Roumega’s White Lies, set in a Cape Town hair salon, starring Alan Committee; Oko Macanda’s Somagwaza about two boys undergoing their initiation into the world of men; and Duan Myburgh’s DIFF award winning tale of love and revenge, The Brave Unseen.
For film trailers, workshops and all other info, check out website here
Bookings opened on Monday, 30th September.
