There’s a new LGBT film festival gearing up for its first edition, with the DIGO – Goiás Sexual Diversity and Gender International Film Festival planning to run from May 13th to 15th, at Cine Cultura, in Goiânia Goiás, Brazil. It’s currently seeking submissions of short films from now until May 1st.

The festival aims to encourage and promote public awareness regarding the full respect for human rights and the inclusion of minorities. According to the director of DIGO, Cristiano Sousa, in the Midwest of Brazil there is no similar festival, “So I decided to create this project to say that there is a community interested in being represented at a movie festival, to discuss sexual and gender diversity also in the films.”

The project encompasses audiovisual, education and technologies to ‘expand the universe of expression and aesthetic perception of Brazilian diversity, proposing to address not only sexuality, but incorporate a sense of who are these people and dramas, promoting the issues related to sexual diversity, focusing always in full compliance and respect’.

It is planned that during the three days of DIGO, there will be numerous activities at Cine Cultura (in the city’s Civic Square, a very historic place in the heart of Goiânia, GO Brazil). There will also be parallel exhibitions with short films from international festivals such as: Outfest Peru (Peru) and Asolo Art Film Festival (Italy), as well as awards in which the films chosen by the official jury and public jury will receive the trophy DIGO.

Interested parties can submit their films at: http://digofestival.com.br/inscricoes/

Many African counties remain deeply homophobic. While there has been some attention paid to the situation for LGBT people in nations such as Uganda (due to its planned law to make ‘aggravated’ homosexuality an executable face), there are many other countries on the continent where gay sex is illegal and coming out puts your life at risk due to a deeply homophobic society.

The documentary, The Boy from Mushin, hopes to tell the story of one Nigerian man who did come out, live on TV, and ended up leaving the country due the the fallout. However, to complete filming and editing, it’s hoping to raise $35,000 via Kickstarter, but it’s only got a few days left to do so.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘The Boy from Mushin is a feature length documentary, telling the story of Bisi Alimi, a man who put his life on the line when he chose to come out as gay live on Nigerian national television.

‘In 2004 when the president of Nigeria claimed that there were “no gays in Nigeria”, Funmi Iyanda, interviewed Bisi about his sexuality on her popular television show, New Dawn. The fury that followed tore Bisi’s world apart – alienating him from his family and friends and subjecting him to years of hateful attacks. Funmi’s show was pulled off air, and Bisi’s proud declaration was debated in Parliament.

‘Bisi left Nigeria an exile and arrived in London a refugee. From the streets of Mushin, one of the poorest slums of Lagos, Nigeria, he has become one of Africa’s most prominent human rights activists. This film tells his story: following him as he returns to Nigeria for the first time ever since he was exiled almost 8 years ago.

‘This is a film not only about a courageous man trying to change the world, but a window into the lives of other courageous gay men and women that are fighting tirelessly for acceptance and equality across Africa. It tells a complex story where race, gender, sexuality and populist politics intersect in Nigeria – a story that affects the lives of African LGBT people, but also has an impact in the global north, from conducting business in Nigeria, to tourism and issues of immigration where LGBT people are concerned.’

You can take a look a look at the trailer/fundraising video below, and if it’s a project you’d like to help out with, head over to Kickstarter. The movie is still short of its target, and with an important story to tell, it would be a shame if it didn’t make it. [Read more…]

To mark its 30th anniversary, the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival has done something it’s never done before – surveying a list of experts to put together a list of the top 30 LGBT movies of all time. That list has now been released, ahead of the festival’s March 16th opening.

Topping the list is a very new movie, Carol, which despite only having hit cinemas a few months ago impressed those asked so much that it’s been voted the top LGBT movie ever. Carol was closely followed by Andrew Haigh’s Weekend and Wong Kar-Wai’s Happy Together, with Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain and Jennie Livingston’s Paris Is Burning rounding out the top five.

The list is a mix of well-known film, such as Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon, and lesser seen movies like Celine Sciamma’s Tomboy. It certainly makes for an interesting selection, and should give you a few ideas for movies to seek out.

Carol’s director, Todd Haynes commented on his film coming top of the list, “The Festival has long supported my work, from Poison and Dottie Gets Spanked in the early 1990s through to Carol which is screening on 35mm later this week in BFI Flare’s Best of Year programme. I’m so proud to have Carol voted as the top LGBT film of all time in this poll launched for the Fest’s 30th edition. Carol is in illustrious company with so many films I love, from Brokeback Mountain and Un Chant d’ Amour to Happy Together and My Own Private Idaho.”

In 2015 Carol had its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival as the American Express Gala, when lead actor Cate Blanchett was awarded a BFI Fellowship. Carol was recognised throughout the 2016 award season, being nominated for six Oscars, nine BAFTAs and has won Best Film with five other top prizes at the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association awards. It premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Queer Palm and Rooney Mara won Best Actress. Carol returns to the big screen at this year’s BFI Flare at a special screening of a 35mm print celebrating the best films from the past year, along with Tangerine which placed 11th in the poll.

The poll’s results represent films from a diverse range of nationalities, identities and sexualities across eight decades. Female directors are represented by ten films across the poll dating back to Leontine Sagan’s Mädchen in Uniform (1931), a German production co-directed with Carl Froelich and placed in joint 14th position alongside Show Me Love and Orlando, also directed by female filmmaker Sally Potter.

To create the list, over 100 film experts including filmmakers, critics, writers and programmers such as Joanna Hogg, Mark Cousins, Peter Strickland, Richard Dyer, Nick James and Laura Mulvey, as well as past and present BFI Flare programmers, were asked to have vote. The poll’s results represent 84 years of cinema and 12 countries, from Thailand and Japan to Sweden and Spain.

Take a look at the full list below (with more information available on the BFI Flare website). [Read more…]