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11/1/2001

Gay and Lesbian

Botanique, Bruxelles

Brussels 15th Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - 15th edition.

Tels Quels a.s.b.l. has always relied on cultural festivals to demonstrate a commitment to the idea of homosexuality as a cultural and positive life experience.

That is why this year the 15th Brussels Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, in addition to screening Belgian and foreign short, medium and feature-length films, we will sponsor an even greater number of cultural events. There will be exhibits by painters and photographers, among which an exhibit by French painter and author Michel Giliberti who will show for the first time two paintings he made especially for the occasion (an evocation of deportation), and a photo-exhibit from the Netherlands ("Be equal, be different") on diversity and forms of discrimination in Europe.

Those are actually two main themes for this year's festival: restoring historical truth about the deportation of homosexuals during the Nazi era and bearing witness to its scale and to the fate of oppressed minorities, with the help of testimonies in "Paragraph 175", an American film by Epstein and Friedman.

The second theme centres on a painful anniversary: 20 years of AIDS. This will be an opportunity to see again "Longtime Companion" or to discover "Alive and Kicking".

Both Festival themes will be broached through film and through debates with prominent European figures and scientific experts.

Culture and entertainment: films, of course, but also a fashion-show, a classical guitar mini-recital and a giant karaoke, plus many more activities welcome to gays, lesbians, and gay-friendly heterosexuals. And no one will want to miss the election of Miss and Mister Festival 2001 and a decidedly queer spoof of the very famous television show "Tournez manège!".

In addition to the two above-mentioned themes (the deportation of homosexuals and 20 years of AIDS), the 2001 Film Festival will offer a chance to view a Columbia avant-première "The Broken Hearts Club", a gay comedy for all audiences; "Mais que faisaient les femmes pendant que l'homme marchait sur la Lune?" (What were women up to when man was walking on the moon?), the latest - and first feature film - by Belgian female filmmaker Chris Vander Stappen ("La fête des mères"), which received an award at the Namur Festival of Francophone Film last autumn; critically acclaimed "Red Dirt" with Dan Montgomery and Karen Black; "If These Walls Could Speak 2" with Sharon Stone and Ellen DeGeneres; "Presque rien" ("Almost nothing"), the first feature film by Sébastien Lifshitz (who also made "Les corps ouverts", a medium-length film shown at the 1999 festival), with Jérémie Elkaïm and Stéphane Rideau; "Segunda piel" by Gerardo Varda, with Javier Bardem and Ariadna Gil; "Wolves of Kromer", narrated by Boy George; and "Krampack" by Cesc Gay, noted during Critics' Week in Cannes last year, to name just a few.

The programme also includes documentaries, such as "Youth Outloud!", which examines issues of sexual identity in the school environment; "That's a Family!", by the maker of the widely acclaimed "It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School", which tells us about differing family structures as seen through the eyes of children; "Our House", a candid look at what it means to be raised by gay and lesbian parents - a very topical subject!

Finally, you will have a chance to see medium-length and shorts films, among which "Kampvuur" and "Les soeurs lumière", the latest creations of Bavo Defurne and Karen Vanderborght, from Belgium; "Gelée précoce" by Pierre Pineau, a hilarious story about gay rabbits; "Rick and Steve, the happiest gay couple in all the world", a cartoon which has won awards in many countries, and much, much more.

Botanique - Cultural Centre of the French Community in Brussels - 236 rue Royale - Brussels - Tel. 003225124587 - Fax. 003225113148

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