Mark June 2nd-5th down on your calendars for the 6th Annual Fairy Tales International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival! This year’s event promises to showcase top notch programming from around the world highlighting the diversity of GLBTT communities. Organized by the newly formed Fairytales Presentation Society, in collaboration with the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), the festival will include thought-provoking short and feature length films originating from places as far away as Argentina, Australia and Bulgaria, just to name a few. In addition to international submissions, the festival will also accentuate entertaining films from Canadian and American filmmakers. For the past five years, Festival Producer Brenda Lieberman has ensured that submissions to the festival are diverse and include a little something for everyone. "Whether you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or straight, this year’s festival will have something for you", Lieberman says.
This year, festival organizers have brought in filmmaker Allan Brocka to attend as a visiting filmmaker. He will be on hand to discuss, among other things, his film Eating Out, a surprising story about the advantageousness of straight men playing gay to get in bed with the opposite sex. "We are very excited to have Brocka join us at the festival this year" says Lieberman, "His films challenge our assumptions about how gay men are perceived by society". There will be plenty of films for women this year too, including an afternoon of short films and the feature length Argentinean film Suddenly, a black and white Thelma & Louise-style movie about the camaraderie of two women constantly on the run from the law.
When asked why people from the community should attend the festival, the President of the Fairytales Presentation Society, Gordon Sombrowski explains, "Fairy Tales is an opportunity to see great films on the big screen – for anyone interested in film in Calgary. Calgary is the film city in Canada right now, and the festival is a great way to be a part of that.
"Many of the films showcased at the festival are from different parts of the world with different perspectives on life in all of its diversity," he continues "and ones that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see".
While the festival has a gay and lesbian theme to it, Sombrowski points out that, "This film festival is important for the whole community, as Hollywood and TV incorporate more and more gay themes, films seen at Fairy Tales become more important because they don’t have a very wide distribution. Modern film distribution of GLBT themed film is not accessible to the general public, and this festival provides that accessibility".
The audience for the festival has been growing steadily each year and has become a highly anticipated annual event.
A Fairy Good Time
In anticipation of this year’s festival the Fairytales Presentation Society is hosting a celebration in support of the 6th Annual International Film Festival at Vicious Circle on May 13th. All are welcome to meet the people behind this year’s festival and enjoy the ambience of Vicious Circle. Enjoy a few cocktails and nibble on appetizers while contemplating the treats of Silent Auction items including a salon package, a weekend get–a–way, and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) tickets, just to name a few. The event begins at 8pm and is sure to be a dazzling night not soon to be forgotten.
If you would like more information about ‘A Fairy Good Time’ on May 13th, or the 6th Annual Fairy Tales International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on June 2nd-5th, please visit www.fairytalesfilmfest.com or call CSIF at (403) 205 4747.
See you all at Fairy Tales!!
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Contributor Eric Berndt |
Locale Calgary |
Topic Fairy Tales Film Festival | Film Festival | Movies |
Photo Gallery Fairy Tales Film Festival |
