Q! Film Festival opens this weekend
Q! Film Festival opens this weekend
Lisabona Rahman Contributor/Jakarta This year, the fourth since its initiation, the Q! Film Festival will screen more than 50 features, shorts and documentary films under the theme of "Sexual Diversity".
The festival broaches issues of sexual identity in the contexts of the family, friends and society.
The festival will run for 10 days, from Sept. 17 to Sept. 25, at various foreign cultural centres such as the Goethe-Institut, French Culturel Centre Salemba (CCF) and galleries: Oktagon Gallery, Cemara 6 Gallery, Teater Utan Kayu, the Heaven Club and also Subtitles, both in Dharmawangsa Square.
Fringe events include a discussion with major local writers on homosexuality in Indonesian literature. The Queer Karaoke Party at the Heaven Club will wrap up the festival with screenings of the works of both Indonesian and foreign filmmakers.
The audience picks the winners of prizes for best film and other categories. Star Appeal (China by Cui Zi En), Still (Indonesia, by Lucky Kuswandi) and Fever (Indonesia, by Paul Agusta) will premiere at the karaoke party.
The line up for the party includes the works of famous directors such as Gus Van Sant (the winner of Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival 2004) like Mala Noche, My Own Private Idaho (Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix) and also Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (Uma Thurman and Sean Young); Pedro Almodovar's What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Live Flesh (Javier Bardem).
It's also a good chance to see classics like The Hunger (Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon), Death in Venice by Luchino Visconti and Velvet Goldmine (Ewan McGregor, Christian Slater).
Some of this year's best films are award-winning documentaries such as Keep Not Silent by Ilil Alexander from Israel, Gender X by Julia Ostertag from Germany and Paternal Instinct by director Murray Nossel (USA) who was nominated for an Oscar. For further information, check out the Q! Film Festival website: www.qfilmfestival.com or send an enquiry to qfilmfestival@yahoo.com