The 15th Dublin International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, now called GAZE, will open on 2 August with American director Casper Andreas’ ‘A Four Letter Word’, a comedy about modern life in the New York gay scene described by programmers as ‘a gay Sex and the City’. The five day film fest will close with Eytan Fox’s ‘The Bubble’.
‘The Bubble’ tells the story of a gay romance set against the Israel/Palestinian conflict. When Palestinian Ashraf turns up at Naom’s Tel Aviv apartment, they begin an intense love affair that for a while seems to bridge the political divide. As the story unfolds, however, the violence of war seems destined to destroy their dreams.
GAZE will host the Irish Premier of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, a re-working of Oscar Wilde’s famous novel. Director Duncan Roy relocates the story from Victorian England to 1980’s New York, amongst the competitive art market and the early years of AIDS.
Irish directors Alan Grossman and Aine O’Brien bring their film ‘Here to Stay’ to the festival, and will be in attendance along with the film’s star Fidel Taguinod. More homegrown talent comes in the shape of documentary ‘Queering the Pitch’, directed by Tom Maguire, James Davis and Tony Bohan. The film explores the life, loves, and challenges of gay rugby team The Emerald Warriors, some of whom will attend the screening.
Also in the line-up is award-winning documentary ‘Red Without Blue’, which follows identical twin gay brothers, one transsexual, and their divorced parents as they all come to terms with each other.
With a new name comes a new programme director, Michele Devlin, who has been directing the Belfast Film Festival since 2000.
Speaking on the announcement of the programme, he said: ‘We are confident you will be delighted with the fruits of our combined labour and encourage you to indulge yourself in a filmic bank-holiday weekend which will transport you from Temple Bar to Taiwan, India, France, America and beyond.’
Full programme details can be found at www.gaze.ie.
To book tickets, phone the IFI Box Office on 01 679 34477.
