MGLFF Announces Upcoming Lineup

The celebrated 8th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (MGLFF), presented by Sundance Channel and Avis Rent-a-Car, announced its upcoming lineup of the best gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender films that will be featured during the 10-day Festival April 21-30.

Screenings for this year’s MGLFF will take place at Regal Cinemas South Beach, the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the Colony Theatre in South Beach, and the Gateway Cinemas (located in Fort Lauderdale).

MGLFF will kick-off on Friday, April 21, with the Opening Night Gala presentation and East Coast Premiere of Manuel Gòmez Pereira’s Reinas (Queens), at the Gusman Center in Downtown Miami, followed by a spectacular party presented by Karu&Y Restaurant at The Space Miami. (Director Manuel Gòmez Pereira will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.)

On Wednesday, April 26, the Festival will present the Centerpiece Gala and Florida Premiere screening of Whole New Thing by Amnon Buchbinder, at the Colony Theater. An after-party at the Hotel Nash, which will be transformed into a Miami Beach Cinemathèque-guided tour through multimedia artists’ work and down the darkened hallways and through the private quarters of the hotel, will follow. (Writer-director Amnon Buchbinder will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.)

The Festival will close on Sunday, April 30, with the Closing Night Gala and Florida Premiere screening of Todd Stephens’ hysterical comedy Another Gay Movie, featuring a star-studded cast that includes Graham Norton and Scott Thompson, at the Gusman Center. An exciting party at the historic Alfred I. Dupont Building will follow. (Director Todd Stephens and actor Darryl Stephens will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.)

This year, MGLFF will also pay tribute to the acclaimed independent film distributor TLA Entertainment Group, which will be presented with a special MGLFF Tribute prior to the screening of 20 Centimeters, on Saturday, April 22, at the Colony Theater. TLA Releasing will be celebrating 25 years in the industry, having released such audience favorites as Latter Days, The Fluffer, Bulgarian Lovers, and Bear Cub (Cachorro). (TLA president Raymond Murray and partners Patrick Murray, Eric Moore, Claire Brown Kohler, and Richard Wolff will attend the screening.)

The HBO Career Achievement Award will be presented this year to prolific French director François Ozon (8 Women, Swimming Pool). A one-man industry in his native country, Ozon has delivered eight features in a seven-year period. While it would be easy to assume that Ozon prefers stories that contain gay themes, the recurrence of GLBT story lines in his narratives, coupled with the director’s out status, make his mark in filmmaking fairly unusual, and thus worthy of attention and recognition. (The award will be presented on his behalf to actor Melvil Poupaud prior to the U.S. Premiere of Time to Leave, on Friday, April 28, at the Regal Cinema South Beach.)

For more information, visit www.mglff.com.

Photo: IMDb.com.