"QFest has never been that premiere-driven," according to Raymond Murray, Artistic Director of QFest, Philadelphia's LGBTQ film festival, "but this year, we were fortunate to be closely involved with many of the producers and directors of our world premiere films. They know they will get sell-out houses, filled with a supportive and enthusiastic audience."
QFest 2010, the 16th anniversary festival, will take place from July 8 to 19 and films will be shown at the Ritz East Theater. Look forward to these nine world premiere films: "You Can Have It All," a romantic comedy, directed by Jay Arnold and starring Jon Lindstrom and Wendie Malick, on opening night; "Flight of the Cardinal," Robert Gaston's thriller, set in a desolate resort lodge in the Smokey Mountains, on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee; "You Should Meet My Son," Keith Hartman's comedy about a mother's search for the right boy for her son; "Seeing Heaven," Ian Powell's stylish horror/thriller, from England, about a handsome escort's descent in the dangerous realm of pornography; "Role Play," Rob Williams' romantic drama, starring Matthew Montgomery; "Strapped," a debut feature by San Francisco's Joseph Graham, which finds a young hustler changed by a series of strange encounters in a labyrinthine apartment building; "Straight & Butch," a documentary about the making of a calendar of nude photos, for which Butch Cordora, a gay man, poses provocatively with a dozen different hetero men; "Shut Up and Kiss Me," David Hamilton's romantic comedy about commitment and resistance to it; and "Alex und der Löwe" AKA "Alex and Leo," a German comedy, by Ives-Yuri Garate, about a group of 30-somethings' couplings, romances and friendships.
One hundred and twenty-five films-narratives, documentaries, features and shorts-from more than 25 countries will fill the dozen days of QFest. During the festival, Artistic Achievement Awards will go to actors Kelly McGills ("Witness," "Top Gun") and Matthew Montgomery ("Socket," "Pornography: A Thriller") and director Cheryl Dunye ("The Watermelon Women," "The Owls"), and the Barbara Gittings Award, named for the late, pioneering lesbian activist, will be presented to Wolfe Video CEO and Founder Kathy Wolfe.
