As well as some very special films, The Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival marks this, its 20th season, with at least one innovative new sidebar program.
“The Flashback series is something I’ve been working on for a couple of years,” says Inside Out director of programming Jason St-Laurent. “To have a really hefty partnership with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is something I thought was really important.”
Screening at Buddies during the festival are gay cinema classics 20 Centimetres, The Celluloid Closet, Funny Felix, Poison, Saving Face, Lilies, and The Watermelon Woman.
St-Laurent says the Flashback series programming is the most accessible in the festival in the sense that the screenings are either pay-what-you-can or free. Festival goers get to enjoy Buddies’ familiar and relaxed atmosphere: cabaret seating with the bar open for business.
“One of the bigger highlights is that we’re bringing a lot of filmmakers to come and not only talk about their new films, like Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein to talk about Howl, but they’ll also be there to talk about The Celluloid Closet and the kind of impact that film had on the queer community as a whole,” says St-Laurent.
John Greyson is scheduled to be there to chat about his 1996 film Lilies, and Cheryl Dunye will do the same for her 1996 film The Watermelon Woman.
For the screenings at which filmmakers won’t be present, past Inside Out programmers will step in.
Read about more films playing at the 2010 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival