Tuesday, January 22

Derek

Director: Isaac Julien

Narrator: Tilda Swinton

(UK, 2008, 76 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

As one of the most important British filmmakers of the late 20th century, Derek Jarman produced cinematic works of art that reclaimed and restaged classical history with an unapologetically queer sensibility. Fourteen years after his death, director Isaac Julien and longtime Jarman collaborator Tilda Swinton have crafted Derek to celebrate the life and legacy of one of film's true visionaries.

Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Director: Christopher Bell

Screenwriters: Christopher Bell, Alexander Buono, Tamsin Rawady

(USA, 2007, 105 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

After his two brothers found themselves caught up in the dangerous subculture of performance-enhancing drugs and steroids, director Christopher Bell decided to turn his camera on the social pressures that lead some to take drastic steps in pursuit of physical perfection. Among those interviewed is an HIV-positive man and proponent of steroid therapy.

Library Center Theater, Park City

Xanadu

Director: Robert Boyd

(USA, 2007, Installation)

As part of the free exhibitions at the New Frontier space on Main Street, Robert Boyd's installation Xanadu will be shown every day in a single channel presentation. In rapid fire, music style montages, Boyd throws a disco track over images of doomsday cults, political figures, and fundamentalist rage against feminism and gay rights.

Screening with The Linguists

New Frontier, Park City

Half-life

Director/Screenwriter: Jennifer Phang

Cast: Sanoe Lake, Leonardo Nam, Julia Nickson

(USA, 2008, 116 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

Set in a futuristic world scarred from global and environmental disasters, this gorgeous and inventive film follows a family's growing uncertainty after single mother Saura meets a mysterious suitor. At the same time, frustrated daughter Pam longs for a young gay man named Scott struggling for acceptance from his own fundamentalist parents.

Egyptian Theatre, Park City

Untitled #1

Director: Nao Bustamente

(USA, 2007, 4 min., color, Sony HD Cam)

Seeking to create a "time capsule" to be opened in the year 2507, Bustamente has created an assemblage of found footage, crude video, and stampeding poodles to be the first in a series of films meant for future generations to re-experience.

Screening with Half-Life

Egyptian Theatre, Park City

The Wrestling

Director: Grimur Hakonarson

(Iceland, 2007, 20 min., color, 35mm)

A pair of wrestlers living in rural Iceland must hide their relationship from the macho sporting world to which they belong.

Shown as part of Shorts Program II

Prospector Square Theatre, Park City

1977

Director: Peque Varela

(United Kingdom, 2007, 9 min., color)

A young school girl's anxieties about not fitting in with her more feminine classmates manifest as a bitter, little knot of black energy in this inventively animated short.

Shown as part of Animation Spotlight)

Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City

Phoebe In Wonderland

Director/Screenwriter: Daniel Barnz

Cast: Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Elle Fanning

(USA, 2007, 96 min., color, 35mm)

The different psychological realities of children and adults are explored in writer/director Daniel Barnzs' tale of a frustrated academic struggling to raise her daughter, Phoebe, a gifted child prone to escapist fantasies, who wants to take part in a school production of Alice in Wonderland.

Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Park City

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (Dramatic Competition)

Director/Screenwriter: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Cast: Jon Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sienna Miller, Mena Suvari, Nick Nolte

(USA, 2007, 95 min., color, 35 mm)

This adaptation of Michael Chabon's celebrated novel follows aimless mobster's son Art Bechstein in the summer that he meets Jane and Cleveland, a couple with whom he soon finds himself in a bisexual love triangle and increasingly risky situations.

Broadway Centre Cinemas, Park City

Pretty Bird (Dramatic Competition)

Director/Screenwriter: Paul Schneider

Cast: Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Kristen Wiig, Denis O'Hare

(USA, 2008, 120 min., color, 35mm)

The spirit of invention is alive and well in Curtis Prentiss, a driven man intent on creating a rocket-powered belt, who finds unexpected success when he teams with an out of work aerospace engineer and a friend with the funds to underwrite the project. At least one of the film's characters will come out of the closet by the film's end as well.

Library Center Theater, Park City

Karaoke Show

Director: Karl Tebbe

(Germany, 4 min.)

Having grown up coveting the dance moves and pop bravado of Michael Jackson, director Tebbe gives it his all in a naked "techno-soul" performance, assisted by some stop-motion animation.

Screening with Shorts Block 2

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park Ciity

Serene Hunter

Director: Jason Bushman

(France/USA, 13 min.)

A young Parisian named Luc trades a life of anonymous sex to move in with his boyfriend Sebastien, but the arrival of Luc's Los Angeles lover Jon complicates matters.

Screening with Shorts Block 2

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Pageant

Directors/Screenwriters: Ron Davis, Stewart Halpern

(USA, 2008, 95 min., color)

When most people think of drag queens, vulgar humor and awkward lip singing very often spring to mind. But as the contestants in the 34th Miss Gay America pageant prove, professional female impersonation requires hard work, artistry, and a competitor's edge. This documentary follows five diverse gay men as they travel to Memphis, Tennessee to compete for the title.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Felicia

Director: Tim O'Hara

(USA, 8 min.)

Though she faces an uncertain future with barely enough income to cover her burial, an aging transgender woman named Felicia Elizondo keeps a positive outlook in this documentary short.

Screening with Pageant

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Holdout

Director: Brent Joseph

(USA, 15 min.)

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, this documentary short follows one New Orleans gay man who refused to evacuate, choosing to stay behind and care for his 18 pets.

Screening with My Mother's Garden

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

City of Cranes

Director: Eva Weber

(U.K., 14 min.)

From the metal cage that makes up his workplace, a crane operator shares his experiences and observations after years of viewing humanity from hundreds of feet above.

Screening with Neo-Lounge

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Goodbye Baby

Director/Screenwriter: Daniel Schechter

Cast: Christine Evangelista, Kevin Corrigan, Ivan Sandomire, Kane Manera

(USA, 2001, 87 min., color)

Fresh off the boat in New York City, Melissa moves into a small one-bedroom apartment shared by her brother Robbie and his boyfriend, and takes a waitress job while pursuing her dream of becoming a stand-up comic.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Sync or Swim

Director/Screenwriter: Cheryl Furjanic

(USA, 2008, 100 min., color)

Synchronized swimming doesn't spring to many people's minds when they think of the toughest Olympic competitions, but this documentary seeks to show just how much grueling training actually goes on behind the scenes.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City

Otto; Or, Up With Dead People

Director/Screenwriter: Bruce LaBruce

Cast: Jey Crisfar, Katharina Klewinghaus, Marcel Schlutt, Christophe Chemin

(Germany/Canada, 2007, 95 min., color & b/w, 35 mm)

Director Bruce LaBruce has never been one for modesty or self-censorship, and his latest tale following a gay zombie is no exception. Poor Otto is a rather confused zombie. He struggles to figure out who he is and what he was before, while an aspiring filmmaker decides he's the perfect star for her cinematic revolt against our consumerist society.

Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, Park City

Spine Tingler!: The William Castle Story

Director: Jeffrey Schwarz

(USA, 2007, 80 min., color & b/w)

With his outrageous publicity stunts and audience participation gimmicks, horror-movie impresario William Castle revolutionized the movie going experience, and crossed paths with some quite notorious figures along the way. John Waters is among those interviewed on Castle's legacy.

Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City