SASOD Film Festival opens Tuesday

May 30, 2010 News

The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) opens its sixth film festival this Tuesday, with a screening of the film Blueprint, featuring the soundtrack by Guyanese musician Nhojj.
Nhojj this year became the first black musician to win an ‘Out! Music Award for the song “Love”.
Blueprint centres Keith and Nathan, two college freshmen in New York City who meander into a very new relationship together. The film has been screened in over 30 international film festivals and has been nominated for awards at all of the major gay film festivals in New York (NewFest), San Francisco (Frameline), Los Angeles (Outfest) and London (Gay and Lesbian) as well as the film market at the Cannes Film Festival.
This year the festival has as guest programmer, Paul Lee, who has since 1991 organised, programmed, and curated film festivals across the world. In 1994 he made his first short film, Thick Lips Thin Lips, which has won 9 awards, and was screened at over 240 film festivals worldwide, after its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.

A still from the movie Happy Hookers

The Film Festival continues on Wednesday with a series of films under the programme “From Bollywood with Love.”
The first film is Ashish Sawnhy’s “Happy Hookers” which tells the story of three male sex workers who live and work in Mumbai. The second film is “Gulabi Aina” which is about the yearnings experienced by the transgender men who appear to be loud and happy. The third film is “Bomgay” which was made in 1996 and features six vignettes based on Indian writer R. Raj Rao.
The festival continues Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during June 2010.
It features a mix of documentary, experimental, shorts and feature films which feature stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons from Trinidad, Lebanon, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Turkey, Egypt, India, South Africa, Iran, Canada, UK and the USA.
All film screenings will be followed by opportunities for discussions with the audience as part of the objective of the festival to promote honest dialogue on sexuality and gender identity in Guyana.
According to SASOD, the film festival was made possible through collaborations and donations from several organisations including the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.
The films are screened at Sidewalk Cafe in Middle Street from 19:00 hrs each night.
Admission is free. All films are intended for mature audiences.