Barbed-Wire Kisses: Contemporary Lesbian and Gay Cinema

In the last several years, there has been a significant outpouring of gay and lesbian cinema, ranging from the more experimental and challenging work of filmmakers like Derek Jarman and last year’s Grand Prize winner Todd Haynes, to the more popular visions of Gus Van Sant and Norman Rene. The Festival’s Competition this year includes four features and over half-a-dozen shorts exemplifying gay cinema, in addition to premiere screenings of Edward II and Vegas in Space. Without question gay filmmaking is at the leading edge of the American independent-filmmaking movement in terms of innovation and aesthetic risk taking. Noted film writer and educator B.Ruby Rich will moderate a panel of some of the leading gay filmmakers in the United States and abroad, which will explore some of the ideological and historical issues that mark the significance of this movement.