[Press Release by Limelight PR]
One of the largest queer film festivals in the world, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF), is gearing up for another premiere event in 2009. Screening at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image from 18 – 29 March, MQFF will screen over 150 films over twelve days and includes a $16,000 cash prize pool.
Highlights for the 2009 festival include Affinity, a sumptuous period piece, based on Sarah Waters’ 1999 novel of the same name. It’s a women-in-prison movie with a gothic Victorian twist; Fashion Victims, a classic German comedy about a travelling salesman who finds his territory challenged by a young rival – who’s also become romantically involved with his secretly-gay son; and The Other Side (A Outra Margem), a humanist drama a drag queen who, after his lover commits suicide, re-connects with his sister while finding hope from her son who refuses to let the fact that he suffers from Down Syndrome prevent him from pursuing his dreams.
Other films to screen include To Faro, a tangle of alternative identities where a price is paid for living a double life; writer-director Vincent Garenq’s Baby Love which tackles the controversial subject of same-sex adoption in a crowd-pleasing manner; and the French miniseries What Love Means, which spans over 20 years and follows the lives, loves, and tragedies of an extended family beginning in the early 1980s.
As well as showcasing the best in Queer cinema, MQFF also supports emerging Australian filmmakers with a jury award for the City of Melbourne Best Australian Short Queer Film, presented annually with a $2,000 cash prize, an Audience Choice award for Best Australian Short Film with a $1,000 cash prize and a Selectors Choice Jury Award for Best Australian Short Queer Film with a $500 cash prize.
JURY AWARDS
City of Melbourne Best Australian Short Queer Film – $2,000 cash
Selectors Choice Best Australian Short Queer Film – $500
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
Best Foreign Language Feature Film – $5,000
Best Feature Film – $5,000
Best Documentary Feature Film – $2,000
Best Australian Short Film – S1,000
Best Short Film – $500
Full program details to be announced on February 25 and tickets available from Thursday 26 February. Find out more at www.melbournequeerfilm.com.au