Damn These Heels 2014 LGBT Film Festival | July 11-13

Opening night film is open to festival pass holders only. Buy your pass or sponsorship today to gurantee your seat at opening night!

*A post-film discussion with filmmakers Sheila Canavan and Michael Chandler. Unfortunately, due to illness, Barney Frank and Jim Ready will be unable to join us for the screening.

Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank is the surprise film of the year, a rare and intimate peek into the life of Barney Frank, the quick-witted, cantankerous, and most prominent openly gay congressman in the United States. A flawless example of what happens when the personal meets the political, the bare-all access of this documentary reveals Frank as one of the most sharp-tongued, entertaining, and lionhearted politicians of our time. Compared to What will make you want to cheer—for a trailblazing activist whose personal journey mirrors our country’s path toward equal rights and for his knowing optimism, even in the face of a political system that seems increasingly broken. Seeing this film is bound to change the way people think about political leaders who happen to be gay because it tells the story of a man whose work impacts every American’s life in ways he or she may not even be aware of.

Official Selection: 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

Iranian-American writer and director, Desiree Akhavan, is a triple threat. She wrote, directed, and stars in her latest film, Appropriate Behavior. With Lena-Dunham-like-wit (Akhavan actually is joining the cast of Girls in the fourth season), and as talented as Tina Fey, Akhavan shows off her talents as Shirin, the sexual, beautiful, Brooklynite reeling from a recent breakup with her long-time girlfriend.

[EXPAND ] Thus begins Shirin’s rebound period, which is soon inconveniently complicated by the announcement of her brother’s engagement to a parentally-pleasing Persian girl. Shirin engages in a range of intriguing sexual encounters, experiences hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking flashbacks, and makes half-hearted attempts to be a good daughter, which usually requires lying by omission. Ultimately, Shirin’s challenge is to learn to live with herself, and it’s often fun, occasionally painful, but always thoroughly entertaining to watch her figuring out who she is.
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Official Selection: 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 2014 Frameline38 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival

Beautifully made, intensely engrossing, and deeply moving, director Mischa Kamp’s movie Boys chronicles the life of a young man named Sieger over his summer holidays. Training on a track team for national relay championships, Sieger is drawn to his teammate, Marc.

[EXPAND ] Exploring his feelings of attraction for Marc, and trying to balance them against life at home with his feuding father and brother, Sieger undergoes a lonely struggle to unravel his sexual identity. Ultimately, Sieger must choose between Marc and Jessica, a young woman he is set up with, and decide whether his secret love for Marc is worth the risk. Enhanced by stunning cinematography and dynamic performances from the cast, this film’s tenderness and heart remind us of the raw vulnerability and electric excitement of falling in love for the first time.
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Official Selection: 2014 Seattle International Film Festival, 2014 Boston LGBT Film Festival, 2014 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, 2014 Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival

This award-winning film chronicles a tumultuous period for Switzerland’s pioneering gay male organization, The Circle, as seen through the eyes of timid schoolteacher Ernst Ostertag and drag performer Röbi Rapp, partners for more than 50 years! The couple first met through their association with The Circle, the centre of Switzerland’s discreet, but thriving, gay community. The Circle was known both for the magazine it produced, which was read by thousands in Switzerland and abroad, and for its legendary annual masked balls.

Winner: Teddy Award and Panorama Audience Award—2014 Berlin International Film Festival, Audience Award for best documentary—Boston LGBT Film Festival

Whoever said that too much sugar is a bad thing has never seen Cupcakes. This lively musical romp, filled with a healthy dose of acceptance and love, is sure to satisfy your cinematic sweet tooth. 

Playing on the world’s penchant for reality singing competitions, Cupcakes brings together six quirky friends as they gather to watch Universong, a fictional European singing competition. When Anat is dumped by her husband, her five friends band together to lift her spirits with a spontaneous ditty. 

Buoyed by a catchy soundtrack and endearing cast, Cupcakes will have you humming the group’s signature song while smiling from ear to ear. This film’s celebratory message is just the right amount of sweet.[/EXPAND]

Official Selection: 2014 Frameline38 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival

In a small countryside town in rural Germany, Jakob, a straight-laced young cop, takes on the case of a wolf that has been prowling the woods and backyards of frightened townsfolk. Desperate to protect his hometown, Jakob starts hanging bags of meat in the outlying woods to keep the wolf at bay. Soon he receives a mysterious package addressed to “Lonely Wolf” with instructions to deliver it to the woods. When Jakob tracks down the recipient, he finds a raspy-voiced young man wearing a long white dress with long blond hair and a feral look in his eyes.

Once this night is over, the townsfolk will wish it was just a wolf that has come to haunt them. Shocking, bloodthirsty, and downright strange, Der Samurai is a horrific thriller that pulsates with relentless intensity.[/EXPAND]

Official Selection: 2014 Berlin Film Festival, 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

Finishing the last day of her job as a shuttle driver in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tina is preparing for a job interview set up by her father, who wants her to have a lucrative career. However, when a plane from Denmark is forced to land at the Slovenian airport, Tina’s world is turned upside down by the lovely, quirky Iben.

Official Selection: 2013 Karlovy Vary Film Festival

*Subject of the film, Kristin Beck, will be in attendance for a post-film discussion immediately following the film.

Former Navy SEAL Christopher Beck gained public attention in 2013 when she came out as Kristin Beck, a transgender woman. Shortly after retiring from active duty, Kristin embraced her true identity that she had hidden throughout her time in the service, knowing that she would lose everything if anyone learned her secret. When she came out on CNN, many friends, colleagues, and family members were taken by surprise.

Through exclusive interviews with Kristin, her family, and her friends, as well as footage of Christopher Beck in training and combat, the filmmakers reveal Kristin’s courage, resolve, and perseverance in this intimate portrait of a remarkable hero and leader.[/EXPAND]

Official Selection: 2014 SXSW Film Festival, 2014 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2014 Human Rights Watch Film Festival

*Filmmakers, Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini and subject of the film and Rupaul’s Drag Race star, April Carrión will be present on Closing Night for a post-film discussion immediately following the film.

After the Q&A, join us, the filmmakers, and April Carrión at Club Jam for the official DTH closing night party. Cover is only $5, free if you have a festival pass, and April will host and preform!!!

This gorgeous and well-crafted film premiered to great reviews at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. A celebration of the trans community in Puerto Rico, this documentary is an intimate exploration of self-discovery and activism featuring a diverse collection of individuals. Similar to the groundbreaking film Paris Is Burning, Mala Mala follows the lives of a transgender sex worker, her straight-identified male partner, a trans club owner, a local performer, a trans activist, an aged salon owner, and a familiar performer who appears on the television show RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Official Selection: 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

Returning home to Canada’s Alberta province, transgender singer/songwriter Rae Spoon, who prefers the gender-neutral pronoun “they,” travels the Canadian prairies via Greyhound bus, playing small shows in small towns. As the miles on the road add up, Spoon opens up about growing up in an abusive evangelistic household, discovering their gender identity and sexuality, and experiencing high school love.

Director Chelsea McMullan takes us on a playful journey, unfolding Spoon’s story through live music performances, intimate interviews, and narrative music videos in this memorable documentary/musical hybrid.[/EXPAND]

Winner: Best Canadian Documentary-Vancouver Film Critics Circle; Official Selection: 2014 Sundance Film Festival

Diego, a successful fashion photographer in Caracas, is in a longtime and loving relationship with his partner Fabrizio, an OB/GYN physician who would like to settle down. Fabrizio proposes that Diego move in with him to “formalize” their relationship. While considering Fabrizio’s offer, Diego learns that his son, Armando, a teenager who lives in Spain with his mother and whom he hasn’t seen in five years, will be coming to live with him for a short time. 

Fueled by a strong script, wonderful performances, and a great cast of supporting characters, this wonderful film tackles tough issues with charm and grace.[/EXPAND]

Be advised: This film contains graphic scenes of homophobic violence.

Winner: Goya Award for best Ibero-American film, Audience Award –2014 Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival; Official Selection: 2014 Málaga Film Festival, 2014 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival 

Richard and Alex are out for a drive and spot their dream home. After crashing a party to get a look inside the house, they soon find themselves house-sitting for the homeowners, Jake and Chloe, who are leaving to do missionary work with orphaned children in Bhutan. While house-sitting, Richard and Alex discover a secret room filled with cash that they aren’t sure what to do with. Things get even more complicated when they learn that Jake and Chloe have been killed in a freak accident.

Featuring a terrific cast, Such Good People is an old-fashioned screwball comedy about greed and jealousy that is sure to entertain.[/EXPAND]

Official Selection: 2014 Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 2014 FilmOut San Diego LGBT Film Festival, 2014 Adelaide Queen Culture and Film Festival

Just a few weeks after the historic gay weddings occurred in Utah, To Be Takei became one of the most relevant, must-see films at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The filmmakers and the two Takei husbands were received with long, standing ovations, and George Takei delighted audiences with angry condemnations of Governor Herbert, which were surprisingly rage filled coming from a seemingly mild-mannered 70-year-old.

With humor, passion, compassion—and the essential support of his nagging, doting, and scene-stealing husband, Brad—George evolved into activist, politician, tastemaker, and Facebook/Trekkie/Comic Con royalty. To Be Takei is a timely, funny, and glorious story.[/EXPAND]

Official Selection: 2014 Sundance Film Festival, 2014 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

This is the story of Tom. In the midst of grief and depression, he travels to the country for the funeral of his lover, Guillaume. When he arrives, he discovers that nobody knows about his relationship with the deceased or even who he is. Guillaume’s mother, Agathe, is blind to her son’s sexuality and lives believing a cover story about a girlfriend in Montreal. 

At 25 years old, writer/director Xavier Dolan, who also plays Tom in the film, is already a prolific and accomplished filmmaker. This film, his first attempt into suspense and menace, is as much exhilarating as it is unsettling. Described as “queer noir,” Tom at the Farm takes the viewer on a tightrope walk that teeters masterfully between eroticism and the possibility of violence.[/EXPAND]

Winner: FIPRESCI Prize–2013 Venice Film Festival, People’s Choice Award–2014 Istanbul International Film Festival; Official Selection: 2013 Venice Film Festival, 2013 Toronto International Film Festival

From Brazil comes this charming coming-of-age story about friendship and the desire for a first love. Leonardo is a blind teenager yearning for independence from his well-meaning, but overprotective, family. He hopes to go on an exchange program abroad, a plan that doesn’t sit well with his BFF, Giovanna, who is always at his side and who secretly wishes they were more than just friends.

Capitalizing on wonderful performances from the young cast, director Daniel Ribiero crafts a sensitive and endearing story filled with flashes of humor that wonderfully captures the experience of first love. This sweet film is sure to leave you smiling.[/EXPAND]

Winner: Teddy–2014 Berlin Film Festival, Audience Award–2014 Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival; Audience Award-Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 

In an all-but-abandoned tower in the middle of a snowy forest, we meet our hosts for the evening: a sad young woman, a one-eyed young man, and their horny transvestite maid. They are preparing for an orgy. With anticipation and trepidation, they await the arrival of their guests: the Slut, the Stud, the Teen, and the Star. What ensues is a surreal journey through voyeurism, participation, and finally complicity.

Director Yann Gonzalez’s bright and thumping visual style combines with a suggestive and dreamlike score by French electro group M83 to make this one party you won’t want to miss![/EXPAND]

Be advised: This film contains scenes of explicit sex and nudity.

Winner: Best Picture—2013 Athens International Film Festival, Best Picture—2013 Milan Film Festival; Official Selection: 2013 Cannes Film Festival, 2014 International Film Festival Rotterdam