A new LGBT film festival — qFLIX — is coming to Philadelphia next month.
Thom Cardwell, who has been involved in dozens of area film festivals, is spearheading the five-day event, which will take place Sept. 18-22 at various venues along the Avenue of the Arts, including the Kimmel Center, the Prince Music Theater and the University of the Arts.
“People were asking me about an LGBT film festival. I don’t want to live in a city that lost their [queer] film festival,” Cardwell said in a recent phone interview about why he started qFLIX. “We got some support from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Wyncote Foundation and the Greater Philadelphia Film Office as well as our sponsor, the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association,” where Cardwell is on the board.
“So I thought, rather than just talking about it or skipping a year and not having a festival, let’s go for it!”
qFLIX will be different than QFest, or the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which would have celebrated its 20th anniversary in July but was postponed. Organizers said they might stage two mini festivals, one in the fall and the other in the spring.
For qFLIX, both opening- and closing-night titles were being kept under wraps, but films that have been booked include “Tiger Orange” by director/co-writer Wade Gasque, a drama about the reunion of two estranged gay brothers (Frankie Valenti, aka adult-film star Johnny Hazzard, and co-writer Mark Strango), and “Corpus Christi,” a documentary about out playwright Terrence McNally’s controversial play that imagines Jesus and his disciples as gay. McNally, who has been invited to the festival, has not confirmed attendance yet.
One of the festival’s centerpiece features is “Saugatuck Cures,” by director Matthew Ladensack about the openly gay Drew (Max Adler of “Glee”), who takes his buddy’s (Danny Mooney) strange advice on how to raise money for his ailing mother’s caregiving. Adler and Mooney, along with filmmaker Ladensack and screenwriter Jay Paul Deratany, will attend the festival.
qFLIX is highlighting independent queer films like “Saugatuck Cures” and “Tiger Orange” because Cardwell said he “wanted to give access to these filmmakers and audiences who may not see these films otherwise. We wanted to program it so there was a lot of new material for folks to see, judge and enjoy.”
Another exciting aspect of qFLIX is its emphasis on web series and webisodes. Cardwell said he is distinguishing his festival by giving attention to “new media” while also giving budding young filmmakers access to audiences. A program of 20 webisodes will play during the festival and there will be panels on producing these series. Sonia Blangiardo‘s Emmy-nominated “Tainted Dreams” will have its world premiere in Philadelphia at the fest, as will the final episode of College Emmy-winning local filmmaker Michael Busza’s series, “One of the Guys.” Of trans interest is the webseries “Man Who Takes The Place of” by Taylor A. Shuster and Samuel Angus Campbell.
Other local filmmakers who will participate in qFLIX include Jon Ristaino, who will show his road-trip documentary web series “Jon and Avi’s Adventure,” and comedian Eric Kwaznjuk’s documentary “The Cape of Good Humor,” about his search to find his ancestors in South Africa, and determine what makes people laugh.
Cardwell is also excited about the U.S. premiere of “Changed,” a short film by local filmmaker Jordan Fraser about family that debuted at Cannes earlier this year. “I’m anxious to have Jordan talk about his experiences,” Cardwell said.
For fans of foreign queer cinema, a Spanish-language showcase will include Mexican filmmaker Julian Hernandez’s latest feature, “I am Happiness on Earth,” about a queer filmmaker and his erotic affairs on and off camera, and “Four Moons,” about four stages in the life of gay men. Other programs include a screening of Frank Ripploh’s 1980 German queer classic “Taxi Zum Klo” about a gay schoolteacher, played by Ripploh.
To get the word out — and to get audiences ready for qFLIX — the festival has produced a promo trailer starring local drag mafia queenpin Brittany Lynn, who romps through the Gayborhood singing a Leslie Gore song with area bartenders and other members of the LGBT community appearing in various vignettes.
To see the promo trailer and for more information about the festival, visit http://www.qflixphilly.com/.