Nashville Film Festival offers $1,000 GLBT Film Maker Award

The Nashville Film Festival further establishes its commitment to GLBT programming with a new $1,000 Film Maker Award to be awarded at the 39th annual festival beginning April 17, at Regal Cinemas in Green Hills.

With sponsorship from several sources, including LOGO Television and The Franklin Brooks Fund, the Festival was able to let film makers from around the world know that a submission to be screened would come with an opportunity to win the award.

A group of six community volunteers were selected to view the films and the scoring and results will be held and announced by the Nashville Film Festival. All films are also eligible for the Audience Favorite Award. Be sure to take a ballot when you attend the screenings.

There will be two feature films this year. Both lighthearted and comical, they should be enjoyed by all audiences. There will also be the now perennial Lights, Camera, Out! Boy Shorts and Girl Shorts program that will group 90 minutes of programming together for your viewing pleasure.

Film maker Lee Friedlander will be present at the screening on Monday the 21st and all ticket holders are welcome to meet her in the VIP tent after the show. Also rumored to attend will be Michele Paradise whose LOGO show "Exes and Ohs" was created from a spin off of a short screened at the Nashville Film Festival. (Last year’s short, Freeholder, won an Academy Award.)

All times are subject to change, and tickets can be ordered at www.nashvillefilmfestival.org.

Out at the Wedding
Lee Friedlander, USA
Alex can’t bring herself to tell her conservative family she is engaged to her bi-racial boyfriend. A misunderstood wedding speech and a rumor she’s a lesbian later, her newly-married sister comes to visit for some family bonding. However, when she meets Alex’s stand-in “girlfriend” all bets are off. More at www.outatthewedding.com/festivals.html. 
Screens Monday, April 21, at 8:00 p.m.

A GLBT reception sponsored by Out & About Newspaper and LOGO follows in the VIP tent from 10-11:30 p.m. The reception will feature an open bar and deserts from Rene Kassman of Zola Restaurant. Laminate holders and ticket holders to Out at the Wedding, Were the World Mine and Lights, Camera, OUT! Guys or Girls are welcome.

Were the World Mine
Tom Gustafson, USA
Funny, clever film about a gay teenager who feels isolated in the all-boy high jock-mentality high school he attends. However, when they have to do A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the school play, he is cast as Puck and ends up with a potion that causes the entire town to turn gay. Upon slipping into a fantastical musical daydream, he discovers a recipe to create the magical, love-remedy pansy exploited in Midsummer. With this newfound ammunition, Timothy puckishly turns much of his close-minded town gay, ensnaring family, friends and enemies in chaos. After he reluctantly restores the free will he has stolen from so many, he is surprised with what remains. 
Screens Friday, April 18, at 9:30 p.m.

Shorts Program

  • LIGHTS, CAMERA, OUT (Boys)
    Monday, April 21, at 4:30 p.m. and again on Tuesday, April 22, at 9:45 p.m.
  • LIGHTS, CAMERA, OUT (Girls) 
    Tuesday, April 22, at 7:15 p.m. and again on Thursday, April 24, at 4:45 p.m.