LGBT stories come out fighting for their rightful place in mainstream cinema at London art fest GFEST 2016

LGBT Feature and short films line up to showcase at Rich Mix Cinema in Shoreditch on 12, 14 and 15 November. GFEST 2016 film screenings continue on 14 and 17 November at Arthouse Crouch End. An ‘African LGBTQ Community Cinema’ event with 2 screenings that will take place at Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham on Sunday 13 November.

An annual platform for LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) artists and organisations, the 9th GFEST - Gaywise FESTival ® runs Monday 7 – Saturday 19 November 2016 at venues across London. The films deal with GFEST 2016 theme, highlighting the contrast between ‘out and marginal’ identities.

The GFEST 2016 full film programme (from Saturday 12 to Thursday 17 November) details are live on the GFEST website: http://gaywisefestival.org.uk/films

FILMS: ‘Crossing the Marginal’
GFEST 2016 films explore themes of fighting back from margins, with a line-up that includes recently completed LGBT works and some UK and London premieres of feature-length and short films.

The film programme opens with moving film Jonathan, a feature drama (Germany, English subtitles) and a visually striking debut by director Piotr J. Lewandowski on Saturday 12 November at Rich Mix. This is followed by feature length documentaries Gender Troubles exploring realistic representation of all kinds of women (USA) by the director Lisa Plourde on the 14 November and Jessica Dimmock and Christopher LaMarca’s The Pearl which tells fascinating stories (USA) on 15 November.

London premier of docudrama style Patric Chiha’s feature film Brothers of the Night, based on young men from Romanian background, will be unveiled at Arthouse Crouch End on 14 November along with Shaked Goren’s Israeli short film If I met a Magician. On Thursday 17 November LGBT Short films include a number of UK films: Denise by director Kenneth O’Toole, Open Plan directed by Daniel Murtha, Jake Graf’s film Dawn, Masterful Hermit directed by Reg Noyes and Oliver Mason directed Away with Me – a focusing on the vibrant showcase of best of UK LGBT film talent in recent time.

A special African LGBT Community Cinema evening is planned at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham on 13 November. The eveving looks at Pain and resilence and hope for African LGBTQ identities.

Feature length film Outed: The Painful Reality (Uganda) will be screened at 5.30 pm along with the latest short film Police Raid on PRIDE UGANDA 2016 which was captured in August this year. This screening will follow African LGBTQ short films at 8:00 pm including short films, including And Still We Rise – telling a story of courage and resilience, Umunthu (Malawi) exploring complexities of tolerance, acceptance, Being Unbound (UK/Tanzania) looking at rarely discussed African trans identities and music video Same Love – Remix (Kenya) which was banned in Kenya, and Q&A with community groups.

“A number of GFEST 2016 films deal with ‘Out, Proud and loud’ messages and narratives in a unique way from the margins of social identities,” says GFEST artistic director Niranjan Kamatkar. “We are proud to be promoting cinematic excellence being at the heart of LGBTQI future.”