27 September 2006
Website Makeover!
The new website for BentLenses is up and running.
bentlenses.interact.com.au
Many thanks to Theo from Symagy who volunteered his time and resources to design the site and Mark Semmler our webmaster.
bentlenses.interact.com.au
Many thanks to Theo from Symagy who volunteered his time and resources to design the site and Mark Semmler our webmaster.
19 September 2006
BentFest: Screening Sordid Lives
Sordid Lives
Screening - Thursday 30th November
Keep your social calendar clear Canberra’s Queer Film Festival will be screening Sordid Lives. - A black comedy about white trash.
If you've got a taste for big hair, broad Texas accents, and gay rights, this mixture of white-trash comedy and coming-out melodrama is for you. Sordid Lives starts out as chicken-fried farce, as a funeral is prepared for a woman who died when she tripped over her adulterous lover's wooden legs; about midway the emphasis shifts to a drag queen unfairly held in a mental institution and the dead woman's grandson, an actor in Los Angeles who hasn't come out to his mother, and of course a lesbian country singer played by Olivia! But it must be said that the cast (including Bonnie Bedelia, Beau Bridges, Delta Burke, and Olivia Newton-John) dive right in, no matter how over-the-top their characters get. — Bret Fetzer (Amazon)
Starring Delta Burke, Beau Bridges and with appearance and songs by Olivia Newton John Dir: Del Shores, USA, 2000
Olivia Newton John as Bitsy Mae Harling, a lesbian ex-con country and western singer
More about Sordid Lives
San Francisco Bay Times:
http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=5195
Del Shores Playwright
http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsS/shores-del.html
Listen to the Soundtrack
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1888216&BAB=E
17 September 2006
BentFest: Canberra's Queer Film Festival - Opens Friday November 10 2006
Opening Night - Friday 10 November 2006
50 ways of Saying Fabulous will screen on the opening night of Canberra's queer film festival.
See the official site for more information about this widely acclaimed New Zealand film:
http://50waysofsayingfabulous.com
A coming of age tale, following 12 year old Billy (Patterson), who has the misfortune to be growing up gay in Otago in the 70’s.
He’s obsessed with the heroine of his favourite TV show, awful at rugby and upstaged by his tomboy cousin Lou (Beattie). While Lou is tough enough to get away with being different, Billy is the target for bullies, at least whenever Lou can't protect him.
Things take a turn with the arrival of the gawky, slightly older Roy (Collins). Billy is torn between gratitude at having a new friend and glee at finally having somebody even lower on the social totem pole. As Billy gets increasingly, secretly intimate with Roy, he comes under pressure to deride him in front of others. Meanwhile things get trickier still when Billy starts obsessing over hunky farmhand Jamie (Dorman).
50 ways of Saying Fabulous is screening currently at film festivals the world over.
The tale of Billy, a charming thirteen-year-old who seems unlikely to join the school rugby team or follow in his father's farmer footsteps. Set in 1970s rural New Zealand, it's an exploration and celebration of difference and of being true to one's self.
Cast
Andrew Patterson, Harriet Beattie, Jay Collins, Georgia McNeil, Michael Dorman, Rima Te Wiata
Directed by
Stewart Main (Desperate Remedies)
Written by
Stewart Main (based on the novel by Graeme Aitken)
Cinematography by
Simon Raby
Festivals & Awards
Toronto Film Festival OutTakes Film Festival [NZ] Queer Film Festival [Australia]
[film review courtesy of http://www.flicks.co.nz/movie.php?movieid=414]
50 ways of Saying Fabulous will screen on the opening night of Canberra's queer film festival.
See the official site for more information about this widely acclaimed New Zealand film:
http://50waysofsayingfabulous.com
A coming of age tale, following 12 year old Billy (Patterson), who has the misfortune to be growing up gay in Otago in the 70’s.
He’s obsessed with the heroine of his favourite TV show, awful at rugby and upstaged by his tomboy cousin Lou (Beattie). While Lou is tough enough to get away with being different, Billy is the target for bullies, at least whenever Lou can't protect him.
Things take a turn with the arrival of the gawky, slightly older Roy (Collins). Billy is torn between gratitude at having a new friend and glee at finally having somebody even lower on the social totem pole. As Billy gets increasingly, secretly intimate with Roy, he comes under pressure to deride him in front of others. Meanwhile things get trickier still when Billy starts obsessing over hunky farmhand Jamie (Dorman).
50 ways of Saying Fabulous is screening currently at film festivals the world over.
The tale of Billy, a charming thirteen-year-old who seems unlikely to join the school rugby team or follow in his father's farmer footsteps. Set in 1970s rural New Zealand, it's an exploration and celebration of difference and of being true to one's self.
Cast
Andrew Patterson, Harriet Beattie, Jay Collins, Georgia McNeil, Michael Dorman, Rima Te Wiata
Directed by
Stewart Main (Desperate Remedies)
Written by
Stewart Main (based on the novel by Graeme Aitken)
Cinematography by
Simon Raby
Festivals & Awards
Toronto Film Festival OutTakes Film Festival [NZ] Queer Film Festival [Australia]
[film review courtesy of http://www.flicks.co.nz/movie.php?movieid=414]
15 September 2006
Screenings - Canberra Museum and Gallery
Bent Lenses: next film screens Friday - 22 September 2006
'The Aggressives'
(2004) USA, 75mins, Director: Daniel Peddle
A compelling documentary that grants access to an otherwise inaccessible and, as yet, uncommodified subculture of NYC's working class African-American 'Aggressives'. These lesbian identified women slip between the cracks of drag king, butch and transgender to create something else entirely. The director Daniel Peddle is a white man and fashion industry casting director specialising in 'real people'. He follows the lives of these 'studs and players' over a period of five years, documenting what is important to them: relationships, sex, work, play, family and survival. The variety of gender expressions is impressive. From the meltingly handsome army recruit, Marquise, who considers taking hormones against his girlfriend's wishes, to Kisha, catwalk model and courier who describes 'being Aggressive' as 'basically being about who wears the pants. I'm aggressive. I'm femme aggressive. I'm a beautiful aggressive woman.'
Tickets on sale from 7pm
Film starts at 7.30pm
About the author and this blog
I'm Robyn van Dyk and the author of this blog. I am the festival director for 2006 and have been a part of BentLenses since 2001. I directed the festival also in 2005 and have been the treasurer for BentLenses since we started.
The aim of this blog is to advertise the festival and keep everyone up to date on the films we will be screening as well as when and where events will be held. Another important aim of this blog is to document the festival events, the films screened, the winners of our Hot Pink Shorts comp, venues and many other aspects that go into making a successful festival. This kind of information can be lost and forgotten over time.
A lot of work goes into putting on a festival even a small event such as ours. BentLenses is run by a small dedicated group of volunteers, we have some sponsorship from the local community, including the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Club and other local businesses.
We would like to thank Canberra's GLBTI community for coming to our regular screenings throughout the year and supporting our festival each Spring!
I hope you enjoy BentFest 2006!
Robyn
The aim of this blog is to advertise the festival and keep everyone up to date on the films we will be screening as well as when and where events will be held. Another important aim of this blog is to document the festival events, the films screened, the winners of our Hot Pink Shorts comp, venues and many other aspects that go into making a successful festival. This kind of information can be lost and forgotten over time.
A lot of work goes into putting on a festival even a small event such as ours. BentLenses is run by a small dedicated group of volunteers, we have some sponsorship from the local community, including the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Club and other local businesses.
We would like to thank Canberra's GLBTI community for coming to our regular screenings throughout the year and supporting our festival each Spring!
I hope you enjoy BentFest 2006!
Robyn
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