Sacramento, CA

The 2007 Sacramento International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is set to run this weekend from Thursday October 11th to Saturday October 13th. The majority of the films on the schedule are repeats from former years. However, there are also six new titles being released at the festival this year.

The first of these, Eddie, will be shown on Thursday night at 7:30PM. The 8-minute Quentin Kruger film offers a glimpse into the life of ten-year-old Eddie who struggles to deal with the early onset of her menstrual cycle and the ramifications it has on her desire to just be one of the guys. Another new film will also appear in Thursday night’s lineup. Andrea Blundell’s 3-minute film Four Feet features a psychic’s intervention in the love life of the main character, Veronica.

There will only be one new film on Friday, October 12th. However it is significantly longer–at 90 minutes–which more than makes up for the lack of other new films. In Jonah Markowitz’ Shelter, portrays a journey of self-discovery and the awakening of sexual awareness for Zach, a recent high school graduate. Critics are already calling it the start of a wonderful career for newcomer Trevor Wright. In addition, the film also features stellar performances by Tina Holmes of Six Feet Under and Brad Rowe of Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss. In addition to the cast, critics also are saying that it has an amazing emo sountrack and beautiful sets that make it “a sensory treat.”

The final three new films will be shown on Saturday. Two of them are also short films–Michelle Sperber’s It Was a Saturday and Carolina Roca-Smith’s Members Only. It Was a Saturday is the love story of two dance students. The film’s music is likely to be the spotlight. Some of it was composed by BettyAnn Conner although the film also features music from Rachel Cantu, Tracy Bonham, Lisa Hall, and Cascada. Members Only tells the proverbial story about the new kid in town who can’t get a date. It’s a bit over used, but the director’s website looks fresh and young and hopefully that same joie de vivre will translate over into her film.

The film that is being considered the highlight of the festival though is Amara Stefani’s 10-minute film Being Lisa. This seems a bit bizarre to me since there wasn’t really anything online about either her or her film. Maybe it’s because it stretches the limits a bit further than traditional gay and lesbian films? After all, the main character is transgender and I’ve only heard of one or two other movies which feature transgender characters. Anyway, it’d be worth checking out just because the critics seem to think it’s so worthwhile. It will be shown during the Saturday matinee which begins at 2:00PM.

The festival is going to be held at The Crest Theater which is located at 1013 K Street. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or at tickets.com. Admission for one film is $9.00. You can also purchase a pass for all of them for $30.00. In addition, there will be an opening night reception at Chops Restaurant. The reception costs $25.00 and includes appetizers and one drink. Tickets for the reception can only be obtained by contacting festival officials directly. If you need directions, contact the theater directly at 916-44-CREST or visit their website.

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