Wednesday will see the launch of the Poutfest Tour 2015 (November 11-17) presented by Eden Cinemas – a week-long film festival in which a number of films tackling LGBTIQ themes will be screened.

The films showcase talent from the UK, Australia, South Korea and a Brazil-Germany co-production. The festival will also include the screening of Trick & Treat, a collection of 10 award-winning short films from around the world.

Poutfest will be launched with a screening of the film 52 Tuesdays (see review) and the premiere will also feature a Skype interview with the film’s director, Sophie Hyde.

Other films being screened include Soft Lad, which explores desire and jealousy as David (Jonny Labey) and his brother-in-law Jules (Daniel Brocklebank) embark on a clandestine affair.

Described very drolly as a ‘frockumentary’, Dressed as a Girl is set against the backdrop of London’s alternative East End drag scene, as the film documents six years in the colourful yet fragile lives of its most celebrated performers.

From South Korea comes a quietly powerful and superbly acted drama, A Girl at my Door, which stars acclaimed actress Doona Bae as Young-nam, a celebrated police officer transferred to a sleepy seaside community. There she befriends a young girl, Dohee, the victim of her abusive stepfather, but questions start to arise about the relationship between them.

The drama Futuro Beach tracks the burgeoning relationship between Brazilian lifeguard Donato and German biker Konrad.

The festival forms part of Eden Cinemas’ Side Street Films venture, a platform for alternative and non-mainstream films. Eden Leisure’s director of marketing and PR Kate De Cesare said: “The Side Street film concept is quite broad, with films ranging from being very particular and unusual and some being just a little quirky. Others are regular films but not traditionally on offer because they’re in a different language.”

Commenting on the venture’s performance to date, De Cesare said: “We never expected attendance to be groundbreaking, but we felt a responsibility to exhibit this alternative film product in order to have a more all-round offering to the public.

“People still find it hard to watch a film in a different language, despite the subtitles, but this is something we hope will change over time. There is still a long way to go before they can compete with the Bonds of this world but these films are growing in popularity and continue to do so as people become more open to different film product.

De Cesare is optimistic that the Poutfest Film Festival will augment the Side Street Films concept.

“Setting aside the theme for a moment, the films showing in the Poutfest Tour are highly acclaimed movies in their own right. Cinematographically as well as content-wise, they’re very beautiful films.

“We believe that these films will appeal not only to the LGBTIQ community but to everyone, and in doing so, will shed some light on gender issues.”

Moreover, De Cesare is keen to stress the fact that the festival does not merely consist of a series of screenings.“The live on-screen Q&A sessions which form part of the festival will also offer much added value to our audiences – especially for our premiere where we have multi award-winning director Sophie Hyde discuss her film, 52 Tuesdays, with the audience. We hope it will be the start of bringing other LGBT film content to Malta on a more regular basis and we also hope this will be the start of us hosting other film festivals regularly in the future.”

Tickets for the Poutfest premiere cost €10 and a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the Allied Rainbow Communities. Tickets for the other screenings are at €7 and can be obtained from www.edencinemas.com.mt. The event is supported by the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Health and the Malta Film Commission.

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