NEW YORK, May 22, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Bridge, a new Australian short film which recently won the top prize at that country's largest gay and lesbian film festival, is set to debut in New York in June at NewFest 2006: The 18th New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Film Festival.
George Barbakadze, the film's director, won the City of Melbourne Emerging Filmmaker Award for Best Australian Short Film at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in March.
The Bridge tells the story of a gay couple from Georgia (former USSR) who escape to Australia to seek asylum because of homophobia in their home country. They build a new life in Sydney while they await the response to their immigration applications. One of them gets a visa to stay in Australia. The future of their relationship hangs on the balance of the second letter from immigration.
Kristy Edmunds, Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, said, "I appreciated how such a human and topical story that is happening and has happened to so many, was told through the character base of two men deeply in love. It is also a strong use of the film medium, in cinematography, editing, lighting and sound, as it is told with predominantly moving pictures, rather than extensive dialogue."
NewFest 2006 will take place from June 1 to 11, 2006 at the AMC Loews 34th St Theater (at 8th Avenue). The Bridge screens on June 7 at 8:15 p.m. preceding the film Rainbow's End in AMC Theater 10. The Bridge also will screen at next month's Provincetown International Film Festival. In July it will feature at both the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and at the Reeling Chicago Gay Games Film Festival.
For more information about The Bridge, go to www.illuminar.net. For information about NewFest 2006, visit www.newfest.org. Film stills are available by emailing Lazaro Hernandez at lazhernandez@aol.com.