NEW YORK, July 21, 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 at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival this month.
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."
The Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will take place from July 13 to 25, 2006. The Bridge screens on Saturday, July 22 at 7:15pm and on Sunday at 2:30pm. It also screens this month at the Reeling Chicago Gay Games Film Festival and at The Museum of Modern Art's presentation of Another Wave: Global Queer Cinema in New York.
For more information about The Bridge, go to www.illuminar.net. For information about Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, visit www.phillyfest.org. Film stills are available by emailing Lazaro Hernandez at lazaro@illuminar.net.
Festival Trajectory for "The Bridge"
"The Bridge" has recently been selected to screen at:
-- Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, July 13-25,
2006.
-- Reeling at Gay Games VII in Chicago, July 14-23, 2006.
-- XPOSED: Australian Queer Short Films Out in Berlin, Berlin Gay
Pride Week, July 15-23, 2006.
-- Homo A Go Go: Queer Music, Art, Film, Performance and Activism
Festival; Olympia, Washington, August 1-6, 2006.
-- Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, September 16-24, 2006.
It premiered in the USA at:
-- Film Out San Diego Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, April 13-16,
2006. The film's co-writer, Fleurtasha Cooper, represented us at
this festival, and participated in a Q&A session after the
screening along with two other filmmakers.
It has also screened at:
-- Mardi Gras Film Festival, Sydney, February 2006.
-- Melbourne Queer Film Festival, March 2006. Here it was awarded
the 'City of Melbourne Emerging Filmmaker Award for Best
Australian Short Film'
-- Bendigo Queer Film Festival, March 2006.
-- Brisbane Queer Film Festival, April 2006.
-- NewFest 2006: The 18th New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, &
Transgender Film Festival, June 1-11, 2006.
-- The 1st International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival of Tel Aviv,
June 13-17, 2006.
-- Provincetown International Film Festival, June 14-18, 2006.
-- Festival Del Mar International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, in
Palma de Mallorca, June 1-7. In Ibiza, June 15-20, 2006.