Welcome to the 2009 NeonFest
Welcome to the home page of NeonFest, the annual Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Film Festival of Las Vegas, Nevada. The film festival will be held at the Onyx Theatre in the Commercial Center.
NeonFest 2009 will be held February 13-15, 2009 Remember: Subscribe to the NeonFest mailing list.
Thursday, February 12
Opening Night
6:00 p.m.
Surge of Power
with Writer, Producer, Director and Star Vincent Roth to answer questions.
Directed by: Vincent J. Roth
Year: 2004
Category: Sci Fi
Run Time: 85 minutes
USA
Comic book fan (Alan Mills) happens upon a merchant (Tom Tangen) who reveals Issue #1 of "Surge of Power" introducing the wacky world of Big City where Gavin Lucas (Vincent J. Roth) is out and proud about his comic reading penchant and longing to be a superhero. This science-fiction spoof is complete with mad scientist, Professor Ronald Richards (Robert Hurt), his nemesis and former partner, Hector Harris (John T. Venturini) who sabotages Ronald's secret experiment (how naughty!) and a classic "freak accident" that causes superpowers!
Hate crimes and bank robberies and fear, Oh, my! Gavin enlists the reluctant Professor in zany crime fighting exploits, fashioning a "battle suit" and Gavin's "Surge of Power" identity, repeatedly rescuing the same Young Man (Joey Bourgeois) and investigating a bizarre crime wave that indicates a new super-villain in Big City more powerful than Surge of Power!
Even with input from science-fiction veterans Nichelle Nichols, Lou Ferrigno and Noel Neill, can Surge of Power thwart the evil plans of the mysterious Metal Master? Are capes in fashion? Why can't Gavin throw a ball? Are some of these dudes... ambiguous? Find out all this and more! Watch in amazement as Gavin explores what it means to be a hero, seeks a higher power, and decides whether to wear a cape—in this exciting first installment of the "Surge of Power" saga, "The Stuff of Heroes!"
Surge of Power enjoyed a limited theatrical release March 2008, was released on DVD in May 2006 and played on cable TV spring 2008. Surge's upcoming adventure and new characters to be introduced. Take a look at Surge's new and improved super car!
Thursday, 8:00 p.m.
Opening Night Wine and Cheese Reception courtesy of Spotlight Lounge.
Thursday, 9:00 p.m.
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Director: Lisa Ades & Lesli Klainberg
Year: 2006
Category: Documentary
Run Time: 82 minutes
USA
The most entertaining gay history lesson you've ever had.
This whirlwind cinematic tour is packed with clips from your favorite LGBT movies, plus smart interviews with the superstars of gay and lesbian cinema. This amazing overview of LGBT film history stars: John Waters, Wilson Cruz, Jane Lynch, Guinevere Turner, Peter Paige, Heather Matarazzo, Alan Cumming, B. Ruby Rich, Gus Van Sant and many, many other queer film luminaries.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday, 5:00 p.m.
OMG/HaHaHa
Directed by: Morgan Jon Fox
Year: 2007
Category: Drama
Run time: 74 minutes
USA
Reflecting a social networking-saturated youth culture where gay YouTubers like William Sledd and Chris Crocker speak directly to millions of kids, including teenage girls and emo-gay boys alike, along comes this queer vision that offers us a deeper (albeit digitally filtered) view into the seemingly superficial psyches of the MySpace generation. Using part video blog, part improvisational narrative, and part pseudo documentary, OMG/HaHaHa is a pastiche of the lives of a diverse set of gay, straight, and trans teens and twenty-somethings living in Memphis and dealing with flesh and blood issues, ranging from unexpected pregnancy to homophobia to dying parents. Beautifully shot with evocative indie music, OMG/HaHaHa is a queer film for a new generation.
Friday, 6:30 p.m.
The Art of Being Straight
Producer Laurence Ducceschi is expected to be in attendance to answer questions.
Directed by: Jesse Rosen
Category: Drama
Year: 2008
Run time: 77 minutes
USA
"John thinks he's got it all figured out. He's young, good looking and has always had a way with the ladies. After a breakup with his girlfriend, he moves west to Los Angeles for a fresh start. He is officially back on the market and looking to score.
Crashing on his buddy Andy's couch is a comforting return to the college patterns of partying, womanizing and talking trash with the guys. However, reconnecting with his old flame Maddie proves to be surprising when she introduces him to her girlfriend, Anna.
An aspiring photographer, John takes an entry-level position at an ad agency, determined to prove himself. Things get a little confusing when Paul, a successful executive at the firm, takes a special interest in John, and when John ends up in Paul's bed, his world is turned completely upside down.
Written and directed by Jesse Rosen, who also stars as John, The Art of Being Straight explores one man's unexpected search for identity with both comic honesty and warm insight. Exceptionally strong performances and razor-sharp dialogue make this more than just a story of seduction: John's journey to find himself proves to be almost more than he can handle, yet he discovers that accepting the unknown also brings unlimited possibilities" — Kristine Kolton, Frameline.
Friday, 8:00 p.m.
Ebony Chunky Love: Bitch Can't Get a Date
Director Lonnie Renteria is scheduled to be in attendance to answer questions.
Directed by: Lonnie Tristan Renteria
Year: 2007
Category: Documentary
Run time: 73 minutes
USA
With a successful stand-up career and a job as co-host of Sirius Radio's OutQ in the Morning, comedian Keith Price could easily limit his comedy routines to how hard it is to be fabulous all the time. However, as a burly, out, loud and proud African American gay man, he chooses to make his audience laugh with candid observations on not only his love life and dating, but also topics such as racism and homophobia. Ebony Chunky Love is everything you would expect from its title: super-queeny and over-the-top. But it also offers a genuine voice to issues such as the media's portrayal of gay African American males, body image idealization, racism within the gay dating scene, and how the down-low is not just a black phenomenon. With Keith's infectious laugh and sharp humor, we truly leave with the question: Why can't this bitch get a date? Really.
Friday, 9:30 p.m.
The Gay Bed & Breakfast of Terror
To be followed by Writer, Producer, Director Jaymes Thompson's comments and Q&A
Director: Jaymes Thompson
Category: Horror
Year: 2007
Run time: 106 minutes
USA
Director Jaymes Thompson is scheduled to be in attendance.
Arty lipstick lesbians, a couple of sweater queens, some coffee-house dykes, a sugar daddy, a drag diva, Mr. Leather and a fag hag all join their evangelical Republican host, her closeted daughter and a half redneck/half maggot mutant at the Sahara Salvation Resort for Jaymes Thompson's The Gay Bed & Breakfast of Terror, a campy but legitimately creepy queer horror flick.
Converging at the remote lodge with its gay Southwest homey decor, it doesn't take long for the visitors to realize the owner, Helen, is a little strange. But they don't know about her even stranger mission: to fix her daughter Luella by "curing" a gay man and "offering their blessed union to the Lord." This turns out to be an understandably messy job, and what follows is a perfect mix of chills and skin, including severed heads, pool-house hookups, blood-filled bathtubs, naked body painting, knife-wielding Republicans and a frightening shrine to neo-conservatives and evangelical pastors.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Saturday, 10:00 a.m.
Gay Sex in the 70s
Directed by: Joseph Lovett
Year: 2005
Category: Documentary
Run Time: 71 minutes
USA
Gay Sex in the 70s pays a steamy visit to the sexually charged period post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS (1969-1981) when gay men experienced an unprecedented sexual freedom.
Hailed by critics and audiences alike, Gay Sex in the 70s director Joseph Lovett focuses his story on New York City between 1969 and 1981, using remarkable present-day interviews and stunning archival footage to take viewers back to the days just after Stonewall. Lovett takes us back to the piers, the trucks, the Central Park rambles, the back rooms, and the baths. It was a time where repression and fear were replaced by a sexual explosion, where shame became joy.
Lovett interviews such luminaries from the scene as Larry Kramer and Tom Bianchi, as well as fascinating regular guys exploring their freedom at the time. As the men reminisce, the story deepens. It wasn't just about sex, they discovered, but about creating friendships and a community that never existed before. But, storm clouds emerge as the men talk about sexual obsession, how drugs entered the scene at a larger scale, and how unusual STDs began to appear.
In recreating the gay story of the 70s, Lovett shows that AIDS was not the only legacy of this period. It was also a time of brotherhood and laying the foundation of a political movement with its biggest battles still ahead.
For younger people--those who came of age after the onset of the AIDS crisis--the film is a startling revelation of what everyday life was like in New York City at the time. And for those who lived through it, Gay Sex in the 70s is a wonderful celebration of a historic time.
GayVN Award for Best Alternative Release of 2006!
Saturday, 11:30 a.m.
You Belong to Me
Directed by: Sam Zalutsky
Category: Drama
Year: 2007
Run Time: 82 minutes
USA
"Surprisingly suspenseful and wickedly intriguing... completely absorbing and damned scary." —NewYorkCool.com Jeffrey has met the man of his dreams, hunky Frenchman René, but he's an elusive lover. When Jeffrey discovers where René lives, he impulsively moves into the same building. But the move backfires as René becomes cold and distant. Instead, the landlady Gladys lavishes attention on her new tenant.
Soon Jeffrey realizes that there's something strange going on – especially when he hears mysterious moans beneath his floorboards and learns that he's not the first Jeffrey to live in the apartment. When he stumbles on Gladys' dark secret, will it cost him his life? Stars include Daniel Sauli ("The Sopranos," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Sex & the City") and Patti D'Arbanville (Perfect Stranger, World Trade Center, "Rescue Me," "Nip/Tuck").
Saturday, 1:00 p.m.
The Universe of Keith Haring
Directed by: Claudia Clausen
Category: Documentary
Year: 2008
Run time: 90 minutes
Italy
The Universe of Keith Haring is an intimate portrait of world-renowned artist Keith Haring whose mantra was that "Art is for everyone!" The film is a thorough and intimate exploration of the background and career of one of the most popular and significant artists of the 20th century.
The film features interviews and archival footage of Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Kim Hastreiter, Grace Jones, Madonna, Yoko Ono, David LaChapelle, Kenny Scharf, Carlo McCormick, Andy Warhol, Ann Magnuson, Tony Shafrazi, and Junior Vasquez, among many others. Audio excerpts from original interviews with Keith Haring, were conducted by Haring's biographer John Gruen (Keith Haring: the Authorized Biography). The film's theme song is by the famed DJ and record producer, Junior Vasquez, with an original soundtrack by Angelo Talocci. The film was edited by Silvia Giulietti.
Saturday, 3:00 p.m.
Poppy's Foursome
Directed by: Ren Blood
Year: 2007
Category: Comedy
Run time: 20 minutes.
USA
Poppy Champlin is on a mission to bring golf back to Dinah. Although she finds twosomes and threesomes and ends up in a bunker on the back nine, she never quite makes it out onto the links. Will Poppy find her perfect foursome?
Laughing Matters: The Next Generation
Directed by: Andrea Meyerson
Year: 2008
Category: Documentary
Run time: 72 minutes
USA
Edgy, wicked, and completely uncensored, the next generation of queer comedy is all about being totally revealing and full of gay expectations! Featuring six ambitious kick-ass comics that are out, open, unruly and radical, Laughing Matters...Next Gen proves that the future of gay comedy is an absolute laugh riot.
Featuring Edison Apple, Gloria Bigelow, Ryan Hill, Daniel Leary, Bridget McManus and Amy Tee, all delivering performances so hilarious, you will soon forget they're the new kids on the block!
After searching for nearly a year before casting for the fourth installment in her award-winning Laughing Matters series, director Andrea Meyerson has put together an outstanding cast of the new up and coming comics on the LGBT comedy circuit. Shot in her winning formula that interweaves stand-up material with candid interviews, viewers are given the opportunity to at once laugh and simultaneously meet the person behind the comedy.
Featuring Edison Apple, Gloria Bigelow, Ryan Hill, Daniel Leary, Bridget McManus and Amy Tee, all delivering performances so hilarious, you will soon forget they're the new kids on the block!
(Laughing Matters) will be preceded by the short film Poppy's Foursome and followed by questions and answers with Poppy Champlin and Bridget McManus
Saturday, 5:30 p.m.
Finn's Girl
Directed by: Dominique Cardona and Laurie Colbert
Year: 2007
Category: Drama
Run Time: 88 minutes
USA
A smart, sexy, and suspenseful look into the lives of Dr. Finn Jeffries and her daughter, Zelly. Finn's life would be busy even without a child – she's a doctor running a clinic and a single lesbian reentering the dating scene. Meanwhile, 11-year old Zelly's testing her preteen limits and Finn's patience daily.
But when controversy erupts over the clinic and Finn's life is threatened, "family" takes on a whole new meaning. Cast includes Gemini Award Winner Brooke Johnson (Best Actress, Dangerous Offender), Yanna McIntosh (This is Wonderland, Blue Murder) and Maya Ritter (Disney's Molly, An American Girl).
Saturday, 7:15 p.m.
Drawn Out Love
Directed By: Boudewijn Koole
Year: 2007
Category: Drama
Run Time: 49 minutes
Netherlands
Felix is preparing for a long trip, but must first take care of some unfinished business. The handsome youth has never known his father, Johan, who runs a jazz café. But when Felix visits the café, Johan mistakes the stranger's interest as sexual, and a dangerous attraction is ignited. Drawn Out Love is a sensitive and provocative drama about love and longing.
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
Saturn In Opposition (Saturno contro)
Directed by: Ferzan Ozpetek
Year: 2007
Category: Drama
Run time: 113 minutes
Italy
Somewhere between The Boys In the Band and The Big Chill, this witty and eccentric drama invites us into a group of old friends, gay and straight, who are tangled together and pulled apart by death, adultery, and a need to quit smoking. At the center of it all is a couple so much in love it hurts: Davide (played with grace by Pierfrancesco Favino), a kind-hearted older writer, and his intoxicatingly beautiful younger boyfriend, Lorenzo (Luca Argentero).
The Almodovar-esque circle around them includes a straight couple in the midst of a strangely civil marital implosion, a dreamy-eyed but melancholy junkie (mesmerizing Ambra Angiolini), and a jovial old queen who calls himself a faggot because he's "old fashioned" (renowned character actor Ennio Fantastichini). When tragedy hits, they all handle it in their own oddball ways, but they all, more or less, stay together. And amidst the heartache and struggle, celebrated writer/director Ferzan Ozpetek (Ignorant Fairies from MGLFF 2002) manages to celebrate some lovely unlikely alliances, including a priceless late-night chat comparing drug-use with knitting. Complete with botched dinner parties, long country weekends, gorgeous cinematography and a mesmerizingly lush score by Italian music wunderkind Neffa, this is a stylish new take on an enduring cinematic theme: in loss, there's nothing like the warm embrace of friends. In Italian with English subtitles.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.
Critics' Brunch
Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
Ask Not
Directed by Johnny Symons
Year: 2008
Category: Documentary
Run time: 73 minutes
USA
Ask Not is a rare and compelling exploration of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The film exposes the tangled political battles that led to the discriminatory law, and profiles activists determined to abolish it. As the war rages on, Ask Not reveals personal stories of gay Americans who serve in combat under a veil of secrecy.
Sunday, 3:00 p.m.
Chasing The Devil: Inside The Ex-Gay Movement
Directors: Mishara Canino-Hussung & Bill Hussung
Year: 2008
Category: Documentary
Run time: 102 minutes
USA
Chasing the Devil is a feature documentary film presenting an unflinching look at the personal journeys of four people who claim to have changed their sexual orientation from gay to straight. Their stories mark the first time documentary filmmakers have been allowed inside the "ex-gay" movement and provide an empathetic and, at times, devastating portrait of those who claim homosexuality is an illness that can be healed.
This film will be followed by a Q&A with Ron Lawrence, CEO of Community Counseling Center.
Sunday, 6:00 p.m.
Equality U
Directed by: Dave O'Brien
Year: 2007
Category: Documentary
Run time: 90min
USA
This compelling documentary features the now famous tour of LGBT college students taking the bravest road trip of their lives. These determined socially conscious young people crisscross the country to visit colleges that have open discrimination polices against students identifying or practicing as gay or lesbian.
The Equality U bus tour included a stop at Fresno Pacific University, arrests at Oral Roberts University, and a touching and haunting visit to BYU, one of the strictest of all colleges, and, as it turns out, one of the most receptive to the visit.
Members of the team battle internal strife, external protests and universal attraction, and themes of civil rights all while dealing with the public perceptions expressed by their friends and families as the trip garners publicity. They couldn't possibly be more ‘out,' and their pride creates in the students they visit a shared peer support team, allowing some closeted students the chance to tell their stories on stage…no matter what the potential (and actual) consequences.
Sunday, 7:45 p.m.
Whirlwind
Director: Richard Lemay
Category: Drama
Year: 2008
Run time: 99 minutes
USA
Handsome David Rudd stars as Drake, a sexy and charismatic stranger who infiltrates a group of good-looking, successful, thirty-something gay men in New York City. The flirtatious Drake spices up the lives of this tight knit circle of friends, but soon creates unexpected drama. Drake has a bitter past filled with hurt and betrayal. He thinks that all gay men are cheaters and resents anyone who seems happy and committed.
He proceeds to manipulate, seduce and tear apart these friends to prove that no one deserves happiness. Will these friends survive Drake's cunning schemes or prove that love and friendship can prevail against all odds? A smart and sexy story about the complexity of gay relationships, this touching, funny ensemble film explores non-monogamy, commitment, friendship, getting older and more.
Whirlwind hails from director Richard Le May (200 American) and writer Jason Brown (Tender Places). The film's cast also includes talented stage actors Brad Anderson (A Chorus Line), Desmond Dutcher, Mark Ford (Rent), Alexis Suarez and Bryan West (Hairspray).
