BOX OFFICE sales records have already been broken for Gaze, the 17th annual Dublin lesbian and gay film festival which opened in Smithfield last night.
Gaze was launched by director and writer Patricia Rozema whose multi-Emmy nominated film Grey Gardens had its European premiere screening at the festival last night.
Organisers say the appeal of this year’s festival has extended well beyond the gay and lesbian community. “People have really engaged with the festival and it has much more of a presence through the city and an awareness outside the gay and lesbian community,” said festival programme director Cian Smyth.
“I can see that people are more comfortable with it. The festival has over 1,000 friends on Facebook, many of whom are straight, but for them it’s cool to be friends with Gaze,” festival chairwoman Yvonne O’Reilly said.
The recent addition of Humpday, a comedy which won this year’s grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, was described as a coup by Mr Smyth. “It’s mainstream and will be the independent success of the autumn,” he said.
The festival is needed despite the wide success of gay and lesbian films such as Milk and The Hours. “There is something very special about watching films that resonate with your life and there aren’t very many opportunities to do that,” Ms O’Reilly said.
Irish gay and lesbian films in this year’s programme includes the premiere of Fur Coat and No Knickers, a romantic comedy set in Dublin’s theatre world. Having such local stories told is a “huge achievement for the industry”, Mr Smyth said.
Other highlights of the five-day festival include Patrick Age 1.5, about a couple who adopt a 15-year-old homophobic child by mistake and Toronto International Film Festival hit Every Little Step.
The Dublin lesbian and gay film festival website is www.gaze.ie
