Gallery | Brunch at Biltmore, final screenings mark close of 15th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Fest

The 15th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival wrapped up Sunday with an awards brunch at The Biltmore in Coral Gables. Here are the winners:

HBO Latin America Audience Awards:

Best Short Film
"Dirty Talk"
Jeff Sumner director

Best Documentary
"The Rugby Player"
Scott Gracheff director

Best Feature
"Out in the Dark"
Michael Mayer director

Special mention to "Hot Guys with Guns" directed by Doug Spearman

HBO Latin America Juried Awards

Best Short
"Jackpot"
Adam Baran director

Best Documentary
"Valentine Road"
Marta Cunningham director

Special mention to "Wilderness" Wu Tsang director

Best Feature
"Pit Stop"
Yen Tan director

Later, several screenings took place at Coral Gables Art Cinema and O Cinema Miami Shores.

Click here to view pictures of the brunch and later screenings at O Cinema of the films Pit Stop and La Partida (sneak preview). Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Gallery | 'Hot Guys With Guns' is closing night film at 15th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Closing night film of the 15th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival: Hot Guys With Guns by writer-director Doug Spearman.

Spearman and several members of the company attended the screening Saturday at the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. Afterward, they attended a closing night party at the National Hotel on Collins Avenue.

Above: Actors Chad Strawn, Brian McArdle, Marc Anthony Samuel, Spearman, executive producer Joel Heisey and Darryl Stephens.

 

Saturday's screening was sponsored by Bear Nation.

Click here to view more pictures from closing night. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Billy Bean: It’s Jason Collins’ story, but it’s our day

BY BILLY BEAN

When I awoke early Monday morning, there were 25 text messages waiting on my phone. My heart raced, wondering if something awful had happened in my family.

My friends were asking how I felt about the big news: NBA center Jason Collins, in an act of courage and grace, had come out as gay.

Over the past dozen years, I have answered the same question a thousand times. “When will an active male athlete in one of the four major professional sports come out?” Over and over, I said the same thing. “I’m hopeful it will happen soon, but I honestly don’t know.”

Since I, a retired major league ballplayer, came out as a gay man in late 1999 while living in Miami Beach, the world has changed dramatically. The military’s don’t ask/don’t tell policy was scrapped. Marriage equality advanced in the courts and at the ballot box. But no active professional athlete in baseball, basketball, football or hockey had announced they were gay.

Until now.

Click here to read more.

Liza Minnelli poses for NOH8 campaign portrait in support of gay marriage equality

News release from Liza Minnelli:

May 3, 2012 – New York, NY -- The legendary Liza Minnelli was the latest celebrity to support the acclaimed NOH8 campaign. Liza’s NOH8 portrait was unveiled today by the organization whose mission is to promote equality through visual protest.

The NOH8 Campaign is a photographic silent protest created in direct response to the passage of California’s Proposition 8 which amended the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Photos feature subjects with tape over their mouths, symbolizing their voices being silenced by Prop 8 and similar legislation around the world, with “NOH8” painted on one cheek in protest.

When Liza was asked her message for the LGBT community she responded, “Here’s what I believe … no shame, no blame, no guilt. Try and be happy. And be who you are. I love you.”

Photo by Adam Bouska courtesy of NOH8 Campaign.

Inaugural poet Richard Blanco at LGBT Visitor Center in Miami Beach; to make other appearances

Posted to Facebook by the LGBT Visitor Center on Miami Beach:

Meet and Greet with Richard Blanco at the LGBT Visitor Center — with Tyrone Antonio, Richard Blanco Poetry Page http://www.richard-blanco.com, Steve Adkins,Shayna Marcos, Karen Brown and Jorge Richa at LGBT Visitor Center on Miami Beach (Sponsored by MetLife).

Click here to view more photos.

Inaugural poet Blanco -- the first gay person to be so honored -- will make several South Florida appearances this week. Click here for details.

Gallery | Entin twins of South Florida debut new film, 'Geography Club,' at Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Fest

Twins Edmund and Gary Entin, who grew up in South Florida, presented their new film, Geography Club, Thursday night at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

Edmund wrote the screenplay; Gary directed. The Entin twins, 27, are gay and now live in Los Angeles. They are sons of well-known Fort Lauderdale attorney Alvin Entin.

After the screening Gary and Edmund (and two of the film's producers) answered questions from the audience at O Cinema in Miami Shores. The twins posed with members of the Alliance For LGBTQ Youth in North Miami, the community sponsor of Thursday's presentation.

From the Geography Club website:

Based on Brent Hartinger's best-selling critically acclaimed novel, Geography Club is a smart, fast, and funny account of contemporary teenagers as they discover their own sexual identities, dreams, and values. 16-year old Russell is still going on dates with girls while having a secret relationship with football quarterback Kevin, who will do anything to prevent his football teammates from finding out. Min and Terese tell everyone that they're just really good friends. And then there's Ike who can't figure out who he is or who he wants to be. Finding the truth too hard to hide, they all decide to form the Geography Club, thinking nobody else in their right mind would ever want to join. However, their secrets may soon be discovered and they could have to face the choice of revealing who they really are.

The film is produced by Michael Huffington (Arianna's ex) and presented by Shoreline Entertainment.

The film festival continues through Sunday. Click here for program information.

Click here for more pictures from Thursday's screening. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

GiveOUT Day initiative in support of LGBTQ organizations throughout South Florida is May 9

From Anthony Timiraos, CEO/President of Our Fund in Fort Lauderdale:

Our Fund is helping to coordinate a national initiative here in South Florida that will engage hundreds of organizations and people on a single day to give in support of the LGBTQ community.  GiveOUT Day is scheduled for May 9^th, 2013 but already, local non-profit organizations have begun to promote this web event.  We have about 25 organizations participating in South Florida.

From GiveOUT Day:

Give OUT Day is a new national initiative that will engage hundreds of organizations and mobilize thousands of people on a single day across the country to give in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & queer community. It is a chance for LGBTQ groups large and small, to work across the wide range of issues and activities that matter to the LGBTQ community from sports to policy change, families to the arts. It is a chance for members of the LGBTQ community and our many allies to stand up and show our support for our community together on one day. It is a chance to make history, we hope you’ll join us!

Gallery | 'I Do' tackles immigration equality, is Centerpiece at Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Hundreds packed O Cinema Miami Shores Wednesday night for the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival's Centerpiece screening, I Do, a movie about immigration equality starring screenwriter David W Ross and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Ross, who received the 2013 festival's Rising Star Award, attended the screening and answered questions (above with festival director Franc Castro, center, and I Do producer Stephen Israel).

Click here for more pictures from the screening and reception afterward. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Gallery | Desmond Child, Curtis Shaw and sons Roman and Nyro premiere 'TWO' at gay film festival

Miami composer Desmond Child, partner Curtis Shaw and their sons, Roman and Nyro, attended the premiere of their new documentary, TWO: The Story of Roman and Nyro, Tuesday night at the 15th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

Also at the screening: TWO director and producer Heather Winters, who grew up in Miami Beach.

Hundreds of friends and fans packed the Colony Theatre for the screening, which followed a reception at Britto Gallery on Lincoln Road.

At right, Child and Shaw flank artist Romero Britto at the reception.

Click here for more pictures. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Singer Deanna Durbin, film star of the 1930s and '40s who screen-tested with Judy Garland, dies at 91

The New York Times reports that movie star Deanna Durbin (who screen-tested with Judy Garland in the short film Every Sunday at MGM in 1936) has died in France at age 91.

Durbin, who moved to Universal and starred in such films as Three Smart Girls (1936), became the second-highest paid woman in America (behind Bette Davis), according to The Times. Shortly after, Durbin suddenly retired and disappeared from public view.

Click here to read The Times obituary.