OUTFEST 2011: Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Preview

[Critic's Pick] WEEKEND On a Friday night, young Brits Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) meet in a Nottingham bar, go back to Russell's flat, have drunken sex, then fall asleep. Saturday morning brings awkwardness, coffee and, then, a peculiar conversation starter from Glen, a budding artist. Russell, a semicloseted swimming pool lifeguard, reluctantly plays along and starts talking about what he's been feeling from the instant he first saw Glen. And so it begins — a two-day conversation that's filled with intimacy and revelation, interspersed with increasingly intense sex, a heated philosophical argument or two, and a growing awareness between the two men that they are sparking change in one another. Which is terrifying. The debut feature of writer-director Andrew Haigh, Weekend is a small, perfect thing, a likely classic, I think — and not just a gay one. (C.W.)

[Critic's Pick] WE WERE HERE It's impossible for a single film to capture the devastation wrought by AIDS, or the heroism with which many in the LGBT community responded to it. But director David Weissman's documentary is such a powerful achievement because he just about does it. Focusing on the arrival, detonation and devastation of AIDS in San Francisco (after first reminding viewers how and why the city was a queer utopia), Weissman employs standard documentary tools — stock footage, home movies, smart talking heads — to wonderful effect. It's that last component that makes the film: Armed with just their voices, wit, humor and memories, the film's interviewees break your heart with their stories. (E.H.)

Weekend, screening Wednesday, July 13, at Outfest

Location Info

Venue

Directors Guild of America Theatre

Map

Directors Guild of America Theatre

7920 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Category: Theaters

Region: Hollywood

REDCAT

631 W. Second St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Theaters

Region: Downtown

Photos

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OUTFEST 2011: THE 29TH LOS ANGELES GAY AND LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL | July 7-17 | DGA Theater, REDCAT, Sunset 5 and other venues around L.A. | Screening times and location information at outfest.org