reelout 9 queer film + video festival
jan 24 – feb 3, 2008

Welcome to reelout 9!

Wow – reelout is almost 10 years old. Who would believe that a couple of film nights organized nine years ago would lead to Ontario’s second largest queer film festival? Through the hard work and commitment of a small group of awesome activists here in Kingston and the conviction of queer filmmakers everywhere to break new ground, reelout has become one fabulous festival. 

For our 9th annual festival, reelout is rolling out the red carpet for some of the most cutting edge, inspiring and entertaining works in independent queer cinema today and you are especially invited to join us in the festivities. 

At reelout 9, we also invite you to join our 10X10 Friends of the Festival program – where you can become a Friend of the Festival and help reelout celebrate it’s next 10 years of creating space for queer culture to take centre stage in Kingston. This is definitely a friendship with benefits! To become a Friend of the Festival Click here!

With big ideas for the future, we are entering our 10th year with a bang. In 2008, we are planning new video projects, building new partnerships and launching our exciting reelout in schools project that will introduce a new generation to queer film, history and the stories that shape our lives. Through reelout in schools, we’ll explore what it means to be queer and how students and staff can work together to create safer schools for all youth.
 
We wouldn’t be who we are without the amazing support from so many people. A big reelout thanks to all of our funders, sponsors, community partners, and all the artists who share their work with us. And a huge round of applause to our collective members, staff, and volunteers who make it all happen.

It’s reelout 9 time – so savour the films, chat with our visiting filmmakers, vote for your audience favourite, dance up a storm and come celebrate with us.

From all of us at reelout, enjoy the festival!

Pam Thompson
Festival Director

Programmer’s Message

Our film programme for reelout 9 is the result of the hard work and dedication of a number of volunteers who met regularly throughout the summer and early fall to watch nearly 200 films to narrow down our selection to the programme you see before you. As part of our programming for this year we sent our programmers to a number of Canadian queer film festivals, including Toronto’s Inside Out, Calgary’s Fairy Tales and Vancouver’s Out on Screen, with the help of a travel grant from The Canada Council for the Arts. Thanks to the all of the kind organizers of these festivals for their wonderful hospitality!

As always, we have set out to create a programme of films that will both represent the diversity of our queer communities, and open our eyes to something new.  With our Opening Gala film we spice things up Bollywood-style, with the mouth watering dishes of Nina’s Heavenly Delights. Then follow my advice and take a chance on our selection of youth friendly films that rock! Watch Cindi Lauper and Yoko Ono jam on screen with John Cameron Mitchell in Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig. Then blast to the past with the John Hughes style High School comedy The Curiosity of Chance. Join us at our Centerpiece Gala Film She’s a Boy I Knew with filmmaker Gwen Haworth. Finish your week with festival favourite Angelina Maccarone’s (Director of Unveiled) new film Vivere.

We invite you to come out and spice up your cold winter nights with our more sizzling films, then simmer down with something a little more thought provoking. With dozens of great queer films from Canada and around the world, there is something for everyone at this year’s festival. So strap it on and pull it over, because reelout 9 is worth coming out for!

Carla Henderson
Director of Programming

reelout 9’s Coast to Coast Programme

As part of our focus on putting together a festival that spotlights some of the most inspired and innovative Canadian queer films we could find, we are pleased to present reelout 9’s Coast to Coast Programme. We bring you a range of filmmakers from across the country – North, South, East and West - working in a variety of styles. From Gwen Haworth’s auto-biographical documentary She’s a Boy I Knew, that interweaves interviews with home videos and animation; to the more classic documentary of distinguished actor and choreographer, Byron Chief-Moon; to the epic trilogy of short films packed with special effects about a gay hamster’s quest for peace and love; or the young girl who defies convention during her summer swim class in No Bikini - these are just a few of the Canadian heroes that you will find in this year’s festival. Though they may not be your typical heroes (especially the furry kind that you can carry in your pocket) they play a significant role in telling the diverse stories of our communities.

Speaking of heroes, don’t miss out on a number of wonderful opportunities to meet some of the celebrated artists of queer cinema in Canada. Join us at our Opening Gala film for a chance to meet Yukon born Ivan E. Coyote, one of Canada’s groundbreaking queer writers, and story tellers. At the Coast to Coast Social you will have the opportunity to meet a number of artists from our collection of women’s shorts,  and our Fairies from the Prairies programme curated by Matt Salton. Then meet Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth at our Centerpiece Gala, and finish your festival with the director of the heart-warming Copain Trilogy, Halifax’s Jacob Owens.

Special thanks to the City of Kingston and the Kingston Arts Council for supporting us in bringing filmmakers from across Canada to reelout 9.