Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2008

A lovely, fluidly animated story of one girl’s search for identity. - Seattle International Film Festival

Loraine Barr came out of the closet when she was 88-years-old in the pages of Newsweek magazine. Watch as she dives head first into the dyke scene and joins 1,800 women on a lesbian-only Olivia cruise. - Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival

A Filipina “lady-boy” blessed with extraordinary beauty and grace, Raquela Rios makes her living by walking the streets and serving a clientele with exotic tastes. Alas, this self-proclaimed queen dreams of far bigger and better things, so when she’s recruited by a fellow transsexual to join the lucrative world of Internet porn, Raquela puts on a nurse’s uniform and dives in headfirst. Her online popularity skyrockets, and soon she’s off living a life of odd adventures — traveling to Iceland, working in a fish factory and, finally, fulfilling a lifelong dream to see Paris. And once the site’s New York-based owner takes a shine to her and visits her in the City of Light, Raquela may even find true love. 
 Part fact and part fairytale, Olaf de Fleur Johannesson’s dazzling docudrama blends gritty vérité and fictional flights of fancy to chronicle this truly transtastic character’s life. Actors trade lines with sex-industry professionals, key moments are recreated with a certain dreamy liberty, and you’re never sure whether you’re watching reality or fantasy. What’s never in doubt is the sense of empowerment that Raquela (playing herself) brings to every encounter and interaction in which she engages. Winner of this year’s prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival, Johannesson’s tribute to Rios truly earns the titular adjective; it’s amazing from start to finish. All hail the Queen! - David Fear, Frameline32 Sponsored by the Midtown Office of Land America Austin Title

A Cannes' Director's Fortnight film, Jacques Nolot's frank and blackly humorous film opens in a cemetery, where two men list good reasons to be buried there: "We'll be in peace.” “You'll stop making scenes.” “The pigeons won't shit on us. " Jacques Nolot stars and directs in a tale of a gay gigolo caught in a downward spiral, struggling to cope with his advancing age, poverty, loneliness, writers block, and the increasing complications of HIV disease. When his wealthy benefactor dies after thirty years of lavish support, his inheritance is challenged by the benefactor's family, leaving him destitute. Underscoring his every move is the fear of being forgotten, or worse: dying back where he started - on the streets. Richard Knight, of the Chicago Film Critics Association, calls "Before I Forget" hands down the best queer movie of the year, and aGLIFF's Programming Director agrees that this film is the Best of the Fest. "‘Nothing's more boring than an old queen with a head cold,’" Robert Preston quipped in Victor/Victoria back in the early 80's,” Knight observes. “We've been conditioned to disparage, pity or entirely ignore older gay men from the moment we became a community. But Before I Forget refuses to go that route by being tough, flinty and refreshing in its emotional honesty – a great film with a tremendous performance from Nolot. C'est magnifique!" - Strand Releasing and Knight at the Movies (edited) Sponsored by 42Below Vodka

In June 2001, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and trans people organized a Pride event in celebration of the new era of democracy and tolerance that was believed to have come to Serbia. A touching and intimate introduction to LGBT movement in Belgrade, this film bears witness to the violence faced in organizing the first pride parade in Serbia. - Montreal International LGBT Film Festival (edited)