I Feel Like Disco – Freeheld – While You Weren't Looking – A Sinner in Mecca – Stonewall – Naz & Maalik – Tchindas

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Reeling LGBT Film Festival 2015
Narrative Jury: Nick Davis, Michael Kutza, Sharon Zurek
Documentary Jury: Ronit Bezalel, Ky Dickens, Todd Lillethun, Beckie Stocchetti


Best Narrative Feature:Fourth Man Out, USA, dir. Andrew Nackman
Special Jury Prize:Two 4 One, Canada, dir. Maureen Bradley
Best Actress:Freeheld, Ellen Page
Best Actor:Beautiful Something, Zack Ryan, Brian Sheppard, Colman Domingo, and the rest of the male cast
Audience Award, Narrative:Freeheld, USA, dir. Peter Sollett

Best Documentary Feature:Tchindas, Spain, dirs. Pablo García Pérez de Lara and Marc Serena
Documentary Activism Award:A Sinner in Mecca, Saudi Arabia/USA, dir. Parvez Sharma
Audience Award, Documentary:In the Turn, Canada, dir. Erica Tremblay


Features I Saw at Reeling:
Includes some films I saw previously
Ranked in order of preference
 
A Sinner in Mecca B (USA, dir. Parvez Sharma) - Gay Muslim visiting Saudi Arabia, already on scary ground, illegally films a hajj. Insights uneven, but so brave.

Fourth Man Out B (USA, dir. Andrew Nackman) - Terrifically funny and surpirsingly warm about newly out guy and three straight buddies. The key actors all sell it.

Sand Dollars B (Dominican Republic, dirs. Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas) - Not every story point scans; film might delve deeper into its characters. But manages to be vital and nuanced.

Like You Mean It B (USA, dir. Philipp Karner) - Holding a relationship drama in a seeming pre-breakup phase, with one depressed partner, is hard. This swings it.

Freeheld B (USA, dir. Peter Sollett) - Gambles on antistyle; flatness is a risk. But I was moved. Sometimes change, like cinema, is about getting butts in seats.

Stuff B (USA, dir. Suzanne Guacci) - Good double-bill with recent lesbian hit Concussion. Four lead actresses dig deep while avoiding melodrama. Script does same.

Two 4 One B (Canada, dir. Maureen Bradley) - Comedy sidesteps slapstick, shows welcome sympathy for pregnant transman at its center. Why no trans lead? Gabrielle Rose!

Naz & Maalik B– (USA, dir. Jay Dockendorf) - Story a bit stutter-prone; ending doesn't satisfy. Still, affecting portrait of black gay Muslim couple. Cook a star.

Beautiful Something C+ (USA, dir. Joseph Graham) - Atmospheric lighting, erotic thrall are its strongest suits, but prosaic impulses overtake it. Unevenly acted.

Seeking Dolly Parton C (USA, dir. Michael Worth) - Title so misleading. Women's search for a sperm donor, engaging at first, gets squishier. Style not up to par.

Stonewall D (USA, dir. Roland Emmerich) - Not the simple fiasco I expected; a weirder failure. Ponders but refuses a more complex take. Seems bored by actual riot?


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