Asian Diaspora films at Inside Out

INSIDE OUT TORONTO LESBIAN AND GAY FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL
More than 125 filmmakers and artists in attendance!

May 15 – 25, 2008 / www.insideout.ca
For detailed information on more than 85 screenings and exhibitions, please consult www.insideout.ca

In person box office now open at the Manulife Centre (Festival Ticketing, Main Floor, 55 Bloor St. W.)
Phone orders can be made by calling (416) 967-1528

OPENING GALA: LIKE A VIRGIN (Varsity Cinemas Thu. May 15 8:00pm)
Directed by: Lee Hae-yeong and Lee Hae-jun
Young Oh Dong-gu (Deok-Hwan Ryu) has only one wish: to have a sex change operation and become a girl. But his part-time job loading cargo before school each day makes for meagre savings. When he finds out that he could win the money he needs if he takes the prize at a traditional Korean Ssireum wrestling match, he begins training in earnest. But challenges abound. Borrowing make-up tips and slick dance moves from his beloved Madonna, Oh Dong-gu works to win them all over and reach his dream in a thoroughly engaging story that’s by turns absurdly hilarious, darkly intense and gently poignant. Toronto Premiere.

THE AMAZING TRUTH ABOUT QUEEN RAQUELA (ROM Tue. May 20, 5:15pm)
Directed by: Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
Winner of this year’s Teddy Award for Best Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival, The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela follows the heartbreaking journey of a Filipina transsexual in search of a fairytale ending for her workaday life. Raquela dreams of escaping the streets of Cebu City for a life in Paris. Canadian Premiere.

DRIFTING FLOWERS (Isabel Bader Tue. May 20, 7:30pm)
From the director of last year’s runaway hit, Spider Lilies, comes Drifting Flowers, the third film in Zero Chou’s ongoing “Rainbow Colors” project, this latest addition representing the colour red. In three interconnected stories about three women living in three different eras, Drifting Flowers weaves a poetic tale of drifting apart as all three female characters seek their true identities. North American Premiere.

LOVE MY LIFE (ROM Fri. May 23, 9:45pm)
Directed by: Kôji Kawano
Ichiko (Rei Yoshii) and Eri (Asami Imajuku) are two adorable Japanese university students who just happen to be in love with one another. Ichiko decides it’s time to come out to her dad, and gets the surprise of her life when he tells her that he’s gay too, as was her late mother, and that they only married because they both desperately wanted to have a child. This upbeat, slice-of-life lesbian gem grants us a glimpse into the everyday lives of Japanese young people.

THE WORLD UNSEEN (Isabel Bader Sat. May 24, 10:00pm)
Directed by: Shamim Sarif
Cape Town, South Africa, 1952. At the hub of the South Asian community sits the Location Café, run by the scandalously free-spirited Amina (Sheetal Sheth), whose men’s trousers and loose-flowing hair raise eyebrows and whose rebellious attitude sometimes attracts the unpleasant attentions of the police. When she meets timid, traditional Indian housewife and mother Miriam (the luminous Lisa Ray), sparks fly.