FROM THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR
Berlin Report
By Jason St-Laurent
Director of Programming
As promised, I'm reporting back from an incredibly productive time in Berlin. With more than 15 Canadian and North American premieres snatched for our 20th anniversary, we're starting to get into the spirit of things.
Lisa Cholodenko and Julianne Moore at the Berlinale for the international premiere of The Kids Are Alright
As many of you may know, the Berlinale assembles all of its queer treats in an unofficial sidebar called the Teddy Awards. Although we absolutely fell in love with the American flicks The Kids Are Alright and Howl, our runaway favourite work was screened at the European Film Market. An audience award-winner for Best Feature at Sundance, Contracorriente (Undertow) (trailer) is a film we still find great  difficulty in describing without coming across as cheesy, but it had even the most hardened industry types in tears.
Among the diamonds, there were some rough doozies, including a painful neo-nazi love story from Austria which had people laughing for all the wrong reasons.
With a few hours to spare on my last day, I bolted to see the bust of Nefertiti at the gorgeously redesigned Neues Museum. It made me cry. And no, I don't feel shame in being an art sissy.
Photo on right: Ägyptisches Museum Berlin collection at Neues Museum
By Scott Ferguson
Executive Director
If you followed my tweets, you'll know there was a lot I loved at the 2010 Berlinale. As Jason mentioned above, Contracorriente (Undertow) and The Kids Are Alright were definite highlights but they weren't the only gems.
Cast of Loose Cannons on stage
Another personal favourite was Mine Vaganti (Loose Cannons) by Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek. The acclaimed director of Ignorant Fairies and Saturn in Opposition presented another fantastic ensemble drama that was laced with heaping spoonfuls of over-the-top humour.
Also high on my list of favs was Plein Sud (Going South), the latest by french director Sebastien Lifshitz (Come Undone, Wildside). A road movie that follows a brother and sister who hitch a ride with a brooding loner, the film builds in both sexual and emotional tension and manages to feel honest instead of just angsty.
Finally, my two favourite documentaries were Making the Boys, an engrossing look at the life and career of playwright Mart Crowley who wrote the controversial play The Boys In The Band and Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, a portrait of the glamourous 1960s Warhol superstar.
LATEST NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS
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Join by March 12th to be part of an exciting 20th Anniversary Event!
I Love You Philip Morris - Glenn Watson
Click here and take a look at our 2010 Membership Benefits Chart
Be a part of the Festival that for 20 years has broken boundaries and opened doors for queer filmmakers from around the world. As the largest LGBT film festival in Canada and one of the largest in the world, Inside Out screens the most captivating, inspirational and provocative offerings in queer cinema for 11 days each May. Inside Out's 20th Anniversary Festival promises to be one of our best yet!
 One of the things we love to do at Inside Out is share our member's stories. Larry Hughsam has been a member of Inside Out for over a decade. To read his story click here.
Join by March 12th and have the first opportunity to reserve tickets to Alliance Films and Inside Out's exclusive April 29th Screening of I Love You Philip Morris at the Varsity Theatre.
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Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey go at it in I Love You Philip Morris
presented by 
I Love You Phillip Morris, which was a sensation at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, will finally hit Toronto cinemas this spring. Apparently as Ewan McGregor tells Out Magazine the delay was due to Jim Carrey: "There was talk that Disney fended off the release until after 'A Christmas Carol' came out. They didn't want kids thinking Ebenezer Scrooge was a bender."
I Love You Phillip Morris is the improbable but true story of a charismatic conman's journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal. Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) leads a seemingly average life - an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie (Leslie Mann) and a member of the local police force. That is, until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he's gay and he's going to live life to the fullest - even if he has to break the law to do it.
Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). His devotion to building the perfect life with Phillip prompts him to attempt one impossible con after another and brilliantly escape from prison on four separate occasions - all in the name of love. Told with an uncanny sense of humor and a lot of heart, I Love You Phillip Morris is an oddball tale of what can happen when the legal system, a daredevil spirit and undying love collide.
Inside Out, in partnership with Alliance Films, will host an exclusive screening of I Love You Philip Morris on April 29th on the Varsity Theatre. Members get first dibs on tickets. For more information contact kimahli@insideout.ca.
I Love You Philip Morris hits Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal theatres on May 7th. Check out the trailer
Wanna Win Great Prizes? Last Chance to Register to Inside Out's Oscar Pool!
Who will win big on Oscar Night? Have you made your Oscar predictions yet? Inside Out wants to give you an opportunity to participate in the excitement and win fabulous prizes by joining our Oscar Pool for the Academy awards airing Sunday March 7th, 2010.
PRIZES TO BE WON:
1st Prize - A 1st class trip for two for the destination of your choice (along the Windsor - Quebec City corridor) courtesy of VIA RAIL
2nd Prize - An Inside Out Benefactor Membership (get access to VIP events and tickets to the festival for you or a friend)
3rd Prize - A Pair of Tickets to Inside Out's exclusive April screening and reception of I Love You Philip Morris starring Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor.
HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:
1. Make a $20 contribution to Inside Out and Register here
2. You'll receive a link and password to enter our exclusive pool.
3. Submit your choices! To see the categories you will choose from click here
And that's it! You'll receive a confirmation of your picks.
Host an Oscar party, get others involved and support Inside Out while getting your chance to win great prizes and having a fun night! For more information contact Kimahli at kimahli@insideout.ca
Registration closes Sunday March 7, 2010 at 5pm. GOOD LUCK!
Advertise with Inside Out and Be Part of Our 20th Anniversary Celebrations
Inside Out, the presenters of the Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival, are in the planning stages for the 20th Anniversary Festival. The 20th Anniversary Festival will feature expanded programming including retrospective screenings of films from the past two decades, more social events; artist talks with international directors plus increased marketing efforts and media coverage.
As the third largest film festival in Toronto and the largest LGBT Festival in Canada this would be a great opportunity to show your support of arts/culture and the community. A special edition of our Festival program guide will be produced this year and as a recipient of our newsletter we would like to offer you a discounted rate to advertise with us. The 22,500 copies of the program guide are distributed to strategic locations in Toronto beginning the last week in April and continuing until the end of the Festival four weeks later.
Sign up to advertise before March 12, 2010 and receive a 10% discount on all rates, some opportunities such as screening slides and web-banners are limited so sign up early.
Click here for our 2010 Festival Advertising rate card. To book space or if you have any questions please contact Brad at brad@insideout.ca.
We look forward to helping you get your company name out to our brand loyal audience of 35,000.
AROUND TOWN
National Media Creativity Competition
ROOTS
www.rcinet.ca
Everyone has a story to tell. Radio Canada International invites all Canadians and permanent residents to tell us about their origins by entering ROOTS (or its French-language cousin RACINES), its brand-new short film and multimedia production competition.
The deadline for entries is March 7, 2010. The competition is open to amateurs and professionals alike, but you must be at least 18 years old to enter.
Simply submit a 3 to 8 minute work that speaks of your roots and touches on part of your history or an aspect of your culture. Entries can come in any form: fiction, report, documentary, animation, photomontage ...And also in any genre: comedy, detective, drama, slam, art video ...In short, we welcome anything unique, original, touching, or surprising that might captivate viewers and Internet users, and catch a jury's eye!
The 7th Toronto Japanese Short Film Festival
The 7th annual Toronto Japanese Short Film Festival will
be held on March 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st at Innis Town
Hall Theatre (2 Sussex Avenue). Click here for details of this year's 35 shorts and the festival schedule.
Venue
Innis Townhall Theatre (2 Sussex Ave.), Sussex, inside Innis College
Closing Party Venue: Victory Cafe (581 Markham St.)
Tickets
- Single Ticket (allows you to see 1 program)
$8 in advance, $11 at the door
- 5 Screenings Pass (allows you to see 5 programs)
$30 in advance (save $25!), $35 at the door (save $20!)
- Closing Party Ticket (must be 19 years or older)
$10 at the door *no advance tickets
Advance Tickets & Passes are on sale from February 25th at Queen Video (480 Bloor St. W. / 412 Queen St. W.) and SANKO (730 Queen St. W.)
Final Word
While A Single Man has been heavily touted as the premiere gay film this year, with Colin Firth nabbing his first Oscar nomination, we'd like to give a shout out to queer director Lee Daniels for receiving his first Oscar nomination as Best Director for Precious. He joins an exclusive club of only a few gay (at least out) directors to be nominated for this Oscar, and he is the only second African-American to be nominated in the category. So if you haven't checked out that movie yet, I strongly recommend you do it soon. It's powerful stuff. I suggest you watch it with someone you trust to talk about it with afterwards.
Kimahli Powell
Director of Development
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