palm springs
DAVID ANSEN SPEAKS THE PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL GLOBAL LGBT REPRESENTATION by tim parks
Since its inception in 1990, the Palm Springs International Film Festival has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the most pre-eminent film festivals in the world. The five-day affair was originally spearheaded by
the late Sonny Bono, mayor of the desert city at the time, who wanted to utilize the platform as a way to promote the city and tourism. The inaugural event drew a crowd of 17,000 participants and would grow in size and scope over the next few years, only losing ground in the late ’90s slightly, due to similarly themed festivals: The Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival having been thrust into the spotlight. Fast forward to 2018 and The Palm Springs International Film Festival, running fromTuesday, January 2 to Monday, January 15,which is now one of the top three festivals in America, enjoying a 13-day run, welcoming over 135,000 attendees each year. Included in this year’s festival is the opening night featureThe Post, starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, helmed by director Steven Spielberg,
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as well as other high profile films and possible Oscar contenders, including: I, Tonya, Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. This year’s Film Awards Gala onTuesday, January 2, includes award winners Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game) William Defoe (The Florida Project) Holly Hunter (The Big Sick) Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Saorise Ronan (Lady Bird), as well as the Vauguard Award forThe Shape of Water. Nearly 20 LGBT films will be also highlighted
during the nearly two week-long event, with a worldwide scope of diversity with stories told from all over the globe. The movies range from the critically-acclaimed Call Me by Your Name to tales of an aspiring drag queen working in a cannery in Alaska is a Drag andClose-Knit, the first Japanese movie to deal with transgender issues. French entry BPM (Beats Per Minute) chronicles a group of ACT UP activists in Paris in 1989, as the AIDS crisis was
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