It’s Raining Indie Film

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More About

• Melvin Farr
• Dirk Bogarde
• Roger Ebert
• LGBT Issues
• Sexuality

Venezuelans have an expression for things that don’t go well together — “arroz con mango” — while Americans have several quaint ones for things that do, like “peas in a pod,” but where is the expression for things that shouldn’t work together but do anyway? Tuesday’s double feature at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is one of them. The night begins at 7:30 with the 1961 British film Victim, the first English-language flick to use the word "homosexuality." Dirk Bogarde plays Melvin Farr, a successful barrister whose true sexual preference has been discovered by a group of insidious blackmailers. When Farr risks his career to fight his enemies, the art mirrored the actor’s real life: By playing the role, Bogarde outed himself. Director Basil Deardon doesn’t allow the film to descend into camp, as evidenced by Roger Ebert’s inclusion of Victimin the second installment of his Great Films books.

At 9:30, the evening goes from dramatic to lighthearted. “What Boys Want” is a series of funny short films curated by the festival’s staff and features stories as outrageous as a gay zombie and a pair of hetero boys competing for a job as a gay phone sex operator.
Tue., April 28, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., 2009