The GAZE Film Festival has had humble beginnings having been around in various guises since 1992 when homosexuality was still a criminal act in Ireland. The ever-increasing popularity of the festival is a testament to the range and quality of queer cinema. Festival programmer Cian Smyth has selected a line-up for 2009 that celebrates its fantastic diversity while showcasing the extent to which the genre has progressed and evolved in recent times.
What would you say is the overall aim of GAZE?
GAZE is essentially a film festival for the Dublin Gay and Lesbian community. It’s about celebrating queer cinema in its many forms. People from that community have worked in the film industry over the years and played major parts in the process of it becoming what it is today, especially in terms of experimenting with film form and style. From actors to those behind the camera there’s been quite a significant history of gay and lesbian involvement in the film industry so it’s a way of recognizing that contribution but also allows people from the community to see representations of themselves and of people from their community in different parts of the world on screen, and to identify with other people going through the same experiences as they do. It might seem quite common now to see queer characters on screen but it’s still not common enough. Certainly a number of years ago there was relatively few people to identify with on screen and if there was they would often be very stereotypical and that still can be the case today. There’s still a valid reason then for these festivals to enable people to gather together, hear stories about their community and identify with the other people’s struggles on screen.
Can you tell us about the sub-categories that the festival has been divided into?
The purpose behind the categories is to make certain films stand-out that otherwise might get lost in an A-Z list of films. They highlight why the films were picked and what’s interesting about them. GAZE Vision is what we’ve called our main panel of films which form the core and body of our programme. They could be documentaries or feature films and are our pick of the best films that we have seen around the world. Queer Heroes is a way of celebrating icons in the Gay and Lesbian film community. It celebrates people who have achieved greatness but also documents the successes of local heroes and everyday people, gay and lesbian men and women from across the world that have had to go to heroic lengths to lead the life they want to live. A good example this year is ‘City of Borders’ which tells the story of Jerusalem‘s only gay bar. Or there’s ‘Every Little Step’ which is a documentary following the pre-production of Michael Bennett’s musical ‘Chorus Line’. Then we have Queer Curios which includes curious, creative or experimental approaches to queer film. There are also GAZE special events like the screening of the original ‘Grey Gardens’ documentary.
Queer cinema has become more mainstream. What can we attribute its movement from the peripheries of cinema to?
It’s probably because queer films make money. There are major successes there for us to be proud of, like ‘Brokeback Mountain’. That was obviously very successful as a book before it was made into a film but no-one in the industry could ever have foreseen it achieving the success it did. I don’t think it’s necessarily because of the content. It’s just an excellent film but since that was made there’s been quite a few mainstream queer films. They generally tend to be comedies or romantic dramas. I don’t think the reasons for including the themes and issues that they address is to show any level of diversity. I just think there’s more people with less prejudices now and therefore it’s more accessible and acceptable and those kinds of characters as a result are becoming more prominent. Whether there are any genuine, fully-rounded depictions of gay and lesbian people in them is a different question.
Is it one of the festival’s aims to give support to upcoming Irish filmmakers on the queer scene?
Is it important to do it but what comes first is the quality of the film. We support them when it becomes noticeable. We didn’t go out looking for a majority programme of female film-makers for example but we were extremely pleased when we found out that we had one. It’s important to support new Irish filmmakers. It’s very difficult to make films anywhere in the world but especially in Ireland at the moment. You can imagine how much more difficult it is to make a film in what’s considered a niche market. People struggle to tell their stories. It’s as important to tell our own stories as it is to see other peoples from around the world. The process of making those kinds of films happen is as important as the film itself so whenever we have the opportunity to offer that support we do.
The festival contains 67 pieces in total. What kind of content do you feel is the most important to include?
Films that push at the boundaries are often not going to be box-office top-ten hits. Our job is to try and get as many people as possible into the appreciation of queer film and to give them access to genuinely good films. The quality quotient can shift at times because sometimes what the story is representing is what’s most important. It’s about telling a story that deserves to be told. There are also many films in the programme that aren’t meant to be exclusively for the gay and lesbian audience. There’s some great cinema on the programme that can be appreciated by anyone. Having worked at festivals all over the world I can honestly say it’s unique, fun atmosphere at GAZE. We have lots of great filmmakers coming over and some interesting events in store.
