Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival 2008

Performed by Ned Van Zandt, “So Glad” is a comic monologue written by Ned and William M. Hoffman, and was first seen as part of “Character Assassinations,” an evening of short comic pieces at Highways in Santa Monica, later revived at Circle in the Square Off-Broadway in New York. William Hoffman is best known for his Tony and Pulitzer-nominated “As Is.” Ned won a 1999 Drama Desk Award for the Tony Award-winning “The Iceman Cometh” with Kevin Spacey. Television credits include “Law and Order,” “Spin City,” and “Third Watch.” He will also be seen in “After Heaven,” The Princess Kaiulani Project, to be released in 2009. Ned is proud to be a part of HRFF 2008.

What can change in thirteen or so minutes...everything! Lawrence Jefferies is a guy who's found the flow in his life; he knows how to trust his gut and follow his instincts. Driven by a loving curiosity and strong sense of adventure, he lives his life with a freedom and confidence most men envy. Hugh Greerey, by contrast, lives under the influence of his self-consciousness, struggling to connect to a deeper sense of who he really is. There is a power and intensity to Hugh's spirit which he fights to hold in check until the two meet by happenstance and a defining moment between them opens one into his humanity and propels the other into his soul.

The San Francisco Trans March, a gender-bending view of the world, is both a protest against the violence and discrimination faced by the trans community, and a celebration of their strength and spirit. “How do you define your gender?” You may be surprised at the variety of answers, and the responses that will surface within you.

Special guests Antonio Brown (producer of Tru Loved) and Stewart Wade (writer/director) will be in attendance. Sixteen-year-old Tru is uprooted by her lesbian moms from her comfortable gay-friendly home in San Francisco and moved to a conservative, suburban community in Southern California. Tru’s only friend is a closeted football player, and even that friendship is jeopardized when she starts the school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance. “‘Tru Loved’ dramatizes a struggle between bigotry and humanity that is too common for lesbian and gay individuals, families, and especially youth in America today...we believe that when this film is shared with a wide audience, it will not only open people’s eyes to the price we all pay for prejudice, but demonstrate the shared human need for understanding.” Jody M. Huckaby Executive Director PFLAG “This film is a great representation of the everyday people and families who are moving equality forward in our schools, homes and communities. ‘Tru Loved’ demonstrates the powerful combination of LGBT people and the straight allies who support them.” Ramona Ripston Executive Director ACLU of Southern California

SPEAKproductions presents Were the World Mine, a musical feature film based on their award-winning short musical film, Fairies, which has screened in over 75 international film festivals including the Tribeca film festival and Outfest LA. If you had a love-potion, who would you make fall madly in love with you? Timothy, prone to escaping his dismal high school reality through dazzling musical daydreams, gets to answer that question in a very real way. After his eccentric teacher casts him as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he stumbles upon a recipe hidden within the script to create the play’s magical, purple love-pansy. Armed with the pansy, Timothy’s fading spirit soars as he puckishly imposes a new reality by turning much of his narrow-minded town gay, beginning with the rugby-jock of his dreams. Ensnaring family, friends and enemies in this heart-wrenching chaos, Timothy forces them to walk a mile in his musical shoes. The course of true love never did run smooth, but by the end of this moving musical comedy of errors based on director Tom Gustafson’s prolific award-winning short film, Fairies, the bumpy ride comes to a heartfelt conclusion. With vibrant imagery, a first-rate ensemble cast and innovative music rivaling the best of pop/rock and contemporary Broadway, Were the World Mine attempts to push modern gay cinema and musical film beyond expectation.

For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15 year-old Alex (Inés Efron,) who was born an intersex child.* As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-yearold son Álvaro (Martín Piroyanski.) Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity, and forces both families to face their worst fears.