The Out Takes gay and lesbian film festival has had another successful year, particularly in Christchurch, where an expanded programme and new venue saw a 35.4% increase in ticket sales on last year. "We extended the festival in Christchurch to a week, because it had been smaller in previous years, over a long weekend, or four days," says chief programmer Simon Fulton. "We also changed the venue to the Regent Cinema on Worcester Street. We were out at Sumner in previous years, so clearly there was a potential audience in the city we were missing out on." Out Takes have just announced the audience awards for this year's films: best feature went to the German gay coming-of-age story “Summer Storm”, best documentary was “Gay Republicans”, and local film-maker Welby Ings' Oscar-shortlisted “Boy” won best short film. Planning is already underway for Out Takes 2006. “We really start to actively source films for the next festival no later than the middle of September,” says Fulton. “So down time is July-August, and that's all. Then it starts up again.” Reel Queer, the incorporated society that organises the annual film festival, is undergoing restructuring at the moment because of the rapid growth of Out Takes as a major event on the festival calendar in New Zealand. “It was started as a volunteer hobby event eleven years ago, and it's now grown beyond our ability to run it in the same way we have been,” Fulton says.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 4th August 2005 - 12:00pm