FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Outfest presents World Premiere of FULLY RESTORED LANDMARK GAY FILM “PARTING GLANCES” on July 16
Nation’s Leading Gay and Lesbian Film Institution Announces the completion of landmark film restoration
Contact:
Cathy Renna
917-757-6123
cathy@rennacommunications.com
(Note to Editors: Digital Images Available Upon Request.)
LOS ANGELES, CA – Outfest – a leading showcase for diverse and international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film and video – partnered in 2005 with the UCLA Film & Television Archive to create the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. Parting Glances (1986), the landmark film that depicted the lives of gay men in New York at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, is the Outfest Legacy Project’s first completed film restoration. The Restoration World Premiere of Parting Glances will take place on July 16th, 2007 at Outfest 2007: The 25th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
"Bill Sherwood's Parting Glances is one of my favorite films I've acted in and I am very proud of its place in film history,” said actor Steve Buscemi. “After seeing a severely distressed print of it a few years ago, I am relieved and extremely grateful to the Outfest Legacy Project for restoring this landmark film and for their extraordinary commitment to film preservation in the LGBT community," Buscemi noted.
“The preservation of Parting Glances is an important first step in ensuring the survival of important and endangered LGBT works,” said Stephen Gutwillig, Outfest Executive Director. “Unfortunately many other films are in imminent danger of fading away—their original exhibition prints in tatters, their negatives in woeful storage conditions, or even lost,” he continued. “The Outfest Legacy Project is working to raise funds to rescue these films, strike new prints for widespread public exhibition, and expand access to researchers and the public,” he concluded.
“The groundbreaking restoration of Parting Glances is a milestone for the Outfest Legacy Project,” said Robert Rosen, Dean, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. “We continue working on the monumental task of rescuing endangered LGBT works and making them available to audiences and scholars worldwide.”
WHAT: World premiere screening of restored version of Parting Glances (1986)
WHO: Members of the cast and crew, including Steve Buscemi, Kathy Kinney, and Richard Ganoung; and Nancy Mysel, Film Preservationist, UCLA Film & Television Archive will participate in a panel on the making and restoration of PARTING GLANCES. The panel will be moderated by Peggy Rajski, Academy Award-winning Director of TREVOR.
WHERE: Directors Guild of America, Theatre 1. 7920 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. CA 90046
WHEN:
Monday, July 16th, 2007
7:00pm: VIP Pre-Party, Heineken Green Room (VIP ticket holders)
8:00pm: Screening and Panel (all ticket holders)
10:00pm: Gala After-Party, DGA lobby (all ticket holders)
Proceeds from this special event will benefit the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. (PLEASE NOTE: Outpasses do not provide admission to this special event.) VIP ticket price: $50. General ticket price: $30.
The restoration of PARTING GLANCES has been made possible by a grant from The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation and by the Members of Outfest
MORE INFORMATION:
Parting Glances
Noted for its nuanced and unapologetic depiction of queer lives, PARTING GLANCES was historic for its attention to the omnipresence of AIDS in gay life of the time. Already a catastrophe in the gay community but still poorly understood by many Americans, the disease was granted a fully dimensional, human face through this wise, quirky, often heartrending story.
Directed by Bill Sherwood in 1986, this 90 minute film is among the most beloved LGBT films of the last 25 years. Sherwood’s warm, moving debut feature, shouldered its way into the bourgeoning independent film scene of the mid-1980s. The film instantly established its place in the hearts of gay moviegoers, achieved significant mainstream success and launched the career of Steve Buscemi.
Lovers Michael (Richard Ganoung) and Robert (John Bolger) form an emotional triangle with Michael’s ex Nick (Buscemi), a famed rock singer living with AIDS. PARTING GLANCES chronicles the 48 hours prior to Robert’s departure for Africa on a two-year work assignment and Michael’s anguished confusion at the prospect of losing both the men he loves. Among the film’s most-admired and remembered sequences is a raucous going-away party hosted by delightful then-newcomer Kathy Kinney. Bill Sherwood’s poignant portrait of gay male love and friendship and Steve Buscemi’s wildly-unsentimental performance were central to PARTING GLANCES’ undeniable appeal two decades ago as they are today.
AIDS claimed Bill Sherwood in 1990 before he could complete another film, and PARTING GLANCES faced the inevitable limbo and deterioration to which most queer independent films are consigned. The Outfest Legacy Project, however, has blown the film up from the original Super 16mm negative to an archival 35mm preservation negative, restored the soundtrack and made pristine 35mm viewing prints. Bill Sherwood’s legacy, this timely and truly timeless feature, is now safe.
The Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation
The Outfest Legacy Project is the only program in the world devoted to saving and protecting LGBT film, much of which is already in danger of being lost. In partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Outfest Legacy Project has already established the largest publicly accessible collection of LGBT moving images in the world. The collection contains nearly 5,000 titles and aspires to include every LGBT film and video ever made. In addition, Outfest and UCLA are collecting film prints and other material for permanent preservation, striking new prints for widespread public exhibition, restoring damaged films to their initial release forms and conducting extensive outreach to filmmakers, archivists and educators. The Outfest Legacy Project’s next feature film restoration is WORD IS OUT: STORIES OF SOME OF OUR LIVES, the landmark documentary created by the Mariposa Group in 1977.
UCLA Film & Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is internationally renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media, and is dedicated to insuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come. A unique resource for media study, the Archive holds one of the largest collections of media materials in the United States—second only to the Library of the Congress in Washington, D.C.—and the largest of any university in the world.
Outfest
Outfest is a leading showcase for diverse, international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film and video. Since it’s founding in 1982, Outfest has presented more than 4,000 films to audiences of over half a million people. Its programs include Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Outfest Screenwriting Lab, Outfest Wednesdays—the oldest LGBT screening series in the country—and Fusion: The Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival.
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