Maria Maggenti, director of the beloved UNBELIEVABLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE, hits another high note with PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS, a charming New York story centered on a bisexual love triangle. Humming with delectable wit and wry humor, this sophisticated screwball comedy twists and turns with all of the drama of classic Puccini. Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser, THE FAMILY STONE), a writer and opera aficionada, loves her girlfriend Samantha (Julianne Nicholson, KINSEY) but can’t commit. Samantha leaves her, bouncing back to her ex-boyfriend/soon-to-be fiancé. Allegra has a rebound of her own - a drunken flirtation with handsome philosophy professor Phillip (Justin Kirk, ANGELS IN AMERICA) that turns into a full-fledged affair. Allegra is struggling with the idea of dating a man when she meets Grace (Gretchen Mol, THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE), an irresistibly beautiful, recently single and recently straight woman. Equally enchanted by Phillip and Grace, Allegra juggles secret relationships with both of them - but little does she know that Phillip and Grace have a connection of their own! As tensions rise, so does the rapier-sharp dialogue. With a healthy dose of humor and just the right amount of irony, PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS tackles such themes as chance encounters, commitment-phobia, sexual identity and gender politics. We believe you’ll find this thoroughly enjoyable, impossibly clever film a perfect beginning to Outfest 2006.

One of our greatest living playwrights, Pulitzer and Tony Awardwinner Tony Kushner (Angels in America) is a consummate artist and indomitable political activist committed to equality and social justice. A Jewish homosexual raised in the heart of the Deep South, Kushner has become a compassionate voice for outsiders in a climate of repression and censorship. WRESTLING WITH ANGELS covers three years of Kushner’s life from 9/11 to the 2004 presidential election, capturing the fierce moral responsibility that pervades this passionate artist’s work. Perhaps the greatest assessment of Oscar winner Freida Lee Mock’s film is that she does justice to her brilliant subject, entwining interviews with leading theatre artists and personal moments from Kushner’s life with scenes from his plays. Watching Marcia Gay Harden as Laura Bush in a scene from one of Kushner’s lesser known plays is itself worth the price of admission. Hearing Meryl Streep read a prayer that Kushner wrote asking - no, demanding - that God cure AIDS will tear your heart out. Fiercely political, deeply personal, incredibly intelligent, funny, poignant, hopeful and immensely spiritual, Kushner’s work is a bright shining light. Like Tony Kushner himself, Mock’s film about him is a multifaceted gem that sparkles as it enlightens on so many levels.