Gus Van Sant to Participate in Side by Side LGBT Film Festival, Saint Petersburg, Russia In attendance at this year’s Side by Side LGBT Film Festival is the award winning director Gus Van Sant. In store for the Saint Petersburg audience, on 30th November, is a very special evening of cinema, with the screening of the film MILK, followed by a discussion, not only with the director Gus Van Sant but the film’s producer Bruce Cohen and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who received an Oscar for Best Screenplay, in 2009 for the film MILK. The evening’s guests commenting on their participation stated: “For over a century, our countries have both valued cinema as a means of expanding cultural understanding. Time and again we've broken down the barriers between us by sharing our cinematic achievements. Our hope in screening the 2009 Academy Award winning film Milk -- about the late civil rights leader, Harvey Milk -- is to encourage respectful conversations that might create deeper understanding. Cinema has that power. For this reason, we would like to bring our film to your country and participate in the meaningful dialogue we feel certain this screening will create between the people of our great nations.” In the past year Russia has attracted considerable attention at an international level. People from afar have been watching closely the developments concerning LGBT and human rights abuses in Russia with horror, astonishment and incomprehension. Many of the filmmakers, whose work is making up this years 2013 programme have also come forward in a sign of solidarity and issued statements of support to Side by Side and the LGBT community in Russia. Statements available to read here. Side by Side organizers would like to extend their thanks to all those filmmakers who have supported the festival over the last year. Leading the discussion after the screening of MILK with Gus Van Sant, Dustin Lance Black and Bruce Cohen is Alexei Medvedev, director of the 2 in 1 film festival (Moscow). Time: 30 November, 18.45 Place: Art Space Skorokhod, kop.5, 4th Floor, 107 Moskovsky Prospekt _________________ Side by Side LGBT International Film Festival |
