ince 2006 the Galway Film Fleadh has showcased the best in new LGBTQ cinema via our Out on Film strand. This year we are proud to present a strand of films that not only exhibits but celebrates some of the best new work by and for LGBT audiences – work that entertains, enriches and enlightens all audiences in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied communities. Screening on our opening night, Jack & Diane follows bubbly and naïve Diane, whose charming innocence quickly opens tomboy Jack's tough skinned heart. When Jack discovers that Diane is leaving, she pushes her away. Diane is overwhelmed by powerful new feelings that begin to manifest themselves in terrifying ways, causing unexplainable violent changes to her body. Next up is In The Name Of which focuses on Father Adam, a conflicted priest in charge of a centre for troubled young boys, as struggles with his sexual longings. Gay priests are something of a recurring theme of late in western cinema but it is rare that their sexual angst is portrayed as sensitively and as they are here. In The Name Of exists in the intriguing middle-ground between the sacred and profane, and is heightened by sublime casting and outstanding performances. Monster Pies meanwhile explores the ramifications of a romance that sparks up during an English assignment. As Mike and Will fall for each other while working on a monster movie version of Romeo & Juliet they are kept apart by dysfunctional families, class mates and their own sexual confusion. Can their love overcome all obstacles? Or, like the Shakespearian monsters that inhabit their school project, are they fated to spend their existence haunted and alone? Sebastien Lifshitz’s wonderful, engaging documentary The Invisibles, about elderly openly gay and lesbian couples in France offers an intriguing glimpse into attitudes of as they talk about their experiences over the past 60 years.
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