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For Immediate Release               
Contact: Aaron Bare
Phone: (919) 560-3040, ext 224
E-mail: Aaron@carolinatheatre.org



DURHAM, N.C. – The 12th Annual North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (NCGLFF) has selected the winner of the 2007 NCGLFF Emerging Film Award for Best Men’s Feature and the winners of the 2007 Wolfe Best Gay Short Film Award and the 2007 Wolfe Best Lesbian Short Film Award. 
    The film “East Side Story” has been selected as the 2007 NCGLFF Emerging Film Award winner for Best Men’s Feature. Director Carlos Portugal’s feature debut is a gay romantic comedy about what happens when gay gabachos (non-Latinos) move into a traditionally Mexican enclave. “East Side Story” will be making its North Carolina Premiere at the NCGLFF.  The film has previously enjoyed success on the film festival circuit including festival screenings in Miami, San Francisco, Washington,  D.C., and Chicago. Carlos Portugal is a graduate of USC film school. As a writer, he worked on “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital.”
The 2007 Emerging Film Award for Best Women’s Feature Film was not awarded this year due to lack of eligible entries.
“Family Reunion” has been selected the winner of the 2007 Wolfe Best Lesbian Short Film Award (formerly known as the NCGLFF Emerging Film Award for Best Women’s Short). “Family Reunion” is a modern-day coming out story about a young Icelandic woman living two separate lives.  Katrín, a sculptor in NYC, is headed from grungy Chinatown back to pristine Iceland for her grandfather's 70th birthday. Katrín will soon find herself reunited with her family who enthusiastically engage her in discussions about marriage, children and her future. Katrín must decide whether to continue leading her dual life or risk outraging her family by revealing her true self. Writer-Director Ísold Uggadotir’s short film was an official selection of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.  
“The Red Front” has been selected the winner of the2007 Wolfe Best Gay Short Film Award (formerly known as the NCGLFF Emerging Film Award for Best Men’s Short).  In Germany, 1933, Werner Stein is the son of a prominent underground Communist leader.  But when he and his father are arrested by the Nazis, an SS Officer forces Werner to make an unspeakable choice.  Shattered, Werner is recruited by his father's underground organization, The Red Front, to exact revenge.  But revenge is never simple, and again Werner is forced to make a final, deadly choice.  Director Adam Goudchaux is a graduate of the California State University at Long Beach school of cinema.
The awards are selected prior to the festival by the volunteer members of the NCGLFF Programming Committee.  The nominees in each category are selected on the following criteria:

1)    All films in consideration have not, at the time of consideration, secured a
domestic theatrical distributor.

2)    All films in consideration have been programmed in the NC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

3)    All films in consideration have been in festival release for less than 2 calendar years. 

The awards are selected on the following criteria:

1)    Relevance to contemporary LGBT audiences.

2)    Direction/cinematography/editing/music score/sound design achieves a degree of excellence. 

3)    Acting/documentary footage/set design/costuming/art decoration achieves a degree of excellence.

4)    Screenplay is engaging/timely/thought-provoking/clever throughout the film.  

5)    Film is neither offensive nor stereotypical to LGBT or Heterosexual audiences.

The North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, one of Durham’s Signature Events, features 76 films, with two world premieres and 54 North Carolina premieres this year.  The four-day festival begins Thursday, August 23 and continues through Sunday, August 26 at the historic Carolina Theatre of Durham.
In 2003, The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau named the NCGLFF a “Signature Event” for Durham, the highest honor bestowed on a cultural event or attraction by the organization.  Produced by the non-profit Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc., the NCGLFF, which began in 1995, is the second largest gay and lesbian film festival in the Southeast and the largest cultural arts event serving the queer community in the Carolinas.
Single tickets for the film festival are $8 and ticket 5-packs are $35 and go on sale on August 1 at 11 a.m.  Tickets can be purchased at the box office located at 309 W. Morgan St. in Downtown Durham.  Box office hours are from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets can also be purchased by calling the box office at 919-560-3030 or toll-free at 888-241-8162. Orders may also be faxed to 919-560-3065. More information is available at www.carolinatheatre.org.




The Carolina Theatre of Durham Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing quality film and live performances to the Triangle community. Live performances at the Carolina Theatre are supported in part by the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts, the A.J. Fletcher Performing Arts Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation, the SunTrust Carolinas Group Foundation, The Fox Family Foundation and the F.M. Kirby Foundatio

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