PORTLAND LESBIAN & GAY
FILM FESTIVAL
QUEER FILM SCHOOL

The Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, in conjunction with the Q Center, has started a new film series. Queer
Film School is a monthly, informal survey of important and/or influential queer films. The series begins with a free screening of Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho on March 15 at 8:00 p.m. at the Q Center. Join our mailing list to keep informed about future screenings.

June 26, 2008 at 8:00 pm at Q Center
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
Directed by Julian Schnabel • USA • 2000 • 133 Minutes
The life of Reinaldo Arenas, an exiled, Cuban, gay, writer, is chronicled in an adaptation of his memoir Before Night Falls, directed by Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). This year's Oscar-winner for Best Supporting Actor, Javier Bardem (in another Oscar-nominated performance) portrays Arenas as he journeys from poverty to university to the sexual revolution and homosexual subculture in Havana to persecution and imprisonment under the policies of Fidel Castro for being both gay and a writer. Despite the harsh conditions of prison, the courageous Arenas continued not only to write but also to publish his works abroad. Ultimately, he was allowed to leave Cuba for America, but there he faced new struggles as a man without a country battling AIDS. Schnabel's beautifully filmed feature captures the essence of Cuba during the revolution. Johnny Depp is featured in the dual supporting roles of the cross-dressing prison inmate, Bon Bon, and the brutal officer, Lieutenant Victor. Sean Penn appears in a cameo as Cuco Sanchez. Before Night Falls also stars Olivier Martinez and Diego Luna. June 26 at 8:00 p.m. Q Center, 69 SE Taylor at Water Ave. Free.
Website. View trailer here. Wikipedia entry about Reinaldo Arenas here.
 
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