Film Fest Includes LGBTQ+ Offerings

PINK LADY – Rinker Playhouse, January 24
(Credit: Sun & Stars International Film Festival)

(Press Release) (West Palm Beach, FL – January 10, 2025) The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival© (SASIFF), presented by MorseLife, returns for its third season with screenings at the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (Jan. 23-Jan. 30, 2025) and EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace (Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025). Among the more than two-dozen world-class movies from all over the world are five cinematic offerings that will be of particular interest to LGBTQ+ film fans.

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“Gay and lesbian relationships figure significantly in five Sun & Stars dramas. International directors representing Canada, Israel, Japan, UK, and USA are sensitive and forthright in treating LGBTQ+ themes, whether their characters are uncomfortably in the closet or out and weathering the give and take of fraught romantic partnerships,” promises Barbara Scharres, SASIFF Artistic Director.
 
“Issues come to the fore embedded in fiction, too,” she adds. “The pros and cons of the controversial practice of conversion therapy are considered when a wife discovers her husband’s secret life in PINK LADY. In MY SUNSHINE, a community’s prejudice impacts the career of a discretely gay man as the result of a misplaced adolescent crush.” 
 
The five films targeted to LGBTQ+ movie buffs that will be shown during the upcoming Sun & Stars International Film Festival are:
 
DAYS OF HAPPINESS
(Les Jours Heureaux)
(Drama, 2023, Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Chloe Robichaud. Canada, 118-minutes – In French with English subtitles)
The privileged world of classical music is the setting for drama on and off the concert stage as a young rising star conductor played by Sophie Desmarais makes a misstep that may put her dream of a prestigious new job in peril. A controversial program for the final concert of her residency triggers a fraught confrontation with her personal demons, including her relationships with her controlling father/manager and her lesbian lover.   Desmarais was coached by conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kensho Watanabe, and Nicolas Ellis to master her conducting movements. The film’s soaring music includes pieces by Mozart, Schoenberg, and Mahler. “An effective (and affecting) drama that boasts a spellbinding performance at its core”--Reel Film Reviews
The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
Friday, January 24, 1 pm
 
LIZA: A TRULY TERRIFIC AND ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY
(Documentary, 2024, Florida Premiere. Directed by Bruce David Klein. USA, 104-minutes)
The Opening Night Screening of The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival©, presented by MorseLife. One film is barely enough to encompass all the facets of the glittery life and career of Liza Minnelli, but director Klein pulls it off with many a humorously bossy aside from the Oscar-winning Cabaret star herself. This portrait puts the emphasis on a lifetime of meaningful relationships with mentors including Kay Thompson, Bob Fosse, and Halston as young Liza emerges from the shadow of her famous father, film director Vincente Minnelli, and her legendary mother Judy Garland to become one of the most extraordinary artists of our time.  Appearances by friends and collaborators include Mia Farrow, Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen, George Hamilton, and with running commentary by musician Michael Feinstein pulling it all together with his usual flair. “A gorgeous portrait of a legendary showbiz survivor, warmly celebratory but also unquestionably authentic”--The Hollywood Reporter
Note: Director Bruce David Klein will appear and answer questions at the Festival’s Opening Night screening.
The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
Thursday, January 23, 7:30 pm
 
MIDAS MAN
(Drama, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Joe Stephenson. UK, 112-minutes)
Often called “the Fifth Beatle,” manager/impresario Brian Epstein burned brightly as the man who catapulted the Fab Four to international fame then tragically died at 32. This brisk and wonderfully evocative film is a fictionalized capsule of early Beatles history from Liverpool’s grungy Cavern Club to the flower-power years, set against the background of Epstein’s short life. Jewish, closeted gay, and energized by the rocking tunes of the underground culture, Epstein (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) talks his way into managing the band of four scruffy lads. Also starring Emily Watson, Eddie Izzard, and Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan, MIDAS MAN brings to life one beloved chapter in the rock ‘n’ roll story with color and spirit, underlining the toll success took on the man who made it happen.
The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
Friday, January 24, 7 pm
 
MY SUNSHINE
(Boku No Ohisama)
(Drama, 2024, Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Hiroshi Okuyama. Japan, 100-minutes – In Japanese with English subtitles)
The enduring appeal of ice-dancing casts a spell over a film steeped in the bittersweet nostalgia of first love. Set at a small-town skating rink in picturesquely wintry Hokkaido, Japan, the film starring Keitatsu Koshiyama and Kiara Takanashi sets up a delicate triangle of association between two young skaters and their coach, with emotional fallout for all three. For Takuya, a bullied loner, it’s love at first sight when he spies Sakura, a girl his own age gliding and twirling to the strains of Claire de Lune. The coach senses the chance to recruit an ice-dancing partner for his most talented protege. Unrequited adolescent crushes have unforeseen consequences, however, when Sakura begins to understand that the handsome coach she dreams of is gay. “Profoundly moving”—RobertEbert.com. 
EVO Entertainment Delray Marketplace
Saturday, February 1, 1 pm
 
PINK LADY
(Drama, 2024, North Palm Beach County Premiere. Directed by Nir Bergman. Israel, Italy, 106-minutes – In Hebrew with English subtitles)
Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community is the setting for this story of a marriage in crisis when the husband’s secret desires are outed by criminals intent on blackmail.  Bati (Nur Fibak), a mother of three happily married to devout and seriously observant Lazer (Uri Blufarb) receives a mysterious envelope in the mail containing graphic photos of her husband kissing another man. Amid denials and flimsy claims of Photoshopping, Bati takes a new look at her man. An unexpected encounter with a very unusual woman causes her to take a fresh look at herself. The film opens a Pandora’s Box of issues: Orthodox family values, homosexuality and conversion therapy.
The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
Friday, January 24, 4 pm)
 
For more information about the SASIFF or to purchase tickets, please visit www.sasiff.org.