Philadelphia’s QFest 17 Delivers Docs, Dramas and Drag To The City Of Brotherly Love

 

Brent Corrigan, Thom Cardwell and Charlie DavidWith the backing of gay-cinema powerhouse TLA Releasing, Philadelphia’s QFest has become one of the big players in the queer film festival circuit. The 17th annual Qfest, which officially wraps today, offered a panoply of LGBT offerings including Judas Kiss (in which a thirtysomething man has a steamy one-night-stand with his college-aged self), the sex comedy Eating Out:Drama Camp, the John Waters-esque Mangus! ( in which a handicapped teen is determined to play Jesus in his school’s version of Jesus Christ Superstar), the lesbian-wedding doc Married in Spandex and What’s The Name of the Dame, which sees more than a dozen drag divas explaining the eternal importance of ABBA. (Judas Kiss‘ Brent Corrigan and Charlie David flank QFest head Thom Cardwell at left.)

By all accounts, the 12-day series was a rousing success but it wasn’t without the occasional hiccup: Corrigan (born Sean Paul Lockhart) was on hand to receive his Rising Star award but French porn star François Sagat, who was supposed to attend a screening of the documentary short Sagat was a no-show. “He called after his plane left to say he was sick and couldn’t make it,” explains TLA President Ray Murray. “It  was a real shame because he was supposed to be the guest of honor at a special reception—and it was a first-class nonrefundable ticket.” Fortunately New York gossipmongers Michael Musto and Mickey Boardman were on hand to fill in for the tattooed top at the film’s Q&A, with what we were told was an expletive-laden chat that would’ve made Chi Chi LaRue blush. (We always said the mouth is the filthiest organ in the human body.)

Below, watch off-the-cuff interviews with cast and crew from the movies Longhorns and Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together, taken during a filmmakers’ reception at the TLA offices in downtown Philadelphia.

(Photos by Ted Huang, Heather Coutts and Patrick Hagerty; Videos by Le Ann Lindsay)

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