Anthony Paull is an independent filmmaker himself, and no stranger to the Sarasota Film Festival—you can see his short film The Cover at SFF during the SRQ Shorts screening. Here he outlines five films that have caught his indie eye.

I have a love/hate relationship with LGBT films. Overall, I enjoy films with gay themes but find most of them ‘color-by-numbers’ or slutty without substance. Weekly, I surf Netflix, desperate for a great gay release, only to suffer through 90 minutes of bad acting or yet another film consisting of a gay man who can’t deal with the fact he’s (trigger gag reflex) gay. Luckily, a tremendous amount of great foreign films (I Killed My Mother, Plan B and Weekend) and a few U.S. releases (Save Me, Codependent Lesbian Space [...]

On August 18 and 19, 2012, the Second Annual Fabulous Independent Film Festival (FIFF) will be held at Burns Court Cinemas in the historic Burns Court District of Sarasota. Festival founder and organizer Magida Diouri is excited to expand the annual LGBT film festival to a two-day event, showcasing up to six features and five shorts. Diouri states she is seeking films illustrating LGBT acceptance and coming-of-age issues. She plans to select at least one foreign film but has yet to determine the title. Presently, Diouri is in negotiations with foreign and [...]