Reel Affirmations: The Nation's LGBT Film Festival 2009

Brighton Bandits aims to debunk the popular myth that gay men don't play sports, a belief often shared by both the sporting and gay communities, and tackles the camp stereotype head-on. In following the team’s quest to retain their title, Bandits captures the players' own stories of coming out, dealing with homophobia, and defining their own masculinity.

Masculinity and homosexuality have always been hopelessly — and helplessly — intertwined. From clones to queens, Bears to gym rats, twinks to queers, the gay community has embraced and objectified men of every stripe. Christopher Hines’ documentary, part sociological study and part pin-up calendar, tackles them all. We meet Jason Hefley and his San Diego gay flag football league while Kevin Reed discusses his affinity for baseball and problems of homophobia in the African-American community. San Francisco Lt. Sheriff Vince Calvarese touches on being a big and burly, out and proud member of the force, while embracing his feminine side to defuse tense prison situations. On the less testosterone-heavy side is Mark Snyder, a San Francisco resident who, empowered by his effeminacy, refuses to be deterred by the violence he faces on Bay Area streets. Frequently, Hines gets his subjects to reflect revealingly on what made them the type of man they are today. The director also presents recent changes in cultural norms of masculinity, such as the "bromance" and the metrosexual, while excavating the past for images of the mustachioed "clone" and stereotypical queen. Among all these different men and their corresponding "butch factors," the salient point of Hines’ clever and fast-paced film is that, for gay men, acknowledging your homosexuality is just one of the steps along the path of discovering exactly what kind of man you are.

So, exactly what kind of woman brings a loaf of bread instead of flowers on a first date?

Neil and Greg meet for their lunch-hour tryst in a cheap motel, but Greg's fear and paranoia of being outed leaves Neil doubting their relationship.

Maxi (Javier Cámara) has it all. He is a famous cook who owns a top restaurant in Chueca (Boystown, the gay district of Madrid), and who is this close to getting the restaurant rated by the Michelin guide. He lives life to the fullest — out and proud, with a healthy sexual life, and a coterie of close confidants including Alex (Lola Dueñas) and Ramiro (Fernando Tejero). Life threatens his soufflé, though, when his son and daughter (who were born from an unsuccessful early marriage) appear on his doorstep, right about the same time that a new neighbor, Horacio, moves in. Horacio, a famous ex-soccer star and current sportscaster, only has eyes for Maxi, but the high-strung and delusional Alex has other plans for the amiable athlete. Maxi’s life turns completely upside down as the affair deepens and awakens the love he feels for his children, his restaurant, and his difficult-to-control staff. Chef’s Special features non-stop comedy twists imbued with a sexy Spanish sensibility — and then, with one flip of the hand, takes it one step further.

Would you creep under razor wire, scale cement walls, and dodge bullets to get to a gay bar? In the heart of Jerusalem lies a surprising sanctuary: a bar called Shushan. Here, gay Jews and Palestinians come together to find companionship, release, and even love, united by their common struggle for acceptance and dignity. Set against the struggle for a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, City of Borders explores this resilient community’s daily fight for dignity and their right to existence. "Everyone comes from their own ghetto and meets at Shushan," says the bar owner Sa’ar Netanel, a secular Israeli and Jerusalem’s first openly gay city council member. For devout Muslim Palestinian, Boody going to Shushan means endangering his life in an illegal nighttime border crossing from the West Bank to Jerusalem. Former Israeli soldier and "club kid" Adam Russo, dances shirtless on stage, displaying visible scars on his chest and arms. Being a victim of a hate crime has ignited his political purpose — to fight for equal rights. On the dance floor, a Palestinian Israeli, Samira Saraya, kisses her Jewish Israeli lesbian lover, Ravit Geva. Their union breaks two of Middle Eastern society’s biggest taboos: same-sex relations and intimacy between Jews and Arabs. Ironically, these barriers have drawn them closer together, but isolated them from their families. Their stories, and many others, play out amidst the disco lights and pulsing music, impacting everyone — regardless of gender, nationality or religion — with their resilience and belief in the redeeming power of love.

In a quiet Orlando suburb, three young men struggle to escape the wreckage of their pasts and create new lives for themselves. Their new home is CollegeBoysLive.com, a voyeur webcam house rigged with 32 cameras poised to catch their every waking and sleeping move, eagerly watched by thousands of paying members. Zac, the site’s creator, insists that CollegeBoysLive.com is simply about showing that "it’s okay to be gay," and the film certainly does that – offering up glimpses of bad-boy J.C., heartbreaker Tim and the newly out Chuck as they navigate the tricky notion of being as gay as you wanna be, on camera and off. Outside the house, though, trouble is brewing. The homeowners association insists that the house is a pornographic whorehouse and sue to have them evicted. The ensuing legal fight pales in comparison to the drama brewing behind closed doors, though. This surprisingly poignant film is as unscripted as they come, and the boys all wrestle with their newfound freedom, the growing pains of early adulthood, and the performance expectations of the men constantly watching them – often hungry for more than they can give. Zac and Jonathan, "housemothers" to the randy trio, must walk a fine line between business and friendship, voyeurism and privacy, and the very real challenges of their occupation.

After losing his lover to a hate crime, Jeremy finds himself in a Laundromat late one night risking his life to protect another victim. But events are not what they seem.