The NY African Diaspora International Film Festival first LGBT cinema event

NEW YORK, NY - The 23rd curation of the New York African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) unspools on Friday, November 27th, with an eclectic mix of independent films from the African Diaspora. This year, ADIFF presents its very first LGBT Cinema Evening on Tuesday, December 1st at Columbia University. The event will feature the World Premiere of Julien's Bed and the New York premiere of the hit international film, While You Weren't Looking.

Hosted by Julien's Bed director, Kirk Shannon-Butts, organizers say this inaugural LGBT film program highlights the richness and diversity of life in the African diaspora, as the world celebrates emerging LGBT talent, culture, rights and cinema. Julien's Bed is the second feature film from emerging filmmaker/visual artist, Kirk Shannon-Butts, whose highly acclaimed debut feature, Blueprint screened at ADIFF in 2008. The Kar Wai Wong inspired Julien's Bed veers into a mélange of experimental, narrative, and docu-drama, unfolding the lives of three men, Marvin (American), Khalid (Arabic), and Julien (French), whose worlds intersect in a Parisian apartment in a kaleidoscope of French, Arabic and English.

Shot on locations in and around Cape Town, While You Weren't Looking is the directorial debut of South African, Catherine Stewart (creator of The Lab and Jacob's Cross). Looking begins twenty years into the new South Africa with a contemporary story of an affluent mixed race lesbian couple, Dez and Terri, who struggle to maintain their own desires and ambitions while reining in the rebellious nature of their beautiful teenage daughter, Asanda. As Asanda falls for Shado, a girl from a different background, Dez and Terri must cope with their own hypocrisies and secrets, which threaten to unravel their seemingly perfect world.

For information, visit www.NYADIFF.org or check them out social media - @NYADIFF or FB/African Diaspora Film Festival.

Created in November 1993 by the husband and wife team of Reinaldo Barroso-Spech and Diarah N'Daw-Spech, ADIFF's mission is to present films from the African diaspora to diverse audiences, redesign the Black cinema experience, and strengthen the role of African and African descent directors in contemporary world cinema. ADIFF distinguishes itself through its presentation of outstanding works that shine a different or comprehensive light on African Diaspora life and culture. "ADIFF offers a unique platform for conveying African Diaspora talent, artistic styles and craft in film. ADIFF is a bridge between diverse communities looking for works that cannot be found in other festivals and visionary filmmakers and works that are part of the African Diaspora."

The Gayly - 11/25/2015 @ 12:48 p.m.