Last night, OUT TAKES Dallas opened up with a fairly decent bang. The ninth annual gay and lesbian film festival began its 10 day run on Friday at the Magnolia Theater opening with the anticipated, Naked Boys Singing, a musical revue that celebrates "the splendors of male nudity in comedy, song and dance." Needless to say, the line was long and I saw nary a female in the bunch.
A mixer was held just before the screening in the Magnolia Bar, which ended up being an hour of awkwardness as people didn't mix so much as they just waited for the movie to start. But it was the fest's second mixer of the night at wine boutique Cork that had the party energy flowing. The free wine and hors d'ouerves probably helped, too. This mixer hosted the VIP and Special Guests, including some of the cast of Naked Boys. The place was getting fairly crowded as OUT TAKES volunteers and board members made the rounds talking up the next few days and making recommendations on what movies to see. When asked quickly for top three must-sees, three out of four OUT TAKES reps all highly recommended The Gymnast (screening at 8:30 p.m. Saturday) and two more strong recommendations for Nina's Heavenly Delights (screening at 7 p.m. Sunday).
If you can't make any screenings or are just too cheap to buy a ticket, the social events are then the place to be with several parties sprinkled throughout the next few days. In a funny segregated kind-of way, tonight's mixers include the women from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m followed by the men from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Republic. Although, Programming Director Wendi Bates and her friends assure me it still ends up being a mixed crowd. Whew. For other social events, check the festival Web site.
While I missed the features last night, I was able to catch The Sexy Boys Anthology, a collection of shorts. Probably the most random collection of shorts ranging from metaphorical HIV bugs in Bugcrush to icky one-stands in Solace, but, of course, they all had "sexy boys." However, my pick for the night was Gay Zombie, about a sexually ambiguous guy who just happens to be one of the undead. Incidentally, his therapist recommends him getting out more whereupon he meets great guy, Todd. However, as he starts making a life for himself in the living world, he just can't help some of his old habits. Wacky! -- Rich Lopez
