When the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival was born in 1999, there had been no Brokeback Mountain, no Will & Grace and no L Word. Films that featured gay and lesbian characters in prominent roles were scarce and almost invariably hailed from the independent circuit -- i.e. low budget, scrappy pictures with no recognizable actors.
The times -- and Hollywood -- have certainly changed over the past decade. That has been a boon for the festival, which kicks off its 10th edition tonight at the Gusman Center with a screening of the comedy Breakfast with Scot. The film, about a gay couple who must learn to become parents to an 11-year-old boy in a hurry, is the first of 95 feature-length and short films that will be screened over the next 10 days in Miami, as well as at a mini-fest in Fort Lauderdale to be held May 1-4.
Although the event has grown in size and the films have gotten slicker and more polished, the spirit of the festival remains unchanged.
''Our scope has gotten broader, but the purpose remains the same,'' says festival director Carol Coombes. ``We still want to find the best films by and for the gay, lesbian and transgender community and bring them here. Just because there are a lot more gay-themed films coming out of Hollywood doesn't mean there aren't a lot of movies that will never cross into the mainstream -- films that are considered too niche and will only play at film festivals.''
This is why this year's festival slate runs the gamut from mainstream pictures such as Savage Grace, a fact-based drama about the troubled and ultimately deadly relationship between a mother (Julianne Moore) and her gay son (Eddie Redmayne), to more intimate fare such as Bi the Way, a video documentary about the growing prevalence of bisexuality in American culture.
The festival's larger scope mirrors the growing acceptance of gay and lesbian lifestyles in American culture. While some films, such as the saucy Spanish comedy Boystown (Chuecatown), are unafraid to cater to their intended audience with sex and nudity, other festival selections, such as Derek, a moving documentary tribute to the late filmmaker Derek Jarman, would be right at home in any multiplex around the country.
''It's no longer always easy to define what makes a movie gay or lesbian,'' says Savage Grace producer Christine Vachon, who will be honored at this year's festival with a Career Achievement Award. ``When I first started making movies, there was this built-in audience that showed up for anything. I've always thought it extraordinary that a movie as experimental as Poison (the controversial 1991 Todd Haynes drama she produced) got that many people into the theater. It grossed $1 million, which today would translate into $5 million.
''Back then, the gay and lesbian audience was so starved for images of themselves in films that they would go see anything,'' Vachon says. ``That's not necessarily the case anymore.''
But a film festival, with its surrounding panels and seminars, parties and Q&A sessions with filmmakers, creates a sense of community that transcends a mere night out at the movies. And despite the success of films such as Brokeback Mountain, gay and lesbian characters are far from becoming commonplace in movies and TV shows.
''There may be more stuff now, but gays and lesbians are still not represented in mainstream films in the proportion that they exist in real life,'' says Robert Rosenberg, the founding director of the festival who will receive an honorary award at Friday night's screening at the Gusman.
''In most TV shows and movies, gay people still don't exist,'' Rosenberg says. ``And Hollywood still has trouble making movies in which the hero or heroine is gay. You don't see horror movies with gay protagonists. You still haven't seen a Bourne Identity where Bourne is gay. It's the same as most other minorities.''
That helps explain why the audience for the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival keeps growing. Last year's attendance reached a record-setting 14,500, plus another 2,000 attendees for screenings held during the year.
''I'm really proud of the South Florida audience,'' says Coombes. ``They're really intelligent and ask great questions of filmmakers. And over the years, they get more savvy and articulate and want to ask more questions. The dialogue between the audience and the filmmakers has gotten better. And it keeps growing, even though there is queer content beaming into your living room that wasn't on TV 10 years ago.''
