“Painting the Spectrum 10” to premiere Gavin Ramotar's “Antiman” set in Guyana; opens this Sunday

SASOD's annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film festival, dubbed “Painting the Spectrum” opens this Sunday, June 1, with an exciting programme of films. In its 10th year, the film festival will be staged at a new venue, Dutch Bottle Cafe on 10 North Road (between Light and Cummings Streets), Bourda, in Georgetown.

“Painting the Spectrum 10” promises ten nights of films through the month from June 1 to 29 with screenings every Tuesday and Thursday, in addition to the first and last Sunday. The dates to remember are June 1, 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 and 29.

'Spectrum 10' will open with two documentaries, the first - Jessica’s Journey - a local documentary produced by SASOD, chronicles experiences of discrimination, violence and her struggle for acceptance from family, peers and society for a Guyanese transgender advocate. The second documentary – The New Black – was donated to SASOD by the director of the film, Yoruba Richen. The New Black tells the story of how the African-American community is struggling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights.

In addition to three local documentaries produced by SASOD, documentaries, short and feature films from Argentina, Belgium, India, France, Jamaica and the United States of America will be shown during the festival. The highlight of the festival will be the world premiere of Guyanese-American Gavin Ramotar's film, “Antiman” which is set in Guyana. Ramotar is a recent graduate with a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television Production from New York University where he produced the highly-anticipated narrative short drama as his thesis film. “Antiman” will screen on June 26, alongside “Spectrum Night.” Expressions through poetry, dance, song, music and fashion are encouraged on the penultimate night, “Spectrum Night,” which will be held on Thursday, June 26.

The film festival’s goal is edutainment: educating while entertaining audiences and the wider public, by stimulating discussion and debate about LGBT issues.

The festival concludes with the customary ‘painting the spectrum,’ where participants on the last night will be encouraged to leave their marks of support, messages of hope and inspiration for a society which is more embracing of sexual and gender diversity.

The films slated to be shown over the 10 nights highlight homophobic and transphobic discrimination and violence, struggles for equality and acceptance, mental health issues, influences of societal and cultural forces, resilience and resistance.

Painting the Spectrum 10 will take viewers on an astonishing passage into the world of sexual and gender diversities. It will also seek to arouse in all their true humanity by taking viewers into the lives of persons who struggle daily to be accepted in a world which is still rife with inequalities, especially for LGBT people and other minorities.

The film festival is absolutely FREE and open to all. All firms are intended for mature audiences. Person must be 18 years and over to attend. SASOD sources its films from the kind donations of individuals, producers and directors worldwide.