Out Takes Film Festival in a new format for 2008

29 February 2008     OutTakesPressReleaseFeb08.pdf (150 KB)

Out Takes: A Reel Queer Film Festival will operate in a different format this year in order to fund raise for a full festival in 2009.

Reel Queer Inc, the Wellington-based volunteer group who have organised the annual Out Takes film festivals since 1995 advise that they are not in a financial position to run a full festival in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this year. Instead, special film screenings throughout the year will be held to raise funds for Out Takes 2009.

Festival spokesperson Simon Fulton explains "A lack of funding, declining ticket sales and increased costs over the last couple of years, along with a dwindling number of Reel Queer committee members available to run the events, have left the Out Takes festival in need of more funding and sponsorship to continue."

Instead, Reel Queer Inc proposes offering special film evenings throughout the year. These screenings will be at a date and venues yet to be determined, but the first is likely to be in April.

"We feel it is very important for the Queer community to have access to Queer films" Fulton says "So we plan to run three or four special events in 2008 where we'll screen a current feature film. We envisage these will be like a festival Opening Night - entertainment, drinks, socialising and of course watching the film - and we all know how much more enjoyable it is to watch a Queer film on the big screen with a cinema full of Queers than watching a DVD at home."

Proceeds from the screenings will be used to build a fund for the operational costs of a 2009 festival. Sponsors/donors are required to make these film evenings a success and to cover the costs of putting them on - for example, the international freight costs of a 35mm film print (up to $1500) and the film hire fee ($1000 to $2000). Volunteers from each city are also needed to help organise the events.

Reel Queer also needs committed, enthusiastic people to join its dwindling team in a variety of roles. "It's a lot of hard work all year" Fulton says "But very rewarding. We really need advertising and sponsorship coordinators, event coordinators to assist or run film screening events, admin and accounts people and web/print designers who have experience with print production. All these roles are voluntary and have been done by Reel Queer members while they also hold down full-time jobs or run their own businesses. So if there's anyone interested in helping out then let me know".

"There are still so many diverse Queer films that do not get a NZ release, even on DVD, and others that are released here and poorly marketed to Queer people. We are committed to making the best of Queer cinema from around the world available to our NZ Queer community with future Out Takes Film Festivals, but we have to explore ways to make it financially viable. We think it would be a real shame if the community lost this event."

Anyone who can offer funding or sponsorship, and anyone keen to commit to help make the events a success can contact Out Takes Chief Programmer Simon Fulton at info@outtakes.org.nz.