Opening Night reception @ 7.30pm, IFI foyer & post-screening party sponsored by The George.
This year’s festival will be opened by Martina Niland, producer of Oscar-winning film Once.Our opening night feature is a real crowdpleaser and probably the biggest gay/mainstream cross-over since Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! Breakfast with Scot is the first movie in a long time to really bridge all expectations – a simple comedy premise taken to an entertaining extreme, with a modern social dilemma at its core, just like how they used to make’ ’em! Hockey hero turned sports broadcaster, Eric, has been with his partner Sam for over four years. Both work in a straight-dominated sports environment where they remain mostly in the closet. Their world is turned upside down when Sam’s brother’s illegitimate tween-aged son is dumped on their doorstep and little Scot, brilliantly performed by Noah Bernett, reveals himself as too much of a queen to hide. The situation intensifies to great comic effect, as their entire world dissolves into chaos. Lessons are learned, internalised homophobia and gay parenting are confronted and hard knocks are overcome. We could not wish for a more perfect festival opener.
‘You know that Breakfast With Scot is on to something real when a member of a same-sex union makes a homophobic statement to his partner. Suddenly all those old movie cliches dissolve.’ Toronto StarScreening with short: Prada handbag
Muriel’s Wedding meets Priscilla in this wonderfully compassionate award-winning fairy tale about one woman’s search for self-acceptance in the unlikeliest of places – a glitzy viper’s nest of bitchy drag queens.