Island's first Pride film festival to take place over three nights

Pride on Screen to include feature films and new short set on Isle of Man

The Island's first ever Pride film festival is to get underway next week in Port St Mary.

Dubbed 'Pride on Screen' it will consist of three consecutive nights of LGBTQ+ stories screened in the town hall.

It is a variation on the regular film night 'Friday Flicks & Food' which is advertised as "classic cinema with great company". 

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own supper and drinks to film screenings, all while raising money for the local community.

LINE-UP

The festival will get underway on Friday 27 June with 'Pride'.

Based on a true story, the 2014 film focusses on a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families in Wales affected by the British miners' strike in 1984.

They would later go on to become campaign group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM).

The original London-based group alone raised approximately £22,500 (equivalent to £86,000 in 2023) in support for strikers.

On Saturday 28 June, the film of choice is 'Blue Jean'.

The 2022 drama focusses on a PE teacher at a secondary school in Newcastle as Section 28 was implemented in the UK.

Implemented by the Thatcher government in 1988, Section 28 was included in the Local Government Act 1988, and forbid the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.

Rounding off the festival will be a screening of 'Call Me by Your Name' on Sunday 29 June.

Based on a 2007 book of the same name by André Aciman, the 2017 coming-of-age film catapulted actor Timothée Chalamet to worldwide fame. 

Set in northern Italy in 1983, it follows the romantic relationship between 17-year-old Elio Perlman and Oliver, a 24-year-old graduate-student assistant to Elio's father.

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

All three feature films will be preceded by a screening of 'No Man Is An Island' - a new short verbatim documentary film based and shot here on the Isle of Man.

Directed by John Craine, and funded by BFI Doc Society, The Guardian and Isle of Man Arts Council, the film explores the history of the Isle of Man leading up to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1992.

You can find out more about the short film HERE.

Rushen MHK Michelle Haywood organises the 'Friday Flicks & Food' events in Port St Mary.

She says it's hoped the Pride film festival will fill a gap in pride month entertainment:

You can buy your tickets to Pride on Screen HERE.

You can hear more from that chat between Michelle and Howard Caine in this edition of Spotlight: