Chicago, IL—REELING 2011: The Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival will mark its 30th anniversary this year, making it the second-oldest LGBT-related event of its kind in the world. The festival runs Thursday, Nov. 3-Saturday, Nov. 12.
Reeling will kick off with its opening-night selection, The Wise Kids by Stephen Cone, marking the first time the festival will launch with a film directed by a Chicago-based filmmaker. This critically acclaimed, coming-of-age drama follows three teenagers from a religious community in South Carolina who are in between high school and college. Featuring a “brilliant cast of young actors” (Variety), the film won Outfest’s Grand Jury Awards for Best U.S. Dramatic Feature and Outstanding Screenwriting; Newfest’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Film; and Sidewalk/Shout Birmingham’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. The Wise Kids screens Nov. 3 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.
Closing the festival is the satire Going Down in La-La Land, by award-winning director/writer and festival favorite, Casper Andreas (Violet Tendencies; The Big Gay Musical). It will screen Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Reeling will also present three documentary centerpiece films: We Were Here, Wish Me Away and Vito.
Screenings for the festival take place at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St.; Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St.; Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St.; the Block Cinema at the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Dr., Evanston; and the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Tickets for Reeling will be available for purchase at the beginning of October.
For more information visit www.reelingfilmfestival.org.