Out in Hollywood

I had seen the 1986 film "Parting Glances" before but last night, when watching a restored print of the movie on the big screen at the Director's Guild of America theater in Los Angeles, it really was like seeing it for the first time. It was such a special night with "Glances" the first film to come out of the Outfest Legacy Project which is doing the all-important job of preserving LGBT films for the generations ahead to experience.
"This is my proudest moment of all my years at Outfest," the festival's Executive Director Steve Gutwillig said as he introduced the film. "I can't believe you're all here."
There was not an empty seat in the theater and this will certainly go down as one of the more memorable events of Outfest 2007.
The movie, focusing on a group of Manhattan hipsters, tells the story of Robert (John Bolger) who accepts a job assignment in Africa in order to take a break from his lover, Michael (Richard Ganoung) who is tending to the needs of his ex, Nick (Steve Buscemi), who is battling HIV. The movie follows these characters in the two days before Robert is to depart and includes a party thrown by their artist friend Joan (Kathy Kinney) that is filled with drama.
Buscemi, Ganoug, Bolger and Kinney were all present for the screening and were clearly moved to see the audience embrace this film 20 years later.
"I can't tell you what it means to see this film and to have this place so filled," Buscemi told the audience. "It's just so moving to me."