Gaze (film festival)

The GAZE International LGBT Film Festival Dublin (typeset as GAZE and formerly known as the Dublin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival[1]) is an annual film festival which takes place in Dublin, Ireland each Bank Holiday weekend in late July and early August. Founded in 1992, it has become Ireland's largest LGBT film event, and the country's biggest LGBT gathering aside from Dublin Pride.[2]

GAZE International LGBT Film Festival Dublin
2017 logo
LocationDublin, Ireland
Founded1992
Festival dateJuly/August
LanguageEnglish and others
Websitegaze.ie

Premise

GAZE's organisers seek out educational and entertaining LGBT cinema[3] which members of the Dublin gay community may not have had the opportunity to view elsewhere.[3]

The programme also includes films by gay artists which don't contain gay themes, and films which have inspired or are inspired by gay artists.[4]

History
Advertising banner, 2009

The festival began life as the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 1992, founded by Yvonne O'Reilly and Kevin Sexton; it was held in the Irish Film Centre.[4]

Over 3,500 people attended in 2006, the last year before the rebranding as GAZE.[1]

The Dublin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival was renamed GAZE in 2007.[4] Over 4,000 people attended the 2007 festival, the 15th.[1][5][6]

In 2007, the festival acquired a new director in Michele Devlin, the programmer of the Belfast Film Festival.[1] An updated version of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, with the story set in New York in the 1980s, was one of the programme's highlights.[6]

The 2008 event, the 16th, lasted from 31 July until 4 August and included screenings at Dublin's Project Arts Centre and the Winding Stair, alongside its usual venue the Irish Film Institute.[5]

GAZE 2009, the 17th festival,[2][4][7] took place over five days at the Light House Cinema in Smithfield from 30 July until 3 August.[2] An HBO remake of the classic documentary Grey Gardens, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, received its European premiere when it opened the festival on 30 July.[2][4][7][8][9] Over sixty-seven films, including premieres, documentaries and shorts were featured at the event.[2][7]

GAZE's 23rd programme was announced on 25 July 2015,[10] with screenings taking place from 30 July to 3 August[10] at the Light House Cinema.[11]

In 2017, the Gaze Film Festival celebrated its 25th year of sharing movies, documentaries, and short films about the LGBTQ community, taking place at the Light House Cinema from 3 August to 7 August. The festival kicked off with the world premiere screening of documentary The 34th: The Story of Marriage Equality in Ireland, telling of the quarter-century fight for – and achievement of – a transformation in Irish society's relationship to its LGBT members, in which the LGBT community, including GAZE, participated – one that culminated in the 2015 Irish Marriage Referendum.[12] Almost 12,000 people were expected to attend the 2017 festival event.[13] Former President Mary McAleese attended and spoke at the event.

The 2018 Gaze Film Festival ran 2–6 August at the Light House Cinema, and included a side programme, Gaze on Tour, promoting Irish productions.

Organisation

The festival is collated and overseen by a programmer or director, answerable to a voluntary board, and supported by a range of volunteers. Major sponsors include Dublin City Council, the Arts Council of Ireland and Accenture.

See also

References
  1. "Gazing rights". The Irish Times. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  2. "GAZE festival line-up is announced". RTÉ. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  3. "Hold your Gaze: Interview with Noel Sutton". Totally Dublin. 17 July 2014.
  4. "Do look now". The Irish Times. 24 July 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009. A LOT HAS changed in the 17 years since the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival first sashayed into the Irish Film Centre. For a start, the festival, renamed Gaze three years ago, no longer has to worry about its core audience being carted off by Garda Plod. "When the festival was set up, homosexuality was still illegal," says Jennifer Jennings, the event's manager. "It may have been in the Irish Film Centre and it may have got great audiences, but..." ... "Things have changed." [...] "We seek out cinema that has lesbian and gay content – films that people from that community may not get to see on the big screen elsewhere. But, like a lot of gay festivals, Gaze has expanded to include work by gay artists that may not have a gay theme. We even go one stage further and seek to include films that have inspired gay artists. So, for example, Patricia Rozema will be introducing the original version of Grey Gardens."
  5. "Love and other emotions". The Irish Times. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  6. "New Wilde film to premiere at festival". The Irish Times. 29 July 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  7. "Barrymore's Grey Gardens at Gaze". Press Association. 26 July 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  8. "Drew Barrymore's new film to premiere at Dublin festival". Irish Independent. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  9. "Barrymore flick to premiere at Dublin festival". Irish Examiner. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  10. "Festival 2015 « GAZE International LGBT Film Festival". Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  11. "Lighthouse Cinemas - Lighthouse CinemaLighthouse". Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  12. "GAZE Film Festival opens with world premiere screening of major Irish Marriage Equality documentary". Independent.ie. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  13. Aodha, Gráinne Ní. "'Outpourings of emotion' and 'a force of good': The Gaze Film Festival celebrates 25 years". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
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