EISENSTEIN IN GUANAJUATO Kicks Off 8th Annual Cinema Diverse In Palm Springs

Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival, opens its Eighth Edition on Thursday, September 17th and runs through Sunday, September 20th at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs. This year the festival is a third larger than ever before, and includes a New Media Spotlight on Saturday, September 19th.??

"We are very excited to have been able to continue to grow the festival, and to increase our total number of screenings again this year," said Michael C. Green, Festival Director. "Last year we hosted a record number of screenings in two theatres, and this year we're taking all three theatres at the Camelot, plus we're adding the New Media Spotlight that Shann Carr from Moxie Productions created for us with the help of Brett Chatelain and Kieran Turner. It focuses on the variety of quality LGBT content that's currently available on the internet. We're thrilled to be growing and, in many cases, exceeding our own expectations for the festival."??

Cinema Diverse, which began in 2008, is gaining quite a reputation for a relatively younger LGBTQ festival. "Last year one writer who was visiting from San Francisco referred to us in a subsequent article he penned as 'the Academy Awards of LGBTQ Film Festivals' because he said he was really impressed that we were able to screen so many of the top LBGBTQ films in only four days," Green continued. "And although I think that statement is probably a stretch, given all the amazing LGBTQ film festivals around the world, we certainly appreciated the compliment!"??

Cinema Diverse was one of the first programs produced by the Palm Springs Cultural Center, and continues to be one of the most popular programs the local nonprofit produces, along with the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival and the American Documentary Film Festival. "The festival got a slow start," Green said. "But over the past six years, the community and the sponsors have really come out in force to embrace it. Our numbers continue to grow. That's not surprising, though, given the large LBGTQ population in the valley. There's quite a demand for LGBTQ entertainment, and we're thrilled to be able to bring the films and the filmmakers to our local audience."??

Cinema Diverse 2015 opens on Thursday night, September 17th, with a 7:30pm screening of EISENSTEIN IN GUANAJUATO, Peter Greenaway's award-winning film that explores venerated Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's 1931 trip to Mexico - a trip considered pivotal in his life and film career - a significant hinge between the early successes of STRIKE, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, and OCTOBER, and his hesitant later career with ALEXANDER NEVSKY, IVAN THE TERRIBLE and THE BOYAR'S PLOT. Chaperoned by his guide Palomino Cañedo, Eisenstein vulnerably experiences the ties between Eros and Thanatos - sex and death - happy to create their effects in cinema - troubled to suffer them in life.??

Cinema Diverse 2015 continues Friday, September 18th, with several series of short films from around the world. Screenings will begin at 11am, and run throughout the weekend with a variety of features, documentaries and short films. One special highlight is the Saturday Night Preview of Billy Clift's new parody film, HUSH UP SWEET CHARLOTTE, a film that will have its official world premiere in San Francisco in October.

HUSH UP SWEET CHARLOTTE features stellar performances by Matthew Martin, Varla Jean Merman, Mink Stole, David Millbern, Jason Stuart, Jeffrey Patrick Olson, Jesse Peppe, Mike Finn, Heklina, Elizabeth Clift, Evan Johnson... Drag race stars... Raja, Honey Mahogany and Miles Davis Moody. The filmmaker, in addition to several members of the cast and crew will be in attendance for the screening, which is being sponsored by HERE TV. ??

Cinema Diverse 2015 will close on Sunday Night, September 20th, at 8pm, with OUT ON THE TRACKS - a new documentary about gay Guyanese soul singer Nhojj's groundbreaking Made To Love Him recording sessions. Affirming the LGBTQ community through same-sex renditions of classic heterosexual love songs from Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me" to Billy Joel's "She's Got a Way" ("He's Got a Way"), this gentle and human documentary touches upon the themes of love, hope and self-acceptance.??

In addition to the screenings, Cinema Diverse 2015 will also feature four of it's signature "After Parties," at local restaurants, including APPETITO, THE PURPLE ROOM, TROPICALE and LULU CALIFORNIA BISTRO, in that sequential order. For tickets or further information visit http://www.cinemadiverse.org.