Jul 06, 2007  |  By: GREG MARZULLO  | COMMENTS     

If you want to get a jump on Washington’s gay film festival, Reel Affirmations, head up to Philadelphia for the city’s 13th annual ode to queer cinema, an event that attracts about 30,000 participants and can easily compete with San Francisco’s and Los Angeles’ festivals.

From July 12-24, the City of Brotherly Love hosts a gay cinephile’s dream — more than 150 features and shorts hailing from Nigeria to South Korea and the U.S. The gayborhood’s Broad Street has again become the festival’s main stomping grounds with the Prince Music Theater, the Wilma Theater and the Arts Bank as the big screening venues.

Soirées and awards ceremonies are part-and-parcel of the near two-week event, including club nights, a Bear Bash (after a documentary on the heavy-and-hairy types), a Delaware Riverfront reception, ladies’ events and a camp party featuring a “Mommie Dearest” screening.

Each year, the festival honors various gay film industry notables, and one of this year’s Artistic Achievement Awards is going to Farley Granger, perhaps best known for his role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film “Rope,” a story inspired by the gay murdering duo Leopold and Loeb. Granger, who’s had affairs with women and men, was in a number of other films (including Luchino Visconti’s “Senso”), and made TV and theatrical appearances during a long career. On Wednesday, July 18, at 7 p.m., he’ll be presented with his award at the Prince Music Theater, with a screening of “Rope” to follow.

One of the brightest gems of the AIDS film genre is “Longtime Companion,” and its creator, writer and director Craig Lucas, receives the other Artistic Achievement Award on Saturday, July 21, at 5 p.m. at the Arts Bank. Aside from this touchstone movie, he also wrote the play “The Dying Gaul” (1998), which he then directed in a film version in 2005; he wrote “Reckless” for the stage in the ’80s and the Tony-nominated book for 2005’s “The Light in the Piazza.” A screening of “Longtime Companion” will follow the ceremony.

This year’s Rising Star Award goes to Charlie David, Toby in the campy, sexy Logo series “Dante’s Cove.” He can be seen in the opening and closing films of this year’s festival (“Four Letter Word” and “Kiss the Bride”), and the awards ceremony takes place on Saturday, July 14, at 2:45 p.m. with a screening of “Four Letter Word” to follow.

Below are brief reviews of a handful of films from the upcoming festival, including the opening and closing night offerings. I will be attending the opening weekend of the festival and writing daily blogs for the Blade website on the goings-on, so make sure to check the site for updates.

“Blueprint”

July 13, 5 p.m.

July 14, 5 p.m.

Arts Bank

In “Blueprint,” two college-age black guys (one a Los Angeles nerdy type, the other a hip-hop loving Brooklynite) meet at school and try to forge a romantic relationship despite their marked differences. This well-shot film, directed by Kirk Shannon-Butts, moves from the grit of New York City into the country where the two have a “date,” but the boys spend more time bickering than enjoying the day.

The film remains vaguely unsatisfying, partly because the pair’s sparring only gives way to a very short-lived spate of sweetness marred by the L.A. guy’s decision to travel the world and leave the Brooklyn boy in the lurch.

Still, “Blueprint” is a refreshingly real film, revealing the difficulties faced by young black men searching for love and intimacy, and given the dearth of gay black films, this exploration is a notable achievement.

“The Bubble”

July 20, 7:15 p.m.

July 22, 2:15 p.m.

Prince Music Theater

No questions are easily answered in the tempestuous relations between Israelis and Palestinians, but “The Bubble” attempts to transcend conflict through the age-old power of love.

Directed by Eytan Fox (who also helmed “Yossi & Yagger” and “Walk on Water”), “The Bubble” is about the love between an Israeli and a Palestinian and the cultural expectations they both need to overcome in order to be together.

While all this is a noble sentiment, the onus seems to be more on the side of the Palestinian (beautifully played by Yousef Sweid) who needs to undergo a makeover of sorts for his Israeli boyfriend (another fine performance by Ohad Knoller, seen in “Yossi”). Scenes reminiscent of “Pygmalion” are common, as is the indignation of liberal privileged Israelis on behalf of the occupied Palestinians.

Still, the story often soars, with love and sex being the magic spell to conquer hatred and death. It’s too bad then that the Fox and co-writer and life partner ...