GAY FILM TREATS Scottish Playwright and theatre director John Binnie picks his selection of the best gay themed films at this year's film festival.

It took American writer/director Todd Graff five years to get his first feature. Camp, made, insisting that it be filmed without compromise. Exploring the lives and loves of a group of adolescent outsiders at summer camp who express their longing and dreams through musicals. Camp was never going to be mainstream. However. any gay child who has been saved by original Broadway cast recording will adore this coming of age drama. Packed with show stopping tunes from musicals as emotion-packed as Dreamgirls and Follies. look out for an appearance by gay Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim playing himself.

Macauly Caulkin plays louche. drug addicted homosexual real life murderer Michael Alig in Party Monster, the first drama feature of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, who originally explored the same material as a documentary. A gay teenager is one of the characters in Christmas (pictured), the dysfunctional family drama from New Zealand. Enjoy the diversity. (John Binnie)

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THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 65