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FILM SCHEDULE NEW: Festival receives lower ratings for four programs. See logos below. Thursday, October 30 Opening Gala 7:00PM Empire 7 Cinemas Razzle Dazzle Darren Ashton | Australia | 2006 | 95 min Razzle Dazzle lifts the curtain on the world of pre-teen dance competitions in a Technicolor extravaganza that combines all the colour of Strictly Ballroom with the camp of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Amid parental politics, petty rivalries, creative controversy and the hysterics of pushy stage mothers, this mockumentary takes us behind the glamour and glitter of Australia's most prestigious dance competition. Miss Elizabeth employs a mixture of regimented weigh-ins, public humiliation and fake praise to make sure her Talent Academy will defend its title. Meanwhile, in a dance school not far away, Mr. Jonathon has a vision - he believes in the power of dance to educate as well as to entertain. With his unique routines - like the Kyoto Protocol Shuffle - Mr. Jonathon aspires to call attention to the oppression and injustices of the world. The contestants come together in a cocktail of nerves and hairspray, but who will have what it takes to survive in the cutthroat world of competitive dance where, sometimes, winning is everything? Preceded by: No Bikini Claudia Morgado Escanilla | Canada | 2007 | 9 min When Robin was seven, she spent her holidays at a swimming camp. She decided to do without her bikini top - and managed to pass for a boy for several glorious weeks. OPENING NIGHT PARTY DRAG-A-RAMA  Friday, October 31 7:00PM National Gallery of Canada Affinity Tim Fywell | Canada, UK, Romania | 2008 | 90 min Women in chains - Victorian-style! Based on the novel by acclaimed author Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet), Affinity is a lush Victorian ghost story and romance set in and around the women's prison of Millbank. When Margaret Prior decides to pursue good works with the lady criminals at one of London's notorious gaols, she finds herself drawn to the prison's most intriguing inmate - the spiritualist Selina Dawes. Initially skeptical of the incarcerated woman's powers and self-proclaimed innocence, Margaret becomes sympathetic to Selina's plight. Dispensing guidance and friendship during her visits, she eventually finds herself caught up in the twilight world of séances, unruly spirits and unseemly passions. Preceded by: Congratulations Daisy Graham Cassandra Nicolaou | Canada | 2007 | 15 min Sixty-five-year-old daisy is having a hard day. No one in her small town wants to let her forget about the big ceremony in her honour tomorrow at the local high school. But Daisy has more important things to think about. Friday, October 31 9:30PM National Gallery of Canada Boystown (Chuecatown) Juan Flahn | Spain | 2007 | 100 min Murders, steamy bathhouses and lovably sexy characters set the stage for comedy and high camp in Madrid's up-and-coming gaybourhood. Victor is a real estate agent in the gentrifying neighborhood of Chueca where he hides a terrible secret - his apartments become for sale after he murders their elderly owners. The latest victim's apartment is next door to gay bears Rey and Leo. The couple inherit the apartment and offer it to Ray's bitchy mother Antonia. But Victor only wants high-income fags to move in and he devises a plan to remove Antonia from the premises. The plot thickens and soon the neighbourhood is brimming with comic mishaps, sexy seductions and even more murders! Spanish with English Subtitles Saturday, November 1 2:00PM National Gallery of Canada Mysterious Objects The Short Films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) Experimental Film It's no secret to devotees of world cinema that Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one of the most radically original and consistently innovative filmmakers in contemporary cinema. From his striking debut with Mysterious Object at Noon through his string of masterpieces that have followed in its wake - Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady and the recent Syndromes and a Century - Weerasethakul's work has bucked expectations, gaining both international distribution and a growing following of ardent enthusiasts.But Weerasethakul's activities extend beyond the feature-length works North American audiences have been so fortunate to see. From the beginning, he has produced a steady stream of short works - films, videos and installations - in tandem with his features. This varied and unpredictable body of work, very little of which has been accessible until now, sheds new light on Weerasethakul's artistic identity. Presented by: SAW Video Conceived by: Jed Rapfogel, Anthology Film Archives Free Admission Saturday, November 1 4:45PM National Gallery of Canada XXY Lucìa Puenzo | Argentina, Spain, France | 2007 | 91 min XXY is the riveting story of fifteen-year-old intersex Alex. Living on the coast of Uruguay with her parents, the scrappy Alex is the ultimate outsider, facing all the upheavals of adolescence compounded by having to make decisions about her gender. When her parents invite a plastic surgeon friend, his wife and their gangly sixteen-year-old son to stay at the family's isolated home, Alex and the teenage boy strike up an intense friendship that further confuses matters. Ultimately XXY is about the relationships between parents and their children and how messy subjects like sex and growing up can strain family ties to the breaking point. Spanish with English Subtitles Saturday, November 1 7:00PM National Gallery of Canada The Secrets (Ha Sodot) Avi Nesher | Israel, France | 2007 | 120 min Naomi is a passionate devotee of the Torah, but her Orthodox family has arranged for her to live out her years in domestic servitude. She convinces her rabbi father to allow her to study at an all-women's seminary where she befriends the strong-willed Michelle. Soon the two are assigned to care for a dying French woman named Anouk (Fanny Ardant). Sparks fly between the two young women as they endeavour to cleanse Anouk of her tumultuous and terrible past through an elaborate series of Kabbalistic rituals. By the time the rituals are complete, none of the women will be the same, as they are torn between religious devotion and desire. French and Hebrew with English Subtitles Saturday, November 1 9:30PM National Gallery of Canada Were the World Mine Tom Gustafson | USA | 2008 | 91 min Tom Gustafson's feature debut shakes up Shakespeare with a modern, musical, man-on-man twist. When bullied gay teen Timothy agrees to play the lead in his school's musical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, he is cast alongside Jonathon, the school's scrumptious jock and the subject of Timothy's many elaborate fantasies. Desperate to transform fantasy into reality, Timothy takes a cue from the play's text, whipping up a magic love potion that will leave Jonathon shamelessly pawing at Timothy's door. But when the clever young man begins using his magical elixir on the locals to reverse their hateful ways, Timothy's world spirals into chaos. Preceded by: Babysitting Andy Pat Mills | Canada | 2007 | 11 min What do you do if you're nine and nobody will tell you what 'fellatio' means? Sunday, November 2 2:00PM National Gallery of Canada She's a Boy I Knew Gwen Haworth | Canada | 2007 | 70 min She's a Boy I Knew is an intimate exploration of the director's transition from male to female. Drawing on six years of footage that includes interviews with her sisters, parents and ex-wife Malgosia, Haworth's account is also about their individual struggles and their support of her journey. As her transition progresses, Haworth is forced to grapple with the end of her marriage and with the changing nature of her relationships as she goes from son to daughter and from brother to sister. A work of true bravery, She's a Boy I Knew is a testament to the delicate nature of intimate relationships and to the power of unconditional love. Preceded by: Cyprien, moi et les autres (Cyprien, Me and the Others) Jean-Baptiste Dumont | Belgium | 2006 | 34 min Cyprien asks Jean-Baptiste to be the best man at his wedding. There's just one problem: Cyprien is homophobic and he doesn't know that his best friend is gay. This heartfelt and compelling documentary covers an eight-month period leading up to the wedding as the director struggles to find the right moment to reveal his secret. Sunday, November 2 4:45PM National Gallery of Canada The World Unseen Shamim Sarif | South Africa, UK | 2007 | 99 min Cape Town, 1952. The segregation of blacks and whites is strictly enforced but a small, warm community of South Asians has carved out a tentative niche between the cracks of racism. At the hub of the community sits the Location Cafe, run by the free-spirited Amina, whose rebellious attitude often attracts the unpleasant attentions of the police. When she meets timid, traditional Indian housewife Miriam (the luminous Lisa Ray), sparks fly. The women forge a bond that flourishes and after weeks of building tension, the women's friendship takes a turn for the passionate, leaving the couple caught in the ever-rising tide of apartheid. Sunday, November 2 7:00PM National Gallery of Canada Les Témoins (The Witnesses) André Téchiné | France | 2007 | 115 min From the director of Wild Reeds , André Téchiné, comes The Witnesses, a compelling portrait of a group of friends and the love that binds them as they confront the birth of the AIDS crisis in 1984 Paris. While cruising in a park, Adrien, a middle-aged doctor, meets gorgeous teenager Manu and takes him on as his platonic protégé. Meanwhile, Adrien's close friend Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart), a successful writer, struggles with the burden of her recent motherhood. When the men visit Sarah at her vacation home, her Algerian police-inspector husband Mehdi falls for Manu. Then AIDS hits Paris hard and nothing will be the same again. The film's poignant title reflects each character's active role as they are forced into the frontlines of a war with no end in sight. French with English Subtitles Sunday, November 2 9:30PM Club SAW Top Ten Shorts Program A selection of the best international and award-winning queer shorts, selected by Inside Out's Director of Programming, Jason St-Laurent. 41 Seconds (41 Sekunden) Tobias Martin + Rodney Sewell | Germany | 2007 | 3 min What do you do when your girlfriend tells you that your best friend kisses better than you? La Leçon de danse (The Dance Lesson) Philippe Prouff | France | 2006 | 6 min A man in an empty club demonstrates how to use dance moves as sign language - and vice versa. Wrestling (Braedrabylta) Grimur Hakonarson | Iceland | 2007 | 21 min Two wrestlers living in rural Iceland must keep their relationship a secret from the tight-knit world of the country's national, and very macho, sport. Seeya Rach Pearl Tan | Australia | 2006 | 7 min Mel's girlfriend Rach is headed overseas. This is Mel's goodbye video. Pariah Dee Rees | USA | 2006 | 29 min Winner of numerous festival awards, Pariah is a stunning chronicle of a Bronx teen as she juggles multiple identities. Vibra Call Esmir Filho | Brazil | 2007 | 3 min During class, a schoolgirl receives an unexpected, but enjoyable, phone call. La Sortie (Turning Point) Vincent Champagne | Canada | 2007 | 7 min Caught in traffic, a son pushes his father to divulge a secret that will change their relationship forever. Police Box Josh Kim | Hong Kong | 2006 | 4 min A girl writes love letters to a cop and leaves them for him on his beat. One day, a jealous boy sees what she is up to and decides to play a trick on the pair. Le Weekend Timothy Smith | UK | 2007 | 15 min A young, cynical French film student is disillusioned by his visit to London until he's befriended by a sexy stranger who shows him a side of the city, and a side of himself, that he never would have seen. Souljah Rikki Beadle-Blair | UK | 2007 | 10 min Stanlake is a beautiful 17-year-old schoolboy with a penchant for glittery eye make-up who is relentlessly bullied by neighbourhood teens. Unbeknownst to them, Stanlake knows more about combat than they ever will.