Set during a tumultuous period of FrenchCanadian history, Funkytown follows the lives of eight people who are linked to a world famous Montreal nightclub called The Starlight in the late 1970s, when disco, casual sex, cocaine, and corruption reigned supreme. The action pivots around Bastien (Patrick Huard), a larger-than-life TV personality with a heroic appetite for booze, drugs, women, and outlandish clothes. We also follow aspiring singer Adriana, who has her sights set on record producer Gilles as her ticket to fame, and club dancer Tino, who becomes confused about his sexuality when he meets the openly gay Jonathan. By 1980, as the disco lifestyle fades, the characters feel the hangover acutely and are forced to make some difficult life choices. With many characters based on real-life figures from the era, Funkytown is a realistic portrait of Montreal.

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A POW in Nazi Germany, Vietnam peace promoter, leading gay rights advocate and loving partner of 46 years to Charles Chiarelli, Taking a Chance on God follows the extraordinary life of 86-year-old Jesuit priest John McNeill. This powerful documentary, tells McNeill’s inspiring story of faith, love and perseverance in the face of oppression and rejection. McNeill, the co-founder of the LGBT Catholic group Dignity NY, author of the revolutionary “The Church and the Homosexual,” and leader in the gay community during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, has refused to let his voice be silenced despite being expelled from the Jesuits after forty years of faithful service. Chronicling his love for the Church, the LGBT community, his Jesuit brothers and his partner Charlie, “Taking a Chance on God” proves that there can and should be harmony between the gay community and the Catholic Church. (Description courtesy of Emily Suttmeier, Woodstock Film Festival.)

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When Troy (Murray Bartlett) returns to Los Angeles after a multiyear foray in Barcelona, he contacts Jonathan (Daniel Dugan), the object of his desire during a short-lived, intense summer fling f ive years earlier. Their still-smoldering connection is obvious from the first, but Jonathan tries to fight his desires while his live-in boyfriend Raoul (Adrian Gonzalez) approaches the situation with a hands-off approach. Meanwhile, Troy’s inability to make a commitment one way or the other complicates matters. Lovingly shot and languidly told, August uses the perspectives of all three men and a muddled timeline to tell their stories, successfully mixing Rashomon with a dash of Memento to give a unique twist to the romantic-triangle genre. Writer and director Eldar Rapaport. (Description courtesy of Seattle International Film Festival.)

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