Gay Pride marches and festivals are happening all over the world sometimes under heavy opposition and violence. This feature length documentary follows the Vancouver Pride Society’s (VPS) Parade Director Ken Coolen and his VPS colleagues as they travel to places where Pride is still steeped in protest to personally experience the rampant homophobia that still exists. They also travel to São Paulo, Brazil for the world’s largest gay parade and New York City, the birthplace of the modern gay liberation movement. Increasingly the Pride movement is globalizing. Coolen and many Pride organizers in North America and Europe, where celebration has overtaken political action, strive to remind their communities that Pride is at its heart a global fight for human rights. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people cheering in the streets, Pride is much, much more than a parade and a party. It is a giant step on the road to true equality. The GLBT community during Pride is an entertaining and engaging multi- ethnic group than can bring attention to the issue of human rights with diversity, insight, and of course plenty of fabulousness. Director in attendance Thursday, May 6th, 7:30 PM MFA

Johnny, a white Bahamian artist from Nassau, is depressed and creatively uninspired. Under instructions from his teacher, he relocates to the rural island of Eleuthera, where he meets the confident Romeo, a local boy who inspires a new creative drive in him. Johnny and Romeo embark on a passionate love affair, but when Romeo's fiancée and overbearing mother arrive at his home unannounced, he is asked to make some important decisions about his life and his relationship with Johnny. Meanwhile, Lena, the wife of an ultra-conservative pastor, also arrives on the island. With her marriage on the rocks, and a growing realisation that her husband is not who he appears to be, Lena sets out on a campaign to spread her anti-gay policies among the quiet community. As Lena's crusade gathers momentum, she is challenged by her friend Reverend Ritchie, a liberal clergyman who forces her to question her beliefs and to re-evaluate her rigid political stance. Sweepingly romantic and gorgeously photographed, the film's aesthetic and emotional pleasures are undeniable. In positioning this classic tale of young love against a backdrop of violent homophobia and social unease, director Kareem Mortimer has also crafted a striking examination of identity and gay politics in the Bahamas, tackling these weighty issues with a confidence and sincerity that makes the film universal in its themes. Emerging from a region not known for the production of gay film, Children of God is an important and bold piece of work, signalling Mortimer as a hugely promising talent in the future of world cinema. (Description courtesy of London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival).