Gay Filmmaker Ira Sachs Honored

NewFest announced that filmmaker Ira Sachs (“Love is Strange,” “Keep the Lights On,” “Forty Shades of Blue”) will receive the 3rd annual NewFest Visionary Award. NewFest is the New York-based LGBT film festival that runs July 24th to July 29th with the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Sachs stated, “To be able to make films with gay characters at their center is as hard today as it was when I first started making movies in 199. Without community events like NewFest, I don’t think we’d have a queer cinema in America. If ‘visionary’ means a belief in the continued future & importance of LGBT cinema, I’m deeply honored to accept.” The Visionary Award is NewFest’s highest honor & is presented in recognition of a body of work that has made a significant contribution to LGBT film & media. The Achievement Award will be presented to Sachs prior to the NewFest Opening Night Gala screening of “Futuro Beach” on Thursday July 24th at the Walter Reade Theatre. Sachs’s latest film, “Love is Strange,” starring John Lithgow & Alfred Molina is about a couple forced to live apart after 38 years together. Marisa Tomei & Cheyenne Jackson play their extended family & it's scheduled for release by Sony Pictures Classics on August 22nd. Ira’s previous work includes the landmark queer film “The Delta,” “Forty Shades of Blue” which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize, “Married Life” starring Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson & Rachel McAdams, & “Keep the Lights On,” which was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature & Best Director. I talked to Ira Sachs About “Keep the Lights On” & LGBT Issues on OUTTAKE VOICES: LISTEN: