The first screening in New Zealand of the BAFTA winning gay-themed movie A Single Man will be a fundraiser for Kiwi LGBT phone support service OUTLine.
Happening at the Academy Cinema below the Auckland City Library on Thursday 15 April at 8.30pm, the preview screening is the first chance for a local audience to see Colin Firth in a leading role which saw him nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe award, and winning this year's BAFTA Best Actor gong.
A Single Man tells the story of an English professor who, after the sudden death of his partner, tries to go about his typical day in Los Angeles while planning suicide. George reminisces about his life with Jim. But as he spends the day with various people, they affect his own thoughts about what he is going to do. These people include Carlos, a Spanish aspiring actor (and rent boy; Charley, his drama queen of a woman friend who is who romantically desires her best friend despite his sexual orientation; and Kenny Potter, one of his students, who seems to be curious about his professor beyond English class).
Don Bachardy, the long-time partner of Christopher Isherwood - on whose novel the film is based - makes a cameo appearance. According to Tom Ford, who wrote the screenplay and financed the film, Bachardy was a huge help all through the writing of the film and, in the scene, is wearing a pair of lucky red socks that belonged to Isherwood.
Tickets to OUTLine's premiere screening of A Single Man cost $20 and include a prize draw for a digital camera and other goodies. They are available by calling 0800 OUTLINE or at Kamo 382 K' Rd, Dot's bar at 223 Symonds St, or Dymocks Bookshop at Three Lamps Ponsonby.
The official trailer for A Single Man appears below.
