SIFF: The Penultimate Day! Check out “August” or maybe some “Toast”…

Murray Bartlett stars as "Troy" in Eldar Rapaport's "August". (PS: He's just as dreamy in person...)

What a long strange journey it’s been…we’re at the next to last day of the Seattle International Film Festival (ie: Penultimate…yes, we enjoy $5 words…) and there’s still some very worthwhile LGBTQ movies worth checking out. We spent the morning interviewing the director and star of one of them, August, which was the featured Gay-la film which encores this afternoon at 3pm at the Egyptian. Tickets are still available…you have an hour or so to stroll on over and check out this “valentine to Los Angeles” about a gay man who returns to L.A. and reconnects with his ex-lover and the shock waves that result to complicate the ex-lover’s current relationship. Director Eldar Rapaport and star Murray Bartlett will be in attendance for the screening and participate in a q&a afterward. SGS-TV had a chance to sit down with the two of them for an interview this morning; it’ll hopefully be up in the next day or so. Both men were very charming and down to earth and passionate about their film. We filmed in an empty lounge in a downtown hotel that was adjacent to the hotel’s fitness room/hot tub. Sadly, we couldn’t convince them to do the interview IN the hot tub (we’ll save that for our proposed pilot: “Seattle Gay TV After Dark”) but it was an interesting and informative half hour of talk that obviously touched on the film, Mr. Bartlett’s experiences working on Sex and the City, and future film making plans for both actor and director. And, San Francisco readers will get a chance to check out the film next week when it plays the Frameline festival, on Saturday, June 17 at The Castro.

Another fun option for today, is Toast, the British film about the life of celebrated chef and food writer Nigel Slater:

Set in the British Midlands in the ‘60s, the film charts the early relationships that shaped Slater’s life and career. There’s the hunky gardener, who introduces young Nigel to the earthy pleasure of vegetables that don’t come in a can. Then there’s his beloved mother who doesn’t realize that even canned food tastes better when you take it out of the can to heat it. There’s the loathed stepmother whose culinary talent, and its hold on his father, inspires Nigel as much as it infuriates him. And then there’s the distant father whose affection he desperately craves. Featuring Helena Bonham Carter as the deliciously wicked stepmother, Freddie Highmore as Slater, and a cameo by Slater himself, Toast contemplates the profound role that food plays in all of our lives, the nourishment of body and soul.

Toast debuts tonight, Saturday June 11 at 6:30pm at The Neptune and encores tomorrow morning at 11am, at the same venue. It’s a charming film, well worth checking out.