A story about trying to find yourself after a bad breakup is just one of the films that will play at Pink Lobster, New Brunswick’s LGBTQ film festival.
Since 2016, the Pink Lobster LGBTQ+ Film Festival has grown, attracting new filmmakers every year. The films discuss LGBTQ stories, identities, relationships and coming out.
New York filmmaker Nick Neon will show his second short film, “Zero One,” at this year’s film festival.
“Pink Lobster is a relatively new [festival], but I can already sort of sense that they want it to be here to stay,” said Neon.
“There are so many festivals that pop up, and then they kind of disappear because they don’t really have a strong attention and it is really difficult to run an independent film festival.”
“Zero One” is the sequel to his first film called “Ulter Bleu.” It’s about a boy named Jimmy Park from Korea who struggles with an identity crisis following a terrible break up.
“Ulter Bleu” follows Jimmy for the first 24 hours of the breakup. “Zero One” follows Jimmy’s struggles to go back home and become confident with his identity.
“I think for me a huge part of my life I’ve suffered from an identity crisis because I’m half Korean and I grew up knowing pretty early on that I was gay,” Neon said.
“[The film] follows a semi-biographical character I’ve sort of carved out for myself.”
Niels Bourgonje, a filmmaker from Amsterdam, Netherlands, will show his film “Turn it around” at the film festival.
Bourgonje’s film focuses on the story of 15-year-old Bram, who falls in love with a boy named Florian after meeting him at a house party.
“I tried to really make a movie that wasn’t particularly about the gay experience, but something that was much more universal,” Bourgonje said.
“I kind of wanted to make a movie that wasn’t so much about the angst of coming out, but much more about the excitement of having that first kiss … And a lot of these movies are sort of like coming out stories, and were very much about how frightening it is.”
Bourgonje wanted to make more of a light-hearted film.
“[A film] that especially gay kids can relate to, but pretty much everyone who was once 15 in their lives can relate to.”
The Pink Lobster LGBTQ+ Film Festival will take place from Feb. 14 to 16 in Tilley Hall on the University of New Brunswick campus.
Neon is excited to show his sequel at the festival.
“This is Pink Lobster’s third year … and to be coming back to the festival means even more to me.”
