Out of Africa film festival opens with triple Oscar nominee Albert Nobbs

Albert Nobbs, starring Glen Close, Janet McTeer and rising star Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre), will have its African première at the first edition of the 19th Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which runs Friday 23 March-Sunday 1 April 2012 at Nu Metro V&A Waterfront, Cape Town and Hyde Park, Johannesburg.

Rodrigo Garcia, son of the Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, directs the triple nominated Oscar (Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Makeup). He is an Emmy-nominee who has worked on some of the biggest TV shows of the last decade, from The Sopranos and Six Feet Under to Big Love and In Treatment.

Soweto-born Fanney Tsimong, a former VUKA! Raw Talent Award winner is a guest at the festival as the writer and director of The Secret (Imfhilo), a contemporary humour-filled story about a married man in denial. The Secret will play with two South African short films: Anders by Werner Coetzee, and Mthokozisi Lembethe's Paving Forward, a short documentary about a fabulous 50-year-old dyke and her journey to acceptance, featuring a surprise appearance by COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

International guests

The festival will also play host to three international guests alongside one of their strongest programmes yet. Lead actress and producer, Dreya Weber will present A Marine Story, which has won 16 major awards. The drama is a timely reminder of the US military's invidious "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which caused extraordinary damage to thousands of soldiers before being overturned in September 2011.

Weber, a festival favourite in The Gymnast, is a famous aerialist and choreographer who has performed at the Grammys, the Winter Olympics and with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera and Pink.

Swedish actor and producer Josefine Tengblad will present Kyss Mig (Kiss Me), named Best Breakthrough Film by the American Film Institute last year. Tengblad worked with Lars von Trier on Dogville and Manderlay, and on the TV series Wallander.

Subtle, nuanced and satisfying

Belgian director Bavo Defurne will present screenings of his film North Sea Texas, a subtle, nuanced and satisfying coming-of-age, boy-next-door love story, which was named Best Feature Début at the Montreal World Film Festival and won the Fipresci International Press Award.

The festival is made possible through support from Atlantic Philanthropies, the National Film and Video Foundation, The Times, Goethe Institut, British Council, Gauteng Film Commission, 6 Spin Street, Graton Guest House, Rutland Lodge, Krugmann's Grill and Holdenmanz Wine Estate. For more information, go to www.oia.co.za.