While the news of the day isn't so wonderful and the economy sluggish at best, lovers of films and film festivals in the tri-state area have their pick of what to see and where to go the entire month of October and beyond.

Philadelphia Cinema Alliance (PCA), continues La Cinematheque: New French Films with the second film in the once-a-month series in Philadelphia, with Eden is West, by director Costa-Gavras, in his only appearance in the United States will be right here in Philadelphia, October 22, 6:45pm, at the Prince Music Theater, the new official home of the Philadelphia Cinema Alliance, 1412 Chestnut Street, off the city's Avenue of the Arts, in Center City Philadelphia.

Like the tradition that has been established at both Philadelphia CineFest and Philadelphia QFest, Costa-Gavras will receive the PCA Artistic Achievement Award. The special award presentation will include the bestowing of the award, a "conversation with" before the audience with a published film critic, a post-award reception held in his honor at one of the city's major venues, and a tribute clip reel featuring highlights of "his body of work".

As I told the media recently, "Oscar-winning director and no stranger to controversy, Costa-Gavras has brought films to audiences worldwide about topics that many, including those who control governments, the fates of nations, the lives of populations, would rather ignore, hide or avoid altogether."

Costa-Gavras' distinguished career as an artist truly speaks for itself with some of the most powerful cinematic statements on screen-Z (1969), The Confession (1970), State of Siege (1972), Missing (1982), Hanna K (1983) and Betrayed (1988), just to name a few. The Greek-born director has also worked with an impressive roster of actors, including Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Irene Pappas, Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Debra Winger, Gabriel Byrne, Jill Clayburgh, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta and Tom Berenger, among others.

Costa-Gavras' latest film, Eden is West, has been best described as "a funny to heartrending journey of a man from unknown roots to an unstable future."

"With Eden is West, we're hoping to introduce him to a younger audience in addition to the many cinephiles in our region who already admire and respect his films but haven't had the opportunity to see much of his more recent work," said Raymond Murray, Artistic Director, Philadelphia Cinema Alliance.

I've personally always felt the impact of the films of Costa-Gavras who is legendary and those who have seen them, like me, still find them memorable, powerful and meaningful, years later, in our contemporary world of chaos and conflict.

I'm also proud of PCA having entered into a dynamic partnership with The Prince Music Theater, the Embassy of France, and the French-American Cultural Foundation will present La Cinematheque: New French Films that have yet-to-be-released in the United States that will premiere throughout the remainder of 2009 and into 2010.

Additional sponsors of La Cinematheque include: tlavideo.com, TV5 Monde, Le Bec-Fin, University of the Arts, Stella Artois, Lisa Reisman Gallery, Calderwood Gallery, Alliance Francaise de Philadelphia, International Women's Club of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Hospitality, Inc., The Restaurant Collection, Prive, Le Bec-Fin, The Prime Rib, ZipCar, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, QUEERtimes, Del Frisco's, and KB Consultants.

For more information, call 267.765.9800, ext. 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; or visit phillycinema.org         

There's even new energy in the film festival world for dwellers and visitors to the South Jersey shore these days. This weekend the Downbeach Film Festival presents the Atlantic City Cinefest, October 16-18, sporting both its new name and move to Slot City from its previous locations in Margate and Ventnor.

The three-day festival will premiere, according to executive director/board chair, William Sokolic, "a diverse selection Independent feature films, shorts and documentaries of varying genres, many of them from New Jersey filmmakers."                  

This year's lineup opens, appropriately with the East Coast Premiere of the Atlantic City-based Ice Grill, co-directed by Greg Santarsiero and Mark Bernardi.

Other films screened will include:  Empty Room and Life Behind Beards, both student-submissions from Rowan University; The Cartel, a Michael Moore-style documentary which takes on the New Jersey public school system; Band of Pirates, a poignant look back at the 1989 Seton Hall basketball team's run to the Final Four; Together, about Angelo and  Steven throwing a party to celebrate their one-year anniversary and everything that can go wrong, will; and Sam's Rain, a dramedy about a soldier returning from Iraq.

Festival award recipients will include Martin Kove who will receive the Lifesaver Award for his cinematic achievements over the span of his career in Wyatt Earp, all three Karate Kid films and numerous television shows. Mr. Kove stars in Bare Knuckles, a tale of a single mother who steps into the ring to feed her family, screening on October 18. (Co-star Jeanette Roxborough will also be in attendance.)

Louis Mandylor, from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who stars in the new comedy, Gerald and In the Eyes of a Killer, will receive the Chameleon Award "for his remarkable lengthy and disparate list of characters he has played during his career."

Sokolic also solicited the consultation of artistic director Ray Murray of the Philadelphia Cinema Alliance, producers of Philadelphia CineFest in April, Philadelphia QFest in July and La Cinematheque: New French Films, in the organizing of the second Downbeach Film Festival.

All festival screenings will be held in The Screening Room, 13th floor, at Resorts Atlantic City. 

For more information, call 609.823.9159; or visit downbeachfilmfestival.org

Bored to tears with the usual Philadelphia Outfest fare: endless tables, free pens, mechanical bulls, drunken queers and tired drag queen acts, my girlfriend Jen suggested we head to nearby Washington, DC for the National March for Equality.  I hadn't heard of it and had no idea what I was in for.

But we took to the road, parked the car, caught a cab, and were met with the largest mass of people I have ever seen in my twenty-three years.  Folks stretched endlessly in every direction, and we stood watching in awe for a moment.  Then, like fish in a stream, we jumped in and began marching.

It took us ninety minutes to reach the Capitol Building. 

In the first half hour, my emotions fluctuated from unadulterated love (enveloped by my people and supporters), to disappointment and cynicism (at the massive amounts of signs that cried for marriage equality), to valiant and fierce (when I held my sign that read "End Oppression" high above my head until my arms burned) and back again. 

I frequently wiped tears from my eyes because it seemed that the simple act of marching, with each step, shook emotions in my gut, like soda in a bottle that's been shook and is ready to explode. 

I glared at the DC yuppies on their fancy bikes with their fancy bike helmets and their fancy bottled waters, who had stumbled upon the March on their usual Sunday morning exercise routine.  They stood, slack-jawed, as the 200,000 members of this motley crew strode past them, screaming gleefully in their face "We're here, we're queer, we're fabulous, don't fuck with us!!!!!"

When we reached the Capitol Building, the speeches began.  There were famous speakers and completely unknown ones, including one guy who admitted that he didn't have a college degree and knew nothing about politics.  Despite their celebrity status or not, each one delivered their message with such power, such raw emotion and heartfelt sincerity that it didn't matter. 

The speeches again sent me on a rollercoaster of emotion; sadness, tearfulness, pride, powerfulness and powerlessness wafted through my body at a steady, undulating pace.  My girlfriend wrapped her arms around me from behind, and my eyes began to leak uncontrollably. 

The warmth of her love, of the people surrounding me, and of the sun, which shone down on us in this important moment, filled me to the tipping point. 

Post-Equality March?  I'm ready to do whatever it takes.  I'm ready to get in the face of my oppressor, I'm ready to fight, I'm ready to show what love and true democracy looks like.  I'm motivated. 

Reflecting upon the day, my favorite speaker was a very young African-American woman. 

Something she said got me--she said, "Claim your truth." 

I've now realized that my queer identity, my lesbian side, my flirtation with transsexuality, my masculine appearance, everything I embody is my truth.

Everyone there that day each had their "own truth" that they've "claimed."  And that day was something we all claimed, together. 

It was our day, this is our movement, and we are motivated.

Raeann is a jack of many trades, master of none - and ze prefers it that way.  Ze is, however, much, much better at stuff like camerawork and writing than say amateur astronomy or mountain climbing, which enables hir to make a meager living.

Editors Note: Out of the Box will be a published bi-weekly on the Qt.

I'm a huge lover of art, especially photography, and of museums and galleries. In Philadelphia, there are more and more galleries featuring exciting, alternative and timely works of art and introducing many artists to the public. It may sound like a cliché but I believe that it truly is an exciting and dynamic time to be an artist, gallery owner, arts patron, art collector and even simply an arts devotee.

These days there are also galleries springing up all over the city, not just in Old City Philadelphia and in Northern Liberties. Every opening of an art show is no longer relegated to occurring on First Friday, though I still enjoy the energy that monthly events like that engenders.

That brings me to AxD Gallery, 265 South 10th Street, located between Locust and Spruce St., in Center City Philadelphia, but not surrounded by other galleries.

It's really its own arts destinations and the artists and gallery gores are growing in their numbers in knowing to check out what's showing at AxD Gallery as its something bound to be different, provocative, attractive to the eye and thought-provoking to the mind.

This month's show, "Vivienne Maricevic: Shooting Men," is now open and displays the more than 30 year photographic journey of erotica, sexuality and gender, passionately documenting the pre-AIDS sex industry of New York City's Times Square to the present-day nude portraiture. It nicely but maybe unintentionally coinciding with National Coming Out Month.

The self-taught Maricevic began her lifelong fascination with nude male photographic images in the late 1970s during the Times Square of porn movie houses, dirty bookstores, and the blatant advertising of sex amidst the mainstream Broadway theaters. She continued to capture the unique world of the city's sex industry into the 1980s, a world now replaced by a family tourism destination that Times Square has become.

In the earliest days of her career, Maricevic was frustrated by the lack of "serious" male nude photography in publications and the art world.  She paid for a simple ad in the Village Voice:  "Male nudes by female photographer."  That action dramatically changed her life and her career. One short year later, Maricevic opened her first exhibition, "Naked Men" in New York City in 1979.

Her documentary approach to her subjects led her to various and fascinating worlds--male "burlesk" capturing the exotic male dancers in legendary clubs like "The Ramrod," "Big Top," and "Eros." Her relationships with everyone from the club owners and managers to the performers allowed her both freedom and access from onstage to offstage, resulting in her first series portfolio, "Porn Stars."

In 1986, Maricevic met her first transsexual. She recalled at how "amazingly naturally feminine this person was and instantly wanted to meet others [like her] to photograph."

Her growing and expanding exploration of sexual identity and gender soon led Maricevic to photograph transvestites, drag queens, male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals, male impersonators and androgynous women.

Maricevic's most recent work returns her attention to the male nude, capturing, according to assistant gallery director Ryan McMenamin, "moments ranging from pensive introspection to displays of potent virility."

"Vivienne Maricevic:  Shooting Men" continues through November 7.  It's a must-see exhibition of some extraordinary and personal photographic works.

For more information, call .215.627.6250; or visit a-x-d.com/gallery