New York, NY (Top40 Charts) LGBT UNITED, a social impact feature documentary written, hosted, directed and produced by CSUN psychology professor and filmmaker Dr. Luciana Lagana, will screen in
Santa Monica on Monday, November 14th, 2016 as part of the Official Selections of the 3rd Street LGBTQO Film Festival.
Location:
Laemmle
Monica Film Center
1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Time:
4 pm to 6 pm
You can purchase LGBT UNITED tickets directly at the Laemmle
Monica Film Center or online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lgbt-united-presented-by-dr-luciana-lagana-tickets-28810678515?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=esfb&utm-source=fb&utm-term=listing.
(from the festival's website) We are
Santa Monica's first and only LGBTQO Film Festival. This year's event will hold its screenings at the
Monica Film Center in the city of
Santa Monica. In addition to film screenings, we are expecting to invite LGBT rights activist, LGBT Community Centers and LGBT artists for seminars and open forums to discuss how to improve equality and better represent our community. We are not an exclusive festival as we invite all filmmakers and artists of all walks of life, religions and communities to participate with us this November.
This movie covers the resilience of LGBTQ members in the face of so many obstacles. For instance, a transgender woman experiences many struggles in our society, some of which are not evident. To use just one of these difficult circumstances as an example, Cayes Jarda, the female-to-male transgender star of the movie, was brave and direct in his description of the problems that he encounters when needing to use a public bathroom. "I saw audience members crying at prior screenings of LGBT UNITED when Cayes described how it feels to have his female intimate parts exposed and vulnerable when he must use the men's public bathroom. He conveyed the fear, discomfort and sense of degradation that he experiences in these situations in a way that is very moving. To hear him talk about this problem may be shocking to people who have never thought about what it's like to engage in a simple activity like public restroom use. This is a process that for most people is painless, but upon watching the movie, we learn not to take this sense of ease for granted," concluded Dr. Luciana.
Luciana Lagana is a caring clinical and experimental psychologist. She is also a professor of psychology, gerontology, women's health, and sexuality at CSUN, where she teaches classes and mentors many undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, since 2002, she has been conducting government-funded research at CSUN on the physical, psychological, sexual, and social health of ethnically diverse, primarily low-income older women. Since 2006, she has also been pursuing her creative endeavors by studying acting, TV and radio hosting, screenwriting, directing, and producing in Los Angeles. She has over 50 IMDb credits for hosting and acting in many independent feature films, TV pilots, and web series, as well as several credits for her award-winning screenwriting, directing, and producing. She is the writer/lead actor/director/producer of the 2014 award-winning satirical web series INTIMATE TEMP AGENCY on helping young people with special needs find employment, which won Best Trailer at the 2015 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, among other awards. Her 2014 DR. LUCIANA SHOW - AGING AND FALLING web series won numerous awards, including Best Educational Show at the 2015 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Within the past two years, her TV pilot DR. LUCIANA ON AGING AND FALLING fared well on the film festival circuit; she also wrote, hosted, directed, and produced three award-winning social impact feature documentaries, UNDERSTANDING PAIN IN OLDER AGE, LGBT UNITED, and AGING AND FALLING.
