Sony Pictures
Classics acquires gay-directed Quinceañera

The 2006 Sundance darling Quinceanera--written and directed by gay filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland--has been purchased by Sony Pictures Classics.

Sony is eyeing an August release for the film, which in January won two of the Sundance Film Festival's highest honors: the dramatic grand jury prize and the audience award. As part of the deal, Sony Pictures Classics secured North American and Latin American rights to the movie, which is executive-produced by gay director Todd Haynes.

Quinceanera tells the larger story of the somewhat awkward melting pot of Mexican-Americans and upwardly mobile gays in the gentrifying Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park through a tale of two teenagers rejected by their Catholic families. The title refers to the Latino ritual of celebrating a young girl's 15th birthday with parties and ceremonies.

Partners Glatzer and Westmoreland based the film on their own experiences as gay men living in Echo Park. "I wanted it to be a movie about acceptance," Glatzer told the media after a Sundance screening of the film.

This is the second film collaboration for Glatzer and Westmoreland, who directed The Fluffer , a well-received independent tale of the gay porn industry. Westmoreland recently directed Gay Republicans , a documentary about the conflicting emotions experienced by some members of the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans. (Advocate.com)