Move over, Queer Duck -- Venice Film Fest's Queer Lion award

Here's some good news: the Venice Film Festival (one of the biggest in the world) has announced a Queer Lion award, which will be handed out to the best feature film featuring a gay or lesbian character at the fest. This is similar to the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy award.

Considering the dearth in gay characters in feature films as of late, this may (optimistically speaking) encourage filmmakers to consider including gay storylines in their films. Or if nothing else, it means Venice will be getting a great party -- the Teddy award ceremony at Berlin is pretty much the highlight of the fest, from what I've heard. Apparently it took four years of negotiating to get the award approved .. but this being Venice, I'm sure there were lots of breaks for wine and cigarettes in that time.

Noted competition director Daniel Casagrande: "We aren't looking for the next Brokeback Mountain. We are just looking for films that accurately portray gay characters or themes." The award itself will be a rainbow-fitted version of the fest's main Golden Lion prize.