Editor

The Philadelphia Film Society is proud to announce that Indie sweetheart Chloë Sevigny will make a guest appearance at this year’s 12th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, July 13-25. Sevigny, who stars in 3 Needles, will be in town for the weekend of July 15-16.

Sevigny, who currently plays Nicki Hendrikson on HBO’s Big Love, began her career as a fashion model, gracing the covers of “Interview” and “Sassy.” She was quickly dubbed as “it” girl of the nineties. Her big screen debut would soon come in Larry Clark’s Kids, where Sevigny put a human face on AIDS with her portrayal of Jennie, an HIV positive teenager. In 2000, Sevigny landed the role of Lana Tisdel, starring opposite Hillary Swank, in the Kimberly Peirce-directed Boy’s Don’t Cry. Sevigny’s portrayal earned her an Oscar nod. Since then, she has gone on to star in such movies as Palmetto (1998), American Psycho (2000), The Brown Bunny (2003), Dogville (2003) and Mrs. Harris (2005).

Sevigny will introduce her latest film, 3 Needles, at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, July 15 at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 16 at the Prince Music Theater. She will also make several guest appearances throughout the weekend.

Thom Fitzgerald-directed 3 Needles looks at the AIDS pandemic by chronicling three sets of characters around the world. In South Africa, Clara, a naive Catholic nun (Chloë Sevigny), arrives to help convert and comfort a rapidly dying population. When an underage orphan is raped and infected, Clara protects the other children while she fights to get the rapist punished. In China, a farmer sells his daughter’s blood to a mobile blood collection service to raise money for his farm. He soon watches his daughter and wife grow mysteriously ill. In Canada, when an HIV positive porn star (X-Men’s Shawn Ashmore) is forced out of the business, his mother (Stockard Channing) comes up with a selfless, heartbreaking scheme to cover the impending medical bills.

With powerful poignant performances from a stellar cast that includes Olympia Dukakis, Sandra Oh, Lucy Lui, Stockard Channing and Chloë Sevigny, 3 Needles addresses the current health crisis facing our world.