London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009: Fred Halsted, THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009
Friday, March 27, highlights
Schedule and synopses from the LLGFF website
The Naked Civil Servant
| Directed by: | Jack Gold |
| Cast: | John Hurt, Liz Gebhardt, Patricia Hodge |
| Country: | UK |
| Year: | 1975 |
| Running time: | 85min |
This dramatization of Quentin [Crisp]’s first volume of autobiography won BAFTAs for its director Jack Gold and its star. John Hurt gives a dazzling performance as the young Quentin, a flame-haired flamboyant homosexual when such things were not permitted. It contains much of the wit and wisdom of Quentin and celebrates a life lived in a refusal to conform. The highlight is Quentin’s impassioned speech from the dock when charged with soliciting for an immoral purpose.
Plus an interview with Bernard Braden filmed in 1967. Previously unseen this colour interview shows Quentin before he became famous.
An Englishman in New York
| Directed by: | Richard Laxton |
| Cast: | John Hurt, Cynthia Nixon, Jonathan Tucker, Swoosie Kurtz |
| Distributor: | ITV/Leopard International |
| Country: | UK |
| Year: | 2009 |
| Running time: | 74min |
John Hurt stars in the long-awaited follow-up to The Naked Civil Servant, the ground-breaking television drama first broadcast on ITV in 1975. An Englishman in New York tells the story of Quentin’s new life when he emigrates to Manhattan aged 70. Quentin’s flamboyant wit guaranteed a life of social engagements but his outspoken dismissal of AIDS as a fad threatened to destroy his reputation. Mr. Hurt shines as Mr. Crisp in this new film which explores Crisp’s relationship with young gay artist Patrick Angus, who contracts AIDS. Writer Brian Fillis and director Richard Laxton have dramatised the Crisp legend as revealed in his diaries for the New York Native and some of his writings from Resident Alien combined with memories from his closest New York associates.
"Investigating Desire"
Short films which explore gay male physical intimacy, with some explicit scenes
No Strings Attached
Germany 2007. Dir Alexandre Powelz. 20min.
Documentary showing a demon cruiser in action.
Allen Ginsberg Gives Great Head
Singapore 2007. Dir X’Ho. 15min.
Banned in Singapore, a young man muses on his hero Allen Ginsberg.
My Cock is a Dildo
Sweden 2007. Dir Ester Martin Bergsmark, Emanuel Nyberg. 9min.
Camera and bodies interact in a Swedish short as two young men indulge in playful experimentation.
Bramadero (above)
Mexico 2008. Dir Julián Hernández. 20min.
On the outskirts of Mexico City a building site is the location for a leisurely and highly charged romantic encounter.
Superm Highway
USA 2006. Dir Slava Mogutin, Brian Kenny. 6min.
A revealing series of stills taken in the dark leaves little to the imagination.
Dan’s Big Hands
USA 2008. Dir Jack Curtis Dubowsky. 4min.
A musical celebration of a man’s passion for Dan’s hands.
The Window
USA 2008. Dir Philippe Gosselin, Ronald Regina. 6min.
Three men discover the pleasures of voyeurism. Don’t miss the last scene.
Nighthawks
| Directed by: | Ron Peck, Paul Hallam |
| Cast: | Ken Robertson, Stuart Craig Turton, Rachel Nicholas James |
| Distributor: | BFI |
| Country: | UK |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Running time: | 113min |
Recently restored by the BFI and 30 years since its first UK release, we present a special screening of Nighthawks in the presence of filmmakers Ron Peck and Paul Hallam, plus several of the cast and crew for a discussion which will be led by Matt Lucas. This pioneering film was the first British gay feature which dealt unapologetically with homosexuality. Centring on the character of Jim, a gay teacher, it is an important historical document of a moment in London gay life that offers a view of the potentially alienating effects of the gay scene but emphasizes the importance of coming out. The hundreds of extras were drawn from London club-goers and gay activists and filmed in a number of London pubs and clubs. One of the most memorable scenes is when Jim is forced to confront a class who ask if he is gay. A close-up of Jim on the dancefloor, his eyes darting to and fro, captures the anxiety of the endless search for Mr Right. Brian Robinson
L.A. Plays Itself and Sex Garage
Artist William E. Jones introduces two hardcore films by legendary 1970s sex radical Fred Halsted, LA Plays Itself and …
| Directed by: | Fred Halsted |
| Cast: | Fred Halsted, Joseph Yale, Jim Frost |
| Country: | USA |
| Year: | 1972 |
| Running time: | 55min |
… Sex Garage.
| Directed by: | Fred Halsted |
| Cast: | Gus Harvey, Sonia Boyd, Bob Madison |
| Country: | USA |
| Year: | 1972 |
| Running time: | 35min |
In anticipation of his forthcoming book on legendary sex radical Fred Halsted, filmmaker William E. Jones (V.O., Tearoom) returns to the LLGFF to introduce a rare screening of hardcore Halsted films. Reconstructed to approximate its original theatrical version, the episodic LA Plays Itself contrasts two sexual drifters – one lingering in idyllic Malibu Canyon, the other cruising the gritty streets of 1970s LA.
Shot with an underground art aesthetic of dramatic shadows and non-synchronous sound, this deliciously disturbing film captured the raw underbelly of 1970s LA as few films ever have and introduced S/M sex (including scenes with lover Joey York) to gay pornography.
Sex Garage, a featurette created as a theatrical accompaniment to LA Plays Itself, takes Kenneth Anger’s fetish aesthetic to the hardcore limit.
The Lost Coast
| Directed by: | Gabriel Fleming |
| Cast: | Ian Scott McGregor, Lucas Alifano, Lindsay Benner |
| Country: | USA |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Running time: | 74min |
Set over the course of one long Halloween night, The Lost Coast follows Mark, Jasper and Lily, three friends from high school now in their early twenties. In their formative years, Mark used to date Lily, whilst also indulging in some adolescent experimentation with Jasper. Years later, Mark is openly gay, while Jasper is straight and refuses to acknowledge his secret past. Joined by their obnoxious friend Caleb, the group trawl through the night on a hunt for Ecstasy, a journey that triggers off reminiscences of the past and ignites some long buried emotions. Incorporating elements of the US indie scene’s mumblecore movement, Gabriel Fleming’s understated film is a haunting vision of friendship, sexuality and hidden desires. The often dreamlike visual style effectively complements the awkwardness of the characters, and the final sequences of the friends roaming the dusky beaches of San Francisco’s Lost Coast linger long in the mind. Michael Blyth
OTTO, OR UP WITH DEAD PEOPLE, THE LARAMIE PROJECT Offend
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Tags: An Englishman in New York, Bramadero, Erotica, Film Festivals, Fred Halsted, Gabriel Fleming, Gay Film Festivals, Gay Interest, Gay Movies, John Hurt, Julian Hernandez, Ken Robertson, London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, London Screenings, My Cock Is a Dildo, Nighthawks, Paul Hallam, Philippe Gosselin, Quentin Crisp, Ron Peck, Sex, Superm Highway, The Lost Coast, The Naked Civil Servant, The Window
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John Hurt deserves an oscar nomination for the englishman abroad. hes won some award in Venice i think it was.
When I was working in London. I met Mr. Crisp albeit briefly. He looked exactly as he does. He was quiet old at the time but wore it well. As we past each other, I said.”Whacha Mr.Crisp!” and give him a slight bow. He stop and stared at me for a moment or two then returned the bow and with a delicate smile said. “And good afternoon to you!” Then we went our separate ways. I did? that not only to make him feel good. But because he is, The Royal Homo. One ought to show respect dont you think?
;o)