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Gay Films Seized in Canada

Clapham Junction by Adrian Shergold (top); Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth in I Can’t Think Straight (middle); Patrik Age. 1.5 by Ella Lemhagen (bottom)

Canada an egalitarian gay haven? Think again.
Marcus McCann reports in Xtra.com that Canada Border Services Agency customs officers have seized three gay-themed films en route to Ottawa’s three-day Inside Out gay film festival, which ends tomorrow, Nov. 22. No explanation was given for the seizure — which, of course, is exactly what you’d expect to happen in a true democracy. The films are supposed to remain in custody until they’re watched in full by some border censor or other. (Curiously, the Inside Out website makes no mention of the border incident.)
The three films in question are Adrian [...]

HOLLOW REED – Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson

Hollow Reed (1996)
Direction: Angela Pope
Screenplay: Paula Milne
Cast: Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson, Sam Bould, Ian Hart, Jason Flemyng, Annette Badland, Roger Lloyd-Pack
 

Hollow Reed, the tale of a little boy loved by his gay father and abused by his hetero stepfather, was the winner of the Audience Award at the 1996 Dinard British Film Festival. That shouldn’t be surprising. After all, director Angela Pope and screenwriter Paula Milne squeeze every possible dramatic element the story could offer, from relentless closeups of young actor Sam Bould’s soulful face to a climactic bloody fight between the film’s warring dads. Most audiences love that.
Personally, I believe that approach is perfectly fine as long as the filmmakers don’t take themselves too seriously [...]

Chicago Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009

Baby Jane by Billy Clift (top); Shirley Knight, Liz Jahren in Not Fade Away (middle); Homewrecker by Paul Hart (bottom)

Reeling 2009, this year’s edition of the Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, kicked off on Thu., Nov. 5, with a screening of Casper Andreas‘ The Big Gay Musical.
Upcoming feature films include:

Billy Clift’s Baby Jane, a recreation of What Ever Happened with Baby Jane? starring real drag queens playing the two female leads — as opposed to Joan Crawford and Bette Davis playing drag queens playing the two female leads.
Florencia Manovil’s romantic drama Fiona’s Script, about an insecure bisexual woman who reluctantly enters into a relationship with a ladies’ tomboy.
Rob Williams‘ Make the Yuletide Gay, a family Christmas [...]

AFI FEST 2009: A SINGLE MAN, THE SINGULARITY

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore in A Single Man (top); Steve Evets, Eric Cantona in Looking for Eric (bottom)

AFI FEST 2009 highlights on Thursday, Nov. 5:

Robert Barry Ptolemy’s The Singularity sounds fascinating: Futurist Ray Kurzweil discusses the just-around-the-corner impact of human technology, which has been growing exponentially. Imagine a world without death, hunger, disease. (Well, I’m assuming all those great things will happen if humans don’t self-destruct first. After all, all lab studies indicate that human imbecility is growing even faster than the species’ technological advances — talk about a scientific paradox; someone should come up with a documentary about that.)
Directed by Tom Ford, A Single Man stars Venice 2009 winner Colin Firth, who’ll quite likely receive an Oscar nod come [...]

Gay Documentary THIS AREA IS UNDER QUARANTINE Banned

Thunska Pansittivorakul’s Thai-made experimental documentary This Area Is Under Quarantine, which discusses the difficulties faced by both gays and Muslims in Thailand, has been banned by that country’s Ministry of Culture from showing at next month’s World Film Festival of Bangkok.
According to a report in the Bangkok Post, the problem has less to do with an outright ban of the film’s themes — which includes mention of the Tak Bai Incident of 2004, a case of police/army brutality that left nearly 100 Muslim protesters dead in the southern Thai province — than with labyrinthine new laws involving ratings committees and subcommittees that are supposed to classify films shown at special screenings or festivals.

On his [...]

Federico García Lorca’s Remains to Be Exhumed

Javier Beltrán as Federico García Lorca, Robert Pattinson as Salvador Dali in Little Ashes

According to reports, forensic experts have begun digging at a mass unmarked grave in search of the remains of poet and playwright Federico García Lorca (right), executed in the early days of Spain’s bloody 1936-39 civil war.
The work is taking place on a remote hillside area near Granada, in Spain’s southern province of Andalusia. The assassins were members of a militia loyal to right-wing Gen. Francisco Franco. Approximately 500,000 people were killed during the civil war, which erupted after Franco, abetted by Spain’s business establishment and the Catholic Church, rebelled against the elected leftist Republican government. (Guillermo del Toro captures the brutality of this dark period [...]

Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Awards 2009

2009 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Awards
2009 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival: Oct. 16-25, 2009
 

A major box-office hit in its native Norway, Stian Kristiansen’s The Man Who Loved Yngve chronicles the (homo)sexual awakening of a small-town male teenager after another male teen starts attending his school.
 
JURY AWARDS

BEST FEATURE FILM: The Man Who Loved Yngve, directed by Stian Kristiansen

FEATURE FILM HONORABLE MENTION: I Can’t Think Straight, directed by Shamim Sarif

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM: Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement, directed by Gréta Olafsdóttir and Susan Muska
BEST SHORT FILM: Diana, directed by Aleem Khan

SHORT FILM HONOURABLE MENTION: Claiming the Title, directed by Jonathan Joiner and Robert H. Martin
MOST INNOVATIVE SHORT: The Apple, directed by Emilie Jouvet
 
AUDIENCE AWARDS

Best [...]

Ramon Novarro III: Anita Page, Murder, Life As a Gay Man

Anita Page, Ramon Novarro in The Flying Fleet

Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview II
Ramon Novarro and Anita Page. Do you believe he actually asked her hand in marriage as she claimed later in life?
I do, and the main reason is that I knew Anita Page and interviewed her extensively for over a year before her health really began to decline. At that point, she would have short-term memory loss due to a stroke, which made interviewing her more difficult. That, and the image that she presented to the world in some ways made her appear unreliable. All I know is that I was able to prove most of the stories she told me with secondary [...]

Ramon Novarro II: Best Films, Rex Ingram

Jeanette MacDonald, Ramon Novarro in The Cat and the Fiddle. Photo: Courtesy Matias Bombal Collection.

Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview I
How would you describe Ramon Novarro the actor?
Novarro was a first-rate actor – maybe not an Olivier, but a good solid actor. Even in bad films such as Laughing Boy (1934), he had his moments. He was excellent in dramatic roles such as the aviator Alexis Rosanoff opposite Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1931), or as the rapist-suitor of Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (1933). He excelled in light comedic moments, especially in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) and in several of his musicals including The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) and The [...]

Ramon Novarro: Q&A with Author Allan Ellenberger

I first contacted author Allan Ellenberger shortly before the publication of his book on Old Hollywood star Ramon Novarro, as at the time I was working on my own Novarro bio. Instead of treating me like a pesky rival, Allan generously shared the information he’d amassed throughout about a decade of research — and for that I was very thankful.
We’ve since become good friends (but Allan, you need to buy me pizza more often), so I’m glad to report that his Ramon Novarro (McFarland, 1999) is now available in paperback at online bookstores. In his carefully researched book (I’ve read it about four or five times), Allan discusses Ramon Novarro’s life and career from his early beginnings in [...]

Rome Film Festival Awards 2009

2009 Rome Film Festival Awards
2009 Rome Film Festival: Oct. 15-23, 2009
 

Danish-born filmmaker Nicolo Donato’s feature-film debut, Brotherhood revolves around a group of Danish neo-Nazis, with particular focus on two members of this group of violent, xenophobic, anti-gay bigots: newbie Lars (Thure Lindhardt), who has been recently discharged from the army, and Jimmy (David Dencik), one of the leaders of the gang. Things get complicated after Lars moves in with Jimmy and discovers that he feels more than a mere brotherly attachment to his mentor. Even more shocking, Jimmy realizes that he feels something quite special for Lars as well. Now, what to do next? Curiously, three years ago another movie featuring neo-nazis, Shane Meadows‘ This Is England, won [...]

Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2009

Among the highlights at the 2009 Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, which runs Oct. 9-15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are:

Tom Murray’s Amancio: Two Faces on a Tombstone, about the brutal murder of Yuma-based drag performer Amancio Corrales, whose body was found floating in the Colorado River. The local police didn’t seem all that interested in solving the case, but Yuma resident Michael Baughman became determined to keep the hate crime in the public eye.

Chaim Elbaum’s Israeli short And Thou Shalt Love tells the story of a young man studying in the special “Hesder” program for orthodox soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. Much to his chagrin, said young man eventually comes to realization that he [...]

Out on Film 2009: Atlanta’s Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Stephan Bender, Maximillian Roeg in Dream Boy (top); Sharon Gless in Hannah Free (bottom)

Out on Film, Atlanta’s gay & lesbian film festival, kicked off last night with a screening of Casper Andreas‘ The Big Gay Musical. The festival runs until Oct. 8.
Among the screening films are:

Glenn Gaylord’s Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat, featuring hunky guys, some identity mix-ups, a three-way sex scene, and Mink Stole.

John G. Young’s Rivers Wash Over Me, about a gay teen New Yorker who is forced to move in with his family in the rural South.

Ellen Siedler and Megan Siler’s And Then Came Lola, a lesbian-themed version of the German hit Run, Lola, Run.

Doug Sebastian’s A Cross Burning in Willacoochee, a documentary about the [...]

Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2009

Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2009 poster (top); Alexandre and Victor Carril in Give Me Your Hand (middle); Hello My Name Is Lesbian by Iben Haahr Andersen, Minna Grooss (bottom)

The 2009 edition of the Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival runs Oct. 16-25.
Among the festival’s "themes" this year are "Documenting Denmark," "Daddy Cool," "Cry for Me Argentina," and "Bollywood Goes Gay."

Rückenwind by Jan Krüger (top); Daddy’s Love by Mette Aakerholm (middle); Nobody Passes Perfectly by Saskia Bisp (bottom)

Screening films include Jan Krüger’s Rückenwind, which follows a young couple (Sebastian Schlecht, Eric Golub) on a bike trip in the woods that turns nightmarish after they meet with a lone mother and her shy teenage son; Iben Haahr [...]

Controversial FROM BEGINNING TO END Premiere Postponed

Rafael Cardoso, João Gabriel Vasconcelos as two incestuous brothers in From Beginning to End

Brazilian filmmaker Aluízio Abranches‘ Do Começo ao Fim (From Beginning to End), which revolves around a love affair between two brothers, has generated quite a bit of discussion in Brazilian online forums even though the film hasn’t been released, yet. Those waiting to check it out at the upcoming Festival do Rio, Rio de Janeiro’s international film festival, which runs Sept. 24-Oct. 8, will be disappointed.
Abranches has declared that his film won’t be ready in time for its scheduled screening. (Eliane Caffé’s O Sol do Meio Dia [The Midday Sun], about a dangerous love triangle in the Brazilian hinterlands, will take its slot.) As a result, [...]

Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2009

Sonia Sebastian’s Girl Seeks Girl (top); Glenn Gaylord’s Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat (middle); Jochen Hick’s The Good American (bottom)

The 2009 edition of the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival runs from Oct. 16-25.
Among the screening films are:

Bette Gordon’s Handsome Harry, starring Jamey Sheridan as a 52-year-old, divorced ex-Navy man who, following an encounter with an old — and dying — Navy buddy (Steve Buscemi), decides to face an uncomfortable issue from his past. Also in the cast: Campbell Scott, Aidan Quinn, Titus Welliver, and John Savage.

Two documentaries on transvestites/transsexuals: Fernanda Tornaghi and Ricardo Bruno’s Queen of Brazil, about the 32-year-old Miss Gay Brasil beauty pageant, and Queens at Heart, about pre-Stonewall transsexuals. According to the festival’s [...]

Rooftop Films 2009 Filmmakers’ Fund Short Film Recipients

Rooftop Films 2009 Filmmakers’ Fund — in partnership with Chicken & Egg Fund and Cinereach — has provided grants for the completion of four short film projects.
They are: Sara Zia Ebrahimi’s "Norman Schwarzkopf Made Me Gay," Moon Molson’s "Crazy Beats Strong Every Time," James M. Johnston’s "Knife," and Dustin Guy Defa’s "We Have No Home."
According to the Rooftop Films’ press release, "every year, Rooftop Films takes $1 from every film submission fee and every ticket sold, and sets that money aside to give grants to filmmakers whose work we have screened. … The goal of the fund is to help a diverse range of filmmakers create meaningful, personal, [...]

A SINGLE MAN Photos

Colin Firth in A Single Man (top); Firth and Matthew Goode play lovers in A Single Man (bottom)

Winner of the Queer Lion for best gay-themed film, A Single Man chronicles the emotional struggles of a suicidal middle-aged college professor mourning the sudden death of his partner of 16 years in a car accident. During that period — one day in 1962 in Los Angeles (a time when gay sex was still illegal in California) — the world is facing the Cuban missile crisis.
Loosely based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, A Single Man was directed by fashion designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford, and adapted by Ford and David Scearce.

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore in A Single Man

Colin Firth won the best actor award [...]

Venice 2009: Julianne Moore, Colin Firth

Tom Ford, Julianne Moore, best actor winner Colin Firth, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode at the premiere of Queer Lion winner (for best film with a gay theme) A Single Man at the 2009 Venice Film Festival
Photos: Courtesy Venice Film Festival
Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Colin Firth

Nicholas Hoult

Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2009

The 2009 edition of the Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, billed as the oldest and largest gay film festival in the American Southwest, will take place from Sept. 8-13
Among the screening films are:

Writer-director Caspar Andreas‘ Between Love & Goodbye, in which two lovers, Marcel (Justin Tensen) and Kyle (Simon Miller), find their happiness seriously threatened once Kyle’s former prostitute transgender sister (Rob Harmon) moves in with them.

Fred M. Caruso’s The Big Gay Musical, the story of two actors, Paul (Daniel Robinson) and Eddie (Joey Dudding), whose private lives mirror their stage roles in a play called "Adam and Steve, Just the Way God Made ‘em": while Paul searches for True Love, Eddie struggles with [...]

SITTING PRETTY – Clifton Webb, Maureen O’Hara

Sitting Pretty (1948)
Direction: Walter Lang
Screenplay: F. Hugh Herbert; from Gwen Davenport’s novel Belvedere
Cast: Clifton Webb, Maureen O’Hara, Robert Young, Richard Haydn, Louise Allbritton, Randy Stuart, Ed Begley
 

 

In the late 1940s, the bucolic suburb of Hummingbird Hill is shaken in its tranquil complacency by the scandalous actions of two middle-aged, unmarried men. Each of these elitist, academic bachelors threaten the norm of twin beds, parlor games, and ladies who lunch. One escapes his overbearing mother in persistent eavesdropping and snooping; the other inserts himself as a platonic wedge between a husband and wife, usurping household authority with conceited pleasure.
The couple eventually separates under the strain, while the community itself is exposed for its flaws and hypocrisy. The convention of the two-parent, heterosexual family [...]

Dirk Bogarde on TCM

Strangely, Dirk Bogarde never became a major star in the United States. I’m sure he was well known in the US in the ’50s and ’60s, but he wasn’t the superstar he was in Britain or the top star he was internationally. Perhaps Bogarde just didn’t care for Hollywood stardom — certainly not when in Europe he got to work for the likes of Joseph Losey, Luchino Visconti, Alain Resnais, Liliana Cavani, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John Schlesinger, Anthony Asquith, and the now all-but-forgotten but generally capable Basil Dearden.
Anyhow, today is Dirk Bogarde day as Turner Classic Movies continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" series, which features two TCM premieres later this evening: The Blue Lamp [...]

Judy Garland in THE WIZARD OF OZ Screening

Starring Judy Garland and directed by Victor Fleming, the 1939 Best Picture nominee The Wizard of Oz will be screened, digitally from a new 4K restoration, as the final feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series “Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939” on Monday, August 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Jerry Maren, who portrayed one of the Lollipop Guild members in Munchkinland, will be present for a short Q&A before the film.
The evening will begin at 6:45 p.m., and will include videotaped interviews with Margaret Hamilton and Ray Bolger from a 1983 Academy event; the [...]

Todd Holland, Don Roos, Gay Actors, and The Closet

First, openly gay film director Todd Holland (right) is accused of telling non-100% hetero performers to keep their sexuality hidden in the closet. Several days later, another openly gay film director, Don Roos, was reportedly even more blatant about the idea of keeping actors hanging in the closet. Adding insult to injury, those statements were made at a film festival named Outfest, Los Angeles’ annual gay & lesbian cinema smorgasbord.
Holland was quoted as saying that young gay actors "should stay in the closet." He later wrote a piece stating that his "damning words were: ‘If you are that .002 percent [of actors who may be superstar material] … I can’t tell you to come out."
"I never said stay [...]

I KILLED MY MOTHER d: Xavier Dolan

J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother (2009)
Direction and Screenplay: Xavier Dolan
Cast: Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément
 

 

Xavier Dolan’s semi-autobiographical J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother has been getting a lot of attention, mostly because Dolan is 19 and has won three awards at Cannes for his first film. A former child actor, Dolan spent some of his acting money to make this film about an adolescent (played by himself) who hates his mother.
I really wanted to like I Killed My Mother because it’s Canadian and made by such a young fellow. I even thought Dolan could be the Canadian Orson Welles! But he’s not, and I Killed My Mother [...]

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