Tom Hompertz and Louis Waldon in Andy Warhol’s ‘Lonesome Cowboys.’‘Gay cowboy movies’ directed by Andy Warhol & Ang Lee: London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival screenings
Among the film selections of the 2006 bfi London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, to be held from March 29 to April 12, are the following:
- Andy Warhol’s 1968 homoerotic Western romp Lonesome Cowboys, written, edited, shot, produced, and reportedly co-directed by Paul Morrissey, and featuring Julian Burrough, Eric Emerson, Tom Hompertz, Viva, Allen Midgette, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, and Warhol’s muse Joe Dallesandro. Expect The Wild, Wild West to live up to its name in Warhol and Morrissey’s film.
- Ang Lee’s “gay cowboy” love story Brokeback Mountain, featuring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as doomed lovers, and Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway as the women in their lives. A sleeper box office hit, Brokeback Mountain won three Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana), and Best Original Music (Gustavo Santaolalla).
- Trond Winterkjær and Jan Dalchow’s Norwegian documentary 100 percent Human / 100 percent menneske, which was filmed in the months immediately before and after Monica (born Morten) underwent a male-to-female sex change operation.
- Ramón Salazar’s apparent mix of Pedro Almodóvar comedies and Busby Berkeley musicals, 20 Centimeters / 20 centímetros, starring Mónica Cervera (Perfect Crime) as a narcoleptic pre-op transvestite who “falls asleep at the most awkward moments and dreams herself the star of outlandish, perfectly choreographed musical numbers.”
- First-time director Yair Hochner’s Good Boys / Yeladim tovim, the tale of two teenage hustlers in Tel Aviv.
- Elle Flanders’ Canadian-financed documentary Zero Degrees of Separation, about an Israeli woman who “views her country not with the hope of her parents but rather the sadness and disappointment of her Palestinian girlfriend.”
For more information, visit the bfi London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival website.
‘Brokeback Mountain’ & the Muslim world
Brian Whitaker’s The Guardian article “Brokeback desert“:
“It is a pity Brokeback Mountain isnt showing in the Arab world, because it resembles current reality there.”
“Brokeback Mountain is a film which has nothing positive about it, said Dr Abdullah al-Amiri, a prominent member of parliament in Sharjah emirate. The portrayal of the sexual behaviour of its main character [sic] is offensive to eastern societies, particularly Muslims and the Arabs, since Islam forbids abnormal behaviours like homosexuality The film will upset the people of this culture and tradition.
“In Saudi Arabia the question of showing Brokeback simply doesnt arise: the ultra-conservative kingdom sidesteps the problem of censoring films by not permitting cinemas. Lebanon, the most easy-going of the Arab countries, might possibly allow it, but so far no Lebanese film distributor has plucked up the courage to give it a try.”
Directed by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, and Anne Hathaway.