Award-winning writer/director Del Shores’ Southern Baptist Sissies has had a great reception at film festivals. Or at least it has in most places, although a venue owner in Stillwater, Oklahoma shut down a screening because of objections over the film’s exploration of the gay experience inside dogma-driven religion. Even so it went on to win Best Feature and Best Actor for star Emerson Collins at the Red Dirt International Film Festival at Stillwater.

Now it’s started its limited theatrical run in the US, so it’s a great time to take a look at the trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘The film stars original play cast members Emmy winner Leslie Jordan (“Will & Grace”, “American Horror Story: Coven”), Dale Dickey (Winter’s Bone, “True Blood”, Blues For Willadean), Rosemary Alexander (Sordid Lives), Ann Walker (Sordid Lives), Newell Alexander (August: Osage County, Sordid Lives) and Joe Patrick Ward (composer for Blues For Willadean and “Sordid Lives: The Series”).  The four sissies are portrayed by Emerson Collins (“Sordid Lives: The Series”), Matthew Scott Montgomery (So Random), Luke Stratte-McClure (Yellow) and Willam Belli (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Nip/Tuck”).

‘Southern Baptist Sissies is a unique hybrid of stage and film funded through an enormously successful crowd-sourcing campaign with Indiegogo.  Filmed in ten days in front of four live theatre audiences and completed with a film shoot on the theatrical stage, Southern Baptist Sissies tells the hysterical and heart-wrenching story of four boys growing up gay in the Southern Baptist church and their individual struggles to reconcile their sexuality with the anti-gay teachings of the church.’

Here’s the latest info on US screenings of the movie:
Extended Runs:
Palm Springs–Camelot Theatres (February 21st)**
Los Angeles–Downtown Independent (March 7th)**
Detroit–Cinema Detroit (March 21st)
Greensboro-Carousel Cinemas (March 28th)
New Orleans–Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (April 4th)**

Special Engagements:
Philadelphia–PhilaMOCA (March 13th)
Portland–Clinton Street Theater (March 28th)
Phoenix-Film Bar PHX (April 12th & 13th)
Sioux Falls–Club David (May 4th)
More dates and engagements will be announced.
**Cast and crew will introduce the film at special screenings.

You can also take a look at a few (sometimes sexy) pics from the movie below. [Read more…]