Mapplethorpe, the biopic of legendary gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, debuted at the Tribeca Film Fesitval a couple of weeks ago. However, just because the film has screened, doesn’t mean it’s finished, so an IndieGoGo campaign has been launched to help raise funds for things like music licensing, special effects and the expense of taking the movie around to festivals.
Alongside the campaign, the first trailer for the film has arrived, giving us a look at Matt Smith as Mapplethorpe in Ondi Timoner’s film.
Here’s the synopsis: ‘Robert Mapplethorpe’s portraits, images of calla lilies, and chronicles of New York City’s underground BDSM scene remain touchstones of 20th-century photography even now, nearly three decades after his death from complications of HIV/AIDS in 1989. Mapplethorpe revisits the titular photographer’s legacy, beginning at the moment just before he takes up residence in the Chelsea Hotel. There, Mapplethorpe begins to amass a portfolio of images—and, at the same time, to explore his formerly supressed attraction to men. But Mapplethorpe’s relentless ambition—as he says in one early scene, “I can’t just be Mapplethorpe the photographer,” fancying himself a “modern Michelangelo”—threatens to tear apart the relationships he cherishes the most.
‘From the early ’70s until his untimely death at age 42, the film explores the intersection of his art and his sexuality, his struggle for mainstream recognition, and, looming above it all, the specter of the emerging AIDS crisis. Featuring Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) and Marianne Rendón, the biopic offers a nuanced portrait of an artist at the height of his craft and of the self-destructive impulses that threaten to undermine it all.’
Take a look at the trailer, clip and fundraising video below, and if you like what you see, head over to Indie GoGo to help complete the movie. There are also some interesting perks on offer, including props and clothes used in the movie. [Read more…]
Netflix seems to on a mission to prove that whatever Hollywood can do, it can do too. After Tinsel Town produced its first mainstream gay teen comedy release, Netflix is lining up something that fits in the same ballpark – Alex Strangelove. The first trailer for the movie has arrive, which suggests that unlike Love, Simon, this one won’t be ignoring the fact teens like to have sex.
Although largely forgotten today, the saga of Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott was the biggest British political scandal of the 1970s – indeed some dubbed it the case of the century. It had everything the tabloids loved to feast on – a major party leader, the hint of homosexuality, a court case involving incitement to murder and even a dead dog! John Preston’s 2016 novel about the case, A Very English Scandal, has now been made into a three-part TV series, with Queer As Folk’s Russell T. Davis on scripting duties for A Very British Scandal, and Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette, The Queen) directing,
Back at the end of October, 
Synopsis: ‘Mirroring the savage beauty, maverick originality and vivacity of his design, “McQueen” is an intimate revelation of Alexander [Lee] McQueen’s own personal and professional world, both tortured and inspired. It is a film which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence and shows his rags-to-riches story as a modern-day fairy tale laced with the gothic.
Synopsis: ‘SID is under pressure to marry a nice Indian girl and raise a family. Sid’s East Indian mother yearns to have grandchildren. Her dreams are about to come true, but not in the way she could’ve ever imagined. When Sid comes out as a woman, a 14 year old boy named RALPH literally shows up at her door announcing that Sid is his dad. Ralph is surprised to discover that his father is now a woman, but thinks having a transgender dad is pretty cool.
Hard Paint was this year’s winner of the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival, given to the best LGBT movie screening in the competition. Now the film is preparing for its US release via Wolfe Video, who has released a new trailer.
Synopsis: ‘Mirroring the savage beauty, maverick originality and vivacity of his design, “McQueen” is an intimate revelation of Alexander [Lee] McQueen’s own personal and professional world, both tortured and inspired. It is a film which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence and shows his rags-to-riches story as a modern-day fairy tale laced with the gothic.
When it was first announced that Rupaul’s Drag Race alum Bianca Del Rio (aka Roy Haylock) was going to star in a movie – Hurricane Bianca – a lot of people assumed it was going to be a vanity project disaster. However the film turned out to be surprisingly fun and was successful enough that it’s getting a sequel.
We caught The Happy Prince recently at the BFI Flare LGBTQ+ Film Festival –