In recent years many groups have tried to tackle homophobia in football (that’s soccer for all of you of a non-British persuasion), but it’s a sad fact the there are no out player in any of the UK professional leagues and it’s not uncommon to hear anti-gay heckles coming from supporters in the stands.

Now a short film is hoping to help challenge the preconceptions of masculinity in football and also to show the effects of homophobia. The film is called Wonderkid and it has launched a Kickstarter campaign in the hope of raising £25,000, which should allow the makers to film and complete the 20-minute short.

Once finished, the film will follow ‘the inner turmoil of an unnamed football prodigy as he comes to terms with his own identity, struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his issues with alcohol and OCD’, all in a hyper-masculine environment.

Wonderkid has already made plenty of friends, including getting Ian McKellen to narrate the Kickstarter video, as well as getting a grant grant from the Kevin Spacey Foundation. They’ve also teamed up with Galop, a charity which tackles abuse in the LGBT community, in the hope that together they can communicate/represent those that have suffered abuse / violence / hate crime. That includes coming together for a fundraising event called Looking for Changes – 7 Short Films, on Tuesday, October 14th at Cafe 1001, Brick Lane, London from 7pm.

Mel Stray from Galop comments, “The enthusiasm of the up-and-coming young filmmakers behind Wonderkid is infectious, and we are very much looking forward to working with them. Tackling homophobic stigma in football is incredibly important – this is a film that needs to be made!”

The main young filmmaker Mel is talking about is director Rhys Chapman, a keen football supporter himself, who’s been busy engaging with the LGBT community to get the movie made. If you want to help out, watch the McKellen-featuring fundraising video below and then head over to KickStarter. Your can also find out more at the short’s official website. [Read more…]

In the past there’s been a bit of a problem with mainstream movies de-gaying any gay characters or themes, so even if it’s acknowledged it’s made safe and straightened up. Nowadays there’s a little more diversity in cinema, but there’s still no defined boundary that says when a gay character is gay enough and not just homo in name only.

Unsurprisingly that subject has come up in relation to The Imitation Game, the new film about gay computing pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing. Indeed it’s been a bone of contention since reports surfaced that early versions of the script were essentially a romance between Turing and a woman.

While Turing is undoubtedly gay in the finished film, there isn’t any sex, something Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Turing, defends in an interview with TheWrap.

He says, “He’s [Turing] chemically castrated because he admits to being a homosexual; he talks about entreating a young man to touch his penis. I mean, it’s pretty explicit. If you need to see [sex] to understand that he’s gay, then all is lost for any kind of subtle storytelling. The conversations are so naked in themselves that the idea of having to see two naked men wasn’t something I ever thought was missing in the script.”

The actor elaborate with NME, “His sexuality is something contained that is expressed in the film but not shown explicitly. There is no heterosexuality expressed in the film. So what we show in his behaviour is sadly true to his story. He had to suppress his sexuality, make it private, make it something secret.

“When he talks about his sexuality in the film it shows his complete honesty, guilelessness, innocence. He was aware of the risks but at the same time wasn’t willing to cave in to the intolerance and potential permutations of confessing such a thing. Some people own him as martyr or as standard-bearer for a cause. I think he was just very true to himself, which is a form of martyrdom, but he didn’t make a political statement out of it.”

There is also disagreement over how much sex Turing had anyway, so to paint him as a highly sexual person may have been inaccurate.

While there are quite a few LGBT film festivals and events for the likes of gay writers and performance artists, not that many bring together all sorts of queer artists from across the cultural spectrum under one umbrella dedicated to promoting LGBTQI art. However The GFEST Gaywise Festival does just that.

The event was founded in 2007 by London-based arts charity, Wise Thoughts, and has since become a major annual event in UK’s cultural calendar and a key commissioning platform for emerging and established LGBTQI artists.

This year’s event runs from 10th-22nd November in venues across London, with a world-class programme of film, dance, art and performance, this year responding to the festival theme of Myths and Mythology.

Highlights of this year’s line-up include an exclusive British screening of Brazil’s 2015 BAFTA submission, The Way He Looks by Daniel Ribeiro; the global premiere of a newly commissioned work by renowned South-Asian dance guru, Justin McCarthy; the London premiere of Brace by acclaimed independent-British filmmaker, Jake Graf; award winning cabaret from Bird La Bird and Mizz Kimberly; and newly commissioned works form the UK’s foremost feminist artist, Sadie Lee, among others.

The Myths and Mythology theme seeks to explore the commonly held ideas and misconceptions surrounding LGBTQI communities across the globe. The long-term goal of the festival is to provide LGBTQI artists with a platform for expression while developing audiences for LGBTQI among both Gay and Straight audiences.

The festival’s Artistic Director Niranjan Kamatkar comments, “GFEST 2014 brings together an inspirational line-up of film-makers, artists, and  performance dancers, each united in their aim to dispel the modern  myths and stereotypes surrounding LGBTQI cultures. Working with the commissioned artists to showcase their work at this year’s festival has been truly inspirational. The GFEST platform for expression demonstrates that arts can be used to build bridges between gay and straight communities for generations to come.”

You can find out more over at the Gaywise Festival website, and you can take a look at a showreel preview below. Alternatively click here to download a full brochure. [Read more…]