We haven’t seen Bette Midler in a movie since Parental Guidance in 2012. However, she’s returning with Freak Show, which will be the Closing Night movie at this year’s Outfest LA LGBT Film Festival this Sunday. The movie has recently been picked up for release by IFC Films in the US, who have released the first clip.
Here’s the synopsis: ‘Billy Bloom (Alex Lawther), once lived a fabulous life in Connecticut, with his equally fabulous mother, Muv (Bette Midler). But when he is suddenly shipped off to his father’s (Larry Pine) Southern mansion, he finds himself a fish out of water.
‘With his closet of extravagant and flamboyant attire, Billy is completely different from the cheerleaders, bible belles and beefy quarterbacks at his new high school. Yet despite the well-meant advice of his father and his housekeeper Florence (Celia Weston) that he should just throw on some blue jeans, Billy is determined to be himself – even if that does mean wearing face glitter to school.
‘With Muv missing in action, Billy experiences a culture clash the likes of which he has never known before – and his only allies come in the form of handsome football player and schoolboy crush Flip Kelly (Ian Nelson), and a chatterbox girl he calls Blah Blah Blah (AnnaSophia Robb)… because when she talks that’s all he hears.
‘When Muv finally comes to visit, Billy thinks his troubles are over, but he is in for a shock that shakes him to the core. Just when it seems life can’t get any worse, his finds himself up against ultimate mean girl Lynette (Abigail Breslin) in a battle of tolerance versus ignorance. Billy’s indomitable spirit rises once again to challenge the conservative traditions of Grant Academy, taking him on a journey that will lead to extraordinary and hilarious results.’
Take a look at the ‘Atlantastic’ Freak Show clip below. [Read more…]
The gay-male short film collection, Boys On Film, has become the most successful short film DVD series in the world, which is now up to 16 instalments. A couple of years ago it got a lesbian companion release, Girls On Film, which presented a great selection of female-driven shorts. It’s taken a little while, but now the second Girls On Film release, Before Dawn, is on its way.
There have been some wondering whether Atomic Blonde is going to be another film where Hollywood titillated straight male audiences with a bit of lesbian action. The trailers certainly seemed to be keen to show Charlize Theron kissing another woman while ensuring her fight scenes are as sexy as possible.
There have been rumours for a few months that some sort of return to the world of The L Word might be in the works. Now it’s official, as it’s been revealed that the US cable network Showtime is backing a sequel to the original show.
Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia gained a lot of fans as two women slowly falling in love on the US soap opera Guiding Light back. Playing Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera, they were even popular enough to get a portmanteur name – Otalia. However, viewers haven’t been able to see them together for a while, as both left the show in 2009.
After Moonlight picked up the Best Picture Oscar this year, many were wondering what movie director Barry Jekins would do next (he also picked up the Best Screeplay Academy Award. It’s taken him a few months to decide, but now it’s been announced he’s set to helm an adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, according to 
Barbara Hammer holds a special place in the annals of queer cinema, having been making experiment lesbian films since the 1970s – a time when lesbian films made by a lesbian were vanishingly rare. As she notes of her life back then and why she turned to experimental filmmakeing, “I think as a lesbian at that time, I was living an experimental lifestyle. Well let’s just say, I was experimenting, and I still am.”
As part of the opening of the Outfest LA LGBT Film Festival, TV super-producer Bryan Fuller was handed the Outfest Achievement Award. That was partly due to the homoerotic edge he gave to Hannibal and most particularly the very gay aspects of the recent American Gods – which included what has been described as the most explicit gay sex scene ever put on TV. However, he used his speech to talk about how for over a decade he had to face a succession of Hollywood forces ‘hetwashing’ characters on the shows he worked on before he got to American Gods.
From the director of the cult gay comedy The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green comes Kept Boy, based on Robert Robi’s popular novel. And it appears from the trailer that there are problems in the world of boy toys and their sugar daddies!
An Official Selection at the Raindance Film Festival, the Brit flick Palace of Fun is heading towards DVD soon in the UK, courtest of TLA releasing. Ahead of that we’ve got a pretty moody trailer to enjoy.