Since it started in 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival (co-founded by Robert de Niro), has become one of the world’s premiere movie fests. It’s a great honour then to win an award at Tribeca, which is just what Guillermo Pfening did, for playing a gay Latino immigrant in Nobody’s Watching. That certainly bodes well for the movie, which will hopefully get a release soon.

Here’s the film’s synopsis from the Tribeca Film Festival website: ‘Nico (Pfening) is a famous actor in Argentina, but in New York, nobody takes notice. After giving up a successful career in his home country for a chance to make it in the Big Apple, he needs to juggle bartending, babysitting and odd jobs to keep himself afloat. Starting from square one is hard in the city of dreams. With each role Nico takes on, he puts on a new persona in order to fit in. He performs the ideal bartender, the up-and-coming actor, the friend, the father figure. But when old friends from Buenos Aires come to visit, he needs to juggle the image of his old life with the reality of the struggling actor in New York City.

‘In a moving depiction of this vibrant city, director Julia Solomonoff’s touching feature presents a portrait of immigrant solitude. Nico faces the difficulty of finding not only a home, but himself amidst the indifferent metropolis. Nobody’s Watching questions how we adjust when we lose our audience.’

Take a look at the teaser for the movie below. [Read more…]

Today, the movie Taxi Stories receives its US/International premiere as part of the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. It will screen on Wednesday, May 3rd at 8:30pm, as the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. It’s a great time then to take a look at the trailer for the intriguing pan-Asian film, which is getting a decent amount of buzz.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘TAXI STORIES is a mosaic film of 3 stories in 3 different Asian cities where the paths of the rich and poor cross one another in and around taxis. A closeted Beijing cab driver tries to seduce a rich passenger, a Hong Kong pregnant trophy wife starts to develop feelings for her new Indonesian maid and a Jakarta slum orphan becomes infatuated with a Western female backpacker. All 3 characters desperately want to connect on a basic human level but are their own worst obstacle. In a new Asia where social mobility is linked to increasing wealth, money divides and separates each of them making it harder to be who they really are and not what they appear to be.

‘TAXI STORIES stars reknowned Hong Kong acting legend Ms. Petrina Fung Bobo (馮寶寶), Indonesian mega singer/actress Shanty and rising star Cora Cao (曹珊). TAXI STORIES is written and directed by Amsterdam based Chinese American filmmaker Doris Yeung and is a co-production between China, Indonesia and The Netherlands.’

You can watch the trailer below. [Read more…]

Synopsis: ‘From Pasquale Plastino & Stéphane Riethauser, Garden of Stars explores the life of Ichgola Androgyn, an AIDS activist who runs German’s first cemetery café. As an undertaker, Ichgola focuses on stillborn babies. For these so-called “Star Kids”, he created a corner with thousands of flowers, pinwheels, elves, fairies, angels and teddy bears watching over the graves, where parents can find an individual spot for their lost child.

‘Next to them, many men who wrote key chapters of the Berlin gay liberation movement are resting, victims of the AIDS epidemic. In one of Europe’s most colorful cemeteries, the funerary culture suddenly takes a new dimension, and life is celebrated with all its mysteries.’

The documentary is due out in the US on VOD June 13th  and on DVD September 5th. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

B&B has certainly had a fair amount of success on the festival circuit, including winning Best LGBT Film at the London Independent Film Festival, and distributor Peccadillo Pictures picking up the UK and Ireland rights. While we’re used to plenty of gay-themed comedies and drama, this one takes us into horror/thriller territory.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Marc and Fred exercise their civil rights by checking in at a B&B run by devout Christian Jeff and his teenage son Paul. Jeff has already been successfully sued after he refused them a double bed. Our heroes have come back to demonstrate who’s in the minority now. All goes to plan until a thuggish Russian checks in. Is Alex a fellow gay campaigner or a neo-Nazi come to support homophobia overseas? The gag quickly runs sour as our couple begin to fear they’ve been set up for a beating. A terrifying death occurs but not the one we’ve been expecting.  When Marc and Fred uncover a cold-blooded murder they realize they’re next.’

The film was written and directed by BAFTA-nominated Joe Ahearne (Trance, The Replacement, Doctor Who), who comments, “I wanted to do a thriller in the Hitchcock vein but with gay characters making the wrong choices and getting terrified out of their wits. B&B goes beyond the gay relationship movie. It’s a thriller with a married couple at the centre, something I haven’t seen before.”

The couple is played by Tom Bateman (Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express, Amy Schumer’s Snatched) and Sean Teale (Bryan Singer’s Gifted, Ben Affleck’s Incorporated), and the B&B owner is played by Paul McGann (Withnail & I, Doctor Who).

B&B has just played in competition at the ECU Independent Film Festival in Paris and is also playing in competition at the MIFO LGBT Festival in Miami, OUT Film CT in Connecticut and a number of other festivals. To find out more about B&B, upcoming screenings, and its creators, please check the film’s official website www.BnBfilm.co.uk.

Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]