We were a little ambivalent about 1:54 when we caught it at BFI: Flare London LGBT Film festival last year, but for some it was the stand-out movie of the fest. It’s bold take on the effects of homophobia and bullying certainly had an impact on many audience members. The film will arrive in cinemas and on DVD in the US soon, so it’s a good opportunity to take a look at the new trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: ‘Tim, a shy sixteen-year-old athlete, is gifted with a natural athletic ability for running. However, the last four years of high school have been tough on him because of Jeff and his crew. In his last year of high school, Tim is sick and tired of feeling like a loser, and wants to shine for once. He decides to stand up to Jeff by dethroning him in the 800m championship, the event Jeff is known for in school. But behind the competition and rivalry, a secret is wreaking havoc. To Pierre, his father, who is trying to understand what’s going on, and to Mr. Sullivan, his running coach, who tries to help him, Soon, Tim finds himself pushed to the edge because of the pressure he endures where human limits reach the point of no return.’
The film from Oscar-nominated writer/director Yan England, begins a limited theatrical run in the US on March 9th, before coming to DVD/VOD from March 13th. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]
Lewis Gilbert, the prolific British director whose career spanned across eight decades, has died aged 97. He is a man whose name should be better known as he directed some true classics, but perhaps because his successes were so eclectic and spread across so many years, many people don’t realise he was the man behind all of them.
The Teddy Award is one of the most prestigious gongs in the LGBT film calendar. An official part of the Berlin Film Festival, the prize has been given to plenty of great movies, including Ira Sachs’ Keep The Lights On, Marco Berger’s Absent, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig And The Angry Inch, the wonderful The Way He Looks, and Sebastian Silva’s Nasty Baby, starring Kristen Wiig.
Michael Feldman and Michael Rachlis went slightly viral a few years ago with their marriage proposal, which took place during the curtain call of a play. Now they’re planning something a little different, with a six-part web series called Michael And Michael Are Gay, which will look at various things, most notably the issues that arise from open relationships.
Since he quit hosting QI and moved with his husband to LA, we haven’t seen quite as much of British national treasure Stephen Fry as we have before. He also recently stepped down from hosting the BAFTA Film Awards for the first time in several years, being replaces by Joanna Lumley. It turns out one of the reasons he’s been quieter in the last couple of months is because he’s been dealing with protate cancer, which he has desribed as an “aggressive little bugger”.
Synopsis: ‘It is summer 1962, and England is still a year away from huge social changes: Beatlemania, the sexual revolution and the Swinging Sixties. Florence (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward (Billy Howle) are just married and honeymooning on the dramatic coastline of Chesil Beach in Dorset. However, the hotel is old fashioned and stifling, and underlying tensions between the young couple surface and cast unexpected shadows over their long anticipated wedding night.
Synopsis: ‘Set in ’70s Kingston and ’80s Hackney, Yardie centres on the life of a young Jamaican man named D (Aml Ameen), who has never fully recovered from the murder, committed during his childhood, of his older brother Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary). D grows up under the wing of a Kingston Don and music producer named King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd). Fox dispatches him to London, where he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Yvonne (Shantol Jackson), and his daughter who he’s not seen since she was a baby.
The UK is very lucky to have the British Film Institute, which has long believed that one of the key parts of its mission is to collect moving images that document the breadth of British life. Best of all is that they have collected and commissioned solely what’s popular or morally mainstream, which means that they have been archiving LGBT content even before gay male sex was legalised, and have continued to broaden their collection.