NEWS

All the news from film and the world of the gays

Pinewood Offers £14,000 Prize For LGBT Filmmaker With Best Of British Iris Prize

July 21, 2014 By Tim Isaac 1 Comment

Back in February, the LGBT short film festival, The Iris Prize, announced the launch of a new strand celebrating the Best Of British, to go alongside the international main prize. Iris has long been notable for the fact it doesn’t just offer the overall Best Short Film winner a plaque, but gives them funding and support to make a new film.

Now it’s been announced that the Best Of British award will also offer amazing support for the winner, with the legendary Pinewood Studios Group sponsoring a post-production package to help with the making of their next film, comprising of sound mixing, sound track lay and dub plus layback.

As murky sound is one of the biggest problems for low budget filmmakers, it’s a great prize to get.

Films selected to compete include tales of English football fans in the 90’s, passion and desire between two women in a sleepy English coastal village and a new member of staff in a Scottish call centre for the deaf who gets embroiled in a lovers tiff.

A five strong jury will select the winner from the 10 shorts chosen to compete. This year’s festival takes place in Cardiff, Wales from Wednesday 8th to Sunday 12th October 2014.

Here are the competing Best Of British shorts:

Brace – dir: Sophy Holland, Alicya Eyo
Butterfly – dir: Stuart McLaughlin
Holly Thursday (The Last Supper) – dir: Antony Hickling
Middle Man – dir: Charlie Francis
Playing The Game – dir: Jeremy Timings
Remission – dir: Christopher Brown
Siren – dir: Louise Marie Cooke
Vis a Vis – dir: Dan Connolly
Wannabe – dir: Marco Calabrese
We are Fine – dir: Simon Savory

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The Same Difference Trailer – Looking at discrimination within the Lesbian community in a new doc

July 21, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Although there’s a lot of talk about the homophobia LGBT people are exposed to from outside the community – and to a lesser extent individual, internalised homophobia – discrimination within LGBT groups is often ignored. Although there’s eye-rolling about things such as gay men’s seeming obsession with youth and large penises, the effects of such things are largely swept under the carpet.

Now a documentary has emerged, The Same Difference, which sets out to tackle discrimination and the internal policing within the lesbian community, as well as the way it can prevent some women being exactly who they want to be. It’s a topic that’s bound to cause some controversy, but definitely a worthwhile conversation to have – and gay men could do with their own documentary looking at a similar idea too.

You can take a look at a five minute teaser of the doc below.

Talking to Huffpo, filmmaker Nneka Onuorah says of the documentary, “One of the misconceptions I am trying to dispel through this documentary is the belief that there are rules to being who you are. In the lesbian community, for example, if you’re a butch lesbian you can’t do anything girly. You can’t be too beautiful, your pants can’t be too tight, if you get your hair straight that’s wrong and getting pregnant isn’t right. It’s almost like being a part of a gang. People don’t want to beat you or make you feel bad if you do something that’s out of the “norm” but we are gay we are already out of the norm. I also want people to see the true title of what “The Same Difference” means. We always judge others for things that they do, but we don’t see how the things we judge people for parallel with things we do that might not be right. It’s the Same Difference. Just like how there are some people who are a part of the heterosexual community that protest against us and think what we are doing isn’t right we are taking those same attitudes and putting them onto each other.”

She adds that The Same Difference is, “Important because it is something that is needed in the community. There are people who are suppressing who they really are to fit in, in fear of being jumped, outcaste and ostracized. It also isn’t a topic that is ever brought to light so it is an ongoing negative thing. This documentary is going to start a conversation and hopefully have people be more open-minded to being accepting of people who have different ways of doing things. Not just in the lesbian community but people in general. Who would have thought that there would be hatred amongst a community from the inside that already gets it from the outside.” [Read more…]

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Drunktown’s Finest, Tiger Orange & The Way He Looks Win At Outfest

July 21, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

LA’s main gay and lesbian film festival, Outfest, has come to an end for the year, but before it went out, it had awards for the best film, documentaries and shorts that screened at the during the event. The big winner was Drunktown’s Finest, which won the First US Dramatic Feature Audience Award and the US Dramatic Feature Film Grand Jury prize.

Other winners include Best Actor in a US Dramatic Feature for Mark Strano in Tiger Orange, with the Actress prize handed to Gaby Hoffmann for Lyle. The Ben Whishaw starring Lilting got an International Dramatic Feature Special Recognition, while the already acclaimed The Way He Looks took the overall Dramatic Feature Audience Award.

In case you were wondering, Drunktown’s Finest follows three Native Americans – a college-bound student, a father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual – as they struggle to escape their Indian reservation.

Take a look below for the full list of awards. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Mark Strano FILMS: Drunktown's Finest, Lilting, Tiger Orange, The Way He Looks

The Imitation Game Trailers – Benedict Cumberbatch takes on Alan Turing in the BFI London Film Festival opener

July 21, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

It’s been a case of co-ordination today, as the moment the BFI announced that The Imitation Game is set to open the 58th BFI London Film Festival, Studiocanal released the UK trailer and in the US The Weinstein Company unveiled theirs.

The movie will open the LFF with a gala screening on Wednesday 8th October at the Odeon Leicester Square, with a live cinecast from the red carpet and simultaneous screenings taking place at cinemas across the UK.

You can take a look at the trailers below.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘THE IMITATION GAME is a nail-biting race against time following Alan Turing (pioneer of modern-day computing and credited with cracking the German Enigma code) and his brilliant team at Britain’s top-secret code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II. Turing, whose contributions and genius significantly shortened the war, saving thousands of lives, was the eventual victim of an unenlightened British establishment, but his work and legacy live on.

‘THE IMITATION GAME stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, TV’s Sherlock) as Alan Turing and Keira Knightley (Atonement) as close friend and fellow code-breaker Joan Clarke, alongside a top notch cast including Matthew Goode (A Single Man), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Rory Kinnear (Skyfall), Charles Dance (Gosford Park, TV’s Game of Thrones), Allen Leech (In Fear, TV’s Downton Abbey) and Matthew Beard (An Education).’

Director Morten Tyldum comments on the LFF announcement, “I am thrilled to be returning to London to share The Imitation Game with the audience of the BFI London Film Festival. The experience of directing this film has been so tremendously rewarding, and I am humbled to share Alan’s Turing’s incredible story on Opening Night.”

Of course Turing was gay, and to be honest the trailers are unlikely to assuage those worried the film will whitewash his sexuality. Although the US trailer does make oblique reference to it, you could still easily believe Keira Knightley is going to be the film’s ‘love interest’. Many will be keeping a close eye on The Imitation Game, as the importance of Turing’s story isn’t just in cracking German codes during World War II and the fact his work helped lead to modern computers, but that after the war he was prosecuted for his sexuality, shunned and made to chemically castrate himself, which eventually led to his suicide.

To sideline that is to do a disservice to a man who may have made many more breakthroughs if he didn’t live in a society that was happy to use him to help save the country, but then destroyed him after because of their narrow view of human love.

Hopefully the trailers are the ones sidelining the issue and not the movie. We’ll have to wait and see. (Many other mainstream films with gay content ignore that aspect in trailers that cater to the masses, with the logic that you won’t turn off gay-friendly people by not including it, but you could turn off others if you do).

The movie opens across the UK on November 15th. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance, Allen Leech DIRECTORS: Morten Tyldum FILMS: The Imitation Game

Camp Abercorn Web Series Trailer – Highlighting the US Scouts’ ban on gay leaders

July 20, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

A new web series is on the horizon, Camp Abercorn, which has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to fund its planned seven episodes. And to give us a taste we can take a look at the trailer posted below.

The show, created by Jeffrey Simon, includes a look at the issues surrounding the Boy Scouts Of America’s ban on gay leaders. It’s a subject that’s close to home for Simon, as he was an Eagle Scout until he came out when he was 19 and left.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Camp Abercorn is a dramatic web series about the blunders and the victories—an authentic portrayal of life on camp staff. For ten weeks each summer Camp Abercorn becomes a bustling wonderland of activity for boys, guided by their fearless leaders—the camp staff.

To tell our stories we’ve created the Compass Guides of America, a fictional organization that parallels the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that we regard with the utmost respect and appreciation because we were Scouts, too.’

On its IndieGoGo page, the makers says the mission is: ‘With the BSA’s recent change in membership policy, youth members are no longer excluded based on sexual orientation, but parents and adult volunteers are still discriminated against. This chasm has created a question that needs to be answered.

‘What happens when a gay Scout turns eighteen? You can help us answer this question, and maybe even change the future. While this is a big inspiration for the show, it’s not the only story we’re telling, not by a long shot.’

I should end this by saying that I have a friend who works for the Scouts in the UK, and he’s always keen to point out that while there’s still discrimination in the US Scouts, there are no such issues in Britain, where LGBT Scouts and leaders are more than welcome (apparently they get quite a few calls and letters from people who hear about the situation in the US and assume Scouts is the same all across the world).

Take a look at the Camp Abercorn trailer below and head over to IndieGoGo if you want to help out.

[Read more…]

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Beyonce Teases The Fifty Shades Of Grey Trailer

July 20, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

The first thing anyone thinks of when they hear the name Beyoncé is kinky S&M sex and master-slave relationships. No? Well that might change a little now as the singer is the person who’s been chosen to tease the trailer for the Fifty Shades Of Grey movie.

Take a look at it below.

As you can see, we don’t get to see a lot, but it’s certainly intrigued us about Thursday’s full trailer. It’ll be interested to see exactly what we get to see then, as people are inevitably going to be interested in the sex, but you can’t show an awful lot of that in most trailers – unless they’re going full red-band.

The movie follows 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey (Dornan) and his S&M filled affair with young college student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson). Jennifer Ehle, Victor Rasuk, Eloise Mumford and Max Martini also star. Sam Taylor-Johnson is directing from a script by Kelly Marcel, Patrick Marber and Mark Bomback.

It’s due out February 13th 2015. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Beyonce Knowles DIRECTORS: Sam Taylor-Johnson FILMS: Fifty Shades Of Grey

Rufus Hound & Ardal O’Hanlon Join Russell T Davies’ Gay-Themed TV Show Cucumber

July 19, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Back in May, Channel 4 announced the main cast for Queer As Folk creator Russell T Davies’ return to gay-themed television, Cucumber. However it turns out there were a few names missed out, as they’ve now added comedians and actors Rufus Hound and Ardal O’Hanlon, as well as Adjoa Andoh.

Cucumber is about 46-year-old Henry (Vincent Franklin) and his boyfriend Lance (Cyril Nri) whose comfortable and settled existence is shattered after the most disastrous date night in history – involving a threesome, two police cars, and Bony M – and Henry’s new life begins.

Hound joins the eight-part series as Rupert, who’s described as being ‘a man in hot pursuit of Henry – but as their date gets stranger and stranger, the night ends in very unexpected ways.’

O’Hanlon is Brian, who goes out on a date with Cleo, only to find the evening unravelling into old secrets and long-buried truths. Andoh joins as Lance’s sister Marie – a strong, outspoken professional, who thinks her brother’s boyfriend just isn’t good enough for him.

One of the most interesting things about Davies’ project is that it comes in three parts. Cucumber is eight 60-minute instalments that will be shown on Channel 4 in the UK, which then feeds into the eight 30-minute episodes of Banana, about the people orbiting Henry’s world, which will air on E4. If that weren’t enough, there’ll also be the on-demand show Tofu, described a ‘an anarchic and entertaining factual series about sex – from gay to straight, and anything in between – inspired by the dramas each week.’

Banana, which will star the likes of Andrew Hayden-Smith, also has a couple of newcomers – Luke Newberry and Dino Fetscher. Their characters, Josh and Aiden, will first appear in Cucumber before their in-depth stories are detailed in individual episodes of Banana.

The shows are currently shooting in Manchester. No air date has yet been announced.

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ACTORS: Rufus Hound, Ardal O'Hanlon DIRECTORS: Russell T. Davies FILMS: Cucumber, Banana

Take Your First Look At Andrew Rannells As Hedwig (& The Angry Inch)

July 19, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

After a hugely successful, Tony-winning run, which has already seen the production make back its money, Neil Patrick Harris is stepping out of Hedwig & The Angry Inch’s shoes on Broadway next month.

Although originally it was thought Hedwig would only run as long as NPH starred, its success has assured it will continue, and as we reported a few weeks ago, The New Normal & Girls star Andrew Rannells will take over. Now we can get our first glimpse at the actor in the role with the pic above.

It’s certainly not Rannell’s first Broadway gig, as he’s appeared in the likes of Jersey Boys and Hairspray, before scoring a Tony nomination as part of the original cast of The Book Of Mormon.

Andrew will take over the role on August 20th. You can find out more here.

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The Shining Prequel, Overlook Hotel, Gets Director Mark Romanek

July 19, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Stephen King recently revisited the world of The Shining with a semi-sequel novel, Doctor Sleep. It’s not surprising that Hollywood has reignited interest in the world of Stephen King’s book.

However as the new novel is only tangentially connected to the events and places of The Shining, Warner Bros has been working on a more straightforward prequel, Overlook Hotel.

Glenn Mazzara (The Walking Dead) has already been set to write the script. Now they may have found a director, as Variety reports Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go).

Overlook Hotel is an original tale, but one based on a prologue Stephen King originally wrote for The Shining, but eventually ended up deleting. The script follows, ‘the origin story of the Overlook Hotel through the eyes of its first owner, Bob T. Watson. A robber baron at the turn of the 20th century, Watson scaled the remote peaks of the Colorado Rockies to build the grandest resort in America, and a place he and his family would also call home’.

However, it’s safe to say things didn’t go completely to plan, with the strangeness eventually leading Jack Torrance and his family to the hotel many decades later – even if he may have been there all along.

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DIRECTORS: Mark Romanek FILMS: The Overlook Hotel

Adam Sandler, Josh Gad & Peter Dinklage Get Kinda Heroic In The First Pic From Pixels

July 19, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

After a while in development (the short film it’s based on was released in 2010), the fun sounding Pixels finally went into production earlier this year. Now we get the first pic, courtesy of a scan from EW.

It features Adam Sandler, Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage, who aren’t exactly looking desperately heroic despite their sparkly outfits, alongside the film’s female lead, Michelle Monaghan.

The short film, by Patrick Jean, saw New York City being transformed into and destroyed by 8-bit pixel classic videogames. This movie version features aliens getting confused by video feeds of classic arcade games, thinking that it is a declaration of war against their species. As a result they attack the Earth by staging versions of these games in real life on a massive scale.

Sandler, Gad and Dinklage are the unlikely trio of videogame champions who may be Earth’s only hope, with Monaghan as the naval officer assigned to help them. Kevin James meanwhile plays the president.

The Chris Columbus directed movie is due out May 2015.

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ACTORS: Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan DIRECTORS: Chris Columbus FILMS: Pixels