There have been a few short films that have replaced coming out as gay with having to come out as something else (usually as straight), as a way of highlighting how the questions people ask and the issues that it often raises are ridiculous.
Out Smart does a similar thing, with it’s premise seeing a young man having to come out as intelligent. It’s a neatly to make the point that many people’s reactions are absolutely predicated on the idea that being gay is a bad thing (as well as to subtly position those who have a problem with gay people as being intrinsically dumb).
Director Dawn Cobalt comments, ‘When I first came out, it was the scariest thing I ever had to do. And I realized that, as I kept meeting new people, I would forever be coming out. I would also forever be coming out to people from my past who didn’t know me as out. They would wonder, “Why didn’t she just tell me?” So this film is very special to me.
‘I had to make this film to express that experience – and add humor to a very tough confession to make to anyone. Everyone is different in his or her own way and society tries to decide what is normal and what is not. We have all been in a situation where you want to tell people something that is out of the “norm” and hope that they still accept and love you.’
It’s been screened at numerous film festivals and won several awards, as well as being screened at numerous PFLAG meetings across the US. And you can take a look at it below. [Read more…]
In the last few years there’s been a concerted effort to expand gay-themed film from the realms of drama and comedy. That continues with the thriller The Dark Place, which has been finding success of the LGBT film festival circuit and will be heading to DVD and VOD in the US on December 2nd, 2014.
The New Directions are singing and dancing their way on to DVD, as Glee: The Complete Fifth Season is released on 20th October 2014 by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. And we’ve got three copies to give away in the competition.
Director Petra Clever had great success on the LGBT film festival circuit with her popular lesbian short The Mermaids, and now she returns with her first feature film, where things get a little bit Thelma & Louise for two woman.
Last Summer has been getting great reviews from film festival screenings with tale of two young gay men figuring themselves and the world around them out. You can take a look at the trailer below, ahead of its December US release.