Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Eva Green & Gemma Arterton Up For Lesbian-Themed Virginia Woolf Movie

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It’s been revealed that Eva Green and Gemma Arterton have signed up to star Vita & Virginia, based on the true story of the love affair between Bloomsbury Group luminaries Virginia Woolf and VIta Sackville-West. Chanya Button (Burn, Burn, Burn) is set to direct the movie, working from a script by Dame Eileen Atkins (adapted from her 1992 play).

As reported by THR, the movie will follow the story of how, ‘Virginia Stephen married Leonard Woolf in 1912, and then met socialite and author Vita Sackville-West, wife of Harold Nicolson, in 1922. They began a sexual relationship that lasted nearly a decade, as shown in their various letters and diary entries. After their affair ended, they remained friends until Woolf’s death in 1941. Green will play Woolf while Arterton will play Sackville-West.’

While Woolf is now the more famous of the two, in their heyday Vita was just a well known, refusing to accept ‘a women’s role’ and becoming a prolific poet, novelist, journalist and even garden designer. She was also bisexual and Woolf was just one of her lovers, both male and female. Sackville-West is also renowned as the inspiration for Woolf’s eponymous protagonist in Orlando: A Biopgraphy.

It’s not clear when the film will shoot, but the movie is currently looking for buyers at the Berlin Film Festival.

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Want To Get A Virtual Selfie With A Film Star? The EE BAFTAs May Be Your Chance

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Each year, EE, which sponsors the BAFTA Film Awards, tries to find something innovative do on the red carpet. This year things are getting more interactive than they have before, giving movie fans the chance to get a virtual selfie with a movie star. This will be made possible thanks to innovative, custom-built camera technology featured in the EE Roboselfie: a high-tech, selfie-taking robot.

By submitting a headshot on Twitter using the hashtag #EEBAFTAselfie, film fans will have the chance to be featured in one of the superfast selfies that the EE Roboselfie will be creating at record speed whenever an A-lister stops by for a picture. It uses facial detection, built-in time codes and custom software to synchronise the camera to its display, simultaneously capturing fan images next to real-life celebrities to capture five different fan selfies per second.

The EE Roboselfie then pairs the new images – complete with their A-list cameo – to the Twitter handle of the person who submitted the original photograph and even includes a personalised message – all live on the night.

EE’s red carpet host, Laura Whitmore, will be introducing the EE Roboselfie to this year’s nominees and high-profile guests as they arrive at the prestigious ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 12th February, encouraging them to take part in as many selfies as possible as hundreds are snapped every minute.

As you can see in the pic above, Whitmore has been testing the technology out, which the help of the host of this year’s ceremony, who will be taking the reins for a 12th time.

Whitmore comments: “I can’t wait to be a part of this year’s EE BAFTA red carpet and introduce the brilliant EE Roboselfie to this year’s nominees. Make sure you tune in to the red carpet action on EE and BAFTA’s social media from 4:30pm to see how I’m getting on.”

The EE Roboselfie was designed by BAFTA-winning costume designer Jany Temime (Spectre, Skyfall, Gravity, Harry Potter, Passengers) whose inspiration behind the creation was to develop a timeless robot that grabbed the attention of the public.

To be in with a chance of appearing on the EE Roboselfie, participants can tweet a front-on colour headshot (no sunglasses) using the hashtag #EEBAFTAselfie.

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First Official Look At John Boyega In Pacific Rim: Uprising

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As Pacific Rim wasn’t quite a big a hit as the studio had hoped, you’d have thought that if they were gonna make a sequel, they would do it quickly. However, they’ve taken their time, with the movie almost being a reboot, with most of the main characters getting replaced and a story that is reported to jump forward in time.

This time around, we won’t be following Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Becket, with the central role instead going to John Boyega. Now, thanks to a tweet that gives us our first official look at the actor in character, it’s been confirmed he will be called Pentecost – Stacker Pentecost to be precised, the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first movie.

Not a vast amount more is known about the plot, although it known Boyega will be a Jaeger pilot, and presumably will be using his giant robot to take on more giant monsters spilling out of the ocean. Steven S. DeKnight directs the movie, with Guillermo Del Toro just producing this time. [Read more…]

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People Like Us Trailer – Take a look at the Singaporean gay-themed series as it hits VoD

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Leon Cheo’s People Like Us has arrived on VoD, which means it’s good opportunity to take a look at the show. The show has screened at NYC Web Fest, Rio Web Fest, Roma Web Fest, and ITVFest, where the first season took home the award for Best Short Drama. It’s been nominated for five awards at the 8th Annual Indie Series Awards: Best Web Series – Drama, Best Directing – Drama (Leon Cheo), Best Supporting Actor – Drama (Steven Lim), Best Cinematography (Looi Wan Ping), and Best Editing (Christopher Datugan).

Co-developed with Action for AIDS Singapore, People Like Us is now available is the US an internationally on the Here TV network, including major cable providers (Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, FiOS, Charter and more) and Here TV premium channels on YouTube, Amazon Prime and more.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘It’s Friday night, probably the most important night on the gay calendar. Joel is a 26-year-old public relations exec who lives with his parents and is out to everyone who cares to know. After a night out clubbing, Joel meets Ridzwan, a closeted accountant with a very healthy sexual appetite. Their relationship slowly blossoms but differing expectations about sex and coming out create complications. Rai is a 20-year-old army recruit and new to the scene. After a bad date, he continues searching for Mr. Right and meets Isaac on Grindr. Isaac is a 45-year-old senior private banker who led a double life when he was married but is now enjoying his newly found freedom. When Rai finds out what Isaac does in his spare time, he loses faith in finding love in a world where sex is on everyone’s mind. Will Joel, Ridzwan, Rai, and Isaac find what they are looking for?’

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

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Taekwondo Trailer – Martial arts, bromance and homoeroticism in the gay-themed film

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Marco Berger has made a few good gay-themed movies, including Hawaii, Absent and Plan B. He also gave us a bit of voyeurism with the short film collection, Sexual Tension: Volatile. Martin Farina also got a bit voyeuristic with his documentary, Fulboy. Now the two men have teamed up for Taekwondo, and with the duo together it’s fair to say the movie will be full of barely contained sexuality.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Fernando is on holiday with his closest friends in a beautiful country house in a chic suburb of Buenos Aires. Without the presence of their girlfriends the boys are eager to talk about their deepest feelings, their sexual desire for the girls, their fear of the future and their conflicts. Disconnected from the outside world, they do little more than bask in the hot sun, play in the swimming pool, smoke pot and drink. As in all men only situations, they feel free to walk around naked or half- naked, being in such intimate proximity to each other.

‘In that context, Fernando decides to invite a newcomer, Germán, a close friend from his Taekwondo class. Germán is quickly by the group, but also has a preference that Fernando ignores- he is attracted to men. Little by little the two friends get closer and more intimate, verging quickly on romance. Bringing a kind of potent sexuality in this totally bro environment, they need to decide whether to be explicit about it or not. Brimming with overwhelming sexuality throughout its entire running time, TAEKWONDO is steaming with eroticism and lust.’

The movie is due out in the UK on March 27th. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

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Jonathan (US DVD Review) – A young man’s struggles as he finds out his dying dad is gay

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Jonathan is a young man stuck on his family’s farm in rural Germany, where he must not only ensure the animals are cared for, but also look after his dying father, Burghardt. He dreams of possibly having something else, but feels the obligations weighing upon him. One bright spot emerges in the form of a romance with his dad’s nurse, Anka, but even that can’t hide the problems.

The issues aren’t just that Jonathan’s father is extremely sick. His aunt lives next door, but won’t speak to his father and won’t say why. Jonathan also wants to know more about his mother, who died when he was young, but his taciturn father finds it almost impossible to open up. [Read more…]

The 9th Life Of Louis Drax (DVD Review) – Jamie Dornan gets mysterious and magical realist

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The biggest problem with The 9th Life Of Louis Drax is the constant sense that this is a movie that could have been absolutely brilliant, but it sadly isn’t. It’s not bad, and there’s plenty that’s interesting about it (although it could have been fascinating), but it never quite manages to work out what it’s doing.

The titular Louis Drax is an accident prone nine-year-old boy, whose parents have recently separated. After falling from a cliff on an outing with his mother and father, he is rushed to the hospital in a coma, where he comes under the care of Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan). Louis also needs protection, as it’s believed his father, Peter (Aaron Paul), caused the accident and is now on the run. [Read more…]

Boys On Film Presents: Campfire (DVD Review) – The complete Bavo Defurne gay-themed short film collection

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Over the last few years Peccadillo Pictures has done a great job promoting gay short films with its Boys On Film DVD collection. Now though we’ve got something slightly different, a ‘Boys On Film Presents’ release, which rather than bringing together the works of multiple different directors, focuses on the work of one filmmaker, Belgium’s Bavo Defurne.

Defurne got lots of praise for his 2011 movie, North Sea Texas, a coming of age tale about a young gay man. However, before he made his feature debut with that movie, he’d gained an impressive reputation with his short films, which were lauded at film festivals and championed by the likes of the BFI. That is perhaps because of the way he manages to link the past of gay cinema with the present, such as the short Sailor (aka Matroos) being reminiscent of Fassbinder’s Querelle or the way Particularly Now, In Spring and Saint evoke the look and feel of Un Chant d’Amour (both of which are not coincidentally linked to Jean Genet). [Read more…]

Deep Water (DVD Review) – A killer is targeting the gay community in the Aussie thriller

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After airing on BBC4 last year, the powerful four-part Aussie thriller arrives on DVD in the UK. From the start it’s clear Deep Water has felt the influence of the likes of Broadchurch and Scandinavian crime shows, with a dark tone and moments of grisliness.

One thing that helps set it apart is that one of the most unpleasant parts of it – groups of teens beating gay men and/or forcing them off cliffs, is based on real life. Or at least it’s based on real life according to many gay people who lived in New South Wales in the 1980s and 1990s, but for a long time the police refused to consider that the deaths of more than 80 people might be part of a pattern. Thankfully though, just a few days ago they announced that they would finally look into the allegations that various gangs may have been hunting gay people for sport back then. [Read more…]

A Little Lust Trailer – Pop music and teen trouble in the gay-themed coming of age tale

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A Little Lust is, for many people, a promising title. And indeed the movie has been pretty well-received at film festivals – although not purely because of the lust. The movie is due out on DVD and VoD in the UK on March 13th, so ahead of that, it’s worth taking a look at the trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: ’16 year old Rocco’s two aims in life are to get laid and to see his favorite pop star in concert with his best friends, sassy and tomboyish Maria and nerdy and quiet Mauri. When a bullying incident at school forces Rocco to come out to his divorced middle-class parents their liberal leanings are severely tested. Luckily his two friends stand by him and join him in running away from home (in his parents stolen car) to see their favorite singer in concert, followed hot on their heels by his neurotic mother and eccentric gran to hilarious effect.

‘A vibrant , funny coming out tale, ‘A Little Lust’ is both immersive and totally life-affirming.’ Watch the trailer below. [Read more…]

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