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

Miles (Iris Prize Festival Review)

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Mile is a gay teenager, who’s out but not feeling vast amounts of angst about his sexuality. What he’s really desperate to do is get away from his small hometown and head to Chicago for college. However, when his father dies and they discover all their cash has been spent on a fancy car for his dad’s mistress, Miles has to confront the fact he may have to put his dreams on hold.

Then he discovers there’s a volleyball scholarship on offer, but he’s got a major problem – his school only has a girls’ team. He decides he’s going to try out anyway, and while his teacher (Missi Pyle) is happy to pick him, other schools are less impressed with their female team having to play against a guy. [Read more…]

Where Are You Going, Habibi? (Iris Prize Festival Review)

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Ibo (Cem Alkan) is a second-generation Turkish immigrant living in Berlin. He’s just got his university degree, but is facing the fact that his name and face make it more difficult to get a job than those from White-German families. As he needs some cash, he’s working in a gay sex shop/cinema, despite the fact his family thinks he’s straight. Then he meets street-wise criminal Ali (Martin Walde) after the man knocks on his door looking to graft, and Ibo hides him when some cops come sniffing around.

Ibo has an immediate fascination with the man, and after discovering Ali is a show wrestler, decides to sign up to the same gym he trains at. When Ali is beaten up and has both his arms broken, he discovers that Ibo is one of the few friends he has who seems to care – indeed Ibo’s a bit besotted. It’s the beginning of a bromance, which is both ‘no homo’ and ‘a bit homo’ at the same time, with Ali insisting he’s a macho straight guy, but deciding perhaps there are a few things Ibo can do. [Read more…]

BearCity 3 (Iris Prize Festival Review)

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It’s back into the world of gay bears and their admirers in BearCity 3, which had its international premiere at this year’s Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff. Things have moved on from the last instalment, with Michael’s (Gregory Gunter) boyfriend having died. He’s trying to get his life back together with a new boyfriend, Dalton (Garikayi Mutambirwa), who loves him. However, Michael is having trouble letting go of the past and fully committing himself to this new future, which isn’t made easier when Dalton’s distrustful daughter arrives in the picture.

Fred (Brian Keane) and Brent (Stephen Guarino) meanwhile are preparing to have a baby – with Fred’s sister as the surrogate – but Fred’s worried Brent is too obsessed with finishing his Beartopia documentary and isn’t taking it seriously, while Brent thinks Fred is being too uptight and fearful. There’s also Roger (Gerald McCullouch), who’s finished with his boyfriend and feeling a bit lost, and so sets out to find the ex he still has feelings for. However, the young ex, Tyler (Joe Conti), has issues of his own, as his fireman boyfriend Jay (Tom Hooper) is hiding the fact he’s gay, afraid of what his colleagues will say. [Read more…]

Gay Short Film Showcase: Curmudgeons – Danny DeVito tackles late-in-life gay love

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curmudgeons-danny-de-vitoNot many gay-themed shorts can boast a well-known name in the cast, but Curmudgeons can, as it stars and was directed by Danny DeVito. The short has know been released online via Vimeo, and you can take a look at it below.

The film follows Jackie (DeVito) and Ralphie (David Margulies) two old men who’ve fallen in love late in life. However, these grumpy guys can’t be together any longer, as Jackie breaks his hip and is separated from his boyfriend in a different assisted-living facility (something quite a few older gay couples face, as there is still a disparity in many places between how straight and gay couple are treated). The relationship shocks their families in this ‘potty-mouthed, but endearing, comedy’.

Sadly, since the short was filmed, Marguilies has died, but DeVito says he did see the film beforehand. De Vito told Vimeo, “David and I [were] very close – if you know what I mean – for a very long time. The first time we worked together was 1968 or ‘69. We [did] off-Broadway together, he directed me in a couple plays in New York, and he was a dear friend. So I obviously pushed myself into a role too; I had to give myself a part. We had a good time doing it. We did love each other. Really genuinely.

The actor/director adds, “When I was finished with the film, I had it on my computer and I brought it up to David in Manhattan. He was very, very ill. He was struggling – fighting for his life basically – and he got to see it. It was a great experience. It was just about finished, it didn’t have the music in it yet, but everything else was there. He passed away shortly after in January.”

Take a look at Curmudgeons below. If you know a short film we ought to be posting, tell us by getting in touch via our contact page. And check out more gay short films and web series here. [Read more…]

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Silent Gay Film That The Nazis Tried To Destroy Has Been Restored & Is Now Screening

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different-from-the-othersThere’s a tendency to think that for the first 70 or 80 years of cinema, any mention of homosexuality was derogatory, negative or completely absent. However, there were isolated cases that took a different approach, and not all of them were secretive, underground efforts. One of the very earliest was Different From The Others, made in 1919 during the early days of Germany’s Weimar period (the rather decadent era shown in Cabaret, where being gay wasn’t exactly celebrated but where people could find ways to build an LGBT community, but always under threat of prosecution and condemnation).

The silent film is a sympathetic portrayal of a violinist and his relationship with his young protégé, only to be met with blackmail and scandal. The movie criticised German laws criminalising homosexuality and called for fairer treatment for those known to be gay. LGBT activist, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld’s film was controversial from the outset, sparking a censorship debate and making it difficult to make films about LGBT subjects in Germany for the next few decades. Indeed, it remained controversial enough that when the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s, they attempted to destroy every single copy, with only one incomplete and severely degraded version known to have survived.

As an important part of gay history, Outfest and the UCLA Film and Television Archive set out to restore what remained of the film and save it for posterity. That work is now done and the film can finally be seen again, which, as The Advocate notes, includes its East Coast premiere this Friday as a centerpiece screening at the New York LGBT Film Festival, NewFest, at 6:30 p.m. at the SVA Theater. That will be followed by a panel on its significance, featuring Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk, The Celluloid Closet), Noah Isenberg, journalist Manuel Betancourt; and the Museum of Modern Art’s Ashley Swinnerton.

As so much gay history has been lost – much of which was never recorded in the first place – it’s always great when something can be saved (and the UCLA Film and Television Archive deserves a lot of credit for its work on this and other early LGBT cinema). Hopefully Different From The Other will be able to get a wider audience soon. [Read more…]

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King Cobra’s Garrett Clayton Talks About Why He’s Keeping His Sexuality Private

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Garrett Clayton in King Cobra

Garrett Clayton in King Cobra

Playing gay porn star Brent Corrigan in King Cobra has inevitably led some to ask former Disney star Garrett Clayton about his own sexuality. However, Clayton has little to say, other than to say why he’s keeping shtum.

Talking to Pridesource, he says, “This is my job. And I’m happy to promote my work. And I’m happy to stand up for things I believe in. If people can’t see the positivity in that, then I think that’s up to them.”

However, he knows some have been critical of his decision to keep things private, saying, “I mean, they probably would feel a lot differently if people were calling them and saying, ‘So tell me: What you do in your bedroom every day?’ You can have Mother Teresa giving food out and somebody will find something negative to say.”

He adds, “I moved out to LA to have a career where I got to play characters and focus on work and do all these awesome things, and I’m getting to do that now. I just don’t think it’s pertinent to talk about my personal life. I don’t think it adds to the work; it just distracts from it.

“I’m supportive of an open-minded lifestyle and letting people do what they want to do with their lives, so it’s nice to be able to do another, different type of role. Acting is about stepping out of body and getting to see different lives and experience different things, and I got to do that in this movie.”

The 25-year-old first came to many people’s attention in 2013 as Tanner in Disney’s Teen Beach Movie, and as well as King Cobra, will soon be seen in NBC’s upcoming Hairspray Live!.

Although there is some logic to what Clayton is saying, at the same time it perpetuates a double standard, as straight people simply saying they have or would like a different gender partner isn’t seen as intrusive or distracting from their work. He’s also wrong that it’s simply about people asking what he does in his bedroom, as again that isn’t the presumption made about straight people expressing their sexuality. However, Clayton is also trying to forge a career in an industry that still has a major issue with pigeonholing gay people, particularly those who want to work in film, and that being open about your sexuality will close a lot of doors. He is slightly stuck between a rock and a hard place, but at the same time a response that almost seems to be ‘I am gay or bisexual, but I’m not saying it’, may be better than flat out denial, but it’s not a fully satisfactory way of dealing with things.

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Warner Bros. & Harry Potter Producer David Heyman Plan New Willy Wonka Movie

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charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-jonny-deppWarner Bros. had medium success with Tim Burton’s 2005 take on Charlie & The Chocolate, but a lot more success with the London stage version of Roald Dahl’s tale. It feels there’s more life in Willy Wonka, as it’s been announced that Warner has snapped up the screen rights to the character and plans to make a new movie, according to Variety.

It is perhaps surprising, as while the Dahl estate has allowed various filmmakers to make movies based on his popular stories, they have generally kept fairly tight control on the rights so people can’t go too far from the original tales. However, with this new film they seem to feel confident enough with the studio and with Harry Potter producer, David Heyman, who’s also onboard, to allow them go well beyond the Dahl’s written words. Admittedly they’re not completely letting go, as Michael Siegel from the writer’s estate will produce as well.

They will be going into Wonka’s pre-Charlie, with the suggestion being that they won’t use any particular parts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator to inspire the script. That said, the most logical storyline would be Wonka’s worldwide travels looking for the perfect chocolate, which also saw him meeting the Oompa Loompas, but they may end up going in a different direction.

Simon Rich is writing the script for the movie, which it appears Warner Bros. is hoping can become a franchise.

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Colin Firth Joins Disney’s Mary Poppins Sequel

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colin-firthWhile Disney doesn’t plan shooting its planned musical Mary Poppins sequel until early next year, but it’s been busy building the cast to ensure it can have the best bunch of actors it can find. The latest to join is Colin Firth, according to Variety.

He will star alongside Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer as a grown-up Michael and Jane Banks, Hamilton’s Lin Manuel Miranda as lamplighter Jack (the equivalent of the Dick Van Dyke role) and Meryl Streep as Poppins’ cousin Topsy. Firth meanwhile will be William Weatherall Wilkins, president of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.

The follow-up will be set in the 1930s and follow Michael and Jane Banks, as well as their children, after a major event takes place in their lives. That event results in the return of the magical Mary Poppins, who teams up with Jack to help the family.

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Smash) will write the songs, with David Magee penning the script, based on PL Travers other Poppins stories. Rob Marshall is set to direct, with a December 2018 release date set.

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Iris Prize Festival LGBT International Short Films 2016 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

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The final part of our Iris Prize short films review looks at the final 10 that competed for the International Short Film Prize – the biggest LGBT Short Film Prize in the world, worth £30,000. They cover a broad range of subjects, from adolescent crushes to sado-masochism.

Take a look at what we thought below. If you’re interested in our other Iris Prize 2016 short film reviews, you can find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. [Read more…]

Iris Prize Festival LGBT International Short Films 2016 – Part 2 (Short Film Reviews)

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The motto of the Iris Prize Festival is ‘Watch Films. Party Nightly. Repeat.’ and unfortunately the ‘Party Nightly’ bit means these review have taken a bit longer to get ready than initially planned. However, you can check out our thoughts on another 10 of film that competed for the International Short Film Prize – the biggest LGBT Short Film Prize in the world, worth £30,000.

You can check out Part 1 featuring 15 LGBT short film reviews here, and the final part here: [Read more…]