While many had hoped the Arab Spring would bring more openness and freedom to Egypt, it seems things have become increasingly difficult on the LGBT front, including in the world of film. Earlier this year, two movies with (relatively mild) gay content were banned from the 35th Cairo International Film Festival. Now Pinknews reports that the country’s censors have demanded 13 scenes be cut from Egypt’s first homegrown movie that directly tackles gay subjects.

And that’s despite the fact there’s no sexually explicit content in the movie at all.

The film is Hany Fawzy’s Family Secrets, which is ‘based on the true story of a young gay man who grows up with a single mother and an elder brother who is subjected to child abuse. The story goes on to see the gay protagonist go on to see therapists about the fact that he is gay in an attempt to “cure” himself, and after going through the therapy, he finds that he no longer feels himself.’

Unsurprisingly, Fawzy is less than impressed with what the censors are trying to do, as he feels cutting so much will inevitably remove vital parts of the plot and damage the film. One of the scenes the censors want to butchers sees the main character come out to his sister, while in another he accuses his father of “being responsible for his sexual orientation”.

Although the movie may get cut in Egypt, hopefully the complete film will be able to be seen elsewhere.

We welcomed one more out sports person this week when Tom Daley revealed he is dating a guy. But a few years ago cyclist Graeme Obree came out of the closet, letting the world know he was gay in 2011, having come out to his family on 2005.

He had a difficult life before that, marked by things such as the tragic death of his brother and suicide attempts. He was also married to a woman and had two sons. However, in sports he broke numerous cycling records and was known for his innovations that took the sport forward, having used bits of common machinery to re-engineer his bicycle. In 2006 a movie about his life, The Flying Scotsman starring Jonny Lee Miller, was released – although that didn’t touch on his sexuality.

Now a feature-length documentary is being brought together, allowing Obree to tell his own story in his own words, mainly covering two years of his life where as a man in his mid-40s he seeks out a new cycling project to challenge himself. The film, The Outsider, is now seeking £20,000 on Kickstarter, which will ‘cover the cost of a craft editor, and the editing suite he will use. The sound mix. The completion of the final big screen version, colour corrected with titles and graphics as well as the master for the streams, downloads and DVD’s.’

You can find out more over at Kickstarter and you can get a feel for the movie below. [Read more…]