You Belong To Me (DVD Just Announced)
Jeffrey has met the man of his dreams, hunky Frenchman René, but he’s an elusive lover. When Jeffrey discovers where René lives, he impulsively moves into the same building. But the move backfires as René becomes cold and distant. Instead, the landlady Gladys lavishes attention on her new tenant. Soon Jeffrey realizes that there’s something strange going on – especially when he hears mysterious moans beneath his floorboards and learns that he’s not the first Jeffrey to live in the apartment. When he stumbles on Gladys’ dark secret, will it cost him his life?Available now for pre-order (streetdate June 3rd).
Cineslam & LGBT Film Fest Directory
Hey Queer Filmmakers!
Here’s a great screening opportunity to be aware of! Cineslam: Vermont’s GLBT Liberation Short Films Fest happens on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 in Guilford, Vermont and includes cash prizes, a glbt filmmakers retreat, a barbecue and T-Dance and much more (just look how much fun the filmmakers had at last year’s fest). The deadline for submissions is May 15, 2008. Check the Festival Website for further details.
To find other screening opportunities be sure to take a look at the WolfeQueerFestDirectory, a tremendous resource list that includes dates and links for dozens of LGBT film festivals around the world.
Chip Conley (gay hotelier, Joie de Vivre Hotels)
“There are so many! The most poignant LGBT movie for me personally was ANOTHER COUNTRY, which was sort of my coming out film. Had a terrible crush on Rupert Everett back then and that film helped me feel proud to be gay, as did MAURICE years later. There’s a whole collection of off-beat LGBT films from MYSTERIOUS SKIN to HEDWIG to BOYS DON’T CRY to THE JOY OF LIFE that would make my top 10 list. Being a film festival junkie, sometimes my favorites are the small films I see at a festival like the documentary on Bayard Rustin (BROTHER OUTSIDER), which I saw at Sundance and led to proud tears for this gay civil rights leader.”
Check out Chip’s website.
Stop-Loss (Opens March 28th)
From Kimberly Peirce, director of BOYS DON’T CRY, comes this timely and powerful drama starring Ryan Phillippe (54) and Channing Tatum (Step Up 2 The Streets). Co-starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin, Latter Days) and Abbie Cornish (The Monkey’s Mask).
Decorated war hero Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) returns to his Texas hometown following his tour of duty in Iraq. He attempts to resume the life he left behind but the Army orders him to return to duty in Iraq. The film takes on the military’s controversial Stop-Loss policy which sends soldiers back into action even after they have completed their tours of duty in Iraq.Opens March 28th.
More details at the Official Website.
Spider Lilies (Trailer of the Week)
Fresh off the queer festival circuit, this Teddy Award winning lesbian feature is full of aching romantic melodrama and has a pair of very lovely stars (Taiwanese pop star Rainie Yang and handsome Isabelle Leong). Spider Lilies comes to DVD in May. And look for director Zero Chou‘s brand new lesbian feature, Drifting Flowers, on this year’s queer festival circuit.
Will Clark (adult star and Bad Boys Pool Party founder)
“Oh easy! My favorite LGBT movie of all time and one of my top ten overall movies of all time is PARTING GLANCES! I was just coming out on a study abroad program in autumn 1986 when the movie debuted in London and I flipped out. What an amazing movie. My boyfriend at the time, my first love, Jon, and I saw it and walked out of the theatre grinning from ear to ear. We were both just coming out, both in love for the first time and the movie made the most amazing impact on us, that being gay is normal, OK and fun. Such an amazing cast: Steve Buscemi, Kathy Kinney, John Bolger (YUM!!). The writing is pitch perfect, the music appropriate, the handling of Nick’s health crisis and the ensuing bitterness of the early years of the crisis, the humor and the portrayal of gay male life. I’ve never seen a better film that juggled all these aspects of gay life or of New York gay life.”
Find out everything Will Clark is up to on his official website.
Thousand Best Movies, plus one
Everyone’s a critic when it comes to lists of Top Movies. Including us.
We were just browsing the, admittedly inspiring, list of The New York Times‘s Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and appreciating the inclusion of such queer faves as Boys Don’t Cry, My Beautiful Laundrette, High Art, The Hours, Entre Nous, Kiss of the Spider Woman and My Own Private Idaho.
But there is one truly great movie conspicuously absent, a movie we always think of as one of the films that both encompasses and transcends the “queer film” label. Yes, the Academy Award-winning American Beauty has been snubbed in favor of such classics that define the term “straight film” as National Lampoon’s Animal House and the 1994 Winona Ryder version of Little Women?
Come on!
Tank Top Tuesday
Our new favorite lesbian blog, Dorothy Surrenders, hosts our new favorite blog feature: Tank Top Tuesday! But hey Dorothy, you missed one — Michelle Wolff (with Daniele Ferraro) in Mango Kiss.