Click thru to listen to: My Lesbian Radio.

And order your DVD of WE HAVE TO STOP NOW: SEASON 1 from WolfeVideo.com today.

Check out the website promoting the current exhibition of photographs following the career of screen legend, Romy Schneider (star of the upcoming Wolfe DVD release, MADCHEN IN UNIFORM). The exhibition documents the eventful career of Romy Schneider, who by the late 1950s no longer wanted to be known as the child star of the Sissi films, and by the 1970s was a celebrated star of French cinema. A large number of unknown photographs of Romy Schneider, her film partners, and family from the 1950s and 1960s will be on display from the collections of the Deutsche Kinemathek. The exhibition will also present loans from private individuals and institutions from France and Austria. An accompanying catalogue under the same title as the exhibition has been published by Henschel Verlag; edited by Daniela Sannwald and Peter Mänz. Focusing on selected exhibits, it traces the various stages of the actress’ career – as a daughter, rebel, international star and a devastated women – while also examining the media’s marketing and legendization of Romy Schneider.

See more at: Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen.

And order your DVD of MADCHEN IN UNIFORM right now from WolfeVideo.com!

“Flooding in Pakistan: Join the Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction Effort

“This flooding has already affected more people than the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Haiti earthquake, and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake combined,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday during an address to the United Nations.  Over 20 million Pakistanis have been affected during this humanitarian crisis and as the rains relentlessly fall the risk of expanded flooding continues.  Shortages in food, shelter, clean drinking water, and medical supplies face families across the region and as the water continues to rise, it may get worse before it gets better.

That is why the United States Government through the Department of State created the Pakistan Relief Fund for people like you to contribute money to the ongoing relief efforts in Pakistan.  Though Secretary Clinton acknowledged that these are tough economic times and everyone has tight budgets, every dollar makes a difference in providing immediate relief and assistance to support a sustained recovery.  Five dollars can buy 50 high energy bars providing desperately needed nutrition, $10 can provide a blanket for a mother or a child, and about $40 can buy material to shelter a family of four who has lost their home in the floods.

Americans can help the Pakistani people confront this challenge by donating $10 through their mobile phone by texting the word FLOOD to 27722. Your contribution will provide life sustaining items to help people in the flood-affected area.

President Obama is committed to continuing to assist the Government of Pakistan in their immediate response and being a partner in the long term recovery.”

via Flooding in Pakistan: Join the Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction Effort | The White House.

Here’s the synopsis of the new gay drama, that also stars handsome Italian actor Massimo Poggio and the lovely Maria de Medeiros:

While vacationing in an Italian summer home, happily married Matteo (Massimo Poggio) is surprised to find himself attracted to his best friend’s underwear-model son, David (real-life model Thyago Alves). The plot thickens when David appears to share Matteo’s lust. Although she can’t quite put a finger on the problem, Matteo’s wife (Maria de Medeiros) senses something has happened to their relationship.

Look for the U.S. DVD release of DAVID’S BIRTHDAY from Wolfe on November 9th. Reserve your copy now from WolfeVideo.com or ask for it at fine retailers everywhere.

With the October 26th U.S. DVD release just announced this week from Wolfe, what better time to share Keough’s bite-size appreciation of the film:

“In this nuanced, Rohmer-like moral tale from Argentine director Marco Berger, Bruno (Manuel Vignau) is jealous of his ex-girlfriend’s new beau, Pablo (Lucas Ferraro). Bruno’s out to thwart the relationship — not by wooing Laura (Mercedes Quinteros) back (he’s already sleeping with her on the side), but by seducing the allegedly bisexual Pablo…. [Director] Berger is a painter, and he has an exquisite eye for color and composition: at times, the camera just settles on the abstract shapes of Buenos Aires buildings against the sky, creating a meditative canvas on which the feelings beneath the characters’ cool surfaces can seethe and curdle.”

Read more at: Review: Plan B – Reviews – Boston Phoenix.

Reserve your copy of PLAN B now from WolfeVideo.com!

“[CherryGrrl:] Are there purchasing trends that you see at Wolfe Video?

KW: What I’m really concerned about are non-purchasing trends. Sharing movies on the internet; even though that’s such a sweet and friendly thing to do, the filmmaker gets nothing. That’s a formula that does a lot of damage. We all need “to pay to play”…. I don’t want people to feel like they’re being bad; no one’s bad – they just aren’t connecting the dots. They need to understand that if everyone was willing to pay $3.99 for the movies they saw, we could sustain our filmmakers in a much stronger way than we currently are.”

Read more of Kathy Wolfe on the State of Lesbian Cinema | Cherry Grrl.

“8: The Mormon Proposition is almost certainly a film that will make you angry. That’s the point — it’s a documentary that unapologetically outlines the Mormon Church’s role in (as the film contends, orchestrating) the Proposition 8 campaign in California in 2008 — the infamous piece of legislation that banned gay marriage in the state. Milk screenwriter (and former Mormon) Dustin Lance Black narrates the story, which mixes the usual “talking heads” interviews with on-the-scene footage from the events at hand, making for an engaging, positively infuriating documentary experience.”

Read more here: Review of “8: The Mormon Proposition.” Prepare to be Angry. | AfterElton.com.

“The 17-year-old BOY of the title sets his sights on a slightly older dancer/hustler whom he sees in the local bar/brothel, and a sweet ‘n sexy relationship begins.”

Read more at TrustMovies and get your copy of the film from WolfeVideo.com!

Get your hands on Brian’s acclaimed short film DISH today — it’s featured on Wolfe’s latest gay shorts collection, BOYCRAZY.

The outpouring of responses has been incredible — dozens and dozens of people have responded and saved the film to their queues AND have also gone ahead and popped for the $13.46 purchase price to get their hands on their own copy of the DVD from WolfeVideo.com.

We just had to share a couple of links to some of the bloggers who have been helping us spread the message, including Lydia Marcus at her fotonomous blog (Lydia also happens to be the very talented filmmaker who helped create the cool featurette on the MADCHEN DVD called “From Manuela to Annabelle” in which Katherine Brooks talks about the influence of MADCHEN on LOVING ANNABELLE) and we also got a great shout out from legendary lesbian cartoonist, Alison Bechdel on the “Dykes To Watch Out For” Blog!

Here’s the Netflix link, just click and hit SAVE. And here’s the WolfeVideo.com link so you can reserve your copy now (it comes out on September 14th)!

Thanks to all of you for supporting Wolfe—bringing you the best LGBT movies since 1985!

“Aureaus Solito’s BOY is the ideal macho dancer film, one that maintains the unhindered erotic possibilities of gazing at naked bodies in the safety and privacy of a darkened cinema, without the implicated guilt of doing so and more importantly, absent the always useless and hypocritical social pedagogy that has become synonymous with the abused genre. BOY refuses to apologize for all the homoerotic images on display… Absent any forced social implication, the film focuses on exploring the gay psyche, lyrically exposing the mysteries of homosexual attraction and the path to self-discovery.”

Read the rest of Cruz’s wonderful essay here at: Oggs’ Movie Thoughts (and reserve your copy of BOY on DVD from WolfeVideo.com — or look for it at fine retailers everywhere on August 10th).

“Ellen Seidler isn’t in the indie game for the money. But when the filmmaker and her directing partner, Megan Siler, put up $250,000 of their own cash to make “And Then Came Lola,” they expected to at least be able to break even, paying off the debts they incurred during production. Their hopes were dashed when they discovered how extensively “Lola” was being pirated on the Web, damaging the financial prospects of the movies DVD and video-on-demand release.”

Read the rest of: Pop-Up Piracy: Indie Filmmaker Speaks Out.

And remember — Only YOU can prevent illegal online piracy of LGBT movies!
Don’t watch illegally uploaded films online, and don’t “share” independent LGBT movies online (it’s against the law and it hurts the very filmmakers who are creating work for you to enjoy).

* Outstanding First Feature Award at Frameline in San Francisco.
* Special Programming Award for Artistic Achievement at Outfest in Los Angeles.
* Best Director and Best Feature Film at QFest in Philadelphia.

* Plus: the Audience Award for Best First Feature at the Galway International Film Festival in Ireland!!

Here’s a beautiful description of the film from the Frameline website:

“Miguel and Mariela are a happily married couple, well-respected in their small seaside fishing village and looking forward to the imminent arrival of their first child. Miguel genuinely adores his devoted wife, yet also carries on a clandestine affair with handsome drifter Santiago, a painter of sensual nudes who is euphemistically referred to as “Prince Charming” by the village gossips. Santiago yearns to celebrate his love openly, while Miguel insists on secrecy for fear of jeopardizing his domestic bliss.

As the story takes an otherworldly turn, rumors force Mariela to question her husband’s sexuality, and Miguel must accept his dual nature in order to refute Santiago’s angry claim that “There are thousands of ways of being a man, and you are none of them.”

Stunning views of Peru’s Cabo Blanco coast provide an appropriately stormy backdrop to the tempestuous emotions of the three protagonists. As its ominous title suggests, Undertow dives far below the seemingly placid surface of self-identity and family ties, churning up waves of passion — and a fateful accident — that overwhelm the film’s bisexual love triangle.

This Sundance award-winner enchants with unforgettable seascapes, and director Javier Fuentes-León eschews melodrama to present a transcendent romance in his remarkably assured feature debut. With moving performances by some of Latin America’s star actors, Undertow makes it easy to get swept away.”

“As founder and CEO of Wolfe Video, Kathy Wolfe heads the largest exclusive distributor of lesbian and gay films. Since 1985, the company has grown from a small mail order business with a vision for community building and social change to providing DVD distribution and on-demand programming online and for television. Wolfe was recently honored with a Maverick Award from Cinequest and a Community Partner Award from the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Now celebrating the company’s 25th year, she views her company’s evolution with pride. “When I look at Wolfe, how it began and what it’s become, I am so proud of the way that we’ve made images of our lives visible and accessible to the world at large; and, even more importantly, of the way in which those authentic images have empowered so many individuals to be themselves.”

via GO Magazine – 100 Women We Love Class of 2010.

“This is truly a landmark moment in lesbian film history. We’ve come so far! A big budget film with major movie stars playing lesbian roles! It’s absolutely fantastic that this film is coming out in 2010—twenty-five years after Wolfe first went into business. We’ve been around long enough now to see our stories fully enter the mainstream.

I am personally enormously grateful for this; and also gratified—that Wolfe continues to fulfill our vital role in supporting the careers of lesbian filmmakers and all our LGBT and straight filmmaker allies as well. We’re very proud to say that we first distributed Lisa Cholodenko’s short film The Dinner Party way back in 1997 just before she made her big splash with High Art. Watching our filmmakers advance in their careers is the most rewarding aspect of our work.

I want to encourage everyone to get out to the movies on the July 9 weekend to support Lisa’s movie and send the message to the powers that be in Hollywood and to Lisa: Thank You and We Want More!”

Read the rest at Frontiers IN L.A. | Our Lesbian Brokeback: The Kids Are All Right.

Philadelphia’s LGBT Film Festival, QFest will honor Wolfe Founder and CEO Kathy Wolfe with this year’s Barbara Gittings Award in honor of Wolfe’s groundbreaking work in LGBT film distribution. The award presentation will be made  on Saturday, July 10th at the 4:45pm screening of Wolfe’s MY NORMAL at the Ritz East 2 Theater, Philadelphia, PA.

Here’s a nice little excerpt from the festival program note:

“As a small child, Kathy Wolfe’s fascination with her mother’s 8mm movie camera landed her the role of the Wolfe family archivist. Little did she know that these fledging attempts at filmmaking would sustain a successful career. She created a ground-breaking and respected company, Wolfe Video where she is the CEO.

But let’s back up. In 1970, in her early twenties, Kathy and Bill Plate founded Arrow Graphics a specialty graphics services company based out of San Jose. A decade later the company employed 150 workers in five states. In 1981, intrigued by the availability of public access television programming, Kathy began to hone her skills as a videographer, producing and directing documentaries on a broad range of topics of interest to women. Realizing that there was a largely untapped audience of lesbians and gay men eager for affirmative images, in 1985, she founded Wolfe Video. What began, as a small mail order company twenty-five years ago, is now, the oldest and largest exclusive distributor of gay and lesbian films in North America.”

Read more at Philadelphia QFest 2010

“Filmmaker Nicole Conn (Claire of the Moon, Little Man) is doing her part to put lesbians in the record books, one extra-long kiss at a time.

Her new project, Elena Undone, follows a well-known lesbian writer who falls for the wife of a pastor. It was conceived by Conn and her partner, Marina Rice Bader, on a weekend getaway when Bader asked, “Why aren’t there more lesbian movies out there?” The two decided to “give it a go,” and Elena Undone was born.

In her new film, Conn wanted to capture the power and magic behind a monumental first kiss, and ended up shooting a 3:24 long kissing scene that breaks the record for longest kiss in cinema history, originally set back in 1941 by — naturally — a heterosexual couple.

Conn, the writer and director recently told us about the inspiration behind the history-making kiss she filmed and gave us an exclusive first look at the scene.”

To read more and see the kiss click thru here: EXCLUSIVE: “Elena Undone” breaks the record for longest movie kiss | AfterEllen.com.

“This year, Frameline’s Board and Staff are proud to present the Frameline Award to Wolfe Video’s Kathy Wolfe and Maria Lynn.

Established in 1986, the Frameline Award is given every year to a person or entity that has made a major contribution to LGBT representation in film, television, or the media arts. Past honorees range from film historian and author Vito Russo, to Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan, avant-garde lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer, drag artiste extraordinaire Divine, producer Christine Vachon, long-time leader of the Festival and the organization Michael Lumpkin, and producer/distributor Marcus Hu.

This year, Frameline’s Board and Staff are proud to present the Frameline Award to Wolfe Video’s Kathy Wolfe and Maria Lynn.

When founder Kathy Wolfe describes the origins of Wolfe Video, she credits an early Frameline screening of the landmark documentary Word Is Out as her catalyst. The message she took out of the theatre that night — about being out and proud and actively working to improve lesbian and gay lives — resulted in the birth of Wolfe Video.

From that beginning twenty-five years ago, Wolfe has evolved into the largest exclusive distributor of gay and lesbian films. The company's films are now reaching viewers via film festivals, theatrical and non-theatrical releasing, broadcast, DVD, and digital delivery.”

via Frameline Award: Wolfe Video | News for Frameline34.

As a wonderful role model in a variety of fields, including entrepreneurship and community giving, Kathy and her work at Wolfe Video are being showcased on the Profiles of Excellence program.

The show will air on ABC7 KGO-TV on Sunday, June 20th from 4:00PM – 4:30PM. For all those in the Bay Area please tune in or set your DVR!

Enjoy Matthew’s acting talents (and add him to YOUR “spank-bank”) in the exciting new Wolfe release, PORNOGRAPHY: A THRILLER (coming to DVD on July 13th from Wolfe). You can also see him in REDWOODS and BACK SOON).

“I was kind of afraid with my character because she was so impulsive, such a player, so lesbian, so sassy… but actually I had a great time being her!”

Read the full interview right here: Curve Gets Cozy with Lesbian Web Series Star Celia Freijeiro – Curve Magazine – Web Articles 2010.

Watch the trailer and order the DVD right HERE.

“Over the past 25 years, Wolfe Video has worked to put gay media within mainstream culture. One of the few exclusive distributors of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender films in the United States, the company has helped to bring such award-winning films as “Big Eden,” “Brother to Brother” and “Desert Hearts” before television, movie theater and festival audiences across the country. The company, based in San Jose, currently offers 215 titles under the Wolfe brand, as well as thousands of DVDs from other distributors.”

Read the rest and learn more about Wolfe’s tremendous accomplishments at: Moving Gay Films Into the Mainstream – NYTimes.com.

WHY’S IT SO GAY, BRO?: The film’s been called “a pilot for Boy Baywatch” and noted for its “startling amount of skin.” Indeed, director Dan Castle has his boys surfing naked with lots of butt shots (unsurprising considering that Castle’s past films include a documentary about about male cage-dancers in gay Mexico City nightclubs). Matt Ravler with In Film Australia said, “the lean, often naked teenage boys are as longingly photographed as the 10-foot waves.”

via Hey Dudes, Here’s The 3 Gayest Surfing Movies Ever / Queerty.

Click HERE to watch the NEWCASTLE trailer, get the DVD or rent or buy the movie from iTunes.

“Wolfe Video is huge. I don’t think that 75 percent of the films that are out there would be seen if it wasn’t for Wolfe. And if it doesn’t get on TV, and people can’t get to film festivals, you actually get to see it because you can get it online. I make short films and the fact that there’s a go-to distributor for gay and lesbian films is totally fabulous. They’re always keeping in touch with me with what I’m doing, so I know there’s always a place.”

Read the rest at: Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (June 4, 2010) | AfterEllen.com.