Bil Browning

1) Torch Song Trilogy – This was the first gay movie I saw. It made a thunderous impact when I realized that there was actually a gay culture to be part of. I immediately went out seeking more like me.

2) Silverlake Life: The View From Here – This quiet and stunning documentary launched my activist career. Watching the slow death of both men and feeling the overpowering sadness that permeates the film made a huge impact. I was outraged at what they’d suffered and knew I’d spend my life in pursuit of social justice for the LGBT community.”

Bil Browning is founder and editor of the GLAAD AWARD nominated, The Bilerico Project, the web’s largest LGBTQ group blog with dozens of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and genderqueer contributors. Known for intelligent political and cultural commentary, the site’s carefully selected contributors have helped to shape the LGBT movement for years – both on and off line.

Matt Doyle and Seth Numrich by Alexander Wagner

“Come for the hunky military school boys, often shirtless, but stay for an excellent adaptation of a venerable classic and a beautiful gay love story. MUST SEE.” — Lincoln Madison, Film Queen

“For bringing fresh life to a timeless love story and infusing each moment with a 21st century immediacy that balances naked passion with longing, and delivering it all with brilliant coherence, the Outfest 2011 Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film goes to the entire cast of PRIVATE ROMEO.” — 2011 Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film

For more information and to watch the trailer, visit http://www.privateromeothemovie.com.

Keep The Lights On

Once again, movie lovers and industry insiders will be gathering in Park City, Utah this month for the annual independent film orgy known as the Sundance Film Festival (January 19-29) with additional action unspooling at the longstanding alternative event known as Slamdance (January 20-26).

The LGBT offerings for 2012 look to be slimmer than in years past but here’s a sneak peek at some of the titles debuting in Park City that you’ll be wanting to keep an eye out for at your local LGBT film festival this year. Caveat: I have not actually seen any of these films except one (My Best Day which I heartily recommend).

At Sundance:
From out gay writer-director Ira Sachs (The Delta, Forty Shades of Blue) comes the autobiographical romantic drama, Keep The Lights On. Set in the late ’90s against a New York City backdrop this is the lone gay feature in the highly competitive U.S. Dramatic Competition.

The U.S. Documentary Competition hosts the premiere of two exciting new films: Love Free or Die, a portrait of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson and How To Survive a Plague, an overview of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) that promises to be a heartrending and inspiring testament to the heroic activists of the era. Kirby Dick’s latest film, The Invisible War also includes one lesbian interviewee as it investigates the problem of rape within the U.S. military.

The World Dramatic competition showcases the British coming-of-age drama, My Brother The Devil as well as Young & Wild, a Chilean feature about a bisexual teenage girl in Santiago.

My Best Day

A pair of lesbian features premiere in the NEXT section: from Aurora Guerrero the highly-anticipated Los Angeles Latina lesbian love story, Mosquita y Mari and from Erin Greenwell (Big Dreams in Little Hope) a terrifically quirky and cinematic ensemble comedy-drama, My Best Day which stars the wonderful Ashlie Atkinson as a lesbian janitor who spends the 4th of July helping her straight girl friend find her long lost father.

In the New Frontier section actor-director Terence Nance presents his feature, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty which explores his desire for a woman he has just met but is described by the Sundance press office as being of LGBT interest.

The Documentary Premieres section includes an exciting new project from portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. About Face explores the lives and careers of such super models as Cheryl Tiegs, Jerry Hall, Christie Brinkley and Marisa Berenson as it looks back at the fashion world of the 80s.

In the Premieres section look out for Elijah Wood‘s gay character in Celeste and Jesse Forever as well as Justin Long playing gay in For A Good Time, Call (by gay filmmaker Jamie Travis). Lastly, in the festival’s Spotlight section Your Sister’s Sister features a lead lesbian character played by Rosemary DeWitt.

Titles of interest in the Shorts category (according to the helpful folks at the Sundance press office) include: Dol (First Birthday), Fourplay: Tampa, The Thing and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.

Slamdance:

Kelly

There are always lots of panels, discussions and other programming for festival attendees in Park City. As they have for the past several years, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will be doing several days of programming around the opening weekend of the festival — including panel discussions and a filmmaker lounge. Here are links to details about three exciting panels: Funding through Social Media,
Keep the Lights On,
Love Free or Die. Be sure to visit GLAAD.org for additional panels and events.

Also check in on the Outfest Facebook page to see if and when the annual Outfest Queer Brunch is announced (details were not available at press time). And that’s the sneak peek at Park City for 2012!

In the crowd sourcing spirit: Please post in the comments field below if you hear of additional LGBT-interest films or have other info to share.

(Cross-posted on AfterEllen.com, Bilerico.com and QMovieBlog.com)

My favorite LGBT film is a documentary from 1977 called Word Is Out. I love it for its quiet fire. There are no quick edits, carefully orchestrated casting, or manipulated moments of drama, which are all so de rigueur today. Essentially, the filmmakers point the camera and let the twenty six subjects tell their own stories. Through that simple setup comes unfakeable passion. It’s as if the participants — all products of the early 20th century and at least one born in the late 19th — are cleansing themselves of years of bottled-up feelings. As both an activist and an observer, I hold deep respect and appreciation for the preserved catharses.

Surely you’re already well aware of Jeremy’s blog at GoodAsYou.org!

(Cross-posted at Bilerico.com)

via FilmFracture.

Look for a 2012 release of KISS ME from Wolfe, and click thru here for more details.

Michelangelo Signorile is host of The Michelangelo Signorile Show on SiriusXM 108, 2-6 ET weekdays. And also Editor-at-Large for Huffington Post Gay Voices. You can find him on Twitter at: @MSignorile.

“If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) focuses on lesbian lives in three different eras/segments over a forty year period, framed within a single house. This is a thoughtful, issue-driven drama about some of the challenges lesbians face, and the change in cultural attitudes over time towards women who love women.

It’s also a rare opportunity to see good acting, writing, and production quality in a lesbian-themed film…

Overall, the casting and direction of this production is stellar, the writing makes the characters all seem very genuine to the experiences they portray, and the production values are professional and of the caliber you’d expect from HBO. This movie is a necessary addition to any queer film library — just make sure you have a tissue handy when you watch.”

Click thru to order If These Walls Could Talk 2 from Wolfe Video now.

“This wry, tender 2005 Canadian comedy puts a fresh spin on the theme of adolescent sexual awakening. Its protagonist, an intellectually precocious 13-year-old, develops a crush on his middle-aged gay English teacher, whose attempts to deflect the boy’s advances without wounding his blossoming spirit lead the man to confront his own emotional isolation. Shot by director Amnon Buchbinder in snowy rural Nova Scotia, the film features subtle, honest performances by Daniel MacIvor (who also cowrote the screenplay) as the perplexed prof and engaging newcomer Aaron Webber as the sensitive student.”

Watch the trailer and order your DVD of WHOLE NEW THING right now from WolfeVideo.com.

“It may seem impossible to separate the film from the numerous suicides that have dominated headlines over the past year. Yet @SuicideRoom is less about the bullying crisis and more about how one family slowly unravels. It’s unclear whether Dominik is more traumatized by questions brought on by experiments with teen sexuality or the fear that he will never break free from a predetermined life. Either way, Komasa’s film is a stunning examination of life and finding the will to live it.”

Read the full review: Suicide Room: Reel Affirmations 2011 at Metro Weekly Magazine

Or watch the trailer and sign up to be notified of the film’s North American DVD release date here.

Diane Anderson-Minshall is the executive editor of The Advocate Magazine and SheWired.com; editor in chief of HIV Plus magazine; and author of four mystery novels, the latest of which is Punishment With Kisses.

“Kat and Vic have a fiery passion together, both on and off-stage. The yin to the other’s yang, you can see why they worked part of the time, and were disastrous the other half. Is it romantic? Is it musical? Is it familial? If you’re like me, you’ll be looking for them to get together in the end. I won’t spoil the outcome, but I think you’ll enjoy waiting to see if it happens.”

Read the full review at AfterEllen.com: Review of “Trigger”

Watch the trailer and order the DVD from Wolfe.

Tomboy, directed by Céline Sciamma
A winning French tale about a 10-year-old who lives as a girl or a boy depending on the people around.

Joe + Belle, directed by Veronica Kedar
A dark Israeli comedy about two girls who fall in love with each other and their country en route from Tel Aviv to Sderot.

Read more of: The Best Overlooked Films | The Advocate.

Both films will be coming to DVD from Wolfe in 2012. Catch JOE + BELLE at an LGBT film festival near you in the coming months and get out to your local theatre to see TOMBOY (opening today — November 16th — in New York City at Film Forum). TOMBOY opens in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Encino, San Francisco and Berkeley on November 25th. For more info plus upcoming dates in other cities visit TomboyMovie.com.

Click thru now to watch: Leading Ladies Filmmaker Interview with Jenni Olson.

LEADING LADIES is now available on DVD from Wolfe — and would make a terrific holiday gift!

“If I wanted to practise lazy journalese it would be easy to characterise KickOff as a queer version of Bend it Like Beckham, but that would be doing the film a massive disservice because it isn’t some derivative piece of conveyer-belt filmmaking. Despite its unmistakeable Brit flickiness, it’s a unique film that definitely ploughs its own path.

Add to that the fact the footie players spend 99% of the screen time solely in skimpy shorts and the DVD extras aren’t just lame after-thoughts but a genuinely interesting part of the whole package and you’ve got yourself an all-round premiership pro-class winner. A fantastically feelgood dramedy that, to use footballing parlance, really hits the back of the net.”

Read more at: GaydarRadio – Entertainment – Reviews.

Click thru to see the trailer for KICKOFF (and pre-order your DVD — KICKOFF is coming coming to North American DVD and VOD January 17, 2012).

• MARIA LYNN, President, Wolfe Video
In its 26th year, Wolfe is the leader in mainstreaming films with gay content. Melding niche marketing while casting a wide net in traditional retail, TV and VOD is the key to Wolfe’s success. Lynn has boosted the Wolfe label and WolfeVideo.com with promotional work for other studios and distributors. She is also proud of Wolfe’s success in fighting piracy.

via Women in Home Entertainment 2011 | Home Media Magazine.

EDGE: Your film is being called a deviant thriller – what’s deviant about it?

Mark Harriott: UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY revels in its perversity. It’s our debut collaborative feature and we wanted to ruffle some feathers. We wanted to challenge people’s expectations of a thriller. The sex is quite full on, we wanted it to feel irreverent, irreligious, a bit daft, a bit camp, creepy, twisted, you’re supposed to laugh and then scream. And deviant is the only available adjective for Corinne’s party frock.

Read More at: Talking ’Unhappy Birthday’ with filmmaker Mark Harriott :: EDGE Boston.

Or Watch the Trailer (and order your DVD) now!

“Rob Reiner is developing a film based on the legal challenge to Proposition 8, the California initiative that banned same-sex marriage and was found unconstitutional by a federal district court judge, the director told The Hollywood Reporter at AFM Sunday.”

Read more at: AFM 2011: Rob Reiner Planning Film on Proposition 8 Legal Case – The Hollywood Reporter.

“Sharp direction and understated performances make this drama far more evocative than we expect. And its resonance goes beyond the sexuality of the characters, as it beautifully captures the emotions that linger long after a relationship ends.”

Read the full review at: Shadows on the Wall | Arthouse Films.

And click thru here to watch the trailer or be notified of the North American DVD release date.

Celine Sciamma (Screenwriter & Director)
Sciamma has been showered with accolades and awards this year — from the Berlin International Film Festival and numerous LGBT film festivals — for TOMBOY, which explores gender through the eyes of a young girl. The filmmaker’s sophomore feature was recently accepted into two French national programs that curate a select number of movies approved for curricular use in primary and secondary schools.

From: Out Magazine | Out 100 | 2011-Out-100: 17th Annual OUT100.

Look for TOMBOY opening in New York City November 16th at Film Forum; and in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Encino, San Francisco and Berkeley November 25th. For more info plus upcoming dates in other cities visit TomboyMovie.com.

‘Judas Kiss’ tops gay video list
A collegiate scandal, a birthday surprise gone awry and a film by the Verizon guy round out the top 10 gay video list. So if you’re looking for a way to heat up the long fall nights, try one of these.

1. Judas Kiss Charlie David (Mulligans, Dante’s Cove, etc.) stars as a gay filmmaker who has a one night stand with a handsome student filmmaker (adorable Richard Harmon, AMC’s The Killing), who turns out to be competing for a scholarship that Zach must award! Hotties Sean Paul Lockhart (aka adult-fave Brent Corrigan) and Timo Descamps round out the collegiate cast.

See the rest of the list at: ‘Judas Kiss’ tops gay video list | Articles | dot429.

“Being openly gay hasn’t really affected my work in Belgium. It’s kinda like living in a bubble. I’m an openly gay actor working mainstream jobs in Belgium. I hosted my own kids show on a Belgian channel, I even worked for Disney Channel Netherlands for a few months. In the end people don’t really care if celebrities are gay or straight. And that’s the way it should be I think.”

Read the complete interview at OHLALA Mag. And take a look at Timo in the JUDAS KISS trailer (then get your hands on the DVD — out now from Wolfe).

Top British gay blog site, SoSoGay.com has strong praise for the film which will be out on DVD in the US in 2012:

“Overall, this is a sterling feature with a level of observation, intricacy and polish that catapults it far beyond being a brilliant piece of LGBT cinema, to being an excellent film in its own right. A firm and deserving choice for Iris Prize 2011’s Best Feature.”

Read the rest at Film Review: August (Iris Prize Festival 2011) | So So Gay magazine.

Or click thru to watch the trailer and be notified from WolfeVideo.com of when AUGUST is coming to DVD in the US and Canada.

Q. You’ve made so many popular gay films over the years. It isn’t clear from the plot synopsis, so we were wondering: can you tell us the gay angle of your new film?

A. The production has been very hush-hush on the gay angle. I need to get the story out to the general public for all audiences, to let people find out the truth well after they are involved. With 5 main characters in the movie, all men, we find out that 2 of them are gay, one an average guy who is a construction worker. It comes as even a bigger a surprise to audiences when they find out about another character – they never would have guessed, and I’m not telling!

I always want positive gay role model characters in my stories. Every day guys like me that are a huge part of society, but are so often overlooked or characterized as flaming queers in most movies or television. We all need to be represented. If people help me keep the secret to this story, it will help change the minds of a lot of people out there who may have preconceived ideas of who a gay person is. I took a definite stand on bringing the gay issue together with the military.

Q: Why did you decide to take on such a challenging story?

A: I’ve played my career very safe up to now. I’ve listened to people across the country speak against the troops or not care. I am very concerned about our returning and active-duty military suffering with PTSD or a TBI. I decided I would do something about it. I am only free because of these brave warriors protecting me and my country.

Q: You did a lot of research?

A: I did. I worked hard to get things right with the script. Get the technical details right, contact people, get the right cast. I even asked Camp Pendleton Marine Base to read the script for technical accuracy. There are about twelve versions of the script, so a lot did go into this.

Q: I hear you had some issues with finding cast and crew?

A: I had a lot of actors and production people turn me down flat over the story. I thought people needed to work, but when it comes to controversy and politics some people are not willing put aside their personal views. I saw a lot of actors, asked them straight out if they could get behind this script and support it. I knew it was the only way the publicity could work.

Q: But wow, this story is pretty heavy at times. You put characters together with two of the most controversial issues in the country right now. What were you thinking?

A: I feel it is time to show people that life is all about supporting each other, our family and friends. I have good friends in the military that will always be my friends. They stepped up and said they are behind me on this. Some of my friends have families, some are single, some have PTSD, and some are military leaders. We don’t look at differences in each other. We just help and support each other.

Q: Other than the PTSD issue, you seem vague on talking about some of the other character profiles?

A: Yes, on purpose. Part of the secret to making this story work is that by the time you learn about these people, you like them (or don’t) for who they are and what they represent.

Q: Who did you make the movie for?

A: Everyone. I made it for this country. I made it for people to talk openly, all sides of life. I want people to be validated and healed by what the characters go through.

Q: I understand your budget was small and it was hard to get funding for this story.

A: Yes. I used my savings to pay for it. And when I say used my savings, I mean all of it. The movie is completely professional, top quality. Everyone took pay cuts to help get it made.

Q: Are you involved in veterans’ organizations?

A: Yes. I want to do all I can to help, educate, change things for the better. I realize that writing this script does not give me to right to say I know what it feels like to have been there, in the war. I live by my instincts, research, talking to people.

Q: How has your life been changed?

A: I shake the hands of veterans, young and old. There is a look and a special thank you I get from people who have served. They thank me for what I’m doing, but I don’t feel I’m deserving of that. I thank them. They are the true heroes.

Q: What are your future plans?

A: Keep making movies and do more to help the country. I am currently forming a group to open transitional group homes for soldiers coming home from the war. Real homes where battle buddies can live, adjust, re-connect and school. Then move on into society as they wish or continue to live in the home. I need to give something back to those who have protected me. If I never make another movie I can at least accomplish something in another way. That is why I’m on Earth.

Watch the trailer for A WARM WIND and order a copy of the DVD right now.

Click thru now to watch the trailer (or order your DVD) of Paul’s powerful new gay drama, THE GREEN (coming to DVD from Wolfe November 22nd) or look for it on VOD and digital nationwide starting October 18th.