QSundance: Contracorriente (Undertow) Nabs Audience Award
Breaking News from The Sundance Film Festival:
The World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic was presented to CONTRACORRIENTE (UNDERTOW) written and directed by Javier Fuentes-Leõn, an unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside in which a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions.
The film was acquired earlier in the week by by Wolfe. Read more details or watch the trailer at Sundance.org!
QSundance: Focus Grabs Lesbian BROKEBACK
The big news at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City today: Variety reports that Focus Features (the folks who brought us BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and MILK) are closing a $4-5 million dollar acquisition deal today for the new Lisa Cholodenko film, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. Regular QMovieBlog readers will recall news of the film in our November 2010 LGBT Movie Preview. The film stars Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as lesbian moms whose teenage kids (played by Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska) decide they want to meet their sperm donor, Mark Ruffalo.
And we just have to share a snippet from Peter Knegt’s absolutely raving review on indieWIRE.com:
Such authentic examinations of a same-sex family don’t come around too often, and “The Kids Are All Right” has mainstream accessibility to boot. It’s this accessibility (much more present than in Cholodenko’s previous efforts—1998’s “High Art” and 2002’s “Laurel Canyon”) that should allow for the film to have no trouble finding a distributor. Whispers of a major deal came immediately after the credits rolled, and could very well go down today. But wherever “Kids” ends up, audiences should prepare for something truly special: One of the most endearing and genuine cinematic portraits of a contemporary American family, and one that just so happens to be reared by a same-sex couple.
Read the rest at indieWIRE.
Wolfe prez Talks to “Industry Buzz” about LGBT film
“Our most popular movies are romantic comedies and thrillers, just like in the mainstream,” says Wolfe president Maria Lynn in this weekend’s San Francisco Chronicle Industry Buzz column. Speaking from the Sundance Film Festival on her annual acquisitions run, Lynn pointed to two Wolfe releases: the upcoming PORNOGRAPHY: A THRILLER and last year’s popular hit WERE THE WORLD MINE as examples of how trends in the LGBT film world mirror the mainstream. Read more here.
QSundance: Queer Lounge Overview of LGBT Films
The 2010 Sundance Film Festival is happening as we speak — now thru January 31st in Park City, Utah.
The folks at the Queer Lounge put together this helpful Summary of LGBT Festival Films showing at Sundance and other Park City film festivals. The list includes numerous features, documentaries and short films including the new Allen Ginsberg bio-pic HOWL, pictured above.
QSundance — 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION
8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION director Reed Cowan introduced the World Premiere of his documentary about Prop 8 and the Mormon Church this week at the Sundance Film Festival saying:
“Really, my personal reason – aside from giving [the people in the film] a voice – is the fact that I was a kid in Roosevelt, Utah, who knew what it was like to be called a ‘faggot’ every day,” he said. “I knew what it was like to go to church and hear that word in the hall. I knew what it was like to want to kill myself for what I silently fought my whole damn life… And, really, the root of it all was that my church taught that I was a monster for who I was authentically.”
via Queers, Tears and Cheers: Prop 8 Doc Rallies Sundance Audience – indieWIRE.
Pictured above: Pro Prop 8 protesters outside the Sundance premiere of 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION
QSundance — Tilda Swinton As Who?
Possible Tilda casting news from Movieline’s fabulous Kyle Buchanan!?
On Conan O’Brien’s final Tonight Show, he earned one of his biggest laughs when he said that if HBO decided to make a movie about the recent late-night fiasco, he’d “like to be played by Academy Award-winner Tilda Swinton.” I just finished interviewing Swinton at Sundance to promote her new film I Am Love, and I decided (without any authorization from HBO whatsoever) to make her a formal offer for the red-headed role. Do we have a rare bit of good news for the beleaguered O’Brien?
via Tilda Swinton on Playing Conan O’Brien: ‘Yes, Yes, Yes, Absolutely’ | Movieline.
QSundance – Kristen Stewart Dakota Fanning Screen Kiss Mania
The World Premiere of THE RUNAWAYS (coming to theaters in March) was one of the big items at Sundance this past week and of course everyone wanted to hear from Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning talk about the on-screen kiss they share (word has it that Stewart does a great job portraying veteran dyke rocker Joan Jett while Fanning nails RUNAWAYS bandmate Cherie Curry right on). Here’s E! Online’s take:
Filming her kissing scene with Dakota Fanning in The Runaways was just another day at the office for Kristen Stewart.
“It's just something we did,” Stewart said at last night's Sundance Film Festival premiere of the biopic about Joan Jett's 1970s all-girl rock band, The Runaways. ”In this story, it's so not like a romantic thing. It's just something that they just do.”
via Kristen Stewart on Kissing Dakota Fanning: Nothing Romantic About It – E! Online.
GLAAD Talks to DISH director Brian Krinsky
Filmmaker Brian Krinsky talks to GLAAD’s Damon Romine about his wonderful gay short, DISH. Look for DISH coming to DVD on April 6th from Wolfe (as part of the new BOYCRAZY gay shorts collection). Click here to reserve your copy today.