Film

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DVD Review: ‘Desert Hearts’

Watching Desert Hearts it’s difficult not to feel a little frustrated. That’s not because of anything in the movie itself. It’s because even 32 year later it still feels so exceptional. A film with a female director and screenwriter – and based on a novel by a woman – is still an unusual thing. A film that’s about the lives of women and not just how they relate to men, is still an unusual thing. A movie that treats lesbian love as a serious thing and isn’t framed by tragedy, is still an unusual thing. It shouldn’t be that way, […]

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Call Me By Your Name Leads Independent Spirit Nominations, With Gay Films BPM & Beach Rats Also Recognised

It’s been a great year for gay-themed movies at the Independent Spirit Awards – the gongs giving out shortly before the Oscars, which acnowledge and celebrate those film made by and released outside the Hollywood studio system. Leading the pack is the acclaimed Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino’s movie about two young men falling in love in italy in the early 1980s. It scored six nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Male Lead (Timothee Chalamet) and Best Supporting Male (Armie Hammer). The Independent Spirit Awards used to largely be a way to celebrate movies that […]

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Film Review: ‘Heartstone’

The Icelandic movie Heartstone arrives in the UK fresh from a very successful festival run, where it impressed audiences and picked up over 30 awards. That’s not bad for a movie from a country with a population of just 332,000 people. That’s about the same as the city of Coventry. Despite its size, it has a surprisingly thriving film industry, to the point where a large chunk of the population must spend at least part of their time making movies – and surprisingly good ones. The film follows a group of teenagers in a remote fishing community. It’s a place […]

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Film Review: ‘Hidden Kisses’

16 year old Nathan (Bérenger Anceaux) is the new boy at school, and unbeknownst to him his arrival stirs up some very definite feelings in his classmate Louis (Jules Houplain).  When the two of them are at party at the weekend Louis makes his move and kisses Nathan in a deserted spot in the garden.  They are however not totally alone, and when an anonymous  photo suddenly surfaces online next day Nathan starts to feel the heat.  It is not clear which boy he is kissing, but that doesn’t stop all his homophobic classmates verbally teasing him, and eventually a […]

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Film Review: ‘Romeu & Romeu’

  A very young set of Brazilian filmmakers have very loosely adapted Shakespeare’s classic love-story Romeo & Juliet and made it a contemporary queer romantic drama.  This web series was also set in the fictional Italian city of Verona, and is now where the Campelos and Monteiros families have vehemently hated each other for generations after a major falling out. Openly gay Romulo (Arthur Chermont) falls for Ramon (João Mesquita) from the family he is supposed to hate,  who it turns out isn’t straight after all. Ramon shares his grandfather’s diary that he has just discovered which reveals the fact that […]

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Berlin & Beyond Film Fest Happens in SF Nov. 9-11

On November 9th, 2017 at the Roxie Theater in the Mission and on November 10th and 11th at the Goethe-Institut in Downtown San Francisco, America’s premiere festival of contemporary German cinema kicks off its 22nd season! The Autumn Showcase is presented in anticipation of the main 22nd edition of the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival (February 2018), and as the cinematic part of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Goethe-Institut San Francisco with its series of cultural and community events this autumn. The Autumn Showcase will feature the interactive film event The Verdict, the exhilarating Berlin film Tiger Girl, a […]

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Outwatch Film Festival Review: “Saturday Church”

When 14 year old Ulysses’s (Luka Kain) father suddenly dies, his mother (Margot Bingham) has to take on a second job to make ends meet. She somewhat reluctantly accepts an offer from Ulysses’ ultra-conservative Aunt Rose (Regina Taylor) to come to take care of him and his younger sibling after work until she gets home. The teenager is in the throws of discovering his sexuality and identity, and when Rose finds out he has been secretly trying on his mother’s shoes she doesn’t let up on him for one single moment. On a whim he takes himself off on the subway […]

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Frameline Film Review: “Signature Move”

Two women meet and fall in love, despite parental disapproval and their own personal roadblocks. Needless to say, the story of Signature Move, a SXSW world premiere, is far from novel. But vivid details can animate almost any old chestnut, and many of the variations on this timeworn tale help to give the film its appeal. It seems certain to reappear at gay and lesbian film festivals and might turn out to be a modest niche item in a few theaters as well. The story takes place in Chicago, which contains a more multi-faceted ethnic community than some may realize. […]

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Outwatch Film Festival Review: “The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin”

The writer Armistead Maupin is the subject of a documentary directed by Jennifer M. Kroot. Credit The Film Collaborative “I’m a writer who is gay,” the novelist Armistead Maupin says in “The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin.” “I’m not a gay writer. I write about heterosexuals as well.” This fond documentary portrait, directed by Jennifer M. Kroot, makes it clear that Mr. Maupin’s mastery of assorted perspectives is his gift, evident in his masterpiece, “Tales of the City,” a love letter to San Francisco comprising multiple characters. And yet the film offers an enlightening glimpse into how the gay experience […]

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GLAAD Rebukes Kevin Spacey for coming Out to ‘deflect’ from Sexual Harassment allegations

GLAAD called out Kevin Spacey for using his coming out as a way to distract from damning sexual assault allegations. Spacey, 58, announced on Twitter Sunday that he was choosing “to live as a gay man” in the same statement he used to apologize to actor Anthony Rapp for an alleged encounter when Rapp was just 14. Sarah Kate Ellis – the LGBTQ advocacy organization’s president and CEO – did not mince words when it came to how she felt about Spacey’s decision to combine his apology with the shocking revelation of his sexuality. “Coming out stories should not be […]

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