Arts & Entertainment

  For his documentary feature debut filmmaker, Jethro Patalinghug has turned his cameras on one of the oldest LGBT organizations in the country, the Imperial Council also known as the Imperial Court System.  Patalinghug takes a look at its glorious history as it celebrates its 50 year anniversary and now starts to question if there is still place for it in today’s LGBTQ community. The Imperial Court System was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965 by José Sarria. In those dark days it was considered illegal for homosexuals to congregate in public together, but the owner of the Black Cat Cafe where Sarria worked as a drag queen, fought and won […]

  The social media star and model/actor Max Emerson courageously took on the pressing topic of homeless LGBT youth for his feature film writing/directing debut.  This fictionalized story was evidently inspired by the countless troubling emails Emerson received from when, at the grand old age of 25, he published his own memoir Hot Sissy – Life Before Flashbulbs.  He launched a Crowdsource Fund to make his film in a way that 50% of any profits would be passed to charities such as the Albert Kennedy Trust who specifically work with this too often neglected part of our community. His film is the story of a very good […]

  Trans filmmaker T Cooper’s new documentary follows four men as they prepare to compete in Trans Fit Con the only bodybuilding competition in the US  specifically for the trans community.  The contest rules simply state that everyone must identify as trans and as such they allow contestants to enter regardless at what point they are of their physically transitioning. Of the four, Mason is probably the one who takes the bodybuilding the most serious and follows a strict diet regime that would test the patience of a saint let alone his very supportive wife.    The two had dated sometime time ago and then broke […]

Scotty Bowers is a 94-year-old white-haired rascally old man who can remember the old days when he was the procurer that used to feed Hollywood stars’ insatiable appetite for all sorts of forbidden sex as if it was yesterday.  However, with most of the people he names in his rather mind-boggling stories being long dead, it is left to us to attempt to decipher what actually is the truth. For this new documentary filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor ) takes Bowers’ own memoir as his source ‘Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Star‘ yet extremely […]

  At last an iconic fashion designer finally gets a documentary that has been crafted in a style that truly matches his visionary clothes and is completely faithful to the integrity of his inspirational work.  The story of Alexander McQueen as portrayed in this new detailed profile from filmmakers Ian Bonhôte (AlleyCats) and Peter Ettedgui (son of legendary UK Fashion Retailer Joseph) shows a unique and remarkably talented genius whose dark side constantly troubled him and finally made him cut his own life so short. Born into a blue-collar family in London’s East End, Lee’s passion for making clothes ….. and […]

For his sophomore feature film Goya Award-winning director, Carlos Marques-Marcet chose to tackle a relatively new predicament that of a gay couple who are not on the same page about having a baby together. Salsa teacher Eva (Oona Chaplin ) and her Spanish girlfriend part-time bartender Kat (Natalia Tena) seem to have a rather idyllic life living on a barge as they cruise up and down the Regent Canal in London.  Then when Chorizo their cat dies, Eva announces that instead of replacing the pet, she would rather have a baby to make them into a real family. This is obviously not the […]

Billie (Lisa Cordileone) is trapped in an office job which she hates and is only sticking out because she is marrying her girlfriend Gayle (Natasha Negovanlis) in three months time.  However, when her Boss overloads her with work and cuts both her working hours and benefits, she leaves determined to find her ‘own thing’ whatever that means.  When she comes across a ragtail bunch of women (and one solitary silent man) hanging around a church hall every day on the pretext of networking for freelance work, she thinks she has found her calling. Convincing these somewhat reluctant women that if […]

The fourth feature from queer filmmaker Yen Tan is a surprising departure for him as it a sad remembrance of the impact of the AIDS pandemic on American families, from an era that was way before his time and far removed from where he grew up. As a whole debate continues about the need for movies about the epidemic still being made, we should add that this particular film is such a beautifully compassionate finely nuanced story totally lacking in the usual melodrama that so merits it finding the audience that it deserves. It’s the tale of Adrian (Cory Michael Smith) a seemingly […]

  The celebrated 78-year-old playwright Terrence McNally has enjoyed such a packed life with his roller-coaster career and a love life that itself could be the stuff that dramas are made off, so it was a tough challenge for filmmaker Jeff Kaufman to squeeze it all into 90 so minutes the length of his new profile.  The end result is an affectionate and flattering look at an iconic gay figure whose body of work and his actions that accompanied it have played a pivotal role in the LGBT movement in the past fifty years. The story starts in the town of Corpus Christi in Texas where McNally […]