We have now ploughed our way through the programme and these are the little beauties that we're going to watch and [hopefully] enjoy...just click on the poster to watch the trailer, read the synopsis...and, the review...when it's written!

We are going to be adding more films as we progress through the festival...

We were asked how we choose the films that we watch...

Well...anything with LGBT content will obviously go on the list...these films are gleaned from past LGBT film festivals, the programme, press releases and recommendations.

The other films...well, big names will always attract our attention...as will the attending talent. And, anything else that tickles our fancy!

CGiii.com doesn't live in a bubble...LGBT content can now be found in a vast array of films, in a multitude of genres...that's why we cover mainstream film festivals...we have popped our LGBT bubble...and, when you think about it, LGBT film festivals could be considered rather exclusive...which poses a bit of a conundrum in these enlightened days where the more vociferous voices (i.e. the gobby activists) within the LGBT community are screaming for a more inclusive society...yet they advocate, promulgate and promote their own brand of exclusivity...the Queer Film Festival.

Well, dear hearts, this is how we read the situation...LGBT film festivals are becoming more inclusive, all-encompassing and, welcoming to the non-LGBT general public...Queer film festivals...well, they are a different kettle of fish entirely.

Let the queers have their exclusivity...let the mainstream and the LGBT festivals unite...the result: A bigger, better and more diverse audience!

Quite possibly...not the answer that was expected...it does sound as if we have an axe to grind. And, we do...not all of us identify as 'queer' - that word made many of our lives miserable. Word reclamation - what a load of nonsense!

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And, unlike last year, we have included a selection of short films...

Grimm Street - Siri Rodnes/UK/2015/17 min

Carousel - Kal Weber/UK/2015/5 min

The Lamps - Shelly Silver/USA/2015/4 min

L’Oiseau de la Nuit (O Pássaro da Noite) - Marie Losier/Portugal, France/2015/20 min

Man - Maja Borg/Sweden, UK/2016/13 min

Code Red - Sabrina Doyle/USA/2016/15 min

Hux - Mageina Tovah/USA/2016/12 min

A Night in Tokoriki (O noapte în Tokoriki) - Roxana Stroe/ Romania/2016/18 min

---

Day 1...

The opening film...

Good old Scottish weather...the heavens opened and gave us all a jolly good soaking...needless to say, no-one lingered on the Red Carpet...except for the photographers...

In the photgraphers pen, we were all dreaming of a canopy and a poster! Strange...the opening film with no publicity material on show. Clearly, someone is not doing their job!

Anyway...here are a few of the more recognisable faces...

 

 

 

From Tommy's Honour...

Peter Mullan (Tom Morris)

Jack Lowden (Tommy Morris)

&

Jason Connery (director)

 

 

 

 

---

Dougray Scott

...on the Documentary Jury
and starring in The Rezort
(Directed by Steve Barker)

---

Clancy Brown...star of...Highlander...The Shawshank Redemption

Michael Powell Juror

---

 

 

Sadie Frost...

International Juror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The one and only...

Kim Cattrall...

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And, the nominees and winners are...

Features...

•    Mademoiselle de Park Chan Wook
•    Ma Loute de Bruno Dumont
•    The Neon Demon de Nicolas Winding Refn
•    Aquarius de Kleber Mendonça Filho
•    Rester Vertical d'Alain Guiraudie
•    Le Cancre de Paul Vecchiali
•    La Danseuse de Stéphanie Di Giusto
•    Divines de Houda Benyamina
•    Fiore de Claudio Giovannesi
•    Les Vies de Thérèse de Sébastien Lifshitz
•    Apnée de Jean-Christophe Meurisse
•    Grave de Julia Ducournau
•    Willy 1er de Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma, Marielle Gautier, Hugo P. Thomas

Short Films...

•    In The Hills de Hamid Ahmadi (court métrage)
•    Gabber Lover de Anna Cazenave-Cambet (court métrage)
•    Prenjak (In the Year of Monkey) de Wregas Bhanuteja (court métrage)
•    Le Soldat vierge de Erwan Le Duc (court métrage)
•    Superbia de Luca Tóth (court métrage)

...will debut on July 23 @ 10pm...on HBO.

 

 

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

From the director of High School Musical 1, 2 & 3...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

The trailer...

 

 

 

 

...gets a second series...

 

 

 

Despite 1,000,000 bible-bashing Moms declaring it to be the depraved work of satan.

Jesus H. Christ can catholics not take a joke?!?

They certainly can...by pulling the wool over their eyes when it comes to child abuse...by their venerable cock-sucking priests.

Sometimes those TV execs get it right!

 

Aaaaaaaaargh!

 

 

 

We were sure that a sensible television producer - somewhere in the Fox building - would have pulled the plug on this debacle...months ago.

But...no! It's going ahead...

Here's the first image of:

Laverne Cox as Frank-a-la-burlesque...

And...

Ben Vereen as Dr. Everett von Scott...replete with a bad wig and very big stuck-on eyebrows.

 

Aaaaaaaaargh!

 

Oh no...it's that time of the year again...

GLAAD have released their "Studio Responsibility Index" - quite possibly the most worthless report ever to be committed to paper.

In essence, it's a list...of the worst that Hollywood has dished out over the last year...all these films have some sort of LGBT representation...which means...we have to watch them.

17.5% contained LGBT characters...that's 7.5% more than in real life...so, what are you moaning about?!?

 

Here they are...(if it doesn't have an * don't bother)...

Spy (2015) - Paul Feig

Unfinished Business (2015) - Ken Scott

Victor Frankenstein (2015) - Paul McGuigan

***Youth (2015) - Paolo Sorrentino - mentioned but not counted...WHAT?!?

A La Mala (2015) - Pedro Pablo Ibarra

American Ultra (2015) - Nima Nourizadeh

Child 44 (2015) - Daniel Espinosa

Cooties (2014) - Jonathan Milott

The Duff (2015) - Ari Sandel

Freeheld (2015) - Peter Sollet

**Love the Coopers (2015) - Jessie Nelson

Huevos: Little Rooster's Egg-Cellent Adventure (2015) - Gabriel Riva Palacio Alatriste

Chi-Raq (2015) - Spike Lee

**Stonewall (2015) - Roland Emmerich

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015) - Steve Pink

The Night Before (2015) - Jonathan Levine

Ricki and the Flash (2015) - Jonathan Demme

The Wedding Ringer (2015) - Jeremy Garelick

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) - Marielle Heller

Grandma (2015) - Paul Weitz

Lambert & Stamp (2014) - James D. Cooper

Saint Laurent (2014) - Bertrand Bonello

**Testament of Youth (2014) - James Kent

Legend (2015) - Brian Helgeland

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) - Elizabeth Banks

Sisters (2015) - Jason Moore

Ted 2 (2015) - Seth MacFarlane

Trainwreck (2015) - Judd Apatow

5 Flights Up (2014) - Richard Loncraine

*The Danish Girl (2015) - Tom Hooper

*A Little Chaos (2014) - Alan Rickman

*Maps to the Stars (2014) - David Cronenberg

Batkid Begins (2015) - Dana Nachman

Entourage (2015) - Doug Ellin

Get Hard (2015) - Etan Cohen

Hot Pursuit (2015) - Anne Fletcher

Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Gregory Jacobs

Knock Knock (2015) - Eli Roth

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Well...thank God that's over...exhausting, draining and mummifying.

We watched them all and can confirm that GLAAD do a mighty fine job at picking the worst and most trivial films to come out of Hollywood...that feature LGBT characters.

We love Vito Russo...but, the 'Vito Russo Test' is a joke! No-one lives in an ideal world...so, to demand that all LGBT characters have to be portrayed in a positive light is ludicrous. How many nasty old queens do you know?

Rather than wasting money compiling such a worthless list...focus on the great LGBT films that have been made...promote them instead!

This 'Studio Responsibility Index'...waste of money, waste of time, a total irrelevance.

Needless to say...we are not looking forward to next year's list!

Headway est un projet expérimental mélangeant slackline et musique classique.

THE CREDIT : Producer : Nicolas Romieu (https://www.facebook.com/yeahdudefr/?...)
Brainchild : Yohann Grignou (https://www.facebook.com/yohann.grign...)
Director : Yohann Grignou and Nicolas Romieu
Cameraman : Nicolas Romieu, Clémence Sgarbi, Patrick Niangouna, Yohann Grignou
Composer : Alexis Maingaud (https://www.facebook.com/Alexis-Maing...)
Violonist : Nicolas Alvarez
Set Design : Andréa Rolland (https://www.facebook.com/ladelicatepa...)
Slackliner : Louis Boniface (https://www.facebook.com/Louis.Bonifa...)
Actress : Nanoo Romieu
Editor : Yohann Grignou
Grading : Pierre Morsard
Sound Design : Julien Riquier

 

Here are the films...

We've highlighted those that will be of particular interest to us...

In Competition

Opening Film
Woody ALLEN (USA)	CAFÉ SOCIETY	Out of Comp.
	***
Maren ADE (Germany)	TONI ERDMANN
Pedro ALMODÓVAR (Spain)	JULIETA
Andrea ARNOLD (United-Kingdom)	AMERICAN HONEY
Olivier ASSAYAS (France)	PERSONAL SHOPPER
Jean-Pierre DARDENNE, Luc DARDENNE (Belgium)	LA FILLE INCONNUE
Xavier DOLAN (Canada)	JUSTE LA FIN DU MONDE (IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD)
Bruno DUMONT (France)	MA LOUTE (SLACK BAY)
Nicole GARCIA (France)	MAL DE PIERRES
Alain GUIRAUDIE (France)	RESTER VERTICAL
Jim JARMUSCH (USA)	PATERSON
Kleber MENDONÇA FILHO (Brazil)	AQUARIUS
Ken LOACH (United-Kingdom)	I, DANIEL BLAKE
Brillante MENDOZA (Philippines)	MA' ROSA
Cristian MUNGIU (Romania)	BACALAUREAT
Jeff NICHOLS (USA)	LOVING
PARK Chan-Wook (South Korea)	AGASSI (THE HANDMAIDEN)
Sean PENN (USA)	THE LAST FACE
Cristi PUIU (Romania)	SIERANEVADA
Paul VERHOEVEN (Netherlands)	ELLE
Nicolas WINDING REFN (Denmark)	THE NEON DEMON

 Un Certain Regard

Behnam BEHZADI (Iran)	VAROONEGI (INVERSION)
BOO Junfeng (Singapore)	APPRENTICE
Delphine COULIN, Muriel COULIN (France)	VOIR DU PAYS (THE STOPOVER)
Stéphanie DI GIUSTO (France)	LA DANSEUSE (THE DANCER)	1st film
Mohamed DIAB (Egypt)	ESHTEBAK (CLASH)
Michael DUDOK DE WIT (Netherlands)	LA TORTUE ROUGE (RED TURTLE)	1st film
FUKADA Kôji (Japan)	FUCHI NI TATSU (HARMONIUM)
Maha HAJ (Israel)	OMOR SHAKHSIYA (PERSONAL AFFAIRS)	1st film
Eran KOLIRIN (Israel)	ME’EVER LAHARIM VEHAGVAOT (BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS AND HILLS)
KORE-EDA Hirokazu (Japan)	AFTER THE STORM
Juho KUOSMANEN (Finland)	HYMYILEVÄ MIES (THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MÄKI)	1st film
Francisco MÁRQUEZ, Andrea TESTA (Argentina)	LA LARGA NOCHE DE FRANCISCO SANCTIS (FRANCISCO SANCTIS'S LONG NIGHT)	1st film
Bogdan MIRICA (Romania)	CAINI (DOGS)	1st film
Stefano MORDINI (Italy)	PERICLE IL NERO
Michael O’SHEA (USA)	THE TRANSFIGURATION	1st film
Matt ROSS (USA)	CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV (Russia)	UCHENIK (THE STUDENT)

 Out of Competition

Shane BLACK (USA)	THE NICE GUYS
Jodie FOSTER (USA)	MONEY MONSTER
NA Hong-Jin (South Korea)	GOKSUNG
Steven SPIELBERG (USA)	DISNEY’S THE BFG

 Midnight Screenings

Jim JARMUSCH (USA)	GIMME DANGER
YEON Sang-Ho (South Korea)	BU-SAN-HAENG (TRAIN TO BUSAN)

 Special Screenings

Thanos ANASTOPOULOS (Greece) Davide DEL DEGAN (Italy)	L'ULTIMA SPIAGGIA (THE LAST RESORT)
Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN (Chad)	HISSEIN HABRÉ, UNE TRAGÉDIE TCHADIENNE (HISSEIN HABRÉ, A CHADIAN TRAGEDY)
Rithy PANH (Cambodia)	EXIL
Albert SERRA (Spain)	LA MORT DE LOUIS XIV (LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV)
Paul VECCHIALI (France)	LE CANCRE

 

THE 2016 SHORT FILMS COMPETITION - we have no information on any of the short films!
 

This year, the selection committee received 5,008 short films – 458 more than in 2015.
The 2016 Short Films Competition comprises ten films, mostly from Europe and Latin America, with one representative from Asia and one from Africa.

These films are all in the running for the 2016 Short Film Palme d’or, to be awarded by Naomi Kawase, President of the Jury, at the official award ceremony of the 69th Festival de Cannes on 22th May.

 THE SHORT FILMS COMPETITION

Lotfi ACHOUR	LA LAINE SUR LE DOS	Tunisia, France	15’
Sara DUNLOP	DREAMLANDS	United-Kingdom	14’
Juanjo GIMENEZ	TIMECODE	Spain	15’
Raymund GUTIERREZ	IMAGO	Philippines	15’
Simón MESA SOTO	MADRE (Mother)	Colombia, Sweden	14’
João Paulo MIRANDA MARIA	A MOÇA QUE DANÇOU COM O DIABO (The Girl who Danced with the Devil)	Brazil	14’
Félix MOATI	APRÈS SUZANNE	France	15’
Catalin ROTARU, Gabi Virginia SARGA	4:15 P.M. SFARSITUL LUMII (4:15 P.M. The End of the World)	Romania	15’
Farnoosh SAMADI, Ali ASGARI	IL SILENZIO (The Silence)	Italy	15’
Simon VAHLNE	FIGHT ON A SWEDISH BEACH	Sweden	14’

 

THE 2016 CINÉFONDATION SELECTION  

To mark its 19th year, the Cinéfondation Selection has chosen 18 films (14 works of fiction and 4 animations), from among the 2,300 works submitted this year by film schools from all over the world. Fifteen countries from three continents are represented.

Seven of the films selected come from schools taking part for the first time, and it is also the first time that a film school from Venezuela has reached the selection stage. More than half of this edition's movies are directed by women, with 10 out of the 18 films selected.

 The three Cinéfondation prizes will be awarded at a ceremony preceding the screening of the prize-winning films on Friday 20th May in the Buñuel Theatre.

THE CINÉFONDATION SELECTION

Hamid AHMADI	IN THE HILLS	The London Film School UK	21'
Mounia AKL	SUBMARINE	Columbia University School of the Arts USA	21'
Nadja ANDRASEV	A NYALINTÁS NESZE  (The Noise of Licking)	Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Hungary	09'
Alexandru BADEA	TOATE FLUVIILE CURG ÎN MARE (All Rivers Run to the Sea)	UNATC "I. L. Caragiale" Romania	24'
Mélody BOULISSIÈRE	AILLEURS (Somewhere)	École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs France	06'
Anna CAZENAVE CAMBET	GABBER LOVER	La Fémis France	13'
Jac CLINCH	THE ALAN DIMENSION	NFTS UK	08'
Alexandre GILMET	POUBELLE (Trash)	INSAS Belgium	19'
Marta HERNAIZ PIDAL	DOBRO (Fine)	film.factory Bosnia and Herzegovina	15'
Michael LABARCA	LA CULPA, PROBABLEMENTE (The Guilt, Probably)	Universidad de Los Andes  Venezuela	14'
Ernesto MARTÍNEZ BUCIO	LAS RAZONES DEL MUNDO (The Reasons in the World)	Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica Mexico	37'
PARK Young-ju	1 KILOGRAM	Korea National University of Arts Republic of Korea	29'
Fereshteh PARNIAN	ARAM	Université Lumière Lyon 2 France	17'
Saurav RAI	GUDH (Nest)	Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute India	28'
Laura SAMANI	LA SANTA CHE DORME (The Sleeping Saint)	Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Italy	19'
Remo SCHERRER	BEI WIND UND WETTER (Whatever the Weather)	Hochschule Luzern - Design & Kunst Switzerland	11'
Or SINAI	ANNA	The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School Israel	24'
Malena VAIN	BUSINESS	Universidad del Cine Argentina	20'

Season 2 will start streaming on Netflix on May 6th.

Here's the trailer...

With their ex-hubbies now married to each other and their clans more integrated than ever, Grace and Frankie continue to struggle to make sense of the brave new world that is their lives. Frankie copes by getting more involved in Brianna's business.

...IN LOS ANGELES THE BEVERLY HILTON, APRIL 2, 2016

The 27^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards aired on Logo on Monday, April 4 at 10pm ET/PT.

Following is a complete list of GLAAD Media Awards presented on stage, and the individuals that accepted the awards:

• Vanguard Award:  Demi Lovato (presented by Nick Jonas)
• Stephen F. Kolzak Award:  Ruby Rose (presented by Taylor Swift)
• Outstanding Reality Program: TIE: I Am Cait (E!) and I Am Jazz (TLC) [accepted by: Caitlyn Jenner and Jazz Jennings]
• Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series: Bessie (HBO) [accepted by: Queen Latifah]
• Outstanding Drama Series: Sense8 (Netflix) [accepted by: Lilly Wachowski, co-creator of Sense8]
• Outstanding Spanish-Language Television Interview: "Orientación sexual y acoso escolar" Realidades en Contexto (CNN en Español) [accepted by: CNN en Español anchor Mercedes Soler and Marcos Saldivar]

The following is a list of other award recipients announced at the 27^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles:

• Outstanding Film– Wide Release: Carol (The Weinstein Company)
• Outstanding Comedy Series: Transparent (Amazon Instant Video)
• Outstanding Documentary: Kumu Hina (PBS)
• Outstanding Daily Drama: The Bold and The Beautiful (CBS)
•  Outstanding Music Artist: Troye Sivan, Blue Neighbourhood (Capitol Records)
• Outstanding Comic Book: Lumberjanes, written by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh (BOOM! Studios)
• Outstanding Talk Show Episode: "Janet Mock" Super Soul Sunday (OWN)

GLAAD previously announced that it was acknowledging two web series, Beautiful As I Want To Be (Logotv.com) and This is Me (Amazon Instant Video) with Special Recognition Awards.

SPANISH-LANGUAGE NOMINEES

• Outstanding Novela:  Rastros de mentiras (MundoMax)
• Outstanding Music Artist:  Ricky Martin, A quien quiera escuchar (Sony Music Latin)
• Outstanding Local Television Interview: "La nueva transgeneración" Enfoque Los Ángeles (KVEA-Telemundo 52 [Los Ángeles])
• Outstanding Local TV Journalism: "Cada 29 horas" Noticias 19 (KUVS-Univision 19 [Sacramento])
• Outstanding Newspaper Article: "Padres transgénero - El único requisito para ser papá es el amor por los hijos" by Virginia Gaglianone (La Opinión)
• Outstanding Digital Journalism Article: "Perú: violaciones correctivas: El terrible método para 'curar' a las lesbianas" by Leire Ventas (BBCMundo.com)

Additional awards will be presented at the GLAAD Media Awards event at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on Saturday, May 14.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives.  They also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community that build support for equality. GLAAD Media Award nominees were published, released or broadcast between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015.

TBWA Paris and Inter-LGBT France have produced a rather stylish little short film...about the obstacles LGBT people have to face on a daily basis.

Inter-LGBT says they wanted to show, the ‘energy, patience and courage it takes to get up every morning and keep moving despite prejudice and violence’, for many LGBT people.

Le Parcours by Inter-LGBT

Directed by Ben Briand

James Franco:

“Well, I like to think that I’m gay in my art and straight in my life. Although, I’m also a gay in my life up to the point of intercourse, and then you could say I’m straight… If it means whom you have sex with, I guess I’m straight.”

Who - indeed - cares!?!

...on the 3 April...!

In the episode entitled 'The Burns Cage' - Smithers spills the beans and Homer tries to find him a paramour!

Quite possibly...the most interesting LGBT Film Festival in living memory...with such a catchy title...!?!

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The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the complete lineup for their new series, "An Early Clue to the New Direction: Qu**r Cinema Before Stonewall," which will take place from April 22 – May 1.

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Opening Night

Mädchen in Uniform
Leontine Sagan, Germany, 1931, 35mm, 88m
German with English subtitles
Starring an all-female cast, Mädchen in Uniform is an enduring classic of lesbian cinema. Manuela, a sensitive new arrival at a school for the daughters of military officers, falls hopelessly in love with a charismatic teacher, Fräulein von Bernburg, eliciting the wrath of the headmistress, pitiless martinet Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden. Made on the eve of Nazi ascendance, the film stands as a nuanced parable of authoritarianism, yet it’s also a moving portrait of burgeoning sapphic desire, rendered with great technical skill. “With this work the pre-war German sound film reached its highest level,” the film historian Lotte Eisner observed. “Leontine Sagan, a stage-actress, directed the dialogue admirably. She brings out the unselfconscious naïvety of the boarders’ confidences whispered across the dormitory, and the flush of love trembling in the cracked voice of the adolescent.” Print courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.
Friday, April 22, 6:30pm (Introduction by filmmaker Su Friedrich)
Tuesday, April 26, 2:30pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Opening Night

Fireworks + Un Chant d’amour + Blood of a Poet (TRT: 101m)

Fireworks
Kenneth Anger, USA, 1947, 35mm, 20m

Un Chant d’amour
Jean Genet, France, 1950, 35mm, 26m

Blood of a Poet
Jean Cocteau, France, 1932, 35mm, 55m
French with English subtitles

Rounding out the opening night of Film Society’s pre-Stonewall series are three essential instances of early qu**r cinema, beginning with Fireworks, one of Kenneth Anger’s first films. The movie develops like a fever dream, in which a young man, played by the director, ventures into the night and encounters a gang of hunky sailors, ready to rough him up. “This flick,” Anger quipped, “is all I have to say about being 17, the United States’ Navy, American Christmas and the 4th of July.” Equally oneiric is Un Chant d’amour—the only film by writer Jean Genet—a study of two prisoners in adjacent cells who share moments of great tenderness despite the wall that divides them. Both of these works, like many other experimental films, share a precedent in Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet, a richly imaginative allegory of aesthetic invention in which an artist journeys through the looking glass. Fireworks 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funding provided by The Film Foundation.
Friday, April 22, 8:30pm (Introduction by artist Nick Mauss)

Blood and Roses
Roger Vadim, France/Italy, 1960, 35mm, 74m
English-language version
As historian Andrea Weiss perceptively observed, “Outside of male pornography, the lesbian vampire is the most persistent lesbian image in the history of the cinema.” Blood and Roses, a re-creation of the same Sheridan Le Fanu novella that inspired Dreyer’s Vampyr, is a high point of the genre. On the eve of her cousin’s wedding, glamorous aristocrat Carmilla tells a tale about the history of vampires in her family, all of whom were destroyed hundreds of years ago, except for one. Lured by unseen forces to an abandoned abbey, she encounters the tomb of her ancestor and becomes possessed by the bloodthirsty spirit, haunting the grounds of her estate thereafter in a flowing white gown, seeming only to crave the flesh of the women she encounters. A film that draws generously from the visual legacy of Cocteau, Blood and Roses proves to be sapphic horror story of a thoroughly stylish sort.
Wednesday, April 27, 9:00pm

Boys Beware + Passion in a Seaside Slum + Ron and Chuck in Disneyland Discovery + Hold Me While I’m Naked (TRT: 71m)

Boys Beware
Sid Davis, USA, 1961, 10m

Passion in a Seaside Slum
Robert Wade Chatterton, USA, 1962, 16mm, 32m

Ron and Chuck in Disneyland Discovery
Pat Rocco, USA, 1969, 12m

Hold Me While I’m Naked
George Kuchar, USA, 1966, 16mm, 17m

George Kuchar began his career in pictures early, making brilliant dime-store approximations of Hollywood spectaculars with his brother Mike while still a teenager in the Bronx. Hold Me While I’m Naked, a stone-cold classic of underground cinema about a filmmaker who finds himself in a crisis when his lead actress quits, was his first solo outing, a candy-colored treatise on the humor and pathos of sexual hunger. Just as funny is Passion in a Seaside Slum, an 8mm rarity featuring the swishy stylings of homosexual clown Taylor Mead, in which he courts some rough trade on a Venice pier. The cruising is a bit more covert in Pat Rocco’s Ron and Chuck in Disneyland Discovery, an encounter between two men shot on the sly at the theme park of the title, though no less charming. Starting things off is Boys Beware, a cautionary educational film about the dangers of predatory gay men, shown here for maximum camp appeal. Boys Beware courtesy of the Prelinger Archives; Passion in a Seaside Slum print courtesy of Anthology Film Archives; Ron and Chuck in Disneyland Discovery digital transfer courtesy of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Collection. 
Saturday, April 30, 5:35pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Dickson Experimental Sound Film + Algie, the Miner + Vingarne (TRT: 61m)

Dickson Experimental Sound Film
W.K.L. Dickson, USA, 1895, 35mm, 1m

Algie, the Miner
Alice Guy-Blaché, Harry Shenck & Edward Warren, USA, 1912, 35mm, 10m

Vingarne
Mauritz Stiller, Sweden, 1916, 35mm, 50m
Swedish intertitles with English subtitles

Dickson Experimental Sound Film is of consequence to cinema history as the only surviving film made for the Kinetophone, which combined the phonograph and the kinetoscope. Yet the scene it depicts, of two men dancing while a third plays violin, has long captivated qu**r artists and audiences alike. Algie, the Miner, meanwhile, is a gay-cowboy movie made nearly a century before Brokeback Mountain, whose fey lead is sent westward so that he might butch up in preparation for the task of heterosexual courtship. Anchoring the lineup is the rarely screened Vingarne, the first film to deal more or less explicitly with a gay relationship. Though once thought lost—a fire at the Svensk Filmindustri archives in 1941 destroyed the negative—a portion of the work turned up at auction in 1987, and from these elements, along with stills housed at the Library of Congress, the present version of Vingarne was reconstructed. Dickson Experimental Sound Film and Algie, the Miner prints courtesy of the Library of Congress; Vingarne print courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute.
Saturday, April 23, 1:30pm

An Early Clue to the New Direction + My Hustler (TRT: 107m)

An Early Clue to the New Direction
Andrew Meyer, USA, 1966, 16mm, 28m

My Hustler
Andy Warhol, USA, 1965, 16mm, 79m

Andrew Meyer first became known as a promising young experimental filmmaker, singled out by artists like Gregory J. Markopoulos for his lyrical small-gauge work. An Early Clue to the New Direction is one his best, starring cult actress Joy Bang, poet Rene Ricard, and early gay-rights activist Prescott Townsend, who holds forth on his “snowflake theory” of human sexuality’s myriad varieties. Like Meyer’s film, Andy Warhol’s My Hustler is a kind of underground chamber play whose characters jockey for erotic attention. The prize of this competition is studly Factory denizen Paul America, who plays a sex worker on the clock in Fire Island. Yet a victor never emerges, and after a flurry of brilliantly improvised banter the film is left unresolved. “Warhol’s films don’t have happy endings,” the art historian Douglas Crimp averred. “They don’t have endings at all. They just end.”
Saturday, April 30, 3:15pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Flaming Creatures + Lupe (TRT: 94m)

Flaming Creatures
Jack Smith, USA, 1963, 16mm, 45m

Lupe
Jose Rodriguez-Soltero, USA, 1966, 16mm, 49m

Jonas Mekas, along with Ken and Flo Jacobs, was arrested for screening Flaming Creatures in 1964, and the obscenity case that followed would become a central episode of the New American Cinema. The film’s images, idiosyncratically framed and etherealized by the outdated stock they were shot on, feature the extravagantly costumed voluptuaries of the title as they dance, preen, and, most strikingly, take part in a pansexual mock orgy. “Flaming Creatures is that rare modern work of art: it is about joy and innocence,” wrote Susan Sontag. “To be sure, this joyousness, this innocence is composed out of themes which are—by ordinary standards—perverse, decadent, at the least highly theatrical and artificial. But this, I think, is precisely how the film comes by its beauty and its modernity.” Also showing is the unjustly overlooked Lupe by Jose Rodriguez-Soltero, a lushly lo-fi biopic of actress Lupe Vélez starring drag legend Mario Montez.
Saturday, April 30, 1:15pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

A Florida Enchantment
Sidney Drew, USA, 1914, 16mm, 63m
Lillian Travers, a young heiress, travels from New York to Florida to surprise her fiancé, a doctor who’s seasonally employed at a St. Petersburg hotel. Upon arrival, however, she becomes furious to discover many of the female guests lavishing attention on her husband-to-be, and in a moment of frustration she swallows a seed that transforms men into women and vice versa. Her butch metamorphosis thus begins, and soon she’s kissing and courting every woman in sight, much to the chagrin of her erstwhile lover. Confusions comically mount, and by film’s end the doctor has tried the magic seed as well, to similar effect. In some respects, like its use of blackface, the film is odiously of its moment, yet in other ways it’s quite remarkable, offering an elaborate fantasy of gender variance that transcends the transvestite gags so common to the silent era.
Tuesday, April 26, 6:45pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

A Fragment of Seeking + Geography of the Body + The Case of Mr. Lynn (TRT: 76m)

A Fragment of Seeking
Curtis Harrington, USA, 1946, 16mm, 14m

Geography of the Body
Willard Maas, USA, 1943, 16mm, 7m

The Case of Mr. Lynn
Reuben Siegel, USA, 1955, 16mm, 55m

An early film by Curtis Harrington, made while he was still a student and long before he would go on to direct horror movies with AIP, A Fragment of Seeking is a study of adolescent narcissism that articulates the labyrinth of the psyche through an experimental design reminiscent of Maya Deren and Jean Cocteau. Geography of the Body, by contrast, takes as its subject not the mind but flesh itself, abstracting the human form through a montage of extreme close-ups. These avant-garde works set the stage for one of the truly deep cuts of the pre-Stonewall series, The Case of Mr. Lynn, a fascinating document of the carnal at odds with the inner life. The reel is an actual filmed therapy session with a troubled young homophile, made in 1955 under the auspices of Penn State’s Psychological Cinema Register. “When you say that you’re qu**r,” Lynn explains, “it automatically sets you apart.”
Tuesday, April 26, 8:15pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

The Girl with the Golden Eyes
Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, Italy/France, 1961, 35mm, 90m
French with English subtitles
Henri Marsay, a rakish lothario, enjoys sex as something of a gamble and a sport. While participating alongside his friends in elaborate scenarios of erotic gamesmanship, he becomes increasingly preoccupied with his latest conquest, and grows distraught upon discovering a rival in her lesbian paramour. Though now relatively obscure, The Girl with the Golden Eyes was not without enthusiasts upon its initial release. Amos Vogel even arranged a special presentation of the work at his influential film society Cinema 16, situating it as an alternative to the Nouvelle Vague offerings of the era. “A mysterious, perverse Gothic tale, derived from Balzac and transposed to a deceptively contemporary Paris, probes the secret of a bizarre love in an atmosphere of sophisticated decadence,” wrote Vogel in his program notes. “Opulent in its artificiality, the film is especially noteworthy for its visual pyrotechnics, luxuriant imagination and unexpected continuity.”
Thursday, April 28, 9:15pm
Friday, April 29, 5:00pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Glen or Glenda?
Edward D. Wood Jr., USA, 1953, 35mm, 65m
Though it was developed as an exploitation film meant to capitalize on popular interest in Christine Jorgensen’s transition, then a tabloid sensation, Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda? is, for its time, an astonishingly sympathetic portrayal of cross-dressing and gender nonconformity. Nominally resembling an educational reel, the film relates the stories of Glen, who struggles to tell his fiancée that he covets her angora sweaters, and a GI who undergoes reassignment surgery, but Wood conveys this narrative in a style bizarre beyond measure. While the director’s more famous Plan 9 from Outer Space is regarded as the ne plus ultra of bad, low-budget moviemaking, Glen or Glenda?, with its inexplicable dream sequences, portentous narration, stock-footage hyperbole, and terrifically stiff acting, is no less bewildering in its composition.
Sunday, April 24, 9:00pm

The Killing of Sister George
Robert Aldrich, USA, 1968, 16mm, 138m
Actress June Buckridge (Beryl Reid) plays a kindly nun in a popular British soap, a role altogether distinct from her off-screen persona: a fabulously brassy butch with a sadistic streak who hits the bottle hard. Her life begins to unravel when plans are made to kill off her character, and, making matters worse, one of the show’s producers has eyes for her much-younger girlfriend. The writer Terry Castle described The Killing of Sister George as “a lesbian fable at once so jolting and so sophisticated, so true and so false, so intelligent and raffish about what women do together, it seemingly had to be forgotten immediately.” Yet revisiting the film, she concluded that “one may feel one still hasn’t caught up with it. Susannah York in lingerie and bunny skuffs, chomping on a cigar fished from the toilet by her lover, a raddled Beryl Reid: it’s a revolution in awareness still waiting to happen.”
Sunday, May 1, 8:00pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Lot in Sodom + Salomé (TRT: 100m)

Lot in Sodom
James Sibley Watson & Melville Webber, USA, 1933, 28m

Salomé
Charles Bryant & Alla Nazimova, USA, 1923, 35mm, 72m

“While obeying the biblical account concerning Lot and his family and the function of the two angels who investigate Sodom at the Lord’s behest,” critic Parker Tyler once noted, “the Watson-Webber work uses all its creative accents to depict the sensual responses of the male homosexuals of Sodom to the physical beauty of the foremost angel. Naturally the angel repulses their advances and proceeds (not finding fifty chaste persons present) to condemn Sodom to the flames, but not before we have witnessed, at some length, the orgiastic pleasures of the all-male population.” Lot in Sodom has often shared a double bill with Alla Nazimova and Charles Bryant’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, and the combination is fitting, as the latter is an equally homoerotic riff on scripture. In reference, no doubt, to the film’s Aubrey Beardsley–inspired mise en scène and rumors of its exclusively gay casting, Kenneth Anger dubbed it “Nancy-Prancy-Pansy-Piffle and just too qu**r for words.” Prints courtesy of Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1893-1941, sponsored by Anthology Film Archives, New York, and Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, and underwritten by Cineric, Inc.
Saturday, April 23, 3:00pm

Love Meetings
Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1964, 35mm, 92m
Italian with English subtitles
For Love Meetings, Pasolini traveled throughout Italy, from the factories to the beaches, and interviewed passersby about their attitudes toward sex. A charismatic interlocutor, he questions them, mic in hand, on a wide range of topics: the importance of sex in everyday life, prostitution, homosexuality, the legalization of divorce. And while discussing the customs of the country and its changing mores, invariably his subjects begin to broach other topics as well, like the way ideas about sex are informed by nationalism or religion or gender relations. Though a lesser-known entry in Pasolini’s filmography, Love Meetings is endlessly compelling, both as a social artifact and a work of art. “Every man is made differently,” the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti remarks, referring both to their physical constitution and their spiritual disposition. “Therefore all men are, in their own way, abnormal. All men are, in a way, in contrast with nature.” Print courtesy of Istituto Luce Cinecittà.
Wednesday, April 27, 4:30pm
Friday, April 29, 9:15pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Michael
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Germany, 1924, 35mm, 93m
German intertitles with English subtitles
Like Mauritz Stiller’s Vingarne, Dreyer’s film is drawn from Herman Bang’s 1902 novel Mikaël. While Stiller’s approach is significant for its film-within-a-film reflexivity—there, an adaption of Bang’s book is accompanied by a framing story about the making of the adaptation—Dreyer takes a different tack. His variation on the love triangle between a famous artist, the protégé he pines for, and a penniless aristocrat is comparatively muted in its homoeroticism, yet no less powerful as a result. Dreyer counted Michael as a favorite of his early films. The picture speaks through its sumptuous decor, its subtle performances, and, perhaps most crucially, its compositions, expertly lensed by the influential cinematographer Karl Freund. Indeed, Dreyer’s close-ups in Michael, which convey emotion so delicately as to make words superfluous, anticipate those in The Passion of Joan of Arc. Print courtesy of the Murnau Foundation.
Saturday, April 23, 5:00pm
Tuesday, April 26, 4:30pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Mona’s Candle Light + Olivia (aka The Pit of Loneliness) (TRT: 116m)

Mona’s Candle Light
Director unknown, USA, ca. 1950, 35mm, 28m

Olivia (aka The Pit of Loneliness)
Jacqueline Audry, France, 1951, 35mm, 88m
French with English subtitles
“Scripted by Colette, Olivia offered hothouse lesbian passion in an upper class French girls’ school,” wrote Vito Russo in The Celluloid Closet, his classic account of homosexuality and cinema. “It was a perfect ‘shadow people’ film for the Fifties. It featured dark doings in school corridors and ended in the obligatory tragic circumstances. American censors assured the delicacy of treatment for which Pit of Loneliness was touted. One censor’s notation read: ‘Eliminate in Reel 5D: Scene of Miss Julie holding Olivia in close embrace and kissing her on the mouth. Reason: Immoral, would tend to corrupt morals.’” Audry’s feature is preceded by Mona’s Candle Light, an amateur short film shot at popular San Francisco bar Mona’s circa 1950, providing a unique opportunity to consider a big-screen depiction of sapphic yearning alongside a rare, rediscovered lesbian home movie from the same moment. Mona’s Candle Light 35mm print courtesy of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Collection; Olivia print courtesy of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC).
Sunday, April 24, 6:30pm

Monte Hanson and Tony Gallo + Queens at Heart + The Queen (TRT: 96m)

Monte Hanson and Tony Gallo
Bob Mizer, USA, 1964, 6m

Queens at Heart
Director unknown, USA, 1967, 35mm, 22m

The Queen
Frank Simon, USA, 1968, 35mm, 68m

An evocative time capsule, Frank Simon’s debut takes in the sights and sounds of 1967’s Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant. Drag artists throughout the land descended upon Town Hall to vie for the title, but, notes emcee Flawless Sabrina, “There can only be one queen.” Praising its humor and its style, Renata Adler saw the film as a revelation: “It shows us another America.” Made just prior to The Queen, Queens at Heart provides glimpse into the twilight world of ball culture, offering a series of probing interviews with four transwomen, in which they speak with great candor to the struggles of their moment as well as to their hopes. Striking a somewhat different chord is a physique film by the prolific and pioneering gay pornographer Bob Mizer. Here, two scantily clad men pose, wrestle, and jokingly try to out-flex one another in what amounts to a beauty contest of its own. Queens at Heart 35mm print courtesy of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Collection; The Queen print courtesy of Harvard Film Archive.
Sunday, May 1, 5:45pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

No Help Needed + Therese and Isabelle (TRT: 124m)

No Help Needed
Director unknown, USA, ca. 1940, 16mm, 6m

Therese and Isabelle
Radley Metzger, France/USA/Netherlands/West Germany, 1968, 118m

Based on the novel by Violette Leduc, Therese and Isabelle begins with a woman visiting the school grounds of her youth; the buildings are empty, so she speaks “to the ghosts.” Memories from 20 years prior flash into her mind, and she recalls a budding sapphic tryst with a free-spirited classmate. Metzger crafts this saga of first love with emotional honesty and a sensual visual intelligence—no wonder Kathy Acker once wrote that she wanted her dreams to be like Therese and Isabelle. Complementing this masterly softcore effort is No Help Needed, a rare fragment of vintage lesbian pornography from the personal collection of filmmaker and qu**r film programmer Jenni Olson.
Sunday, May 1, 1:00pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Oblivion + Winged Dialogue & Plan of Brussels + Twice a Man (TRT: 74m)

Oblivion
Tom Chomont, USA, 1969, 16mm, 4m

Winged Dialogue & Plan of Brussels
Robert Beavers, Greece/Belgium, 1967-8/2000, 16mm, 3m/18m

Twice a Man
Gregory J. Markopoulos, USA, 1963, 16mm, 49m

“I wish to demonstrate by the film Twice a Man, a new narrative form which is based on very brief film-phrases used in clusters to evoke thought through imagery,” Gregory J. Markopoulos declared in a statement about his modern restaging of the Hippolytus myth. By intercutting these fleeting moments into longer sequences, he found novel ways to convey the shape of consciousness via cinema, highlighting the psychological and aesthetic force of individual film frames, and the space between them. Beyond the innovations of his approach to composition, Markopoulos was also a tremendously supportive and influential figure for young gay experimental filmmakers in the 1960s, such as Nathaniel Dorsky, Jerome Hiler, Edward Owens, and Warren Sonbert, as well as Robert Beavers and Tom Chomont, represented here by important early works that, each in their own distinct way, plumb the depths of the erotic imagination through complex superimposition and pulsing montage.
Friday, April 29, 7:15pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Persona
Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1966, 35mm, 85m
English and Swedish with English subtitles
What’s so qu**r about this Swedish auteur? More, perhaps, than one might expect. “The first important lesbian images in cinema for me were: Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in Ingmar Bergman’s Persona,” the writer Sarah Schulman recently explained, “particularly the moment where their intensity of feeling burned up the celluloid.” One of the filmmaker’s most enigmatic works, Persona is the story of an actress who was suddenly fallen mute, and retreats to the countryside with her nurse to convalesce. But this bucolic interlude exacts a psychological toll on the two women, especially the garrulous caretaker, who grows increasingly intimate with, and ultimately resentful of, her silent charge. Aided by Sven Nykvist’s elegant camerawork and artful punctuations in the sound design, an air of violent eroticism prevails throughout. Persona, one of the great movies about the precarious nature of identity, shudders with neurotic life.
Saturday, April 23, 8:45pm

Portrait of Jason
Shirley Clarke, USA, 1967, 105m
Portrait of Jason is an extended interview with its eponymous subject: a gay African-American man and a brilliant raconteur. When asked by Clarke early on what he does for a living, he succinctly responds, giggling: “I hustle… I’m a stone whore, and I’m not ashamed of it.” This might be the ultimate film about hustling and being hustled. It becomes clear that Jason’s identity is assumed in more ways than one. He spins hilarious yarns—recounting affairs gone sour, his days of indolent splendor as a houseboy, raising money for a nightclub act that he has endlessly deferred—but eventually they start to unravel. To borrow from Jason’s elaborate lexicon, things get… confused. Are his theatrics for us, or for himself? Are we being had or entertained? Or has Jason shifted around the particulars of his autobiography so often that he’s found it illegible? Maybe all are true, or none.
Sunday, May 1, 3:30pm (Introduction by writer Hilton Als) – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Princess Mandane
Germaine Dulac, France, 1928, 35mm, 74m
French intertitles with English subtitles
Though best known for avant-garde works like The Seashell and the Clergyman and The Smiling Madame Beudet, lesbian filmmaker Germaine Dulac also made a number of features, like the beguiling and little-shown Princess Mandane, a loose adaptation of Pierre Benoît’s novel Forgetfulness and her final commercial production. “In my film,” Dulac once said, “Benoît’s hero becomes a victim of the cinema. His obsession with all the glorious adventures on the screen forces him to abandon his peaceful life and roam the world. He becomes transported into a country full of wonders, a marvelous kingdom ruled by a fairy princess. A moral ends the story: After many adventures, my hero prefers to find happiness in simplicity.” Though with this fable comes a final twist, a turn of events that, it has been argued, constitute one of the most explicitly sapphic moments in Dulac’s cinema. Print courtesy of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC).
Saturday, April 23, 7:00pm

Reflections in a Golden Eye
John Huston, USA, 1967, 35mm, 108m
“There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed.” So begins John Huston’s adaptation of Carson McCullers’s Reflections in a Golden Eye. Overflowing with gothic atmosphere, the film circles around the stoic, marble-mouthed Major Weldon Penderton, a character rigorously embodied by Marlon Brando. He silently pines for a mysterious young soldier (Robert Forster, in his first screen role) who has secrets of his own, like a fondness for naked horseback riding and a peculiar fixation with the negligee of the Major’s wife, Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor, in a performance so tempestuous it rivals her turn in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). Less inhibited is the neighbors’ houseboy Anacleto, a fey, scene-stealing esthete who refuses to conform to the strictures of the military environment that surrounds him, making him something of a rare bird in this stirring examination of repressed longings and their unbearable weight.
Saturday, April 30, 9:30pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Rope
Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1948, 35mm, 80m
“It’s supposed to be about homosexuals, and you don’t even see the boys kiss each other,” Jean Renoir once said of Rope. “What’s that?” This comment, seemingly dismissive, actually reaches to the heart of the movie, a work very much about what we see, and what we don’t. A virtuosic formal achievement, Rope plays out as a single continuous shot, accomplished by the use of hidden cuts. Hitchcock’s first color film was adapted by gay screenwriter Arthur Laurents from a stage play that was, in turn, based on the infamous 1924 Leopold and Loeb case, in which two young lovers murdered a 14-year-old boy in cold blood. Yet the on-screen depiction of homosexuality was verboten in the 1940s, so Farley Granger and John Dall, the qu**r actors cast as the killers, gamely maneuvered through a scenario that, even by the standards of a Hitchcock film, is drenched in innuendo.
Sunday, April 24, 4:45pm
Monday, April 25, 2:00pm

Sylvia Scarlett
George Cukor, USA, 1935, 35mm, 95m
English and French with English subtitles
Condemned by the Legion of Decency and a disappointment at the box office, Sylvia Scarlett was revived decades later and now enjoys a reputation as one of the highlights of Cukor’s impressive filmography. In a scheme to help her embezzling bookkeeper father escape Marseilles for London, young Sylvia (Katharine Hepburn) cuts her hair, dons a fedora, and changes her name to Sylvester. En route, they encounter a “gentleman adventurer” (Cary Grant, at his most louche) and together the trio starts grifting, though Sylvester proves too high-minded for the criminal life. Cukor’s sexuality sometimes found a subterranean expression in his pictures, and this is nowhere more apparent than in Sylvia Scarlett, a gender-bending picaresque tale in which the terms of erotic identification are constantly, cleverly evolving, for the cast and audience alike. “I know what it is,” one character memorably declares to Sylvester, “that gives me a queer feeling when I look at you.”
Sunday, April 24, 2:45pm
Monday, April 25, 4:00pm

Tea and Sympathy
Vincente Minnelli, USA, 1956, 35mm, 122m
John Kerr and Deborah Kerr reprised their roles from Robert Anderson’s popular Broadway play Tea and Sympathy for Vincente Minnelli’s screen adaptation, a sensitive consideration of virulent homophobia at a boarding school, delineated here in a resplendent color palette by cinematographer John Alton. Tom Lee is different from the other boys, an introvert more inclined toward sewing, gardening, and crooning folk songs than tossing the pigskin, and his fellow classmates terrorize him as a result. He finds a confidante in faculty wife Laura Reynolds, however, and gradually a love flowers between them. Their relationship would suggest that the whispers about Tom are unfounded, but the narrative still raised the hackles of the Production Code office. “In retrospect,” Minnelli recalled, “it wasn’t a very shocking picture, but it might have set up a brouhaha at the time. Ostrich-wise, the censors refused to admit the problem of sexual identity was a common one.”
Wednesday, April 27, 6:30pm
Thursday, April 28, 4:30pm

Victim
Basil Dearden, UK, 1961, 35mm, 100m
“It is extraordinary,” Dirk Bogarde recalled in his autobiography, “in this over-permissive age, to believe that this modest film could ever have been considered courageous, daring or dangerous to make. It was, in its time, all three.” Shot in the wake of 1957’s Wolfenden Report, a hotly debated government study that recommended the decriminalization of same-sex relations in Britain, Victim is a supremely artful message film. Taking the shape of a detective story, it concerns a closeted barrister who becomes embroiled in a blackmailing scheme targeting gay men, prompting him to take on the extortionists despite the cost to his marriage and promising career. As the first commercial production in the UK to fully address homosexuality, Victim is a social landmark, yet its reverberations can be felt still further across film history; it made a tremendous impression, in particular, on a then-teenage Terence Davies.
Thursday, April 28, 7:00pm
Friday, April 29, 3:00pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Who Killed Teddy Bear?
Joseph Cate’s, USA, 1965, 35mm, 94m
In a far cry from his signature role as the doe-eyed, crushed-out Plato in Rebel Without a Cause, Sal Mineo is seen to his advantage in Who Killed Teddy Bear? as a brawny busboy working at a New York discotheque. He spends his downtime as a peeping tom with a penchant for making obscene phone calls to his co-worker Norah (Juliet Prowse), who also finds admirers in the club’s tough-talking lesbian manager (Elaine Stritch) and a cop dedicated to the assiduous study of sexual deviancy (Jan Murray). Set amid the smut shops, peep shows, and porno theaters of old Times Square, Joseph Cate’s cult classic anticipates Scorsese’s Taxi Driver with its wonderfully seedy tale of obsessive desire and urban alienation. Print courtesy of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
Saturday, April 30, 7:30pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

The Wild Party
Dorothy Arzner, USA, 1929, 35mm, 77m
Though officially closeted, as a lesbian filmmaker in the classical Hollywood era, Dorothy Arzner was a unique figure. Following her time as an editor, she eventually worked her way up to the director’s chair with 1927’s Fashions for Women, and would go on to earn a reputation as a star-maker, kick-starting the careers of Lucille Ball (Dance, Girl, Dance) and Rosalind Russell (Craig’s Wife), among others. As Paramount’s first sound movie, The Wild Party marked a turning point for both Arzner and the industry. Clara Bow, the original “It” girl, stars as a student at a women’s college who is “The life of the party and HOW!” Though the plot is driven by the vicissitudes of her blossoming romance with a young anthropology professor, modern audiences are likely to be just as intrigued by the film’s account of female friendship, and the sapphic implication of the homosocial milieu.
Sunday, April 24, 1:00pm

Special Event
Chained Girls: Sensationalism, Pulp, and Mid-Century Qu**r History
A lecture by film scholar Amy Villarejo
Tabloid, pulp, and sensational films documented qu**r lives in the mid-20th century, offering a fascinating glimpse into the world of the clandestine and the closet, revisited recently by Todd Haynes in Carol. What visions of lesbian and gay life do films like Joseph P. Mawra’s 1965 Chained Girls offer to us today, and how do they fit into a retrospective survey of LGBTQ films from the past century? Combining clips from a variety of oddball and orphan sources, this presentation looks into the recesses and margins of film history for hidden traces of our qu**r past.
Monday, April 25, 6:30pm – Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Amphitheater

It's about sausages...and there's nothing gayer than a sausage!

Anyway, scraping the barrel, here's the trailer...it is rather funny:

Sausage Party, the first R-rated CG animated movie, is about one sausage leading a group of supermarket products on a quest to discover the truth about their existence and what really happens when they become chosen to leave the grocery store. The film features the vocal talents of a who’s who of today’s comedy stars – Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, and Salma Hayek.

Just what the doctor ordered...another (unnecessary) re-make of a classic...helmed by the man who gave us Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012).

Seriously?!?

Anyway...here's the trailer:

 Over 100 programmers, critics and filmmakers voted for the 30 greatest LGBT films of all time.

Here are their results...there are some mightily questionable entries?!? With 7 films tying for last place...it's a bit of a joke. Let us not take it too seriously...

Compare it with Box Office Mojo to see how far-removed these 'voters' actually are!

A little out-of-touch babies!

1	Carol (Todd Hayes, USA 2015) - (28 votes)
2	Weekend (Andrew Haigh, UK 2011) - (26 votes)
3	Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong / Japan / South Korea 1997) - (25 votes)
4	Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, USA / Canada 2005) - (24 votes)
5	Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston, USA 1990) - (22 votes)
6	Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand / France / Germany / Italy 2004) - (21 votes)
7	My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, UK 1985) - (20 votes)
8	All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain / France 1999) - (19 votes)
9	Un Chant d’Amour (Jean Genet, France 1950) - (18 votes)
10	My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, USA 1991) - (17 votes)
11=	Tangerine (Sean Baker, USA 2015) - (15 votes)
11=	The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany 1972) - (15 votes)
11=	Blue Is the Warmest Colour (Abdellatif Kechiche, France / Belgium / Spain 2013) - (15 votes)
14=	Mädchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan & Carl Froelich, Germany 1931) - (14 votes)
14=	Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, Sweden / Denmark 1998) - (14 votes)
14=	Orlando (Sally Potter, UK / Russia / Italy / France / Netherlands 1992) - (14 votes)
17	Victim (Basil Dearden, UK 1961) - (13 votes)
18	Je, tu, il, elle (Chantal Akerman, France / Belgium 1974) - (12 votes)
19	Looking for Langston (Isaac Julien, UK 1989) - (11 votes)
20=	Beau Travail (Claire Denis, France 1999) - (10 votes)
20=	Beautiful Thing (Hettie Macdonald, UK 1996) - (10 votes)
22=	Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, France 2013) - (9 votes)
22=	Theorem (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy 1968) - (9 votes)
22=	The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, USA 1996) - (9 votes)
22=	Pariah (Dee Rees, USA 2011) - (9 votes)
22=	Mulholland Dr (David Lynch, France / USA 2001) - (9 votes)
27=	Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke, USA 1967) - (8 votes)
27=	Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, USA 1975) - (8 votes)
27=	Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, Italy / France 1971) - (8 votes)
27=	Pink Narcissus (James Bidgood, USA 1971) - (8 votes)
27=	Sunday Bloody Sunday (John Schlesinger, UK 1971) - (8 votes)
27=	Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, France 2011) - (8 votes) - (8 votes)
27=	Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, Japan 1969) - (8 votes)

Here's an interesting take on a classic...

Son of a Preacher Man by Tom Goss...

Not quite sure about the music...but, it is a pretty good short film.

Alan Gemmell, director of fiveFilms4freedom at the British Council said, “fiveFilms4freedom is a ground-breaking LGBT film festival supporting freedom and equality all over the world. For our second year we are showcasing some of our finest short film makers to help celebrate love and diversity through one of the world’s most powerful and accessible cultural forms: film. By bringing together the British Council and films from BFI Flare we are promoting LGBT cinema in countries that make up half of the world’s population.”

Available from 16 until 27 March...click here

The five films are:

SWIRL Two girls, young and in love, move backwards through the city in Peterson Varga’s lyrical short from the Philippines.
XAVIER is a film by Brazilian director Ricky Mastro about a father who notices that his 11-year-old son pays a lot of attention to slightly older boys.
BREATHE is a British-Irish film by James Doherty, about an Irish traveller is increasingly concerned that his son is ‘soft’, so sets about toughening him up.
TAKE YOUR PARTNERS In this British short film by director Siri Rodnes, Miss Paterson expects Ollie to make an Easter bonnet like the other girls. But Ollie is not like the other girls.
THE ORCHID A man has something important to tell his son, but can only get through to his voicemail in this film by Spanish director Ferran Navarro-Beltrán.

Here's the poster to the film...

...we'll see!

Let's get this very clear Oscar...all nominated songs should be performed...

Here are those omissions...

"Manta Ray" by J. Ralph & Anohni (F.K.A. Antony) - Original Song From Racing Extinction

2016 Oscar® nominated Best Original Song “MANTA RAY” written and performed by Academy Award® nominated composer J. RALPH and Academy Award® Nominated artist ANOHNI (F.K.A. ANTONY of Antony and the Johnsons) for the feature documentary “Racing Extinction” by Oscar winning director Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) Ⓒ Ⓟ 2015 Rumor Mill Records

---

Simple Song #3 from Youth (written by David Lang)

Sung by the wonderful Sumi Jo

Oooooh dear...handbags at dawn...there's a poofy showdown a-brewing.

Sam Smith and Dustin Lance Black are rutting over statuettes and the ubiquitous little diver known as Tom Daley.

Sam made a silly faux pas in his Oscar acceptance speech and Dustin went in for the kill...with a tweet that read:

Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé.

Insecurity issues, Dustin?!? Where has your dignity gone?

BuzzFeed has made a lovely little film...Sam nor Dustin were the first...

 

Best Picture
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Actor
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Saoirse Ronan, 45 Years
Charlotte Rampling, Brooklyn

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Tom Hady – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spolight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone – Creed

Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Director
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max Fury Road
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamsson, Room
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Original Screenplay
Matt Charman, Joel & Ethan Coen, Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, Inside Out
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Spotlight
Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph, The Big Short
Nick Hornby, Brooklyn
Phyllis Nagy, Carol
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Emma Donoghue, Room

Cinematography
Ed Lachman, Carol
Robert Richardson, The Hateful 8
John Seale, Mad Max Fury Road
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
Roger Deakins, Sicario

Best Original Score
Thomas Newman, Bridge of Spies
Carter Burwell, Carol
Ennio Morricone, Hateful Eight
Jóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario
John Williams, Star Wars the Force Awakens

Costume Design
Sandy Powell, Carol
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Jenny Beavan, Mad Max Fury Road
Jacqueline West, The Revenant

Best Foreign Language Film
Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang
Son of Saul
Theeb
A War

Best Makeup
Mad Max Fury Road
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant

Film Editing
The Big Short
Mad Max
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars The Force Awakens

Original Song
Earned It from Fifty Shades of Grey (The Weeknd)
Simple Song #3 from Youth (David Lang)
Writing On The Wall from Spectre (Sam Smith)
Til It Happens To You from The Hunting Ground (Diane Warren and Lady Gaga) 
Manta Ray from Racing Extinction

Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep
When Marnie Was There

Animated Short Film
Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow

Live Action Short Film
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Ok
Shock
Stutter

Documentary
Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Best Documentary Short
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond The Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah
Last Day Of Freedom

Visual Effects
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars the Force Awakens

Production Design
Bridge of Spies
The Danish Girl
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant

Sound Editing
Mad Max Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars The Force Awakens

Sound Mixing
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Star Wars The Force Awakens

Day 1...

The red carpet is out, the rain is pelting down...Glasgow Film Festival 2016 is about to begin! Well, it is for those with a ticket...we saw this at a press screening a few days ago. So, we are pretending to be there...with our voracious film-festival appetite.

Let the festival commence...

Hail, Caesar! (2016, UK | USA) by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. Love 'em or loathe 'em, the Coen brothers always deliver a quality product. Hail, Caesar! oozes quality, it would be hard not to...with this litany of Hollywood A-listers...

But...does it cut-the-mustard? The answer is an indefatigable yes...and, a deflating no. Some scenes work, some don't. It's all very episodic...and, as a whole, it doesn't come together. Definitely camp, there's a whiff of homosexuality (it's Hollywood, darlings!) and the gayest sailor-scene ever committed to film. Definitely entertaining - with some heady highs and frequent lows...usually involving Channing Tatum.

Day 2...

Today: Four films on the slate...and, outside, the weather is grim. There's no better place than to spend time inside a cinema.

First up...The Club (2015, Chile) by Pablo Larraín...no introduction, now that's a little disappointing. Every film in a festival should be introduced. Still, what followed, was jaw-dropping.

A film that seems to have been ignored by the LGBT film festivals...seriously, this is not only an injustice...but, a disservice to the LGBT community. Programmers/curators do your job, it's not about you...it's about bums on seats. And that, my darlings, is why (after much criticism) we cover mainstream film festivals...because [exclusive] LGBT festivals are (and becoming more so) blinkered - just because it's 'gay' doesn't mean it's any good.. The Club is raw, it's savage...it's as unpleasant as it is un-missable. All we can say is...well done Glasgow. And, thank you.

You can read the full review here.

Between films, I'm listening to Fleetwood Mac...Beautiful Child, tears are rolling down my face...hopefully, no-one has noticed.

Next up: Continuing the South American theme: Land & Shade (2015, Colombia) by César Augusto Acevedo.

Nothing LGBT here...but, it's a beautiful, slow-moving treatise on the inevitability of impending grief. Tears rolling...again.

Musical interlude: Fleetwood Mac's Sara...I used to listen to this over and over again - as a kid - playing backgammon with myself. Tough times...you are the poet in my heart.

I'm not a lesbian-themed movie lover (gay man yaddy-yah)...but, sorry - with a few execeptions, they are all the same...Summertime by Catherine Corsini (2015, France) is an exception. I could easily fall in love with Carole (Cécile De France)...what a woman. Even if the cinema is a little chilly...it's summertime, it's beautiful. Did a rueful tear just roll down my cheek?

You can read the full review here.

No musical interlude...reading Holding the Man by Tim Conigrave...I'm doing everything to control uncontrollable sobbing. This book reaches inside and touches your soul...for those of us, of a certain age...the most painful of memories.

Last film of the day...the big one...High-Rise (2015, UK) by Ben Wheatley...and, introduced by Ben Wheatley. What a very pleasant man...pity the same cannot be said about his film. A visually satisfying, high-octane, incohesive and incoherent rollercoaster ride - I am (obviously) not the intended audience. As for LGBT content...nothing really apart from a brief glimpse of a man in a bra!

All in all...a damn fine start...to a damn fine festival. Highs with emotional lows. Home time...in the rain.

Day 3:

It's still raining. Three films today...two of which are eagerly anticipated.

First...From Afar (2015, Venezuela) by Lorenzo Vigas - winner of the Golden Lion @ Venice. Now, context can affect the way you watch a film...it can be impaired...or, it can be heightened. I made a festival friend! My new friend will remain nameless for reasons that will become apparent. She was excited to be seeing a film from her native country in Scotland. We chatted in her broken English and my fractured Spanish.

Introduction over...the lights went down. My new festival friend was sound asleep, snoring quietly, within 10 minutes. She awoke, on cue, as the end credits started to roll...did I miss anything? She asked. Yes. Something very unpleasant indeed. Now, I am not a graduate from the Vito Russo [The Celluloid Closet] school of opinion...Russo was deeply concerned (and angry) about the negative depictions of gay men on the silver screen. In his world, he wanted positive portrayals of happy men in happy relationships in a world imbued with equality. Well, Vito will be spinning in his grave...there is nothing positive about From Afar - far from it. A pederast manipulates a gay-4-pay young man who manipulates the pederast, it's a quiet, unsettling film that will leave you...unsettled and provoked. The final scene - on which the film relies - will astound. Some will find it too slow, too quiet - like my new festival friend. But...you will leave From Afar thinking...bad thoughts.

No musical interlude, no Holding the Man...fresh air. I need fresh air. Clear my mind...from those bad thoughts. Such an affecting film.

And now for something completely different. From the maverick that is...Peter Greenaway. A forgotten prophet in his native land...as the introduction so appropriately stated. I grew up watching Peter Greenaway...usually in the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead (with Jean-Claude) or The Scala at King's Cross (with Philip)...happy, careless days.

Eisenstein in Guanajuato (2015, Netherlands) stumbles at the very beginning...Peter, Peter, Peter less of the gimmicks. Fortunately, it picks itself up, dispenses with the nonsense...and, proceeds on its merry, mind-boggling way. It doesn't take too long until the Greenaway trademark appears...nudity. For those of you adverse to male genitalia...this film is not for you. Willies abound, rather graphically too - if you get my drift. A visual delight and a vortex of words...with an undeniable performance by Elmer Bäck - I loved it (less the gimmicks), not so sure about the rest of the audience.

You can read the full review here.

Music: Nick Drake...Five Leaves Left...sobering and intoxicating.

It's been nearly a decade since Michael Caton-Jones graced us with his presence on the silver screen, Urban Hymn (2015, UK) quashes that silence. It's a gritty, low-budget coming-of-age tale, casting off those shackles that bring you down. Competently done, it suffers a little due to the fincancial & time constraints...but, a worthy effort nonetheless.  The Q&A, afterwards, revealed why members of the public should not be allowed to ask questions...a woman stated that both actors were well-suited to their parts, especially Isabella Laughland (who plays a drug-addled, murdering psychopath). Isabella was a tad shell-shocked and explained with her perfect Received Pronunciation...it was all acting. She certainly delivered the stand-out performance...a fine future beckons.

Home time - can I swerve the allure of the fish and chip shop?

No. It's the rain...it makes me hungry.

Day 4...still raining.

The first feature from Josh Mond, James White (2015, USA). The eponymous James is a bit of a lad. The only problem is...he's not a lad anymore. Irresponsible with the weight of the world on his shoulders...his mother (Cynthia Nixon) has terminal cancer.

There's a bromance at its core - and no, there's no subtext, y'know...sometimes men can just be really good friends. It's a fast-paced, truthfully written film...there are a few laughs to be had via the cheeky chappy routine...but, it's the relationship between mother and son that clinches the deal. A fine debut that elicited a tear or two.

Music...something cheery...something that will brighten my path ahead...Passenger: Let Her Go...because, the next film is by a filmmaker I do not understand nor do I ever want to understand - call me blinkered.

Any hopes I had of something worthwhile were dashed in the first mind-numbing, endless, well-attended minutes.

Some films should come with a Public Health Warning...No Home Movie (2015, Belgium) is one such film. Chantal Akerman's final, fatal film. At this juncture, it would be fair to say that I am not a fan of experimental cinema...why? I hear you ask. Because...in my not-so humble opinion and after an eternity of screenings...I have come to the devout, unshakeable conclusion that anyone - regardless of talent - can make an experimental film. Now, just before, I receive a torrent of abuse, I do not include the surrealists or the absurdists in my experimental condemnation. Alas, the avant-gardists are in there with the experimenters...tarred with the same brush.

How to make an experimental film: Lesson 1...point the camera at anything. Lesson 2...press the record button. Lesson 3...call it experimental. Akerman followed these 3 lessons to the letter.

My viewing was further diminished by the antics of the couple sitting in front of me...a high-maintenance woman who could not drink her coffee in silence demanded attention from her ever-obedient partner, stroke my hair, she whispered loudly...he did. Rub my neck...he did. Kiss me [often]...he obliged. Every cinema should have a sign declaring: NO HEAVY PETTING (just like in swimming pools, way back).

I'm leaving the cinema to bash my head against the nearest brick wall...in the rain.

Doof!

Read the full review here.

Somewhat bruised and still rather angry at squandering 115 minutes...I stomped towards the Glasgow Film Theatre.

The poster alone made me want to love this film...did you ever buy an album (in the sadly departed vinyl years) on the basis of its cover alone? I did, many, many times. Treats and horrors in equal measures.

We were introduced to Lucile Hadzihalilovic - the director with the unpronounceable name, bets on how many times she's had to spell that out over the phone! She told us to expect a journey...rather than a story. I was on the edge of my aisle-side seat.

For those of you who didn't know and for those of you interested...I am also a PADI-qualified diving instructor...so, any film with underwater photography gets me rather excited. Évolution (2015, France) got me rather excited...a cinematic beauty unfolded in front of my eyes. The framing, the imagery...all exquisite...although I had no idea what was going on. Definitely an incomprehensible journey and a journey that should not be missed. Was that a lesbian orgy? Chilling beauty and one to discuss over a stiff drink.

At the Q&A afterwards, the director with the unpronounceable name explained that the film was autobiographical. It was about a young boy...bemused and flummoxed...

I need a stiff drink...alas, no-one to discuss Évolution with. I am a solitary-film-festival-attending-geek...still wondering whether that was a lesbian orgy in the mud!

Day 5...it's Sunday, it's raining...I'm driving to the festival.

Parking was easy, getting there not so...one-ways everywhere. As it turned out, it would have been quicker to walk.

Sing Street (2016, Ireland) by John Carney. 

What a joy of a film. Definitely one for those of a certain age, who grew-up in the 1980s...I am one of those - definitely aged. Looking around, I am - comfortably - not alone. Together, we laughed at all the same places. Kindred spirits, each and all.

Ooooh but there's a sting in its tail...thumping priests get a thumping - there's a brief, chilling scene with a priest, it is as chilling as it is brief.

But...the stars of this show are Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (an outstanding acting debut) and John Carney - for directing such an outstanding debut and for the background detail. Sing Street is a joy.

Oooooh there's been a pickle with the tickets...I have no ticket for the next scheduled film...and the press office is closed - c'est la vie. Still, I leave the cinema with an 80s song in my heart.

Day 6 - have I awoken in a different country? The sunshine is screaming through the shutters. It feels like Spring. It smells like Spring. It's Spring in Glasgow...I walk across George's Square en route...Monday morning you sure look fine...Fleetwood Mac.

That pickle with the tickets...sorted diligently and trouble-free. I would just like to say...the GFF press-office-people are all rather lovely, doing a damn fine job.

It's a bit of a marathon today...4 films. First-up...

The "Greek Weird Wave" continues with Chevalier (2015, Greece) by Athina Rachel Tsangari. Not being a fan of Tsangari's Attenberg (2010, Greece)...I went into this film with a not-so-open mind.

I didn't get it. I didn't believe it. It was not funny...nor was it particularly disturbing (as it was said to be). A bunch of middle-aged men playing a game of one-upmanship (on a boat, gettit!?). And what was that scene with a man wandering around with an erection searching for any-man-will-do to sodomise?!? And, the lip-synching scene...total nonsense. In better hands, perhaps, a decent film could have been gleaned from what was - on the surface - a good idea. Tsangari's sense-of-humour is the polar opposite of mine.

If you want good GWW - Dogtooth and The Lobster are mighty fine films.

Find me a green square. Find me a Gregs...a few minutes later...sitting in a Square, eating a Steak-Bake, the sunshine on my face...won't you lay me down in the tall (green) grass and let me do my stuff! I think it sounds better with the green added.

Louder Than Bombs (2015, Norway | France | Denmark) by Joachim Trier - his first English-language film. Rather underwhelming and somewhat problematic...methinks, juggling too many ideas. The trying-to-be-too-clever is what brings this film to its knees, there are moments you think: yes, that's good, go with it...alas, Trier doesn't. Just like a juggler who drops a ball. Let's start again...Louder with Bombs starts over and over.

Perhaps, if either one of the brothers were even remotely likeable...we (as in royal) may have warmed to the story more than we did. The grand revelation of the secret (which we know in the first few minutes of the film) is anticlimactic to say the least. Gabriel Byrne does a decent job, Jesse Eisenberg is as irritating as always, David Strathairn is shamefully under-used and, Devin Druid is shakeably lacklustre...just like the film.

I need something to pick me up...a tonic. With Gin.

Or...The Brand New Testament (2015, Belgium) by Jaco Van Dormael - just what the doctor ordered.

God is abusive and alcoholic and living in Brussels...with his wife and daughter...the son scampered off years ago. God's daughter is pissed off and decides to undermine her father and follow in her big brother's foot-steps, scampering off through a washing-machine...she needs 6 randomly-chosen apostles...it's as wild as Alice Through the Looking-Glass.

The chosen 6 are a motley crew...but, it's little Willy who stands out...with only a few days left on planet Earth, his parents offer him the world...what does he want? Well, that would spoil it.

A film of breath-taking imagination, madness and emotion.

Ask yourself: How would you prepare...if you knew the exact moment of your death?

Outside, waiting for the next film...I'm still asking myself that very question...

Yes, films resonate.

There are some heavy-duty, tuxedoed security-types dotted around the cinema...are we in the presence of royalty? Alas, no - pesky potential pirates...this is a UK, big guns a-blazing, pre-premiere with the Hollywood A-lister that is...Jake Gyllenhaal, sadly not-in-person - what a coup that would have been! Anyone seen using a mobile phone will be ejected...you have been warned!

Demolition (2015, USA) by Jean-Marc Vallée resonates and - for some - shudders. A story about grief, its folly and its management. There is a significant gay storyline...Judah Lewis plays a 15 year-old boy, who looks 12 but acts 21...he and Gyllenhaal have a show-stealing 'coming-out' scene together...this film does nothing but resonate.

I read somewhere - by someone of no consequence - that Demolition's premise was a far-fetched ridiculousness...15 years ago, I awoke, showered and dressed and, after 20 years, left my apartment and possessions behind. I know not what happened to my apartment or my possessions...the sad, sad days of my mismanaged grief.

And on that note...home, reflectively. Grief, it mellows but never goes away. I walk slowly.

Day 7...the sun is still a-shinin'

A late addition to the festival...Truman (2015, Spain) by Cesc Gay - a man and his dog, a best friend and terminal cancer. It doesn't exactly present itself as one of the cheeriest films in the festival...but, it is - without doubt - the most heart-warming.

Periodically, throughout, a tear escaped. The final scene, I was sobbing...the woman behind me patted me on the shoulder, saying 'there, there' - I was inconsolable. Beautifully pitched, beautifully played. Just beautiful.

I have a rather sizeable gap before the next film - south of the river - back to the square, back to Holding the Man...howling by the end. I'm having a tearful day. Time to find the car...

I drove past the Tramway. I was expecting a beckon of light shooting upwards into the night sky...in praise of the Arts. It's a big, dull building on a rather badly-lit road.

Wildness (2012, USA) by Wu Tsang. First of all, I would like to say...that I read this film in a completely different way than to the rest of the audience...

Gender-fluid Tsang states - in a calm, soothing and therapeutic voice - that he/she is incomplete because his/her father did not teach him/her to speak Chinese as a child...he/she is unable to communicate with a part/half of him/herself. Poor darling. I, too, am unable to communicate with part of myself...because my parents did not teach me Gaelic! Growing up in London...some piece of my inner-puzzle was missing, my inner Gaelic voice! I blame my parents.

This is a film about the voraciously vocal 'queer' sub/counter-culture...those affected doyennes who want to obliterate the LGBT community with their self-branding form of abuse, anger and arrogance.

Tsang has, inadvertently, made a film about the damage that these 'queers' can do. Here, Tsang (& Co.), a trumped-up, trust-funded troupe of twats...who tresspass, kidnap and hold to ransom a small (and essential) latino/a community of trans*people.

Engorged with self-importance, Wildness is a badly-made film with more starts and stops than a traffic jam - just when you think its over...up pops another scene of abhorrent self-worth. Get me out of here.

Home...I hope the traffic is not too bad. I've just experienced film-rage...a dose of road-rage would do me in.

Day 8...does the sun never stop shining in Glasgow?

Green Room (2015, USA) by Jeremy Saulnier turned out to be an unexpected fright-fest. After a rather ropey start that belies the tension that Saulnier manages to build and maintain until the final [killer] line is delivered. If violence is your thing...then, this caustic little gem is for you...otherwise give it a very wide berth indeed. It's unrelenting and wholeheartedly gruesome.

I have a dilemma (or two) - which book to read next...! Something cheery, methinks. In the meantime...off to the CCA for...

The Daughter (2015, Australia) by Simon Stone - adapted from Ibsen's The Wild Duck (1884). A modern take on a rather old 'classic' - for those of you who know nothing about Ibsen, expect misery and you shall be rewarded (in abundance). 

The discomfort in the make-shift 'cinema' is matched wholly by the on-screen story. Seriously, cinema-seats without armrests, portable cushions...not a pleasant place to watch a film. The Daughter goes through every shade in the grim-spectrum, the stellar cast do a fine job with the emotionally draining script. It is cheerlessness - in abundance.

Home...to a cheerier life and more comfortable room.

Day 9...only 1 film today...but, the pickle-with-the-ticket film has now been seen...and, a couple of other films (seen previously) are given a thorough vetting...

Experimenter (2015, USA) by Michael Almereyda - a pseudo-psycho-babbling quack conducts a series of unethical experiments. The result is a rather inventive (possibly because of budget constraints), definitely arid companion piece to The Stanford Prison Experiment.

Seemingly, the is an accurate depiction of the actual experiments...but, Peter Sarsgaard's droning voice is more tortuous than an electric shock. As for Ms. Ryder...she looks worryingly skeletal.

Dr Stanley Milgram was stopped in his tracks by those with a conscience...before he could go any further, before he turned into the living incarnation of Josef Mengele...which brings us neatly onto our next film...

Labyrinth of Lies (2014, Germany) by Giulio Ricciarelli - a fictitious, fact-based account of the search for Josef Mengele, Otto Eichmann and every other perpetrator of Holocaust atrocities.

It's a decent film that drifts too far from its chosen path...the love-story is an unnecessary and unwelcome abstraction from the - sadly weakened - main story. Joachim Kügler (1926-2012) and Georg Friedrich Vogel (1926-2007) were the real-life investigators - why invent a new character? Why not give due credit to these deserving men?

That said...it's still a decent film that sheds light on a dark subject...brushing war crimes under the carpet, justifying horrific actions by simply saying, "I was only following orders."

The time is rapidly approaching when these man-hunts will be over...but, there are still some old men determined to get the justice they deserve. Christopher Plummer & Martin Lanau play two such men...

Remember (2015, Canada) by Atom Egoyan - this is the pickle-with-the-ticket film...and what a film it is...breathtaking. The best way to see this film is without any prior knowledge whatsoever...read no reviews! They will do nothing but spoil it.

There is a brief and unbearably touching scene with an old gay man...it resonates, especially after the end. And that is all we're going to say about Remember - apart from...why was this film ignored by the Oscars? Seriously, do anything you can to see this it...it is an experience you will never forget. The very last shot should make you gasp!

From terrible people to terrible places...

In 2015, Japan's suicide forest became the subject of two films. First, there was Gus Van Sant's The Sea of Trees which received a well-deserved (and severe) critical lambasting at Cannes. And now, in Glasgow, the second foray into...The Forest (2015, USA) by Jason Zada - a concocted horror that will appeal to...erm, I don't really know who this will appeal to.

After the ludicrous set-up...a missing twin...I know she's alive, I can feel her sort-of-crap...when they eventually get into the forest, there is atmosphere, creepiness and the potential for some psychological mayhem...alas, the director prefers to go off-piste with the psychology...which is a shame because that created atmosphere could have been exploited to the point of disturbia.

Ambling home-ward through the night-lit streets, I wondered when I last saw a truly disturbing film. Aaaah Remember.

Day 10...

Good morning...there's a spring in my step as I walk towards the CCA to watch one of my most anticipated films of the festival...who cares if it's in an uncomfortable, makeshift cinema devoid of armrests...nothing can dampen my spirits on this fine day.

Ever early, I sit and start my next tome - World Without End (Ken Follet, 2007) - a book I've been meaning to read for many a year - now's my chance. But no...I have made - inextricably and unintentionally - a new film-festival-friend! She sits enthusiastically and contagiously beside me...I am no longer a solitary film-festival-going-geek.

We talk Truly Madly Deeply and the sad passing of Alan Rickman - who was in attendance at this very festival a year ago. We compare our likes, dislikes and surprises.

The 'cinema' is - surprisingly - well-attended, no doubt, because of Juliet Stevenson. The lights lower, silence...

Now, if I hear the word 'nuanced' in an introduction again...I'm going to scream. To me, the word: Nuance...is the epitome of...one man's meat is another man's poison.

Departure (2015, UK | France) by Andrew Steggall - his feature debut, after a few decent shorts. The (homo)sexual awakening of an adolescent boy and a mother's meltdown. When a reviewer (or anyone) says...it starts off well...you just know that it is not going to end as well as it started. Departure starts off well...

Juliet Stevenson does Juliet Stevenson...in other words, she is unstretched...even as a rather dissolute mother. On the other hand, the remarkably young-looking, Alex Lawther is amply awkward with his burgeoning sexuality. The scene with the carrot made my new film-festival-friend wince...and provided Ms Stevenson with one of her two killer lines. Mothers know everything that goes on under the family roof.

Now, you would be forgiven in thinking...this was a story about a teenage boy who has a crush on an older teenage boy...and, it is...with the will it happen, won't it happen underpinning the entire structure...that is, until the script takes it to a different place entirely...into the middle-aged, middle-classed Mother's misery. It then falls apart and limps - lamely - to its flaccid conclusion.

My new festival-friend hated the film. I saw the unrealised potential...but, middle-class misery in the South of France is a far cry from financial desolation in Deptford. With neither empathy nor sympathy being earned, Steggall's debut feature flounders, somewhat fatally...it should have been all about him...not her!

Still, after much discussion, with my f-f-f...the next offering, woefully in the same 'cinema'...

The Fencer (2015, Finland | Estonia | Germany) by Klaus Härö - the Finnish candidate for the best foreign language film in 2016 Academy Awards.

I was drawn to this film simply because I was a fencer in a year that is slowly fading from memory. Fencing, the elegant violence. My f-f-f loved it, I was a little underwhelmed. For me, there was just a little too much time spent on the plucking of heartstrings rather than on the perspiring flash of fatal foils. That said, a decent film...fine for a lazy afternoon.

And, sadly, this is where my f-f-f and I parted company...she went off to watch Arabian Nights: Volume 3. For me, back to the GFT and armrests, hallelujah...

Traders (2015, Ireland) by Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy - the biggest surprise of the festival, thus far. 

Expect little and ye shall be rewarded. Traders could have - quite easily - gone down the wrong road. Thankfully, due to some damn fine writing that is duly saturated with natural humour, this little Indie hits it out of the park. But...it's the surprising off-kilter, well-heeled double-act of...Killian Scott and John Bradley (Game of Thrones, still not killed-off) who elevate this far and beyond those modest indie expectations...their on-screen relationship is the spark that lights the flame.

Bradley is adorable, chunky and utterly vile...played against his polar opposite, Scott's toned straightman-with-a-heart...they duck & dive, swerve & squirm, fight and kill. Both want money, need money and both will do whatever it takes to get money. They trade...in other words, they fight other 'traders' to the death...

It doesn't sound like a comedy, it's not played like a comedy...but, the humour is as dark as the darkest and sweetest treacle...and just as delicious.

Home...on a high, after disappointment and mediocrity.

Day 11...the penultimate day...

If ever an introduction killed a film - then, this was it.

The Elite (2015, Denmark) by Thomas Daneskov was one of the few submitted films chosen to screen at the festival. Seemingly, over 300 films were submitted and less than 5 were accepted...according to the gushing introduction. Now I'm not going to dwell upon this film...because, it seems that 'Dogme 95' has been given a resurrection - albeit it in spirit rather than in name...for those that are not familiar with Dogme...it was filmmaking 'movement' that imposed ridiculous rules, e.g. no artificial lighting, hand-held camera, no soundtrack, must be in colour, ad nauseum...and, here's the rub, the director had not to be credited.

Well, Mr Daneskov is credited with his film about affluent drug addiction...so it's not Dogme...but, it does have all the trademarks of one...that's - euphemistically - saying it's crap.

I hate when a film puts you in a bad mood...time squandered. I'm going to walk it off before my next film.

Danny Says (2015, USA) by Brendan Toller - I hear you ask: Who is Danny Fields? I'm asking myself the very same question. All I can say is...I'm glad I made his acquaintance. What a thoroughly interesting and - refreshingly - politically incorrect gay man.

A man who rubbed shoulders (and a few other things) with the notable faces of the day: Warhol, Morrison, Joplin, Reed, Nico - name 'em, he knew them. A thoroughly entertaining documentary that could have gone on longer and delved deeper. Mr Fields - obviously - has a few stories to tell...and, on the basis of this film, there are many who would like to hear more. Good, insightful stuff!

So...the next film...and, I have to say that I'm not exactly looking forward to this one...having seen the gruesome original!

Martyrs (2015, USA) by Kevin Goetz & Michael Goetz - is an unnecessary (and badly interfered with) re-make. A film for those delightful little cuties, the torture-porn brigade...especially those who can't read subtitles - either due to illiteracy, myopia or laziness.

Surely, a re-make should bring something new to the table...this one brings nothing, nada, diddly-squat - if anything, it detracts and (kind of) sanitises a perfectly odious film.

Home...

Day 12...last day of the festival...

The sun is shining (this is getting to be quite a habit, Glasgow), I turn the corner and there's a significant gathering of people outside the cinema. Quite forgot...Richard Gere is in town and he's going to grace us with his presence. I sense a soupçon of celebrity panic by the organisers...get in line, you've got to be in the cinema before such-an-such a time or you will forfeit your ticket...get a grip, babies, it's only Richard Gere!

Inside, a capacity crowd...alas, Hollywood this is not. It all looks a little dingy when Hollywood comes a-knockin'. Still, the buzz is palpable. I'm feeling rather excited myself.

Time Out of Mind (2014, USA) by Oren Moverman - a film very close to Mr Gere's heart. The first difficulty with the film is...Mr Gere's dashing good-looks, they could have roughed him up a bit...he has got to be the most handsome down & out ever to wander the streets of New York City. Get over that and you are in with a chance if you can cope with the sound...which, in my humble opinion, Moverman overdoes it...yes, we can appreciate that life on the streets is a noisy existence...but, there's noise and there's noise, rather than it being immersive, this soundscape makes you feel as if you are suffering from tinnitus. It's hard work being homeless, this film is hard-work.

And...that hard-work continued into the Q&A with the man himself...the interviewer was completely out of his depth and out of fashion. The questions he asked, good grief...IT'S A FILM FESTIVAL! We don't want to hear about Mr Gere's politics, his opinions on China! He's an actor, a wealthy one. Yes, he's a philathropist, he can afford to be...but, the audience wanted to hear about Pretty Woman, Gigolo, Chicago...thank GAWD for the woman who declared him to be the hottest man on the planet...and swooped down from the back of the cinema and enveloped the awaiting and rather enthusiastic Mr Gere...as for the finger-pointing little tousled man shouting: Whit ur yae gonna dae aboot homelisnis? Unfortunately, there is always one...

No more time for more audience questions...the finale is rapidly approaching. Mr Gere has left the building.

The final film of the festival: Anomalisa (2015, USA) by Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman...

The word 'masterpiece' has been bandied about...more like misery-piece!

The animation, the detail...the production, all [almost] flawless.

But...GAWD...it goes on and on...in a downward spiral...into the pit of loneliness. Ooops, the couple beside me just walked out.

For the most part...it's mundane/monotonous...there is a brief flurry into the existential, the surreal, the absurd...where gender is fluid, neutral...and it gets you thinking - which is a good thing...then it goes all mundane/monotonous again. There's a man behind me...snoring contentedly.

It could all have been done in half the time...making it a far more effective short than a rather limp feature.

Charlie Kaufmann does depression well...however, boring the audience is not the way to go. Even the rather explicit, animated sex scene was...boring...and, to be truthful, an indulgence the film could have done without.

90 minutes of misery. Not the greatest way to end a festival - in my humble opinion.

Still...Glasgow threw many a great film at the screen...it's a festival that has grown exponentially in stature and substance...long may it continue.

Thank you to the Press Office and all the volunteers...you did good.

Season 3 trailer...

Sunday, May 1st 2016

...has quit Twitter!

A mighty shame...but, we understand how he feels.

The amount of abuse we receive is mind-boggling. Little people with nothing else to do.

AGAIN!?!?

Why?

Isn't it about time that the brains behind BBC production actually thought about what they are doing!

Also on the slate for a reboot: Porridge, The Good Life, Up Pompeii! and Keeping Up Appearances.

Encourage new writing. Encourage new writers...

BBC Licence fee = £145.50 per year - for interminable repeats, an excruciating amount of weekend sport, some of the worst sitcoms ever produced & BBC3...the list is endless.

Justify yourselves...justify this out-dated, out-moded obligatory tax!

BEST FILM

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
The Revenant
Carol
Spotlight

BEST ACTRESS

Brie Larson – Room
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Maggie Smith – Lady in the Van

BEST ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Matt Damon – The Martian
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina
Rooney Mara – Carol
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Julie Walters – Brooklyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Benicio Del Toro – Sicario
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Idris Elba – Beasts of No Nation
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

45 Years - Andrew Haigh, Tristan Goligher
Amy - Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees
Brooklyn - John Crowley, Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey, Nick Hornby
The Danish Girl - Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anne Harrison, Gail Mutrux, Lucinda Coxon
Ex Machina - Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
The Lobster - Yorgos Lanthimos, Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Efthimis Filippou

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The Assassin - Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Force Majeure - Ruben Ostlund
Theeb Naji Abu Nowa r- Rupert Lloyd
Timbuktu - Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales - Damian Szifron

DOCUMENTARY

Amy - Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees
Cartel Land - Matthew Heineman, Tom Yellin
He Named Me Malala - Davis Guggenheim, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald
Listen to Me Marlon - Stevan Riley, John Battsek, George Chignell, R.J. Cutler
Sherpa - Jennifer Peedom, Bridget Ikin, John Smithson

ANIMATED FILM

Inside Out - Pete Docter
Minions - Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda
Shaun the Sheep Movie - Mark Burton, Richard Starzak

DIRECTOR

The Big Short - Adam McKay
Bridge of Spies - Steven Spielberg
Carol - Todd Haynes
The Martian - Ridley Scott
The Revenant - Alejandro G. Iñarritu

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Bridge of Spies - Janusz Kaminski
Carol - Ed Lachman
Mad Max: Fury Road - John Seale
The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario - Roger Deakins

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

Alex Garland (Director) Ex Machina
Debbie Tucker Green (Writer/Director) Second Coming
Naji Abu Nowar (Writer/Director) Rupert Lloyd (Producer) Theeb
Sean McAllister (Director/Producer), Elhum Shakerifar (Producer) A Syrian Love Story
Stephen Fingleton (Writer/Director) The Survivalist

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Bridge of Spies - Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Ex Machina - Alex Garland
The Hateful Eight - Quentin Tarantino
Inside Out - Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve
Spotlight - Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short - Adam McKay, Charles Randolph
Brooklyn - Nick Hornby
Carol - Phyllis Nagy
Room - Emma Donoghue
Steve Jobs - Aaron Sorkin

EDITING

The Big Short - Hank Corwin
Bridge of Spies - Michael Kahn
Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel
The Martian - Pietro Scalia
The Revenant - Stephen Mirrione

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Bridge of Spies - Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo
Carol - Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
Mad Max: Fury Road - Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson
The Martian - Arthur Max, Celia Bobak
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Rick Carter, Darren Gilford, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN

Brooklyn - Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol - Sandy Powell
Cinderella - Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl - Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road - Jenny Beavan

MAKE UP & HAIR

Brooklyn - Morna Ferguson, Lorraine Glynn
Carol - Jerry DeCarlo, Patricia Regan
The Danish Girl - Jan Sewell
Mad Max: Fury Road - Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin
The Revenant - Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert Pandini

SOUND

Bridge of Spies - Drew Kunin, Richard Hymns, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom
Mad Max: Fury Road - Scott Hecker, Chris Jenkins, Mark Mangini, Ben Osmo, Gregg Rudloff, David White
The Martian - Paul Massey, Mac Ruth, Oliver Tarney, Mark Taylor
The Revenant - Lon Bender, Chris Duesterdiek, Martin Hernandez, Frank A. Montaño, Jon Taylor, Randy Thom
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Matthew Wood, Stuart Wilson

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

Ant-Man - Jake Morrison, Greg Steele, Dan Sudick, Alex Wuttke
Ex Machina - Mark Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris, Andrew Whitehurst
Mad Max: Fury Road - Andrew Jackson, Dan Oliver, Tom Wood, Andy Williams
The Martian - Chris Lawrence, Tim Ledbury, Richard Stammers, Steven Warner
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan

WILD

Director Tim Mattia
Produced by Brandon Bonfiglio at London Alley

FOOLS

Director Tim Mattia
Produced by Brandon Bonfiglio at London Alley

TALK ME DOWN

Director Tim Mattia
Produced by Brandon Bonfiglio at London Alley

Since the 1977 queer film festivals have proliferated across the globe and provided an opportunity for the enjoyment and popularisation of films on queer and LGBT themes that may be otherwise difficult to access in mainstream cinema. They are important events for the production of queer community. Furthermore, queer film festivals provide an alternative to a purely commercial scene providing opportunities to come together for the enjoyment of film culture and discussion. What is the role played by such festivals in nurturing visions of what a queer world could be? How important are these film festivals in articulating agendas around LGBTQ politics in different geographical and political circumstances? As new queer film festivals continue to proliferate, what needs, desires and agendas do they address? What motivates those who organise them? What roles do they play in the lives of those who attend them?

These questions and others will be addressed by this two-day international symposium at MMU. The event will bring together festival directors, programmers and academic researchers to discuss the practical, organisational, theoretical, political and cultural issues associated with queer film festivals. The symposium keynote will be presented by Dr. Skadi Loist from the University of Rostock.

Convened by Dr. Jon Binnie in the School of Science and Environment and Dr. Christian Klesse in the Department of Sociology. Since 2008, they have jointly researched the geographies of transnational geographies of LGBT and queer activism in Central and Eastern Europe. Their current research is concerned with queer film festivals as a form of cultural activism in different European cities.

International Symposium

Tickets: £20/£10, includes film screening and Bird la Bird performative artist's talk

Location: No 70 Oxford St, Manchester M1 5NH

Date: Friday 5^th February

3.00pm - 5.30pm: Symposium introductions and session 1

Date: Saturday 6^th February

10.00am – 6pm: All day Symposium (see below for a full schedule)

 

Acting Out screening

Tickets: FREE

Location: No 70 Oxford St, Manchester M1 5NH

Date: Friday 5^th February, 5.30pm – 7.00pm 

Screening of Acting Out: 25 years of Queer Film and Community in Hamburg (Dir. Christina Magdalinou, Silvia Torneden, Ana Grillo, Germany, 2015)

 

Performative artist's talk by internationally renowned performance artist Bird la Bird

‌Tickets: FREE

Location: No 70 Oxford St, Manchester M1 5NH

Date: Saturday 6^th February, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

‌Fresh from numerous international successes including a residency at the National Portrait Gallery, we are intensely excited and honoured to offer this special, one off performance from Bird la Bird. Bird la Bird is “a shell-breaking performance artist who puts the camp back in communism and the fun back in feminism”.  Under the streets of Manchester, a new plot against femme-invisibility is hatching! Be there to see it take flight, or miss out!

Bird on Film  

In her usual charismatic style Bird la Bird will present a curate’s egg of an event. In this performative artist’s talk Bird will show examples of her work that have been influenced by cinema and TV reminiscing on the impact of queer film on her life and art. Bird will show footage of her performance alongside some of her most memorable films including Orlando by Sally Potter and Raspberry Reich by Bruce LaBruce. She will also discuss the impact lesbian and queer filmmakers such as Pratibha Parmar and Campbell X have had on her life, including how she got from sitting in the audience to being on the screen.

 

 

 

PROGRAMME

• Friday 5^th February 2016
• Venue - Annex 

• 15.00 Introduction and welcome
• Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse

 

• 15:30 Keynote
• Skadi Loist, University of Rostock - Performative Intervention: What does Lampedusa have to do with Queer Film Culture?  
• Twenty-five years are a considerable time-span for a queer community organization.  Thus, the 2015 opening night of the Hamburg Queer Film Festival was envisioned as a moment of proud celebration of the festival’s 25th anniversary: a feature-length documentary about the festival—which will also screen in this symposium—was to be premiered, a conference on the topic of queer film culture took place and the mayor of the city was to open the festival.  However, instead of becoming a smooth glamorous night, community activists intervened and disrupted the opening.  The event and its surrounding discussions nearly sent the festival and its volunteer collective into an identity crisis.  What exactly had happened?  In a nutshell: the appearance of this local top official became the epitome of the clash of radical queer activism, neoliberal city marketing and cultural politics, that the queer film festival is positioned between.  Using this incident as an example, in this talk I will unravel the various stakeholder demands that queer community film festivals have to negotiate in order to function as platforms that champion queer film and filmmakers, remain independent and open for political and identity articulation, and at the same time, secure resources and organizational clout to stay afloat within the cultural field.  

• 17:00 BREAK

• 17:30  Film Screening – Venue LB01
• ‘Acting Out: 25 Years of Queer Film and Community in Hamburg’ (Dir. Christina Magdalinou, Silvia Torneden, Ana Grillo, Germany, 2015 85' (in German with English subtitles)

 

• SATURDAY 6^TH FEBRUARY 2016
• Venue - Annex 

 

• 09.00-10.40 Panel 1
• Chair: Jackie Stacey, University of Manchester
• ‘Guerrilla Warfare’ and Postsocialist Cultural Politics: Beijing Queer Film Festival as Social Activism (Hongwei Bao, University of Nottingham)
• This paper focuses on the Beijing Queer Film Festival, the longest running queer film festival and one of the best known forms of queer activism in the People’s Republic of China since 2001. Through an analysis of the festival programming, event organisation and the ‘stakeholder configurations’, I discuss the ‘guerrilla warfare’ tactics that the organisers adopt to cope with forced closure from the Chinese government, as well as the ‘postsocialist cultural politics’ that the festival advocates to critically draw on the socialist legacy and to reflect upon the global ‘pink economy’ and transnational LGBT movement. I suggest that the Beijing Queer Film Festival is situated in the global queer film festival circuit in a post-Cold-War world, but it also keeps an ambivalently critical distance from it. By selectively drawing on the socialist forms of event organisation and social mobilisation, in tandem with innovative cultural forms and pressing contemporary agendas, the Beijing Queer Film Festival represents the ‘postsocialist cultural politics’, which forms an ambivalent relationship with both the socialist ‘comrade’ past and the transnational queer present.

• 'The Scottish Queer International Film Festival: Mapping Local and Global Contexts'  (Katharina Lindner, University of Stirling)
• With a specific focus on the new Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF), this paper explores current manifestations of queer film culture and activism in Scotland. It situates SQIFF within the context of Scottish film culture more generally as well as in relation to the wider context of the (global) queer film festival circuit. It also traces SQIFF's various collaborative links with other (LGBTI) activist organisations and events.

• Queer Cinema in the World (Rosalind Galt, Kings College London, and Karl Schoonover, University of Warwick)
• Why think about queer cinema and world politics together? The scenario is familiar to those who follow LGBT politics: global queer cultures clash with local or regional politics. Violence at pride marches in India, Serbia, and South Africa raises questions about the compatibility of liberalism and cultural relativism, global citizenship and human rights, sexual identity and national sovereignty. At the same time, there has been a burgeoning of queer film festivals around the world. These festivals represent a significant way that sexual and gender dissidence makes itself visible in various cultures. In this talk, we do not merely count new queer cinemas as part of a globalized LGBT culture, but consider how queer cinema exhibition makes new worlds. Queer cinema has the potential to foster different accounts of the world, offering alternatives to capitalist aesthetics and social life. This talk examines how international queer film culture proposes new modes of being queer in the world. 

 

• 11:00-12:40 Panel 2
• Chair: Rosalind Galt, Kings College London
• ‘Transnational Investments: Images of Ageing and their Reception Among LGBTQ Film Festival Audiences’ (Chris Perriam and Darren Waldron, both at the University of Manchester) 
• We plan to present part of the outcomes of a three-year project investigating the circulation and reception of LGBTQ films between France and Spain, with a particular focus on festivals. In the project we have been considering whether and how representations from ‘abroad’ matter for audiences elsewhere and feed into their sense of self. This presentation focuses on the festival-based responses to representations of ageing among lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. We show how viewers claim to relate to the images and narratives in two films – Les Invisibles (Sébastien Lifshitz 2012) and 80 Egunean (Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga 2010) – and explore issues and problems around community, affiliation and identification. Many of the films we have looked at engage with aesthetic approaches and activist stances that specifically set out to trouble and undermine the traditional homogenous labels of lesbian and gay: the success or otherwise of this tactic will also be a strand to our presentation.

• Transgender activist documentary at LGBTQ film festivals: Audiences and identification (Ros Murray, Queen Mary, University of London)
• This paper presents the findings from an LGBTQ audience research project, seeking to question what it means when audience members claim to 'identify' with ideas or people that they see on screen. It looks specifically at the case of a transgender documentary, Girl or Boy, My Sex is Not My Gender (Valérie Mitteaux, France 2011), screened at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Gai i Lesbic in Barcelona. The paper explores how audience research can help to negotiate the sometimes difficult terrain in academia between activism and theory, showing us what a film can do, rather than simply represent, for the LGBTQ communities it engages with. Touching on issues of affect, narrative and film form, the paper returns to Thomas Waugh's claim that 'lesbian and gay documentarists must develop an independent set of ethical principles suitable to an oppositional or radical film practice'. The paper asks: what principles are relevant to oppositional film practice today, and how does this translate, or not, to contemporary film festival audiences, and in turn, to the academic research context?

• Comparative Queer Methodologies and Queer Film Festival Research' (Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse, both at Manchester Metropolitan University).
• This paper examines the methodological issues in undertaking transnational comparative research on queer film festivals. Feminist and queer postcolonial scholars have drawn critical attention to the politics of comparison in transnational gender and sexual studies, for instance, Pedwell (2010) has examined the rhetorical and material effects of comparison i.e. what is at stake when comparisons are mobilised. In urban geography, Ward (2010) has argued that a renewed critical use of the comparative can help show how experiences and conditions in one urban context can help pose questions about, and inform urban politics in others. In this paper, we explore how a focus on the queer politics of comparison can contribute towards research on queer film festivals. The paper draws on a qualitative research project, which examined 5 queer film festivals in different European cultural geopolitical contexts as sites for the production of visibility, solidarity and queer space, as well as motors for the reproduction of networks around film production, political and educational interventions. The paper discusses the challenges in conducting comparative research in queer film festivals and considers how we might think about the queering of comparison in a grounded, empirical way.

 

• 12:40-14:00 Lunch

 

• 14:00-16.00  Panel 3
• Chair: Skadi Loist (University of Rostock)
• 1)    Dagmar Brunow (Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg/International Queer Film Festival Hamburg)
• 2)    Alex Rumpel (Mezipatra Queer Film Festival)
• 3)    Andrea Inzerillo (Sicilia Queer Filmfest)
• 4)    Predrag Azdejkovic (Merlinka International Queer Film Festival)
• 5)    Noel Sutton (GAZE International LGBT Film Festival)
• 6)    Berwyn Rowlands (Iris Prize)

 

• 16.00-16:30 Break

 

• 16:30-18:30 Panel 4
• Chair: Andy Moor (Manchester Metropolitan University)
• 1)    Jayne Graham Cummings (Queer Vision Film Festival/Queer Film Network)
• 2)    Theresa Heath (Wotever DIY Film Festival)
• 3)    Nosheen Khwaja and Cloudberry MacLean (Glitch Film Festival)  
• 4)    Jamie Starboisky (Queer Media UK)
• 5)    Zane Hadi (Leeds Queer Film Festival)
• 6)    Siobhan Fahey (Queerchester Films North West)
• 7)    Jackie Stacey (Manchester Sexuality Summer School, University of Manchester) and Monica Pearl (University of Manchester)

 

• 18:30-18:45 Summing Up
• Jon Binnie and Christian Klesse

 

• 19:30-21:00 Bird on Film - Performative Talk with Bird La Bird
• Venue - LB01

 

Well...looking at this list of 'winners' - it seems that every film received some kind of award! It's getting a bit ridiculous. Sundance...are you going for the longest awards ceremony in recorded history?!?!

Seriously...the only awards that matter are: The Audience Awards - it's them who pay.

Commiserations to the losers...if - indeed - there were any at all.

And...the exhausting list of winners are...

 

U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize: "The Birth of a Nation"

U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize: "Weiner"

U.S. Documentary Directing Award: Roger Ross Williams, "Life, Animated"

U.S. Dramatic Directing Award: The Daniels (Daniel Scheinart and Daniel Kwan), "Swiss Army Man"

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic: "Sand Storm"

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: "Sonita"

U.S. Dramatic Audience Award: "The Birth of a Nation"

U.S. Documentary Audience Award: "Jim"

World Cinema Audience Award, Dramatic: "Between Sea and Land"

World Cinema Audience Award, Documentary: "Sonita"

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Chad Hartigan, "Morris From America"

NEXT Audience Award: "First Girl I Loved"U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize: "As You Are"

U.S. Dramatic Breakthrough Performance Award: Joe Seo, "Spa Night"

U.S. Dramatic Individual Performance Award: Craig Robinson, "Morris From America"

U.S. Dramatic Individual Performance Award: Melanie Lynskey, "The Intervention"

U.S. Documentary Editing Award: "NUTS!"

U.S. Documentary Social Impact Filmmaking Award: "Trapped"

U.S. Documentary Writing Award: "Kate Plays Christine"

U.S. Documentary Verite Filmmaking Award: "The Bad Kids"

World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary: "All These Sleepless Nights"

World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic: "Belgica"

World Cinema Acting Award, Dramatic: Vicky Hernandez and Manolo Cruz, "Between Land and Sea"

World Cinema Screenwriting Award, Dramatic: "Mi Amiga del Parque"

World Cinema Unique Vision and Design Award, Dramatic: "The Lure"

World Cinema Editing Award, Documentary: "We Are X"

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary: "The Land of the Enlightened"

World Cinema Best First Feature Award, Documentary: "When Two Worlds Collide"

Everyone is screaming WELL DONE SAGA for appreciating and awarding diversity...

We love, support and want more diversity...but, to award diversity for the sake of being 'diversity' is a nonsense.

Anyway...here are the nominees and winners...

Outstanding Performance by a cast in a Motion Picture

Beasts of No Nation
The Big Short
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Trumbo

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
Johnny Depp - Black Mass
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Revenant
Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Outstanding Performance By a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett - Carol
Brie Larson - Room
Helen Mirren - Woman in Gold
Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn
Sarah Silverman - I Smile Back

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale - The Big Short
Idris Elba  - Beasts Of No Nation
Mark Rylance - Bridge Of Spies
Michael Shannon - 99 Homes
Jacob Tremblay - Room

Outstanding Performance By a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Rooney Mara - Carol
Rachel Mcadams - Spotlight
Helen Mirren - Trumbo
Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

Television

Outstanding Performance By an Ensemble in a Drama Series

Downton Abbey
Game Of Thrones
Homeland
House Of Cards
Mad Men

Outstanding Performance By an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory
Key & Peele
Modern Family
Orange Is The New Black
Transparent
Veep

Outstanding Performance By a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Claire Danes - Homeland
Viola Davis - How To Get Away With Murder
Julianna Margulies - The Good Wife
Maggie Smith - Downton Abbey
Robin Wright - House Of Cards

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Peter Dinklage - Game Of Thrones
Jon Hamm - Mad Men
Rami Malek - Mr. Robot
Bob Odenkirk - Better Call Saul
Kevin Spacey - House Of Cards

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Ty Burrell - Modern Family
Louis CK - Louie
William H. Macy - Shameless
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory
Jeffrey Tambor - Transparent

Outstanding Performance By a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Uzo Aduba - Orange Is The New Black
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie
Ellie Kemper - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Veep
Amy Poehler - Parks And Recreation

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Idris Elba - Luther
Ben Kingsley - Tut
Ray Liotta - Texas Rising
Bill Murray - A Very Murray Christmas
Mark Rylance - Wolf Hall

Outstanding Performance By a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Nicole Kidman - Grace Of Monaco
Queen Latifah - Bessie
Christina Ricci - The Lizzie Borden Chronicles
Susan Sarandon - The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe
Kristen Wiig - The Spoils Before Dying

Stunts

Outstanding Action Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Everest
Furious 7
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Outstanding Action Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series

The Blacklist
Game Of Thrones
Homeland
Marvel's Daredevil
The Walking Dead

 

Ellen Page and her best friend, Ian Daniel, set off on a personal journey to explore LGBTQ cultures around the world. From Japan to Brazil, Jamaica and here in America, Ellen and Ian discover the multiplicity of LGBTQ experiences, meeting amazing people and hearing their deeply moving stories of struggle and triumph.

Gaycation will premiere on Viceland, Vice’s new TV network, Wednesday, March 2nd at 10PM.

The nominees are:

 

Outstanding Film - Wide Release

Carol - The Weinstein Company

The Danish Girl - Focus Features

Dope - Open Road Films

Freeheld - Lionsgate

Grandma - Sony Pictures Classics

 

Outstanding Film - Limited Release

52 Tuesdays - Kino Lorber

Appropriate Behavior - Gravitas Ventures

Boy Meets Girl - Wolfe Video

Drunktown's Finest - Nehst Studios

Tangerine - Magnolia Pictures

 

Outstanding Comedy Series

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - FOX

Faking It - MTV

Grace and Frankie - Netflix

Looking - HBO

Master of None - Netflix

Modern Family - ABC

Orange Is the New Black - Netflix

Please Like Me - Pivot

Transparent - Amazon Instant Video

Vicious - PBS

 

Outstanding Drama Series

Arrow - The CW

Black Sails - Starz

Empire - FOX

The Fosters - ABC Family

Grey's Anatomy - ABC

How to Get Away with Murder - ABC

Nashville - ABC

Orphan Black - BBC America

Sense8 - Netflix

Shameless - Showtime

 

Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character)

"Gender"The Carmichael Show - NBC

"Please Don't Ask, Please Don't Tell"Black-ish - ABC

"The Prince of Nucleotides" Royal Pains - USA Network

"Rock-a-Bye-Baby" NCIS New Orleans - CBS

"We Build, We Fight" NCIS - CBS

 

Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series

Banana - Logo

Bessie - HBO

Cucumber - Logo

 

Outstanding Documentary

Kumu Hina - PBS

Limited Partnership - PBS

Mala Mala - Strand Releasing

Tab Hunter Confidential - The Film Collaborative

Tig - Netflix

 

Outstanding Reality Program

I Am Cait - E!

I Am Jazz - TLC

New Girls on the Block - Discovery Life

The Prancing Elites Project - Oxygen

Transcendent - Fuse

 

Outstanding Daily Drama

The Bold and The Beautiful - CBS

  And the winners are...

FILM OF THE YEAR
The Big Short / Paramount, Regency
Brooklyn / Fox Searchlight
Carol / The Weinstein Company
Mad Max: Fury Road / Warner Bros., Village Roadshow
Spotlight / Open Road, Participant, First Look

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
(Film or Television)
Sean Baker, Tangerine / Magnolia Pictures
Todd Haynes, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, The Revenant / Fox
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight / Open Road, Participant, First Look
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road / Warner Bros., Village Roadshow

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Brie Larson, Room / A24
Rooney Mara, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years / Sundance Selects
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn / Fox Searchlight

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTOR
Matt Damon, The Martian / Fox
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant / Fox
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs / Universal
Tom Hardy, Legend / Universal, Cross Creek
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl / Focus, Working Title

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
Carol / The Weinstein Company
The Danish Girl / Focus, Working Title
Freeheld / Summit
Grandma / Sony Pictures Classics
Tangerine / Magnolia Pictures

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
The Assassin / Central Motion Pictures, Well Go USA
Mustang / Cohen Media Group
Phoenix / Sundance Selects
Son of Saul / Sony Pictures Classics
Viva / Magnolia Pictures

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
Emma Donoghue, Room / A24
Phyllis Nagy, Carol / The Weinstein Company
Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, The Big Short / Paramount, Regency
Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy, Spotlight / Open Road, Participant, First Look
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs / Universal

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
(theatrical release, TV airing or DVD release)
Amy / A24
Best of Enemies / Magnolia Pictures, Magnet
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief / HBO
Making a Murderer / Netflix
What Happened, Miss Simone? / Netflix

VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
(honoring a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography)
Carol / The Weinstein Company
The Danish Girl / Focus, Working Title
Mad Max: Fury Road / Warner Bros., Village Roadshow
The Martian / Fox
The Revenant / Fox

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
The Diary of a Teenage Girl / Sony Pictures Classics
Ex Machina / A24
Grandma / Sony Pictures Classics
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / Fox Searchlight
Tangerine (Magnolia)

CAMPY FLICK OF THE YEAR
The Boy Next Door
Fifty Shades of Grey
Magic Mike XXL
Jupiter Ascending
Stonewall

TV DRAMA OF THE YEAR (TIE)
Fargo / FX
The Leftovers / HBO
Mad Men / AMC
Mr. Robot / USA
Orange is the New Black / Netflix

TV COMEDY OF THE YEAR
Grace and Frankie / Netflix
Master of None / Netflix
Transparent / Amazon
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt / Netflix
Veep / HBO

TV PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTOR
Titus Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt / Netflix
Jon Hamm, Mad Men / AMC
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot / USA
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent / Amazon
Justin Theroux, The Leftovers / HBO

TV PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR — ACTRESS
Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder / ABC
Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie / Netflix
Taraji P. Henson, Empire / Fox
Krysten Ritter, Jessica Jones / Netflix
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie / Netflix

TV CURRENT AFFAIRS SHOW OF THE YEAR
Anderson Cooper 360 / CNN
The Daily Show / Comedy Central
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver / HBO
The Rachel Maddow Show / MSNBC
Real Time with Bill Maher / HBO

LGBTQ TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
Grace and Frankie / Netflix
Looking / HBO
Orange is the New Black / Netflix
Sense8 / Netflix
Transparent / Amazon

UNSUNG TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
Broad City / Comedy Central
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend / CW
Getting On / HBO
Looking / HBO
UnReal / Lifetime

TV MUSICAL MOMENT OF THE YEAR
Adele: “Hello / ” Adele Live in New York City / NBC
Aretha Franklin: “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors / CBS
Lady Gaga: The Sound of Music 50th anniversary tribute, 87th Annual Academy Awards / ABC
Sydney Lucas and the Cast of Fun Home: “Ring of Keys” 69th Annual Tony Awards / CBS
John Legend and Common: “Glory” (Original song nominee, Selma): 87th Annual Academy Awards / ABC

CAMPY TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
American Horror Story: Hotel
Empire
How to Get Away with Murder
Scream Queens
Sense8

“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD
Rami Malek
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez
Mya Taylor
Jacob Tremblay
Alicia Vikander

WILDE WIT OF THE YEAR
(honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
Billy Eichner
Rachel Maddow
Tig Notaro
John Oliver
Amy Schumer

WILDE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
(honoring a truly groundbreaking force in the fields of film, theater and/or television)
Andrew Haigh
Todd Haynes
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Tig Notaro
Amy Schumer
TIMELESS STAR
(to an actor or performer whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit)
Jane Fonda (previously announced)

All worthy winners...

WORST PICTURE

Fantastic Four
Fifty Shades of Grey
Jupiter Ascending
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
Pixels

WORST ACTOR

Johnny Depp, Mortdecai
Jamie Dornan, Fifty Shades of Grey
Kevin James, Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
Adam Sandler, The Cobbler and Pixels
Channing Tatum, Jupiter Ascending

WORST ACTRESS

Katherine Heigl, Home Sweet Hell
Dakota Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey
Mila Kunis, Jupiter Ascending
Jennifer Lopez, The Boy Next Door
Gwyneth Paltrow, Mortdecai

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Chevy Chase, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and Vacation
Josh Gad, Pixels and The Wedding Ringer
Kevin James, Pixels
Jason Lee, Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip
Eddie Redmayne, Jupiter Ascending

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip and The Wedding Ringer
Rooney Mara, Pan
Michelle Monaghan, Pixels
Julianne Moore, Seventh Son
Amanda Seyfried, Love the Coopers and Pan

WORST REMAKE/RIP-OFF/SEQUEL

Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip
Fantastic Four
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2

WORST SCREEN COMBO

All Four “Fantastics,” Fantastic Four
Johnny Depp and His Glued-On Moustache, Mortdecai
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey
Kevin James and EITHER His Segue OR His Glued-On Moustache, Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
Adam Sandler and Any Pair of Shoes, The Cobbler

WORST DIRECTOR

Andy Fickman, Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
Tom Six, Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)
Sam Taylor-Johnson, Fifty Shades of Grey
Josh Trank, Fantastic Four
Andy and Lana Wachowski, Jupiter Ascending

WORST SCREENPLAY

Fantastic Four (screenplay by Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater and Josh Trank, Based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
Fifty Shades of Grey (screenplay by Kelly Marcel, Based on the Novel by E.L. James)
Jupiter Ascending (written by Andy and Lana Wachowski)
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 (screenplay by Kevin James & Nick Bakay)
Pixels (screenplay by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling, Story by Herlihy, Based on a Work by Patrick Jean)

RAZZIE REDEEMER AWARD

Elizabeth Banks (RAZZIE “Winner” for MOVIE 47, Multiple Hit Movies This Year)
M. Night Shyamalan (Perennial RAZZIE nominee & “winner,” director of The Visit)
Will Smith (For following up After Earth with Concussion)
Sylvester Stallone (All-Time RAZZIE Champ, award contender for Creed)

2016 Outstanding Directorial Achievement In A Feature Film

• Alejandro G. Inarritu – The Revenant
• Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
• Adam McKay – The Big Short
• George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
• Ridley Scott – The Martian

And, this year a new award...

2016 Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director

• Fernando Coimbra – A Wolf at the Door
• Joel Edgerton – The Gift
• Alex Garland – Ex Machina
• Marielle Heller – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
• Laszlo Nemes – Son of Saul

Gervais was even more painful than usual...

Can someone, somewhere please explain why The Martian is a comedy? Okay, admittedly, the whole escape-from-planet-Mars-in-a-canvas-covered-rocket-ship is a bit of a joke...but, c'mon, it's NOT a comedy! Neither is The Big Short...

Joy, a comedy? Is anyone laughing? Jennifer is...why Melissa McCarthy was even nominated is a joke.

The Revenant...best director, film and actor...for hypothermic resistance?!? A bear-skin-clad superhero...now, this one really is a comedy.

Stallone beat Rylance...that's a joke, right?!?

Steve Jobs...two wins, you cannot be serious?

All in all, not a good night for LGBT cinema...Carol, The Danish Girl, Spotlight...snubbed.

However, it was the night for television's 'bisexual' ladies, with 2 awards in the bag...Lady Gaga (beating Queen Latifah's bisexual lady) & Taraji P. Henson (beating Viola Davis' bisexual lady). Last year, the globes were all trans* - this year, bisexual women. Next year...who knows? One thing (for sure?), Gervais will offend.

The 73rd Golden Globes...a veritable feast of bad jokes and ridiculous results.

---

Here’s the full list of nominees & Winners for the 73rd annual Golden Globes...

Best Motion Picture, Drama
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Best Motion Picture, Comedy
The Big Short
Joy
The Martian
Spy
Trainwreck

Best Director – Motion Picture
Todd Haynes, Carol
Alejandro Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
George Miller, Mad Max
Ridley Scott, The Martian

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Melissa McCarthy, Spy
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Maggie Smith, Lady in the Van
Lily Tomlin, Grandma

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Will Smith, Concussion

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Steve Carell, The Big Short
Matt Damon, The Martian
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best TV Series, Drama

Empire
Game of Thrones
Mr. Robot
Narcos
Outlander

Best TV Series, Comedy
Casual
Mozart in the Jungle
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Veep

Best TV Movie or Limited-Series
American Crime
American Horror Story: Hotel
Fargo
Flesh and Bone
Wolf Hall

Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Emma Donoghue, Room
Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, The Big Short
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Animated Feature Film
Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

Best Actress in a Limited-Series or TV Movie
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Sarah Hay, Flesh & Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited-Series, or TV Movie
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent
Maura Tierney, The Affair

Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Lilly Tomlin, Grace & Frankie

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited-Series or TV Movie
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall
Ben Mendelson, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Love Me Like You Do” 50 Shades of Grey
“One Kind of Love” Love and Mercy
“See You Again” Furious 7
“Simple Song No. 3” Youth
“Writing’s on the Wall” Spectre

Best Original Score
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexandre Desplat, The Danish Girl
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs
Ryuichi Sakamoto Alva Noto, The Revenant

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language
The Brand New Testament
The Club
The Fencer
Mustang
Son of Saul

Our tribute to this great, great man...who changed lives...for the better.

His first film role...

The Image is a 1969 black and white short film directed by Michael Armstrong with starring Michael Byrne and David Bowie in his first film role. The film is one of the few short films ever to receive a certified 'X' Rating and it gained this rating due to its violent content.