Gay Films Highlight Sedona Fest

The magical setting of Sedona, Arizona will play host to the 14th annual Sedona International Film Festival taking place February 27-March 2. The fest will feature the following three films with gay themes, including writer/director Stewart Wade's (Coffee Date) new film Tru Loved, starring Alexandra Paul, Jasmine Guy, Bruce Vilanch, Alec Mapa and Jane Lynch.

SEMPER FI, ONE MARINE’S JOURNEY
(USA, 2007 — 73 min.) — Documentary
Director: Vince DiPersio
The story of gay Marine Jeff Key, a spiritual kid, who passionately loved his church and struggled desperately with the secret he carried in his heart—a secret his pastor refers to as an 'abomination.' Semper Fi is the story of how after the terrible events of 9/11—knowing he could get out by telling his superiors who he really was—he decided to go to war for the country he loved. And how, once in Iraq, his patriot's heart was broken by what he saw. Back home and broken-hearted, Jeff used his war journals to create a one-man show with which he travels the country--a play that never flinches from what it meant to be gay and at war.

Screening Times: Thursday, Feb. 28, 6:50 PM; Saturday, March 1, 1:40 PM

TRU LOVED
(USA, 2008 — 99 min.) — Feature
Director: Stewart Wade
Tru (Najarra Townsend), a high school student from San Francisco, is uprooted by her lesbian moms (Alexandra Paul and Cynda Williams) and moved to a conservative suburb. Her non-traditional family makes her an outsider until high school quarterback Lodell takes an interest in her. Lodell is closeted. Tru becomes a friend with whom he can be himself, unlike with his mom (Jasmine Guy), grandmother (Nichelle Nichols), and closest pals. When Tru hears the closed-minded comments about homosexuality from Lodell’s friends, she establishes the school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance. She meets Trevor (Jake Abel), a smart and charming young man being raised by his gay uncle (Bruce Vilanch). Tru begins a romance and fights for social justice as her unconventional family faces familiar struggles.

Screening Times: Thursday, Feb. 28, 4:25 PM; Saturday, March 1, 2:30 PM

WATER FLOWING TOGETHER
(USA, 2007 — 78 min.) — Documentary
Director: Gwendolen Cates
A compelling and intimate portrait of Jock Soto, one of the most recognized and influential modern ballet dancers. Soto, who is Navajo, Puerto Rican and gay, retired in June 2005 from the New York City Ballet after a 24-year career of physically demanding excellence with the company. The film becomes a journey of discovery that will captivate us and endear us to this complex man. Soto is an artist who found his media of expression in dance, but this is not a film solely for a ballet audience. His fascinating and unique story, climaxing with his emotional retirement from ballet at age 40, is accessible to a broad audience. Soto's relationship to his heritage defies stereotypes in the same way that his dancing transcends the expected.

Screening Times: Friday, Feb. 29, 11:30 AM; Saturday, March 1, 9:00 AM

Remembering a Community Giant

I am in Palm Springs for the weekend where memorial tributes are pouring in for local out philanthropist Earl Greenburg, 61, who died Friday after a battle with melanoma. His family, including his life partner, David Peet, was by his side. The couple have a young daughter, Kathryn Claire Peet-Greenburg.

Greenburg (far right) is remembered as a man who sustained Sonny Bono's vision of turning Palm Springs and the Palm Springs International Film Festival into the "Cannes of the West."

As chairman of the festival's board, Greenburg built the festival to be the second largest in the country. Out Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet credited Greenburg with "catapulting" the film festival into a "first-class event that earned Palm Springs world prominence."

A former NBC and Home Shopping Network exec, Greenburg, is also credited for being a leader in the local fight against HIV/AIDS. His first partner, Rick Weiss, died in 1994, inspiring Greenburg to create the annual Rick Weiss Humanitarian Awards gala to raise money for local charities. The event is scheduled for April 12.

Greenburg and his partner Peet received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on March 31. They were the first gay couple to receive such an honor. Today, the sidewalk is filled with bouquets of flowers.

Palm Springs resident and music legend Barry Manilow described Greenburg as "one of the pillars of our community."

SoCal Black Film Festivals Get Their Gay On

Two Southern California film festivals focusing on films from and about members of communities of African descent are taking place during the coming days, and each feature LGBT-inclusive films and shorts. The San Diego Black Film Festival is going on right now, and the Los Angeles Pan African Film & Arts Festival kicks off next week. We've got your LGBT look at what will be screened here.

The film Blueprint, from director/writer Kirk Shannon-Butts, was chosen to appear at both fests. This film, set amidst the hustle of vibrant Harlem, is a modern-day love story of two college students, Keith and Nathan. They meet one day after class and embark upon a journey of discovery.

In other news, GLAAD Media Award-nominated Dirty Laundry expands to Atlanta, Baltimore and DC. Check it out!

As always, check out what's coming up and coming out in LGBT film at our exclusive cineQUEER database.

Red Premiere Party at Queer Lounge

You don't have to be gay — just an ally and a friend — to appreciate the Queer Lounge. Filmmakers of Red, showcased at Sundance, held their premiere party at the lounge and stars such as Brian Cox, Tim Daly, the Dave Matthews Band and more partied until the wee hours.


photos by dannakinsky.com

Red refers to a 14-year-old dog who is killed by troubled teens, only to have karma bite them in the ass when Red's owner (Brian Cox) seeks revenge. Reviewed here by Variety.

We did it!

Today we are finally packing up our snow-stained clothes and heading back to warmer climes. We had a great time here and hope that our readers had fun living vicariously through us!

Check out the video below, highlighting just some of the best moments at Queer Lounge.

There's a Place for Gay Zombies

Saw Otto; or Up With Dead People and it may best be described as a gay gore horror mockumentary with zombies and sex, but even that doesn’t do it justice. Director Bruce LaBruce's storytelling doesn't shy away from soft-core porn elements, which has put the out director on the underground map—if there were a map of the underground (that's an inside Otto joke). We hosted a Queer Lounge panel featuring the director earlier this week and he said then that his filmmaking is often at odds — he presumed — with GLAAD because his highly-sexual characters aren’t “positive” gay role models.

I was happy to have had a chance to meet the director and hopefully dispel his notion that GLAAD rebels against images that may not be considere "positive." He thanked me for letting him know that GLAAD’s mission is to see “fair, accurate and inclusive” representations of LGBT lives on the screen — whether those be zombies or otherwise. While Otto may not be for everyone (between the flesh-eating and the hints of gratuitous sex, plenty of people walked out of the screening), I found the script to be campy sharp (ripe for a midnight movie) and the story a not-so-veiled-metaphor of the violence gay people face every day.

Sure, LGBT serial killers, in films like Basic Instinct and Silence of the Lambs, once raised red flags at GLAAD and for good reason; in the absence of “positive” images it’s necessary to get upset over the “negative” ones. But we’re in a different time now, where there are more representations of our lives in all forms of media. There’s room now for good, bad and plenty of grey shades in between. When there are two dozen LGBT-inclusive films screening at Sundance and Slamdance, and another two dozen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, there are going to be LGBT images that run the gamut from positive to negative stereotypes, and odds are that many will fall into the "fair, accurate and inclusive" bucket.

And with Otto, Bruce has created a sexy horror spoof inclusive of gay people, er, zombies.

Take a look at a clip of Bruce at our Queer Lounge panel:


An interesting side note: At the Queer Lounge panel I sat next to the adorable Jey Crisfar, who plays Otto (above) with delightful abandon. Bruce revealed how he cast Jey for this pivotal part: "I found him on MySpace."

The Advocate joins Queer Lounge for a frank discussion

It may have been snowing outside, but the temperature inside Queer Lounge was raised by its sixth and final panel, "Gay Filmmakers and Sexual Provocation," presented by The Advocate. Out directors Bruce LaBruce (Otto; or Up with Dead People), Isaac Julien (Derek) and Lesli Klainberg (Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema) joined moderator Kyle Buchanan (film critic for The Advocate) for a lively discussion of sexuality in lesbian and gay cinema.  Check out some highlights below! 

Bruce LaBruce talks about his early days in filmmaking:

Isaac Julien discusses Derek Jarman's 1976 film Sebastiane. 

Lesli Klainberg examines how film has changed since the '90s.

EXCLUSIVE: An Interview with Oscar-Nominated Cynthia Wade

Just hours after receiving word that she had been nominated for an Oscar for her short doc Freeheld, director-producer Cynthia Wade joined me at the Queer Lounge in Park City for her first sit-down interview.

As GLAAD's Entertainment Media Director, I have been following the path of this film since seeing its premiere here at Sundance once year ago, encouraging everyone to see it who has the opportunity. The moving story of Laurel Hester has the capacity to change hearts and minds and, as you'll hear from Cynthia, is doing just that. With the Oscar nod, Freeheld is poised to reach an even larger audience during this election year with its important message.

As a married mother of two, Cynthia has gone above and beyond in taking a stand for LGBT equality and carrying on Laurel Hester's legacy. She is quickly becoming one of our strongest straight allies, and for that, we are extremely grateful.

When I Knew

Ask yourself that question. When did you know you were gay? Lesbian? Bisexual? Transgender? Different?

In 2005, photographer Robert Trachtenburg published a book of personal stories, filled with people answering that very question. His book inspired award-winning filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (Eyes of Tammy Faye, Party Monster and Inside Deep Throat) to travel the country with their cameras and ask ordinary people to tell their stories of when they realized they were gay.

Queer Lounge presented its fourth panel of the week this afternoon in honor of the launch of the HBO Documentary. The panel was moderated by The Advocate's Editor in Chief Anne Stockwell and hosted by HBO and World of Wonder. Panelists included the filmmakers, Trachtenburg and out actor Rex Lee.

Learn more about the film here:

The film also has also set up a video booth where Queer Loungers can share their own stories of when they knew and have it broadcast onto WhenIKnew.com.

Rex shares his own "When I Knew" moment:

Alan Cumming Message Premieres During Sundance

During last night's GLAAD's "And the Nominees Are..." reception at Queer Lounge, we made a special announcement. Actor Alan Cumming has filmed a special message about eradicating the use of the 'f-word.' And it was fitting that the world premiere of this public service announcement took place during the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals; the final product really is a beautifully-produced short, directed by the talented Kohta Asakura and produced by Joe Mantegna of ZOOMA ZOOMA.

The PSA will next be seen at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York City, on March 17, 2008, and will then be released to broadcasters to air as a one-minute or 30-second spot.

Queer Cinema: Is the term still relevant?

At the Savage Grace Queer Lounge panel on Saturday, out producer Christine Vachon addressed this question. 

It's great to be nominated!

Us Weekly's Senior Editor, Bradley Jacobs and West Coast Entertainment Editor, Jeffrey Epstein (on Bradley's phone), celebrate their first nomination with GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine.

Queer Lounge Daily: Day 2

photos by dannakinsky.com

Red carpet arrivals: "And the Nominees Are..."

Every year at the Sundance Film Festival, GLAAD hosts "And the Nominees Are...," an invitation-only event that announces the nominees of the GLAAD Media Awards. Check out who was there!

Do Films Create Social Change?

That was the subject of a lively panel that just wrapped at the Queer Lounge. Guests included Participant Productions' Ricky Strauss, Current TV's Saskia Wilson-Brown, Killer Films' Christine Vachon, Live Earth's Kit Hawkins and Amy Berg, and our own Neil Giuliano, president of GLAAD.

When asked by moderator Sean Smith, Entertainment Weekly senior editor, "What film changed you?" Ricky recounted a story about when he worked at Tri-Star, a studio famous for Rambo and Terminator, and how impressed he was that his studio would even undertake a film as socially-relevant as Philadelphia. Neil recounted that Making Love was seminal for him, and Christine Vachon told the crowd that she was a P.A. on Parting Glances in her early 20s, and "It was the first film I had ever seen that took place in a gay world after everyone had already came out."



"What's interesting to note is how powerful the medium is to affect audiences," said Ricky, telling the story about how an episode of Happy Days led to a spike in library cards. "It's amazing how impressionable people are." Still it's difficult to measure social change, but one only has to look at how Participant's An Inconvenient Truth has created global awareness to climate change. "Any one who debates climate change now looks like an asshole," he pointed out.

Getting your message out now is a lot easier, everyone on the panel agreed. The online world has allowed any one to distribute and get their message out. "In the '60s people took to the streets, now people take to the computer," said Ricky. (Ironically, a fur protest was happening on Main Street outside the Queer Lounge at that very time.)

Filmmaker Chuck Griffith was in attendance and wondered if now that there are gay-centric film distributors and networks, if the major studios will pass on gay-themed films entirely. "It's incumbant on all of us to make sure that doesn't happen," said Neil.

Want to know how Christine Vachon thinks gay films have changed since the 1990s? Watch this video clip from the panel:

Sunday Morning Short Takes

The Queer Lounge kickoff event featuring The Donnas was a packed house. The party went to the wee hours of the morning (and if you know Sundance, that means post public transportation when folks line Main Street en masse hoping a cab comes along to get them out of the cold).

Anne Stockwell, editor of the Advocate, attended the Saturday PlanetOut Short Movie Awards at the Queer Lounge and the premiere of Pariah. Check out her blog here. Our friend JD breaks the news here that Effie Brown has signed on to produce the feature version of Pariah.

Savage Grace Panel at Queer Lounge

A great panel just wrapped up at the Queer Lounge featuring the creative talent behind Savage Grace, which focuses on a notorious true-life murder about a domineering mom (played unabashedly by Julianne Moore) and her gay son (Eddie Redmayne).

Director Tom Kalin returned to Sundance with this film 16 years after his debut feature Swoon helped define the 'New Queer Cinema' movement of the early '90s. Also in attendance was the remarkable exec producer Christine Vachon, writer Howard Rodman and producer Katie Roumel. Interestingly, this film, based on the book by the same name, took the last 16 years to get to the screen, making it the longest film in development for Vachon's Killer Films. The producer told the crowd in attendance that one of their next films, based on the rise and fall of Halston, is their second-longest in development.

English actor Eddie Redmayne (above left) was able to briefly join the panel and says his freckles helped him nail the casting for his role as Tony. Not only does he look remarkably like the real-life Tony, he also resembles screen-mom Moore. "There have only been two things I've read that have really spoken to me where I knew I had to play the part," says Eddie. One was Edward Albee's play The Goat, the other was Savage Grace. The actor went on to note that in The Goat he slept with his father and in Savage Grace he slept with his mother.

Writer Howard Rodman gave a surprise gift to Tom Kalin at the panel. A vintage 1991 workout video on VHS (remember that?) in unwrapped mint condition. He wasn't giving Kalin a subtle hint; the video was called The Savage Grace Workout. And the review blurb on the video: "Hot. Hot. Hot."

Just like Kalin and company's Savage Grace.

The cast and crew tell us how they got involved with the film: 

Screenwriter Howard Rodman tells us the plot of Savage Grace: 

Who's at Queer Lounge?

Queer Lounge is a great place to hang out and meet film fans like YOU!

Queer Lounge Daily: Day 1

Photos by dannakinsky.com

Watch Us Work It!

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Queer Lounge.

Watch 608 Main Street go from drab to fab, as crews transform the third floor into the place to be!