Emmy-winning Will & Grace star Leslie Jordan and the four-time Tony-winning playwright and librettist Terrence McNally are among the seven 2023 inductees to the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor.
The International Imperial Court System and the National LGBTQ Task Force said Monday that the LGBTQ legends will be honored during a ceremony on June 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Stonewall Inn. This year’s event will coincide with the National LGBTQ Task Force’s 50th year celebration.
The Wall of Honor posthumously celebrates LGBTQ activists, artists and other community members, acknowledging their crucial roles in the ongoing fight for LGBTQ liberation. This year’s honors come amid a record wave of anti-trans and anti-lgbtq legislation across the U.S. and a rapid rise in book bans featuring LGBTQ characters, historical figures and narratives.
“At a time when the majority of states in this country are fighting legislation that is trying to erase us,...
The International Imperial Court System and the National LGBTQ Task Force said Monday that the LGBTQ legends will be honored during a ceremony on June 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Stonewall Inn. This year’s event will coincide with the National LGBTQ Task Force’s 50th year celebration.
The Wall of Honor posthumously celebrates LGBTQ activists, artists and other community members, acknowledging their crucial roles in the ongoing fight for LGBTQ liberation. This year’s honors come amid a record wave of anti-trans and anti-lgbtq legislation across the U.S. and a rapid rise in book bans featuring LGBTQ characters, historical figures and narratives.
“At a time when the majority of states in this country are fighting legislation that is trying to erase us,...
- 5/15/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s striking how often the word “removal” comes up in various governments’ official policies regarding refugees and asylum seekers — a pointedly chosen term that conjures images of inanimate refuse or clutter awaiting collection, rather than human lives in desperate limbo. Fail to make your case to officials and you’ll be “removed,” a near-literally dehumanizing threat that hangs over Milad Alami’s tense, bristling social thriller “Opponent” like a pounding migraine. Following an Iranian wrestler and father whose urgent reasons for fleeing his homeland aren’t entirely what he claims them to be, this is a tightly wound affair that unravels an obscured past and an uncertain future neatly in tandem. Alami maintains suspense at both ends of his narrative without making a blank cypher of his protagonist, played with seething specificity by an electrifying Payman Maadi.
That galvanizing lead performance — by an actor who hasn’t attained quite...
That galvanizing lead performance — by an actor who hasn’t attained quite...
- 3/11/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Milad Alami’s Opponent begins with an Audre Lorde quote: “My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.” The Black lesbian poet wrote eloquently about the violence of silence, arguing that breaking through silence and speaking out is a radical act, as essential to self-knowledge as it is to communication. The protagonist of this tightly knotted drama — played in a knockout performance by Payman Maadi, churning with rage, desire and pained vulnerability — is imprisoned by his silence, literally wrestling with himself, to use the metaphor that gives the film its bristling vitality.
Maadi plays Iman, who fled Tehran with his family and is seeking asylum in the far north of Sweden. The reasons for that abrupt flight are revealed only later, but there are clues in a prologue that starts effectively with a blank screen and the sounds of body slams and grunts of wrestlers training hard in a gym.
Maadi plays Iman, who fled Tehran with his family and is seeking asylum in the far north of Sweden. The reasons for that abrupt flight are revealed only later, but there are clues in a prologue that starts effectively with a blank screen and the sounds of body slams and grunts of wrestlers training hard in a gym.
- 2/25/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Érica Sarmet's A Wild Patience Has Taken Me Here is now showing exclusively on Mubi in most countries starting February 9, 2023, in the series Brief Encounters.A Wild Patience Has Taken Me Here is a film about desire. Lesbian desire, of course, but also the desire for belonging, for serendipity, for freer and lighter relations, for a never-ending past and those who inhabit it, and for a more welcoming future in which we hope not only to be, but to be with. It is also, as it could not be otherwise, a film about my own personal desires. I knew I had a lot to say about lesbian figuration in Brazilian cinema, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't express it in words alone. I needed images that would help me invite people to feel what I felt (or as close to it as possible). That's why I decided...
- 2/8/2023
- MUBI
In the opening scene of Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s searching documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, the poet Nikki Giovanni shows her cards: “I don’t remember a lot of things,” she says as images of a glittering galaxy and archival footage of the poet as a child flash onscreen. “I remember what is important and I make up the rest. That’s what storytelling is all about.”
Brewster and Stephenson don’t question Giovanni’s proposition; they find purpose in it. Her words become a statement of intention (This is my story), a warning (My boundaries are firm) and a rejection of formal conventions (How do you stretch the boundaries of biography?). In that last question, Giovanni is whispering back to Audre Lorde, the poet who coined the term biomythography to describe her book Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, a text that combined biography,...
Brewster and Stephenson don’t question Giovanni’s proposition; they find purpose in it. Her words become a statement of intention (This is my story), a warning (My boundaries are firm) and a rejection of formal conventions (How do you stretch the boundaries of biography?). In that last question, Giovanni is whispering back to Audre Lorde, the poet who coined the term biomythography to describe her book Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, a text that combined biography,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Season 2 of “Ginny & Georgia” is back and better than ever with a bevy of pop culture references and a killer soundtrack. Ginny’s love of literature, reading and writing was established in Season 1, and references to classic books and authors continue to thread through the show’s sophomore season.
As Ginny continues to unravel the layers of her mother Georgia’s (Brianne Howey) past, she still has to deal with an out-of-touch English professor who doesn’t exactly grasp the benefits of a diverse literary canon. Ginny’s bedroom is stocked full of classic and colorful book spines. Her dad Zion (Nathan Mitchell) also references a lot of literary figures.
Ginny’s English teacher Mr. Gitten (Johnathan Potts) challenges her to select a book to present for her AP English class; her selection should, in his words, be “anything that encompasses the Black experience in America.” The three options...
As Ginny continues to unravel the layers of her mother Georgia’s (Brianne Howey) past, she still has to deal with an out-of-touch English professor who doesn’t exactly grasp the benefits of a diverse literary canon. Ginny’s bedroom is stocked full of classic and colorful book spines. Her dad Zion (Nathan Mitchell) also references a lot of literary figures.
Ginny’s English teacher Mr. Gitten (Johnathan Potts) challenges her to select a book to present for her AP English class; her selection should, in his words, be “anything that encompasses the Black experience in America.” The three options...
- 1/14/2023
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Conceptually “Beba” is a welcome departure from the usual void of Afro-Latinx women’s voices on screen. Turning the lens on herself in ways in which we rarely see women of color do, first-time feature filmmaker Rebeca “Beba” Huntt exhibits a vulnerability that is incredibly brave.
It’s never easy for anyone to offer themselves for public inspection, even when personal expression is the key. So what unfolds in “Beba” is wrought with contradictions, as well as portraits that Huntt probably did not intend to paint.
Identity is at the crux of the real-life drama. As one of three children of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, both immigrants, Huntt uses this cinematic memoir to try to reconcile her life as a product of multiple childhood realities that includes growing up othered. Even though Huntt describes herself as Afro-Latina and is centered in it, her childhood growing up in Central...
It’s never easy for anyone to offer themselves for public inspection, even when personal expression is the key. So what unfolds in “Beba” is wrought with contradictions, as well as portraits that Huntt probably did not intend to paint.
Identity is at the crux of the real-life drama. As one of three children of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, both immigrants, Huntt uses this cinematic memoir to try to reconcile her life as a product of multiple childhood realities that includes growing up othered. Even though Huntt describes herself as Afro-Latina and is centered in it, her childhood growing up in Central...
- 6/24/2022
- by Ronda Racha Penrice
- The Wrap
Audre Lorde Way at East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Audre Lorde, poet (New York State Poet Laureate 1991-92), activist, educator, feminist, and the subject of Dagmar Schultz’s up-close and personal documentary Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992, was honoured on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 in an Audre Lorde Way street naming celebration at the corner of East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City. The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse of Hunter College and Hunter West are now on Audre Lorde Way.
Hunter College President Jennifer J Raab, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Clare Coss, Jacqueline Woodson and Jacqueline Nassy Brown Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Hunter College President Jennifer J Raab, Blanche Wiesen Cook (historian and professor), Clare Coss (Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry), author Jacqueline Woodson, Hunter professors Jacqueline Nassy Brown and Melinda Goodman, NYC Council Member Keith Powers, the 2022 Roosevelt House Eva Kasten Grove scholars,...
Audre Lorde, poet (New York State Poet Laureate 1991-92), activist, educator, feminist, and the subject of Dagmar Schultz’s up-close and personal documentary Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992, was honoured on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 in an Audre Lorde Way street naming celebration at the corner of East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City. The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse of Hunter College and Hunter West are now on Audre Lorde Way.
Hunter College President Jennifer J Raab, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Clare Coss, Jacqueline Woodson and Jacqueline Nassy Brown Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Hunter College President Jennifer J Raab, Blanche Wiesen Cook (historian and professor), Clare Coss (Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry), author Jacqueline Woodson, Hunter professors Jacqueline Nassy Brown and Melinda Goodman, NYC Council Member Keith Powers, the 2022 Roosevelt House Eva Kasten Grove scholars,...
- 5/11/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Jana Pareigis with Anne-Katrin Titze on her interview with Theodor Wonja Michael (seen in Josef von Báky’s Münchhausen) for Afro. Deutschland (Afro Germany – Being Black and German): “For me it was important to have him in the documentary …”
Jana Pareigis having arrived in New York from Berlin the day before, discussed with me her film Afro. Deutschland (Afro Germany – Being Black and German), co-directed with Susanne Lenz-Gleißner and Adama Ulrich, the influence of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin (Jana wrote the foreword for the German publication of The Fire Next Time), and her own childhood memories growing up in Hamburg, Germany.
Jana Pareigis with former German National soccer player Gerald Asamoah and her Afro. Deutschland team
The documentary features on-camera interviews by Jana Pareigis with Theodor Michael (who had an uncredited role in Josef von Báky’s Münchhausen), Samy Deluxe (recording artist and music producer), Robin Rhode (visual...
Jana Pareigis having arrived in New York from Berlin the day before, discussed with me her film Afro. Deutschland (Afro Germany – Being Black and German), co-directed with Susanne Lenz-Gleißner and Adama Ulrich, the influence of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin (Jana wrote the foreword for the German publication of The Fire Next Time), and her own childhood memories growing up in Hamburg, Germany.
Jana Pareigis with former German National soccer player Gerald Asamoah and her Afro. Deutschland team
The documentary features on-camera interviews by Jana Pareigis with Theodor Michael (who had an uncredited role in Josef von Báky’s Münchhausen), Samy Deluxe (recording artist and music producer), Robin Rhode (visual...
- 5/3/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Heroine With 1,001 Faces author Maria Tatar with Anne-Katrin Titze: “1,001 captures not just an infinite number of possibilities but also the singularity, the magnificence of the heroine.”
In the first instalment of my conversation with Maria Tatar on her latest book, The Heroine With 1,001 Faces, we discuss Joseph Campbell’s Hero with A Thousand Faces; the Arabian Nights and volunteering heroines such as Scheherazade, Beauty, and The Hunger Games’s Katniss Everdeen; the Bluebeard tales; Neil Gaiman; Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Finding Your Roots and the Talking Book; Toni Morrison and listening to the voice of the ancestor; Christopher Vogler’s The Writer's Journey and Michael Schulz’s screenplay for Karin Brandauer’s Aschenputtel; Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary Babi Yar. Context and the number 33,771; Astrid Lindgren and Angela Carter and what should not be dismissed; Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Morningstar; Stephen King’s upcoming novel Fairy Tale; a...
In the first instalment of my conversation with Maria Tatar on her latest book, The Heroine With 1,001 Faces, we discuss Joseph Campbell’s Hero with A Thousand Faces; the Arabian Nights and volunteering heroines such as Scheherazade, Beauty, and The Hunger Games’s Katniss Everdeen; the Bluebeard tales; Neil Gaiman; Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Finding Your Roots and the Talking Book; Toni Morrison and listening to the voice of the ancestor; Christopher Vogler’s The Writer's Journey and Michael Schulz’s screenplay for Karin Brandauer’s Aschenputtel; Sergei Loznitsa’s documentary Babi Yar. Context and the number 33,771; Astrid Lindgren and Angela Carter and what should not be dismissed; Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Morningstar; Stephen King’s upcoming novel Fairy Tale; a...
- 1/27/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Though the different eras of global feminist thought are known as “waves,” which implies successive awakenings of liberation and critique, the film world takes an inordinately long time to develop alongside it. Amidst the social upheavals of the ‘60s, where previously “permissive” sexual content was finally allowed to be seen in mainstream cinema, the industry arguably became even more sexist, lecherous, and restrictive around female subjects.
There’s also a more subtle way to see the pervasive sexism of film culture: through documentaries, and broadcast TV on film criticism and history. While a titan like Pauline Kael could flourish on public radio (leading to her influential reign at the New Yorker), from Siskel & Ebert, to Scorsese’s Journey Through American Movies and onto the video-essay era, it is a sausage fest. Faint as it may seem, it makes a difference when an authoritative-seeming, patriarchal figure is alone on that pedestal,...
There’s also a more subtle way to see the pervasive sexism of film culture: through documentaries, and broadcast TV on film criticism and history. While a titan like Pauline Kael could flourish on public radio (leading to her influential reign at the New Yorker), from Siskel & Ebert, to Scorsese’s Journey Through American Movies and onto the video-essay era, it is a sausage fest. Faint as it may seem, it makes a difference when an authoritative-seeming, patriarchal figure is alone on that pedestal,...
- 1/22/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Jezebel director Numa Perrier of House of Numa Productions and Livia Perrier of Bazile Productions reteam to bring the life of famed poet and author Audre Lorde to screen.
“Audre Lorde lived fully, loved fiercely and used her words as both weapon and salve. We seek to honor her in an intimate yet bold way,” the director said. “The stories of our poets are necessary as their work continues to give shape and make sense of the world. Audre Lorde said “your silence will not protect you” – and I believe creating a film is one of the most impactful ways to use our voices. House of Numa is dedicated to the centering of Black women who have so often had to work on the fringe yet still impinge society in a powerful way such as Audre Lorde. “
Born February 18, 1934, and sharing a birthday with Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde was...
“Audre Lorde lived fully, loved fiercely and used her words as both weapon and salve. We seek to honor her in an intimate yet bold way,” the director said. “The stories of our poets are necessary as their work continues to give shape and make sense of the world. Audre Lorde said “your silence will not protect you” – and I believe creating a film is one of the most impactful ways to use our voices. House of Numa is dedicated to the centering of Black women who have so often had to work on the fringe yet still impinge society in a powerful way such as Audre Lorde. “
Born February 18, 1934, and sharing a birthday with Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde was...
- 12/9/2021
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
(Updated with social media postings by Dear White People EP) A day before Dave Chappelle’s Untitled documentary is set to screen at the Hollywood Bowl and the comedian is expected onstage, his new Netflix special The Closer is generating a growing backlash over remarks about the trans and LGBTQ+ communities.
“Gender is a fact,” Chappelle declares in the special, which debuted on the streamer Tuesday. “Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth,” he adds, conspicuously negating C-sections, which make up about a third of all births in America alone. “That is a fact,” Chappelle goes on to say before launching into an anatomy line that “trans women” genitalia are “not quite what it is.”
Chappelle also supported Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s 2020 much criticized tweets about the transgender community and exclaiming he is “Team Terf!
“Gender is a fact,” Chappelle declares in the special, which debuted on the streamer Tuesday. “Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth,” he adds, conspicuously negating C-sections, which make up about a third of all births in America alone. “That is a fact,” Chappelle goes on to say before launching into an anatomy line that “trans women” genitalia are “not quite what it is.”
Chappelle also supported Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s 2020 much criticized tweets about the transgender community and exclaiming he is “Team Terf!
- 10/6/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
“The story has many elements of filmmaking and storytelling that matches with my timeline as a filmmaker about race, about gender, about sexuality, about, you know, being on the margins,” says Cheryl Dunye about the “Lovecraft Country” episode “Strange Case,” which she directed. This season she also helmed an episode of the FX documentary series “Pride,” about the fight for LGBT rights throughout the 20th century. Watch our exclusive video interview with Dunye above.
Marginalization is a major theme in “Lovecraft Country,” which explores anti-Black racism in 1950s America through the lens of supernatural horror. And Dunye’s episode was an especially unique exploration of that subject, following Ruby (Wunmi Musaku) after magic gives her the opportunity to experience the world as a white woman. Those fantasy elements “allowed me to elevate the storytelling” and “allowed me to put another layer on the messages that I wanted to already speak.
Marginalization is a major theme in “Lovecraft Country,” which explores anti-Black racism in 1950s America through the lens of supernatural horror. And Dunye’s episode was an especially unique exploration of that subject, following Ruby (Wunmi Musaku) after magic gives her the opportunity to experience the world as a white woman. Those fantasy elements “allowed me to elevate the storytelling” and “allowed me to put another layer on the messages that I wanted to already speak.
- 5/18/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Dagmar Schultz on Audre Lorde at the Winterfeldt Markt in Berlin (1992): “She really liked going to the markets, to cafés, and really enjoyed the city.” Photo: Dagmar Schultz
Dagmar Schultz’s up-close and personal portrait Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992, co-written with Ika Hügel-Marshall, Ria Cheatom, and Aletta von Vietinghoff (who is also the editor) takes us into the private and public life of the poet, activist, teacher, humanitarian, whose life-affirming outlook remains evermore important today. Audre Lorde was a graduate of Hunter College High School and Hunter College in New York City, and a Distinguished Professor of English at the college from 1981 to 1986. In 2019, Audre Lorde was honored, along with Maya Angelou, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Celia Cruz, James Baldwin, Gil Scott-Heron, Tito Puente, and Reggie Jackson by the artist Rico Gatson with their portraits in glass mosaics for the 167 Street subway station in the Bronx.
Dagmar Schultz’s up-close and personal portrait Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992, co-written with Ika Hügel-Marshall, Ria Cheatom, and Aletta von Vietinghoff (who is also the editor) takes us into the private and public life of the poet, activist, teacher, humanitarian, whose life-affirming outlook remains evermore important today. Audre Lorde was a graduate of Hunter College High School and Hunter College in New York City, and a Distinguished Professor of English at the college from 1981 to 1986. In 2019, Audre Lorde was honored, along with Maya Angelou, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Celia Cruz, James Baldwin, Gil Scott-Heron, Tito Puente, and Reggie Jackson by the artist Rico Gatson with their portraits in glass mosaics for the 167 Street subway station in the Bronx.
- 5/15/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Ten years ago, filmmaker Dee Rees changed the game for queer filmmaking with her stunning semi-autobiographical debut feature, “Pariah.” The compelling coming-of-age story is set in Brooklyn and follows 17-year-old Alike (Adepero Oduye), a whip-smart high school student trying to grapple with her identity. At the same time, her straight-laced church-going parents, portrayed by Charles Parnell and Kim Waynes, continue to deny Alike’s evident sexual awakening.
“Pariah” was a force. Arriving at the Sundance Film Festival 15 years after Cheryl Dunye’s “The Watermelon Woman,” Rees’ first feature was nominated for countless awards and cemented her status as a major filmmaker. She followed it with “Mudbound” in 2017, which scored her an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Her last effort, the Netflix-produced “The Last Thing He Wanted,” yielded mixed reviews — but Rees has already moved on with a slate of promising new projects, all of which suggest she’s...
“Pariah” was a force. Arriving at the Sundance Film Festival 15 years after Cheryl Dunye’s “The Watermelon Woman,” Rees’ first feature was nominated for countless awards and cemented her status as a major filmmaker. She followed it with “Mudbound” in 2017, which scored her an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Her last effort, the Netflix-produced “The Last Thing He Wanted,” yielded mixed reviews — but Rees has already moved on with a slate of promising new projects, all of which suggest she’s...
- 5/7/2021
- by Aramide A Tinubu
- Indiewire
In honor of Transgender Day of Visibility, GLAAD has released an open letter signed by more than 465 feminist leaders in support of transgender women and girls.
The letter, organized by the LGBTQ media watchdog group and writer-activist Raquel Willis, serves as a statement of solidarity between cisgender women, trans women and feminist allies in the wake of hateful and discriminatory rhetoric and attacks against trans people.
The signatories include prominent figures in entertainment, such as Regina King, Selena Gomez, Laverne Cox and Halle Berry, as well as activists and women’s rights groups like Gloria Steinem and Planned Parenthood. Others who signed include Mj Rodriguez, Patricia Arquette, Judith Light, Cynthia Erivo, Anna Wintour, Chelsea Clinton, Gabrielle Union, Megan Rapinoe, Sarah Paulson, Peppermint, Lena Dunham, Beanie Feldstein, Alison Brie, Bella Hadid, Lena Waithe and Janelle Monáe.
“We all must fight against the unnecessary and unethical barriers placed on trans women and...
The letter, organized by the LGBTQ media watchdog group and writer-activist Raquel Willis, serves as a statement of solidarity between cisgender women, trans women and feminist allies in the wake of hateful and discriminatory rhetoric and attacks against trans people.
The signatories include prominent figures in entertainment, such as Regina King, Selena Gomez, Laverne Cox and Halle Berry, as well as activists and women’s rights groups like Gloria Steinem and Planned Parenthood. Others who signed include Mj Rodriguez, Patricia Arquette, Judith Light, Cynthia Erivo, Anna Wintour, Chelsea Clinton, Gabrielle Union, Megan Rapinoe, Sarah Paulson, Peppermint, Lena Dunham, Beanie Feldstein, Alison Brie, Bella Hadid, Lena Waithe and Janelle Monáe.
“We all must fight against the unnecessary and unethical barriers placed on trans women and...
- 3/31/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
FX’s upcoming docuseries about the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights in America, “Pride,” has set its full director slate and lined up a May premiere date at the cable network.
The six-part series, which will begin with the 1950s and work forward through the decades, will see six LGBTQ+ directors explore stories ranging from the FBI surveillance of homosexuals during the 1950s Lavender Scare to the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s and beyond. Civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin, writer Audre Lord and Senators Tammy Baldwin and Lester Hunt are among those interviewed for the series.
Directors include Tom Kalin (“Swoon”), Andrew Ahn (“Driveways”), Cheryl Dunye (“The Watermelon Woman”), Anthony Caronna and Alex Smith (“Susanne Bartsch: On Top”), Yance Ford (“Strong Island”) and Ro Haber (“Pose”).
The series will premiere with its first three episodes airing back-to-back on May 14. The second half of the series will air the following week...
The six-part series, which will begin with the 1950s and work forward through the decades, will see six LGBTQ+ directors explore stories ranging from the FBI surveillance of homosexuals during the 1950s Lavender Scare to the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s and beyond. Civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin, writer Audre Lord and Senators Tammy Baldwin and Lester Hunt are among those interviewed for the series.
Directors include Tom Kalin (“Swoon”), Andrew Ahn (“Driveways”), Cheryl Dunye (“The Watermelon Woman”), Anthony Caronna and Alex Smith (“Susanne Bartsch: On Top”), Yance Ford (“Strong Island”) and Ro Haber (“Pose”).
The series will premiere with its first three episodes airing back-to-back on May 14. The second half of the series will air the following week...
- 3/30/2021
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
At the start of “The Inheritance” — an experimental film about the formation of a Black collective, set in the early ’90s — Julian (Eric Lockley) rummages through a wooden crate of books he found in the West Philadelphia row house his grandmother left him. In it is a trove of poetic and political thought circa the late ’60s and beyond: There’s Malcolm X and Alice Walker, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, as well as Charles Mingus and a stack of Ebony magazines.
In the next scene, Julian’s friend, maybe girlfriend, Gwen (Nozipho Mclean) helps him tug and shove the crate across the floor of the near empty abode. He asks her to move in. She reminds him that the last time they saw each other was at least a month ago. They’d gone to see Andrei Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice”;” he cried and grew quiet. No wonder they...
In the next scene, Julian’s friend, maybe girlfriend, Gwen (Nozipho Mclean) helps him tug and shove the crate across the floor of the near empty abode. He asks her to move in. She reminds him that the last time they saw each other was at least a month ago. They’d gone to see Andrei Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice”;” he cried and grew quiet. No wonder they...
- 3/11/2021
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
The Dilemma of Desire is an engaging and informative documentary built around revolutionary work, large and small, that aims to shatter myths and lies that women are being told about their sexual desire and their bodies. Jumping between cities and states, both liberal and conservative, Maria Finitzo’s well-crafted documentary follows a biological researcher, a visual artist, a high-end sex toy maker and several Chicago-based woman of various ages and gender representations navigating their relationships to their bodies and their own desires.
Researcher Dr. Stacey Dutton, who teaches a biology of womanhood course at a college in Decatur, Ga is disturbed at how the sciences have evolved on female anatomy, instead now largely focusing on the penis. The notion is shared in California where industrial designer Ti Chang and her team attempt to launch their premium sex toy line Crave and receive opposition from Facebook despite allowing ads for generic Viagra on to their platforms.
Researcher Dr. Stacey Dutton, who teaches a biology of womanhood course at a college in Decatur, Ga is disturbed at how the sciences have evolved on female anatomy, instead now largely focusing on the penis. The notion is shared in California where industrial designer Ti Chang and her team attempt to launch their premium sex toy line Crave and receive opposition from Facebook despite allowing ads for generic Viagra on to their platforms.
- 4/3/2020
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
It was quite a night for “Just Mercy.”
The film picked up the win for best motion picture at the 51st NAACP Image Awards, capping a two-night event that included outstanding actor and supporting actor prizes for its stars Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, respectively, as well as a win in the outstanding ensemble cast in a motion picture category.
Bryan Stevenson, the real-life attorney and social justice activist played by Jordan in the film, accepted the award for best picture by emphasizing the inequities in the criminal justice system.
“We live in a nation with the highest rate of incarceration in the world,” said Stevenson. “The Bureau of Justice has projected that one in three black male babies born in this country is expected to go to jail or prison. We have a system of criminal justice that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than...
The film picked up the win for best motion picture at the 51st NAACP Image Awards, capping a two-night event that included outstanding actor and supporting actor prizes for its stars Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, respectively, as well as a win in the outstanding ensemble cast in a motion picture category.
Bryan Stevenson, the real-life attorney and social justice activist played by Jordan in the film, accepted the award for best picture by emphasizing the inequities in the criminal justice system.
“We live in a nation with the highest rate of incarceration in the world,” said Stevenson. “The Bureau of Justice has projected that one in three black male babies born in this country is expected to go to jail or prison. We have a system of criminal justice that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than...
- 2/23/2020
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
Ava DuVernay received a standing ovation at Sunday's Critics' Choice Awards after When They See Us took home the award for best limited series. The drama tells the harrowing true story of the Central Park Five, and in her speech, DuVernay made sure to give Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise the praise they deserve and make a powerful statement about prison reform.
"People who are poor and innocent are behind bars, while the rich and guilty walk free and gain power."
"This series began with a tweet from Raymond Santana, and now he, Antron, Kevin, Yusef, and the mighty Korey Wise stand for something larger than they ever imagined," DuVernay said. "If you watched their story and felt something in that moment, I invite you consider doing something. There's no right thing to do. Do what you feel where you are, but don't let...
"People who are poor and innocent are behind bars, while the rich and guilty walk free and gain power."
"This series began with a tweet from Raymond Santana, and now he, Antron, Kevin, Yusef, and the mighty Korey Wise stand for something larger than they ever imagined," DuVernay said. "If you watched their story and felt something in that moment, I invite you consider doing something. There's no right thing to do. Do what you feel where you are, but don't let...
- 1/13/2020
- by Monica Sisavat
- Popsugar.com
Last week, Pen America hosted their 2019 LitFest Gala in Los Angeles, a celebration of free expression and the literary arts that honored some of the brightest names in film, television, and literature.
Blair Underwood and Ava DuVernay
Credit/Copyright: Getty Images for Pen America
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay received the Voice of Influence Award, songwriter Diane Warren received the Artistic Expression Award, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster received the Award for Screenplay Excellence, the writing and creative team behind Netflix’s series “Unbelievable” – Showrunner/Writer/Director/Executive Producer Susannah Grant, Writer/Executive Producer Michael Chabon, Writer/Executive Producer Ayelet Waldman, and Executive Producer Sarah Timberman received the Award for Television Excellence, attorney Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. received the Pen America Distinguished Leadership Award, and Julie Brown received the Dan Eldon Courage in Journalism Award. Presenters and Speakers included LeVar Burton, Kathy Griffin, Chrissy Metz,...
Blair Underwood and Ava DuVernay
Credit/Copyright: Getty Images for Pen America
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay received the Voice of Influence Award, songwriter Diane Warren received the Artistic Expression Award, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster received the Award for Screenplay Excellence, the writing and creative team behind Netflix’s series “Unbelievable” – Showrunner/Writer/Director/Executive Producer Susannah Grant, Writer/Executive Producer Michael Chabon, Writer/Executive Producer Ayelet Waldman, and Executive Producer Sarah Timberman received the Award for Television Excellence, attorney Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. received the Pen America Distinguished Leadership Award, and Julie Brown received the Dan Eldon Courage in Journalism Award. Presenters and Speakers included LeVar Burton, Kathy Griffin, Chrissy Metz,...
- 11/13/2019
- Look to the Stars
Bam has released the full lineup for its 11th annual BAMcinemaFest, a “platform for both emerging and established filmmakers as well as unconventional and often overlooked films,” which will run this year from June 12 — 23. This year’s 12-day festival includes 18 NY premieres, one U.S. premiere, and three world premieres.
Gina Duncan, Associate Vice President of Film, told IndieWire of the programming picks, “We have the same goal every year: to present the best American independent cinema being made today. But this is the first year that I’ve felt the films fit together as a cohesive whole; they are linked by a naturalness, an intimate focus, and boundless creativity. As the larger film conversation continues to focus on record-breaking box offices, it feels defiant to present a program that centers film as art.”
This year’s festival will open on June 12 with the New York premiere of Lulu Wang...
Gina Duncan, Associate Vice President of Film, told IndieWire of the programming picks, “We have the same goal every year: to present the best American independent cinema being made today. But this is the first year that I’ve felt the films fit together as a cohesive whole; they are linked by a naturalness, an intimate focus, and boundless creativity. As the larger film conversation continues to focus on record-breaking box offices, it feels defiant to present a program that centers film as art.”
This year’s festival will open on June 12 with the New York premiere of Lulu Wang...
- 5/2/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Netflix has released Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, which presents an intimate look at her historic 2018 Coachella performance that paid homage to America’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Interspersed with candid footage and interviews detailing the preparation and powerful intent behind her vision, Homecoming gives a peek into the process and emotional physical sacrifices it took to conceptualize and execute a performance of that magnitude that became a cultural movement. This stand-alone Netflix original is now available globally on Netflix.
As the first black woman to headline Coachella, Homecoming recognizes the African American visionaries who inspired Beyoncé, including Hbcu alums Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, activist Marian Wright Edelman, and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, in addition to cultural luminaries such as Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Audre Lorde. Beyoncé’s personal knowledge of the relevance and celebration of HBCUs started with her father, Mathew Knowles, an alumnus of Fisk University.
As the first black woman to headline Coachella, Homecoming recognizes the African American visionaries who inspired Beyoncé, including Hbcu alums Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, activist Marian Wright Edelman, and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, in addition to cultural luminaries such as Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Audre Lorde. Beyoncé’s personal knowledge of the relevance and celebration of HBCUs started with her father, Mathew Knowles, an alumnus of Fisk University.
- 4/18/2019
- by Kristyn Clarke
- Age of the Nerd
Beyoncé opens the Netflix portrait of her Coachella performance with a telling statement in voiceover: “When I decided to do Coachella, it was more important that I brought our history and culture to Coachella,” she says at the beginning of her Netflix special, “Homecoming,” which was released Wednesday alongside a 40-track live album. The ensuing documentary works overtime to reflect that claim, and helps elucidate her profound mission.
The 137-minute concert film weaves in quotes — both written and spoken — that function almost like chapter headings. Each of them comes from a black cultural luminary, some living, and others dead; many of them are alumni of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). For Beyoncé — who rarely tells the world what she thinks in any medium beyond her music — these citations likely serve as lessons from, and reverence for, African American elders, as she takes steps to ensure the preservation of African...
The 137-minute concert film weaves in quotes — both written and spoken — that function almost like chapter headings. Each of them comes from a black cultural luminary, some living, and others dead; many of them are alumni of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). For Beyoncé — who rarely tells the world what she thinks in any medium beyond her music — these citations likely serve as lessons from, and reverence for, African American elders, as she takes steps to ensure the preservation of African...
- 4/18/2019
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
During Beyonce’s performance at last year’s Coachella, she brought a company of over 200 marching band members, dancers, and background singers on a massive stage to put on a full two-hour concert. The popular festival is used to seeing flower crowns and hipster coffee shop headliners of the acoustic or Edm persuasion, but Beyonce did not want to give you that. She wanted to flip Coachella on its head and give you the unexpected. She wanted to serve you a show that only Beyonce can put on — and while she was at it, she decided to make a documentary about it called Homecoming and release a year later to remind you that the festival will never see a performance like this again. Ever.
Officially titled, Homecoming: A Film By Beyonce, the concert documentary dropped at midnight on Tuesday and the Beyhive was wildly buzzing beforehand as they waited with...
Officially titled, Homecoming: A Film By Beyonce, the concert documentary dropped at midnight on Tuesday and the Beyhive was wildly buzzing beforehand as they waited with...
- 4/17/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
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