Many of the most important queer films in cinema history share a birthplace: the Sundance Film Festival. Organized by the Sundance Institute, the legendary annual fest in Park City, Utah, has boasted international and U.S. premiere titles as varied as the groundbreaking New York ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning in 1991, Donna Deitch’s 1985 lesbian road drama Desert Hearts or even recent masterworks like Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 adaptation of Call Me by Your Name.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Kim Yutani, director of programming at Sundance, about some of the most important Lgbtqia+ films to debut there.
“Seeing the films that Sundance has programmed over the years, especially around the early 1990s with the New Queer Wave, that was what attracted me to Sundance,” says Yutani, who’s been working with the festival for 17 years, and has also worked in various positions within the film industry, like as Gregg Araki...
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Kim Yutani, director of programming at Sundance, about some of the most important Lgbtqia+ films to debut there.
“Seeing the films that Sundance has programmed over the years, especially around the early 1990s with the New Queer Wave, that was what attracted me to Sundance,” says Yutani, who’s been working with the festival for 17 years, and has also worked in various positions within the film industry, like as Gregg Araki...
- 6/26/2023
- by Hilton Dresden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Thanks be to the generous souls on Letterboxd who run the“Not Andrew Sarris” and “Not Dave Kehr” accounts with their thoughtful capsule reviews. When logging my viewing for Metrograph’s upcoming series, On Fire Island, I found reviews for Andy Warhol and Chuck Wein’s My Hustler, Frank Perry’s Last Summer, and Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances by the aforementioned critics. Stan Lopresto’s Sticks and Stones and Wakefield Poole’s Boys in the Sand (also screening in the series) are noticeably missing professional critiques. Looking further, Last Summer is the only film of the five to receive a fair shake from a robust number of film critics and the write-ups for My Hustler and Parting Glances are more first impressions than researched arguments.
On Fire Island is programmed by Michael Lieberman, head of publicity at Metrograph, and picks up the critical slack with programming-as-criticism. The series is...
On Fire Island is programmed by Michael Lieberman, head of publicity at Metrograph, and picks up the critical slack with programming-as-criticism. The series is...
- 8/10/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Chicago – Bring up the immortal classic “A Christmas Carol,” by author Charles Dickens, then bring up how many film and TV versions have been done using its basic story. After a half hour of listing every conceivable production, a gay version won’t be found. “Scrooge & Marley” is the new film that takes care of that category. The premiere was last week in Chicago at the Music Box Theatre.
The Cast and Production Crew of ‘Scrooge & Marley’ at The Music Box Theater, Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Featuring an essential array of talent – including David Pevsner (Scrooge), Tim Kazurinsky (Marley), Bruce Vilanch (Fezziwig), Megan Cavanagh (Ghost of Christmas Present) and Richard Ganoung (Charity Solicitor) – “Scrooge & Marley” updates the story to present day, places its characters in the gay community and contains flashbacks to the disco era and the go-go 1980s. With a combination of camp and the...
The Cast and Production Crew of ‘Scrooge & Marley’ at The Music Box Theater, Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Featuring an essential array of talent – including David Pevsner (Scrooge), Tim Kazurinsky (Marley), Bruce Vilanch (Fezziwig), Megan Cavanagh (Ghost of Christmas Present) and Richard Ganoung (Charity Solicitor) – “Scrooge & Marley” updates the story to present day, places its characters in the gay community and contains flashbacks to the disco era and the go-go 1980s. With a combination of camp and the...
- 12/3/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
PARK CITY, Utah -- A straightforward, coming-of-sexual identity story about a gay photographer from Indiana who has migrated to the flats and hills of West Hollywood, "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" is a solid, sensitive drama about a young man's quest to balance his life.
A well-realized and often witty film, this Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition entrant will do well on the festival trail and should buff some select-site change in art house venues.
Sean P. Hayes stars as Billy, who is taking his lumps as a fledgling photographer in Hollywood. He's out of work, out of love and -- though he regards the necessary payment of dues in launching a career -- has no dreams of wallowing in poverty or despairing in singledom. After the perfunctory dalliances and flings, Billy's keen camera eye focuses on a classically handsome young musician aptly named Gabriel (Brad Rowe). The looming hangup: Is Gabriel gay? After all, he alludes to a girlfriend in San Francisco (but not frequently), and on the K-scale (Billy's indicator of "straightness"), he scores on the gay side.
The central story is somewhat one of puppy love as young Billy casts adoring eyes at Gabriel, but it is nicely rounded with broader, psychological insights into love. Billy tends to project things and get in relationship doldrums because of his shy way of assessing romance that often turns out to be completely off base. While the film depicts a gay romance, the psychological pinions and missteps transcend sexual preference.
"Billy"'s appeal is due, in large part, to the measured, sympathetic performances of its leads. Hayes brings an everyman aspect to his character, the sort of person for whom you root to succeed; and as the sexually conflicted Gabriel, Rowe's canny performance shows the inner anxieties of a young man who on the surface appears placid and perfect. Supporting players, including Richard Ganoung and Meredith Scott Lynn, bring credible shadings to their roles, while Paul Bartel aptly camps it up as a big-time photographer.
This "Screen Kiss" is nicely fleshed by smart technical assists, namely Alan Ari Lazar's dicey score and Julia Bartholomew's personality-revealing costumes.
BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS
A Tommy O'Haver trifle
Producer: David Moseley
Screenwriter-director: Tommy O'Haver
Line producer: Irene Turner
Co-producers: Meredith Scott Lynn,
Irene Turner
Associate producer: Marcus Hu
Director of photography: Mark Mervis
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Costume designer: Julia Bartholomew
Production designer: Franco-Giacomo Carbone
Choreography: Michele Spears, Joseph McKee
Music: Alan Ari Lazar
Music supervisor: Robin Urdang
Casting: Robert McGree
Color/stereo
Cast:
Billy Collier: Sean P. Hayes
Gabriel: Brad Rowe
Perry: Richard Ganoung
George: Meredith Scott Lynn
Rex Webster: Paul Bartel
Whitey: Matthew Ashford
Holly: Holly Woodlawn
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A well-realized and often witty film, this Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition entrant will do well on the festival trail and should buff some select-site change in art house venues.
Sean P. Hayes stars as Billy, who is taking his lumps as a fledgling photographer in Hollywood. He's out of work, out of love and -- though he regards the necessary payment of dues in launching a career -- has no dreams of wallowing in poverty or despairing in singledom. After the perfunctory dalliances and flings, Billy's keen camera eye focuses on a classically handsome young musician aptly named Gabriel (Brad Rowe). The looming hangup: Is Gabriel gay? After all, he alludes to a girlfriend in San Francisco (but not frequently), and on the K-scale (Billy's indicator of "straightness"), he scores on the gay side.
The central story is somewhat one of puppy love as young Billy casts adoring eyes at Gabriel, but it is nicely rounded with broader, psychological insights into love. Billy tends to project things and get in relationship doldrums because of his shy way of assessing romance that often turns out to be completely off base. While the film depicts a gay romance, the psychological pinions and missteps transcend sexual preference.
"Billy"'s appeal is due, in large part, to the measured, sympathetic performances of its leads. Hayes brings an everyman aspect to his character, the sort of person for whom you root to succeed; and as the sexually conflicted Gabriel, Rowe's canny performance shows the inner anxieties of a young man who on the surface appears placid and perfect. Supporting players, including Richard Ganoung and Meredith Scott Lynn, bring credible shadings to their roles, while Paul Bartel aptly camps it up as a big-time photographer.
This "Screen Kiss" is nicely fleshed by smart technical assists, namely Alan Ari Lazar's dicey score and Julia Bartholomew's personality-revealing costumes.
BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS
A Tommy O'Haver trifle
Producer: David Moseley
Screenwriter-director: Tommy O'Haver
Line producer: Irene Turner
Co-producers: Meredith Scott Lynn,
Irene Turner
Associate producer: Marcus Hu
Director of photography: Mark Mervis
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Costume designer: Julia Bartholomew
Production designer: Franco-Giacomo Carbone
Choreography: Michele Spears, Joseph McKee
Music: Alan Ari Lazar
Music supervisor: Robin Urdang
Casting: Robert McGree
Color/stereo
Cast:
Billy Collier: Sean P. Hayes
Gabriel: Brad Rowe
Perry: Richard Ganoung
George: Meredith Scott Lynn
Rex Webster: Paul Bartel
Whitey: Matthew Ashford
Holly: Holly Woodlawn
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/26/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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