Press release
A Film by Marie Losier
THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE
Opens on MARCH 8TH at the CLEARVIEW CHELSEA CINEMAS in NEW YORK
Genesis P-Orridge has been one of the most innovative and influential figures in music and fine art for the last 30 years.
Celebrated by critics and art historians as a progenitor of "industrial music", his innovations have transformed the character of rock and electronic music while his prodigious efforts to expand the boundaries of live performance have radically altered the way people experience sound in a concert setting.
Defying artistic boundaries, Genesis has re-defined his art as a challenge to the limits of biology. In 2000, Genesis began a series of surgeries in order to more closely resemble his love, Lady Jaye (née Jacqueline Breyer), who remained his other half and artistic partner for nearly 15 years.
It was the ultimate act of devotion, and Genesis's most risky, ambitious, and subversive performance to date: he became a she in a triumphant act of artistic self-expression.
This is a love story, and a portrait of two lives that illustrate the transformative powers of both love and art. In warm and intimate images captured handheld, Marie Losier crafts a labyrinthine mise-en-scene of interviews, home movies, and
performance footage.
72 minutes
Directed By: Marie Losier
Distributor: Adopt Films
This Documentary opens in New York on March 8, 2012
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Film by Marie Losier
THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE
Opens on MARCH 8TH at the CLEARVIEW CHELSEA CINEMAS in NEW YORK
Genesis P-Orridge has been one of the most innovative and influential figures in music and fine art for the last 30 years.
Celebrated by critics and art historians as a progenitor of "industrial music", his innovations have transformed the character of rock and electronic music while his prodigious efforts to expand the boundaries of live performance have radically altered the way people experience sound in a concert setting.
Defying artistic boundaries, Genesis has re-defined his art as a challenge to the limits of biology. In 2000, Genesis began a series of surgeries in order to more closely resemble his love, Lady Jaye (née Jacqueline Breyer), who remained his other half and artistic partner for nearly 15 years.
It was the ultimate act of devotion, and Genesis's most risky, ambitious, and subversive performance to date: he became a she in a triumphant act of artistic self-expression.
This is a love story, and a portrait of two lives that illustrate the transformative powers of both love and art. In warm and intimate images captured handheld, Marie Losier crafts a labyrinthine mise-en-scene of interviews, home movies, and
performance footage.
72 minutes
Directed By: Marie Losier
Distributor: Adopt Films
This Documentary opens in New York on March 8, 2012
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DVD-Press release-Documentary
KINO LORBER ACQUIRES ALL PACKAGED MEDIA RIGHTS TO
MALCOLM INGRAM'S
BEAR NATION (2010)
on DVD on June 5, 2012
NEW YORK, NY - March 29, 2012 - Kino Lorber is proud to announce the acquisition of all packaged media rights to Bear
Nation (2010), a LGBT documentary that is a funny and perceptive examination into the subculture of big, beefy, burly men.
The celebrated film premiered at SXSW in 2010 and also played at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Outfest Film Festival, Edmonton International Film Festival, and Warsaw Film Festival - among others.
A fruit of the friendship between director Malcolm Ingram (Small Town Gay Bar) and Executive Producer Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Red State), a straight, married man who became a Bear icon in the last years, Bear Nation is scheduled to be released on DVD on June 5, 2012.
"Malcolm is absolutely one of my dearest, best friends and I love him to death," said Executive Producer Kevin Smith. "Bear Nation is about dudes who are as big as me, sometimes bigger, hairier, strong-looking, truck driver types who fuck dudes that aren't as big as them, and Malcolm has educated me on this. He found a specialized community within the gay community that catered to dudes of his size and he was always trying to sell me on it as well, cause, you know, I'm fat. But all kidding aside, Bear Nation is really worth seeing."
Director Malcolm Ingram, "I am completely thrilled that Bear Nation has found a home amongst the impressive roster of diverse, important and entertaining films at Kino Lorber," wrote director Malcolm Ingram. "At a time when distribution is in such flux and getting stories out there gets increasingly more difficult ... it is a privilege to team with such an innovative company that obviously cares deeply about film."
As gay culture has moved closer to the mainstream, Bears have come out of the closet (or the woods) and become one of the more visible and active subcultures within the LGBT community. Filmmaker Malcolm Ingram (Small Town Gay Bar, Drawing Flies), a self-identified Bear, offers a look at the lives of big guys who love other big guys in this documentary. The film features interviews with musician Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) and Kevin Smith, among many others. Bonus features include an interview with controversial comedian Tracy Morgan (NBC's "30 Rock").
While the LGBT community has long had to struggle with stereotyping by outsiders, gay men also have to deal with widely held perceptions from their peers that they're supposed to fit a certain image -- men who are stylish, carefully groomed trim and to a certain degree effeminate. But not all gay men fit this profile.
From View Askew Productions (Zac and Miri Make a Porno, Clerks II), Bear Nation was also Executive Produced by Harvey Cohen and Nhaelan McMillan (Red State).
This acquisition was negotiated between Kino Lorber's Vice President of Home Entertainment Sales & Distribution Eric D. Wilkinson and Director / Producer Malcolm Ingram. Eric previously worked with Malcolm over a decade ago,
helping oversee the home video release of his first film, Drawing Flies (2002).
MOVIE website-http://www.bearnationmovie.com/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
KINO LORBER ACQUIRES ALL PACKAGED MEDIA RIGHTS TO
MALCOLM INGRAM'S
BEAR NATION (2010)
on DVD on June 5, 2012
NEW YORK, NY - March 29, 2012 - Kino Lorber is proud to announce the acquisition of all packaged media rights to Bear
Nation (2010), a LGBT documentary that is a funny and perceptive examination into the subculture of big, beefy, burly men.
The celebrated film premiered at SXSW in 2010 and also played at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Outfest Film Festival, Edmonton International Film Festival, and Warsaw Film Festival - among others.
A fruit of the friendship between director Malcolm Ingram (Small Town Gay Bar) and Executive Producer Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Red State), a straight, married man who became a Bear icon in the last years, Bear Nation is scheduled to be released on DVD on June 5, 2012.
"Malcolm is absolutely one of my dearest, best friends and I love him to death," said Executive Producer Kevin Smith. "Bear Nation is about dudes who are as big as me, sometimes bigger, hairier, strong-looking, truck driver types who fuck dudes that aren't as big as them, and Malcolm has educated me on this. He found a specialized community within the gay community that catered to dudes of his size and he was always trying to sell me on it as well, cause, you know, I'm fat. But all kidding aside, Bear Nation is really worth seeing."
Director Malcolm Ingram, "I am completely thrilled that Bear Nation has found a home amongst the impressive roster of diverse, important and entertaining films at Kino Lorber," wrote director Malcolm Ingram. "At a time when distribution is in such flux and getting stories out there gets increasingly more difficult ... it is a privilege to team with such an innovative company that obviously cares deeply about film."
As gay culture has moved closer to the mainstream, Bears have come out of the closet (or the woods) and become one of the more visible and active subcultures within the LGBT community. Filmmaker Malcolm Ingram (Small Town Gay Bar, Drawing Flies), a self-identified Bear, offers a look at the lives of big guys who love other big guys in this documentary. The film features interviews with musician Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) and Kevin Smith, among many others. Bonus features include an interview with controversial comedian Tracy Morgan (NBC's "30 Rock").
While the LGBT community has long had to struggle with stereotyping by outsiders, gay men also have to deal with widely held perceptions from their peers that they're supposed to fit a certain image -- men who are stylish, carefully groomed trim and to a certain degree effeminate. But not all gay men fit this profile.
From View Askew Productions (Zac and Miri Make a Porno, Clerks II), Bear Nation was also Executive Produced by Harvey Cohen and Nhaelan McMillan (Red State).
This acquisition was negotiated between Kino Lorber's Vice President of Home Entertainment Sales & Distribution Eric D. Wilkinson and Director / Producer Malcolm Ingram. Eric previously worked with Malcolm over a decade ago,
helping oversee the home video release of his first film, Drawing Flies (2002).
MOVIE website-http://www.bearnationmovie.com/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2011 ARCHIVES
Press release
Andrew Haigh's
WEEKEND
NOW PLAYING in Select Cities
The film follows the unexpected 48 hours spent between Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) - after meeting at a nightclub on a Friday night - that will resonate throughout their lives.
WEEKEND won the Audience Award (Emerging Visions) at SXSW Festival 2011 and Jury Prize at Outfest 2011.
ADDENDUM: After its opening weekend grosses and enthusiastic response at the IFC Center in New York, Andrew Haigh's romantic drama "Weekend" will be expanding this Friday, September 30,2011 to the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas in New York, as well as the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood, the Monica in Santa Monica and the Playhouse in Pasadena.
In addition, it will be available On Demand beginning Friday.
The film will expand to further cities, including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, the
following Friday, October 7th.
Written/Directed By: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Tom Cullen and Chris New
Produced By: Tristan Goligher
Distributed By: Sundance Selects
96 minutes
Rated: Not Rated.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Andrew Haigh's
WEEKEND
NOW PLAYING in Select Cities
The film follows the unexpected 48 hours spent between Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) - after meeting at a nightclub on a Friday night - that will resonate throughout their lives.
WEEKEND won the Audience Award (Emerging Visions) at SXSW Festival 2011 and Jury Prize at Outfest 2011.
ADDENDUM: After its opening weekend grosses and enthusiastic response at the IFC Center in New York, Andrew Haigh's romantic drama "Weekend" will be expanding this Friday, September 30,2011 to the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas in New York, as well as the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood, the Monica in Santa Monica and the Playhouse in Pasadena.
In addition, it will be available On Demand beginning Friday.
The film will expand to further cities, including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, the
following Friday, October 7th.
Written/Directed By: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Tom Cullen and Chris New
Produced By: Tristan Goligher
Distributed By: Sundance Selects
96 minutes
Rated: Not Rated.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Press release
First Run Features Presents
The Sons of Tennessee Williams
a documentary by Tim Wolff
Opens October 7, 2011
in New York at the Quad Cinema and October 14th in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Sunset 5
AN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS STORY
Mardi Gras, drag royalty and a glittering civil rights revolution–where else could these elements come together but in the city of New Orleans?
Interweaving archival footage with contemporary interviews, Tim Wolff’s documentary film The Sons of Tennessee
Williams tells the story of New Orleans’ outrageous gay Mardi Gras over five decades and uncovers the history of the earliest civil rights for gay people in the U.S.
In January 1959, during the height of anti-gay laws that criminalized public association for gay people in this country, a group of men in New Orleans decided to throw a Mardi Gras ball of their own.
Mardi Gras organizations in New Orleans, called Krewes, are social clubs comprised of members who celebrate the annual Carnival season together. Every Krewe has their own festivities, including parties and parades, usually ending with a formal ball and the coronation of a King and Queen.
In 1962, the first all Gay Krewe was formed, called the Krewe of YUGA or “KY,” when they rented a school cafeteria in the notoriously conservative suburb of Jefferson Parish for their coronation ball. Familiar with police raids, the krewe members knew that the ball would break laws. They made absolutely sure to be in full drag anyway.
The police raided the building minutes before the crowning of Queen YUGA IV, alerted by private citizens of cross-dressing men entering the nursery school at night. Krewe members attempted to escape by running into the swamplands adjacent to the school, chased by officers with dogs and flashlights; many were betrayed by their glittering costumes. They were unceremoniously jailed, identified by name in the newspaper and eventually convicted for “disturbing the peace.”
This event marked a significant change in Mardi Gras and gay history as the men quickly worked to secure the right to openly celebrate this important annual holiday, by asking for and receiving a charter from the state of Louisiana to exist with all the rights and privileges given all Carnival organizations, including tax exempt status.
They worked with the traditions of Mardi Gras to move gay culture into a public setting by the mid-1960s. By 1969, there were four gay krewes holding yearly extravaganzas at civic venues across the city, making New Orleans the first place in the U. S. where gay and straight came together in large numbers to publicly celebrate gay culture.
The Sons of Tennessee Williams is the result of 15 years of research through 120 hours of archival ball footage, still pictures and interviews from some 20 of the “SONS” themselves, ending with contemporary HD coverage of the Krewe of Armeinius 40th anniversary ball in 2008.
We travel through the pathos of 1950s era persecution and arrest to the uncommon freedoms in the decades that
followed as the gay krewes' popularity and political power began to emerge. A full decade before the Stonewall riots, these men, who are the embodiment of the archetypal “southern bachelor gentleman,” complete with the cast-iron fortitude, worked directly with the public to create an open, accepted gay cultural event.
Soon, “society matrons begged for ball tickets from their hairdressers and everyone in New Orleans wanted to go to the ball, gay, straight, even the Mayor of the city!”
TIM WOLFF, Director / Writer/ Producer / Editor
Tim Wolff received his education from the California Institute of the Arts Directing for Theatre and Film program, studying closely with director Alexander Mackendrick and two-time Oscar winning documentarian Terry Sanders. In 1999, he began the first of four productions at HBO as producer. He produced two segments for the popular HBO documentary show Real Sex with Wigstock: The Movie filmmaker Barry Shils. The Sons of Tennessee Williams is his first feature documentary with Wolffhouse, Inc. His next project is a magical-realist musical comedy narrative feature, The Ballad of Yes and No.
SONS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
75 minutes, English, Digital, 2010, Documentary
Producer, Writer, Director and Editor: TIM WOLFF
Director of Photography: ERIC ADKINS
2nd Unit Dir. of Photography/Co-Editor: MATT BUCY
Additional Cameras: BRAD BROOKS, FRANCIS JAMES
Associate Producer: PETER WEST
Sound: CARL MOLLER
Camera Assistant: PAUL GULIELMO
Dolly Grip: CLAY THOMAS
Additional Editing: TIMOTHY WATSON
MOVIE website--http://firstrunfeatures.com/sonsoftennesseewilliams/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
First Run Features Presents
The Sons of Tennessee Williams
a documentary by Tim Wolff
Opens October 7, 2011
in New York at the Quad Cinema and October 14th in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Sunset 5
AN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS STORY
Mardi Gras, drag royalty and a glittering civil rights revolution–where else could these elements come together but in the city of New Orleans?
Interweaving archival footage with contemporary interviews, Tim Wolff’s documentary film The Sons of Tennessee
Williams tells the story of New Orleans’ outrageous gay Mardi Gras over five decades and uncovers the history of the earliest civil rights for gay people in the U.S.
In January 1959, during the height of anti-gay laws that criminalized public association for gay people in this country, a group of men in New Orleans decided to throw a Mardi Gras ball of their own.
Mardi Gras organizations in New Orleans, called Krewes, are social clubs comprised of members who celebrate the annual Carnival season together. Every Krewe has their own festivities, including parties and parades, usually ending with a formal ball and the coronation of a King and Queen.
In 1962, the first all Gay Krewe was formed, called the Krewe of YUGA or “KY,” when they rented a school cafeteria in the notoriously conservative suburb of Jefferson Parish for their coronation ball. Familiar with police raids, the krewe members knew that the ball would break laws. They made absolutely sure to be in full drag anyway.
The police raided the building minutes before the crowning of Queen YUGA IV, alerted by private citizens of cross-dressing men entering the nursery school at night. Krewe members attempted to escape by running into the swamplands adjacent to the school, chased by officers with dogs and flashlights; many were betrayed by their glittering costumes. They were unceremoniously jailed, identified by name in the newspaper and eventually convicted for “disturbing the peace.”
This event marked a significant change in Mardi Gras and gay history as the men quickly worked to secure the right to openly celebrate this important annual holiday, by asking for and receiving a charter from the state of Louisiana to exist with all the rights and privileges given all Carnival organizations, including tax exempt status.
They worked with the traditions of Mardi Gras to move gay culture into a public setting by the mid-1960s. By 1969, there were four gay krewes holding yearly extravaganzas at civic venues across the city, making New Orleans the first place in the U. S. where gay and straight came together in large numbers to publicly celebrate gay culture.
The Sons of Tennessee Williams is the result of 15 years of research through 120 hours of archival ball footage, still pictures and interviews from some 20 of the “SONS” themselves, ending with contemporary HD coverage of the Krewe of Armeinius 40th anniversary ball in 2008.
We travel through the pathos of 1950s era persecution and arrest to the uncommon freedoms in the decades that
followed as the gay krewes' popularity and political power began to emerge. A full decade before the Stonewall riots, these men, who are the embodiment of the archetypal “southern bachelor gentleman,” complete with the cast-iron fortitude, worked directly with the public to create an open, accepted gay cultural event.
Soon, “society matrons begged for ball tickets from their hairdressers and everyone in New Orleans wanted to go to the ball, gay, straight, even the Mayor of the city!”
TIM WOLFF, Director / Writer/ Producer / Editor
Tim Wolff received his education from the California Institute of the Arts Directing for Theatre and Film program, studying closely with director Alexander Mackendrick and two-time Oscar winning documentarian Terry Sanders. In 1999, he began the first of four productions at HBO as producer. He produced two segments for the popular HBO documentary show Real Sex with Wigstock: The Movie filmmaker Barry Shils. The Sons of Tennessee Williams is his first feature documentary with Wolffhouse, Inc. His next project is a magical-realist musical comedy narrative feature, The Ballad of Yes and No.
SONS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
75 minutes, English, Digital, 2010, Documentary
Producer, Writer, Director and Editor: TIM WOLFF
Director of Photography: ERIC ADKINS
2nd Unit Dir. of Photography/Co-Editor: MATT BUCY
Additional Cameras: BRAD BROOKS, FRANCIS JAMES
Associate Producer: PETER WEST
Sound: CARL MOLLER
Camera Assistant: PAUL GULIELMO
Dolly Grip: CLAY THOMAS
Additional Editing: TIMOTHY WATSON
MOVIE website--http://firstrunfeatures.com/sonsoftennesseewilliams/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Press release
23rd ANNUAL
NEWFEST
OPENS AT FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER'S WALTER READE THEATER
WITH WE WERE HERE, CLOSES WITH GUN HILL ROAD
July 21 - 28, 2011
STELLAR LINE-UP includes david weissman's opening night documentary We Were Here - SXSW favorite Weekend - Rashaad Ernesto Green's Bronx story Gun Hill Road, and a special screening of Wish Me Away featuring an appearance by the film's subject, Country Music Star CHELY WRIGHT!
FESTIVAL ALSO ANNOUNCES EXPANSION TO VENUES ACROSS NEW YORK CITY
INCLUDING SCREENINGS IN QUEENs AND BROOKLYN
Monday, June 6th -- New York, NY -- NewFest (www.NewFest.org), the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender film festival will soon roll out the rainbow carpet for its 23rd season, from Thursday, July 21st through Thursday, July 28th. Marking the beginning of a new relationship between two pioneering film organizations, NewFest is partnering with the Film Society of Lincoln Center to co-present opening and closing night of the festival.
NewFest will open July 21st at Lincoln Center's Walter Reader Theater with David Weissman's gripping documentary WE WERE HERE, a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco. Rashaad Ernesto Green's Bronx-set GUN HILL ROAD, a complex family drama centering on a transgendered teenager, will close the festival July 28th, also at the Walter Reade Theater.
Lesli Klainberg, the Executive Director of NewFest, said, "Our new relationship with the Film Society of Lincoln Center will not only help raise the profile of LGBT filmmakers, but it also gives our sponsors a platform on the stage of one of the world's foremost film organizations and provides our audience with a film-going experience that is second to none."
"The Film Society of Lincoln Center is committed to supporting diverse film communities, and we look forward to joining forces with NewFest and helping to promote this wonderful film festival," said Rose Kuo, the Executive Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
In addition to the move to Lincoln Center, NewFest is also expanding to venues across the city with select festival programming at the School of Visual Arts Theater in Chelsea and Cinema Village in Greenwich Village, plus special screenings at a variety of other respected New York cultural institutions including The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side, and Harlem Center Stage.
Also confirmed for the upcoming festival are centerpiece screenings of Andrew Haigh's WEEKEND, a delicate, revelatory drama that won the SXSW Emerging Visions Audience Awards, and Beverly Kopf's touching coming-out documentary about country singer Chely Wright.
NewFest Director of Programming Bryce J. Renninger added, "As our stellar lineup of gala screenings show, we are committed to bringing a diverse program of quality films from up-and-coming talents to New York audiences all across the city."
The full program -- including more than 50 feature-length films and 50 short films -- will be announced later this month.
For the complete schedule and ticketing information, please visit www.newfest.org.
NewFest sponsors for the upcoming festival include HBO, 42BELOW and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly.
OPENING, CLOSING NIGHT & GALA SCREENINGS
Opening Night - Thursday, July 21st 8:00pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center
WE WERE HERE directed by David Weissman
1970s. San Francisco. A promised land for those who had enough of the closet and were looking for a real community that would support them, not disown them. David Weissman's incredibly moving portrait of a moment in time, "We Were Here," follows the story of five members of that loving and affectionate community as they recount their days enduring one of their lives' biggest challenges -- the AIDS crisis.
With stories of love, loss, and brother- and sister-hood, "We Were Here", a 2011 Sundance selection, showcases one city's citizens coming together to fight for the lives and humanity of everyone they can.
DOCUMENTARY CENTERPIECE - Friday, July 22nd at the SVA Theater
WISH ME AWAY directed by Beverly Kopf, w/ special appearance by Chely Wright
On May 5, 2010, Howard Bragman, the publicist famous for bringing dozens of stars out of the closet and onto the front pages of newspapers and magazines, said that the world would be shocked by one celebrity's confession that they were gay.
When that day came around, country star Chely Wright (singer of the #1 hit "Single White Female") got up early to go on the Today Show and told the world she is a lesbian.
With unflinching sincerity, Wright proves she is not pulling off a publicity stunt, and we see the weight of the closet float off her shoulder. Battling the overt homophobia of pockets of the country music world, Wright proves resilient as she stands strong and mounts a comeback.
CENTERPIECE SCREENING - Sunday, July 24th, 8pm at the SVA Theater
WEEKENDdirected by Andrew Haigh
Director Andrew Haigh (Greek Pete) returns with a beautiful and uninhibited story of a one-night stand with long-lasting ramifications.
Russell is an introverted twentysomething who longs for a boyfriend but spends his nights hanging out with his straight friends. Glen, on the other hand, is a sexually liberated, outspoken artist strongly opposed to fitting in with "straight culture".
The two surprisingly hit it off at a bar, and spend the weekend getting to know each other, both emotionally and physically. As the end of the weekend draws near though, the boys are forced to make a difficult decision.
CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING AND AWARDS CEREMONY- Thursday, July 28th, 8pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center
GUN HILL ROAD directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green
Pairing a talented cast with a nuanced script, this Sundance hit is a groundbreaking look at family, gender, and machismo in Latino culture.
After a three-year stint in prison, Enrique Rodriguez ("NYPD Blue" star Esai Morales) returns to his family in the Bronx only to discover their lives have changed dramatically. Wife Angela (a dramatic turn for "Scrubs" star Judy Reyes) now seems distant, and their teenage son Michael (captivating newcomer Harmony Santana) is making a new life for himself as Vanessa.
While Vanessa is exploring her two new passions, poetry and a new boyfriend, Enrique becomes hell-bent on turning his child into a tough Nuyorican man just like himself.
About NewFest
NewFest is dedicated to bringing together filmmakers and audiences in the building of a community that passionately supports giving greater visibility and voice to a wide range of expressions and representations of the LGBT experience. We are committed to nurturing emerging LGBT and allied filmmakers. We support those artists who are willing to take risks in telling the stories that fully reflect the diversity and complexity of our lives. And we're committed to bringing our audience stories that transform our vision of who we are and who we can be. Through the New York LGBT film festival, presented annually since 1988, and year-round programming, NewFest celebrates fine domestic and international film and video across a host of media channels as part of our mission to break through closet doors and glass ceilings everywhere.
About the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Richard Peña, Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center offers the best in international, classic and cutting-edge independent cinema. The Film Society presents two film festivals that attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, currently planning its 49th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award-now named "The Chaplin Award" -to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. The Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming, panels, lectures, educational programs and specialty film releases at its Walter Reade Theater and the new state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from 42BELOW, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stella Artois, the National Endowment for the Arts, WNET New York Public Media, Royal Bank of Canada and the New York State Council on the Arts.
For more information, visit: www.FilmLinc.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Press release
DELUX PRODUCTIONS’
HOUSE OF BOYS
OPENS IN THEATERS JULY 29, 2011
NY-Based Matson Films to Open ‘80’s Dance Club Era Gay Coming-of-Age Drama
As 30-Year Milestone of AIDS Crisis is Marked
New York, NY – Luxembourg-based Delux Productions (Merchant of Venice; Girl With a Pearl Earring) has concluded an agreement with NY-based U.S. distributor Matson Films for its feature film House of Boys which will begin its theatrical run on July 29 at Cinema Village in NYC . The film, co-written and directed by Jean-Claude Schlim and produced by Delux’s Bob Bellion and Jimmy de Brabant and Moonstone Entertainment’s Etchie Stroh, was shot in English, on location in Amsterdam. Movingly, the film’s theatrical release comes as the thirty-year milestone of the AIDS crisis is marked.
Deftly re-creating Europe’s ‘80’s gay dance club era and featuring a pulsating soundtrack by NYC-based electro-pop duo Dangerous Muse, House of Boys follows the coming-of-age of Frank, a newly-out teen who’s left home to explore his freedom and lifestyle in the intoxicating world of an all-male cabaret run by the glamorous, eccentric Madame (Udo Kier).
After falling for fellow dancer Jake, his first “true love”, Frank finds his sense of fulfillment later give way to trepidation when Jake is diagnosed with AIDS, a then-virtually-unknown affliction. Amidst the fear and rejection the two encounter as the epidemic spreads, they are comforted by a compassionate doctor (Stephen Fry; V for Vendetta; Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire) and the House of Boys “den mother,” Emma.
The film soundtrack features some of the biggest hits of the era including Tainted Love by Soft Cell, Muscle Bound by Spandau Ballet World of My Own an original song composed and recorded for the film by Jimmy Somerville of Bronski Beat fame, and Night Break by Jimmy Hendrix in addition to original songs contributed by Dangerous Muse.
“We are delighted to partner with Matson Films in bringing House of Boys to the big screen,” commented Bellion, noting Matson’s expertise in marketing specialty films, particularly music-driven features. “As filmmakers, we took pride in evoking the era in which the film is set, including the sights and sounds of the dance club scene. At the same time, we wanted to present a story and characters that, while specific to the era, transcend it and are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago. We entrust Matson Films with ensuring that House of Boys will reach the widest possible audience.”
“The opportunity to present House of Boys, which will no doubt draw in audiences that appreciate the music and the epoch, is especially significant as we mark the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic,” notes Matson. He further states that “while the film will have particular resonance with gay audiences, we consider its themes of unconditional love and claiming one’s identity to have universal appeal.”
DELUX PRODUCTIONS
With over 20 years of experience in production, project financing and servicing of international feature films, Delux has become a leading independent player in Europe. Delux has produced or coproduced over 30 films, many of which have been selected in major Festivals worldwide and received Academy Award nominations including, Girl with a Pearl Earring; Shadow of a Vampire; Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino and 3 films directed by Peter Greenaway - The Pillow Book, 81/2 Women and The Tulse Luper Suitcases. Delux currently has two films in post-production, Belle Du Seigneur starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Marianne Faithfull and Hysteria featuring an all-star cast including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce and Rupert Everett.
MATSON FILMS
Founded in 2004, Matson Films is a theatrical and DVD distributor of independent films. The company’s acquisitions focus is on films from emerging directors and the distribution strategy works to provide the excitement and community of traditional movie-going with the all-access opportunity of the exploding digital landscape.
Matson Films released the award-winning comedy (Toronto Film Festival, Gen Art Film Festival, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival) IT’S ALL GONE PETE TONG to 30 markets in April 2005; THE WORLD’S BEST PROM in April 2006; SNOW BLIND in Winter 2006; and TOWNCRAFT in May 2007; SINNER in January 2009; and the acclaimed GHOST BIRD in September 2010.
MOONSTONE ENTERTAINMENT
Established by Ernst "Etchie" Stroh and his wife Yael at the Cannes Film Festival of 1992 Moonstone has produced several films including AFTERGLOW together with Robert Altman and directed by Alan Rudolph, starring Nick Nolte and Julie Christie (in a role that captured a 1998 Academy Award nomination for Best Actress); COOKIES FORTUNE, another Moonstone/Altman collaboration directed by Altman and starring Glenn Close, Julianne Moore and Liv Tyler; DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA directed by Michael Radford and THE PROMISE, directed by Chen Kaige which garnered a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Foreign Film in 2006.
MOVIE website- www.houseofboysmovie.com
Additional websites: www.matsonfilms.com and www.delux.lu
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DELUX PRODUCTIONS’
HOUSE OF BOYS
OPENS IN THEATERS JULY 29, 2011
NY-Based Matson Films to Open ‘80’s Dance Club Era Gay Coming-of-Age Drama
As 30-Year Milestone of AIDS Crisis is Marked
New York, NY – Luxembourg-based Delux Productions (Merchant of Venice; Girl With a Pearl Earring) has concluded an agreement with NY-based U.S. distributor Matson Films for its feature film House of Boys which will begin its theatrical run on July 29 at Cinema Village in NYC . The film, co-written and directed by Jean-Claude Schlim and produced by Delux’s Bob Bellion and Jimmy de Brabant and Moonstone Entertainment’s Etchie Stroh, was shot in English, on location in Amsterdam. Movingly, the film’s theatrical release comes as the thirty-year milestone of the AIDS crisis is marked.
Deftly re-creating Europe’s ‘80’s gay dance club era and featuring a pulsating soundtrack by NYC-based electro-pop duo Dangerous Muse, House of Boys follows the coming-of-age of Frank, a newly-out teen who’s left home to explore his freedom and lifestyle in the intoxicating world of an all-male cabaret run by the glamorous, eccentric Madame (Udo Kier).
After falling for fellow dancer Jake, his first “true love”, Frank finds his sense of fulfillment later give way to trepidation when Jake is diagnosed with AIDS, a then-virtually-unknown affliction. Amidst the fear and rejection the two encounter as the epidemic spreads, they are comforted by a compassionate doctor (Stephen Fry; V for Vendetta; Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire) and the House of Boys “den mother,” Emma.
The film soundtrack features some of the biggest hits of the era including Tainted Love by Soft Cell, Muscle Bound by Spandau Ballet World of My Own an original song composed and recorded for the film by Jimmy Somerville of Bronski Beat fame, and Night Break by Jimmy Hendrix in addition to original songs contributed by Dangerous Muse.
“We are delighted to partner with Matson Films in bringing House of Boys to the big screen,” commented Bellion, noting Matson’s expertise in marketing specialty films, particularly music-driven features. “As filmmakers, we took pride in evoking the era in which the film is set, including the sights and sounds of the dance club scene. At the same time, we wanted to present a story and characters that, while specific to the era, transcend it and are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago. We entrust Matson Films with ensuring that House of Boys will reach the widest possible audience.”
“The opportunity to present House of Boys, which will no doubt draw in audiences that appreciate the music and the epoch, is especially significant as we mark the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic,” notes Matson. He further states that “while the film will have particular resonance with gay audiences, we consider its themes of unconditional love and claiming one’s identity to have universal appeal.”
DELUX PRODUCTIONS
With over 20 years of experience in production, project financing and servicing of international feature films, Delux has become a leading independent player in Europe. Delux has produced or coproduced over 30 films, many of which have been selected in major Festivals worldwide and received Academy Award nominations including, Girl with a Pearl Earring; Shadow of a Vampire; Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino and 3 films directed by Peter Greenaway - The Pillow Book, 81/2 Women and The Tulse Luper Suitcases. Delux currently has two films in post-production, Belle Du Seigneur starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Marianne Faithfull and Hysteria featuring an all-star cast including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce and Rupert Everett.
MATSON FILMS
Founded in 2004, Matson Films is a theatrical and DVD distributor of independent films. The company’s acquisitions focus is on films from emerging directors and the distribution strategy works to provide the excitement and community of traditional movie-going with the all-access opportunity of the exploding digital landscape.
Matson Films released the award-winning comedy (Toronto Film Festival, Gen Art Film Festival, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival) IT’S ALL GONE PETE TONG to 30 markets in April 2005; THE WORLD’S BEST PROM in April 2006; SNOW BLIND in Winter 2006; and TOWNCRAFT in May 2007; SINNER in January 2009; and the acclaimed GHOST BIRD in September 2010.
MOONSTONE ENTERTAINMENT
Established by Ernst "Etchie" Stroh and his wife Yael at the Cannes Film Festival of 1992 Moonstone has produced several films including AFTERGLOW together with Robert Altman and directed by Alan Rudolph, starring Nick Nolte and Julie Christie (in a role that captured a 1998 Academy Award nomination for Best Actress); COOKIES FORTUNE, another Moonstone/Altman collaboration directed by Altman and starring Glenn Close, Julianne Moore and Liv Tyler; DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA directed by Michael Radford and THE PROMISE, directed by Chen Kaige which garnered a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Foreign Film in 2006.
MOVIE website- www.houseofboysmovie.com
Additional websites: www.matsonfilms.com and www.delux.lu
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Press release
Queer Cinema from the Collection: Today and Yesterday
March 11–17, 2011
In conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibition Contemporary Art from the Collection, AA Bronson, an artist, writer, curator, and member of the artists’ group General Idea, curates a small and idiosyncratic selection of queer cinema and AIDS-related films and videos, drawn from and inspired by the Museum’s collection.
AA Bronson offers these thoughts about the program: “Toronto, February 17, 2011, 7:59 am: I am sitting at my computer, feeling rather jet-lagged, and anticipating my return flight to New York several hours from now.
Let’s say I am feeling queer: I have just come from Paris, where a 25-year retrospective of General Idea brought huge lineups to the opening night. That exhibition circulates around ideas of queerness, and especially General Idea’s queerness, the means whereby we queered whatever we touched, including concepts of the artist, the audience, the museum, the media, and the work of art.
I am even later than usual in providing this text, and I am not sure exactly what it is I want to say here. I know that I do not know, and that is already a kind of queering. The films and videos that I have chosen represent a loose narrative of my own history; there is a story to go with each one.
The story begins in the mid-sixties, when I screened a double bill of Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures at the School of Architecture where I was studying. Both films had been banned, and that was reason enough for me to present them, in a long evening that eventually became rather rowdy, ending in some sort of happening, with wet noodles and nudity.
I include Anger’s Eaux d’Artifice for equally personal reasons: in 1970 a friend who was working at a film distribution house stole a copy of this soulful work, so moved was she by its beauty. We played it again and again in our rather cold and barren General Idea loft, stunned into (stoned) silence by its cold blue luminosity. Our loft was situated on the third floor of an old office building in the heart of the financial district of Toronto, and I remember that blue light flickering through the night, reflecting off the sea of desks that presented itself so mesmerizingly in the building facing ours.
Each work in this series carries memories for me and perhaps I will be able to tell stories as we proceed. I have included one program of General Idea film and video, because those carry the most memories of all. And I begin with some new and younger talent, because as far as queerness goes, we are only just beginning.”
All film descriptions are by AA Bronson.
Organized by AA Bronson, with Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.
New and Younger Talents (9 SHORTS)
The Dolly Shot 2009. Canada. Directed by Mr. & Mrs. Keith Murray.
A lip-synched performance of Dolly Parton’s heart-breaking “I Will Always Love You.” The video is shot in one take, using a continuous pull on a camera dolly. Using makeup to restore the breasts the artist had surgically removed at the age of 14, the final composite (as in the Buddhist meditative tradition where one imagines themselves at the end goal) is a vision of the fully integrated self, the trans(cendent/gender) God(dess) of love embodied.
4'27" 2007. USA. Directed by Terence Koh.
The artist, face hidden by a long black wig, and naked except for a pair of very high black patent-leather high-heeled boots, dances to music on an iPod that only he can hear. The title alludes to John Cage’s infamous composition consisting of 4 minutes 26 seconds of silence.
The Gold Room 2004. France. Directed by Christophe Chemin.
I first came across Christophe Chemin on MySpace, when he asked to become my friend. He is a sexy lad with a magnetic, almost mystical force, which hit me from the far side of the Atlantic. The Gold Room is imbued with shamanic energy, fringed with the erotic. He was an easy choice for this project.
Public Inconvenience 2004. Colombia. Directed by Fernando Arias.
Public Inconvenience was shot in a public toilet in London using a small surveillance camera hidden on the artist’s body.
Mansfield 1962 2006. USA. Directed by William E. Jones.
In Summer 1962 the Mansfield, Ohio, police department clandestinely photographed men having sex in a public restroom, convicting over 30. Later, the police produced an instructional film for internal use, showing how to set up a sting operation to arrest “sex deviants.” Jones re-edits this footage into a haunting, silent condensation of the original.
Now It Is in My Eyes 2005. France. Directed by Christophe Chemin.
One Night at Andre’s 2007. Canada. Directed by Steve Reinke.
Steve Reinke, master of the one-minute video, came to my rescue when I complained about the lack of explicit sex in artists’ videos.
Inside the Pavilion of Virginia Puff Paint 2004. Canada. Directed by Jeremy Laing, Will Munro.
“Peer through the glory-hole into the Pavilion of Virginia Puff Paint… Watch as this insatiably versatile vision of hand-stitched polysexuality tickles multiple lacy orifices… Freshly plowed by a rhinestone stiletto and dripping pearled entrails… Virginia, having exhausted the possibilities for penetration, collapses in a shower of sequins.”
Anthology of American Folk Song 2004. Canada. Directed by Steve Reinke.
From Reinke’s own website, myrectumisnotagrave.com, comes this description: “Named after Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music, Anthology of Anthology Of American Folk Song…is the first in a series called Final Thoughts, an archive of found and original material collected by Reinke. Anthology is permeated by a sense of menace, standing as an oblique, disparate catalogue of small humiliations, traumas and strange, absurd, occasionally beautiful images and songs that queer the mythologies of a culture in crisis.” This rarely seen video is probably Reinke’s most complex and beautiful/perverse work.
Friday, March 11, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2 (Introduced by AA Bronson)
(Anger & Jarman: 1 SHORT and 1 short Feature)
Eaux d’artifice 1953. USA. Directed by Kenneth Anger.
In 1970 a friend who was working at a film distribution house stole a copy of this soulful work, so moved was she by its beauty. We played it again and again in our rather cold and barren General Idea loft, stunned into (stoned) silence by its cold blue luminosity. Our loft was situated on the third floor of an old office building in the heart of the financial district of Toronto, and I remember that blue light flickering through the night, reflecting off the sea of desks that presented itself so mesmerizingly in the building facing ours. 12 min.
Blue 1993. Great Britain. Written and directed by Derek Jarman.
With the voices of Jarman, Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, John Quentin.
I first met Derek Jarman when he came to a General Idea exhibition opening in London in 1978. He invited us to come to the premiere of Jubilee the following night and generously picked us up in his car. His boyfriend at the time felt me up surreptitiously in the back of the car while Derek chattered excitedly to us from the front. After the premiere, a group of us feasted on roast potatoes in the warmth of a plastic-enclosed tent in his otherwise frigid loft. I have chosen Blue rather than that earlier film because my life… 79 min.
Saturday, March 12, 2011, 1:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2
(Feature)
Shortbus 2006. USA. Written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell.
With Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawon, Lindsay Beamish, Jay Brannan, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, and Justin Bond.
I found this brief description online: “A group of New Yorkers caught up in their romantic-sexual milieu converge at an underground salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.” The title refers to a weekly social/artistic/sexual salon in Brooklyn called "Shortbus," hosted by Justin Bond, the inimitable drag performance artist, who plays himself. Although I have never attended a salon of quite this type, I recognized it immediately as my natural home. This is the first and last movie, especially of the variety seen in mainstream cinemas, to speak directly to me, depicting any number of people who might have been my friends. One of the radical aspects of this film, apart from its very direct depiction of sex, is its vision of intense social community. 101 min.
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 2:30 p.m., Theater 1, T1
(Anger & Warhol: 1 SHORT and 1 short Feature)
Scorpio Rising 1964. USA. Directed by Kenneth Anger.
In 1965 I screened a double bill of Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures at the School of Architecture in Winnipeg, where I was studying. Both films had been banned, and that was reason enough for me to present them, in a long evening that eventually became rather rowdy, ending in some sort of happening, with wet noodles and nudity. Scorpio Rising was the first message I received from the world of culture that who and what I felt myself to be was entirely OK, that there is lots of room for diversity in this world. 28 min.
Harlot 1964. USA. Directed by Andy Warhol. Screenplay by Ronald Tavel.
With Gerard Malanga, Mario Montez, Philip Fagan, Carol Koshinskie. Offscreen voices: Tavel, Billy Name, Harry Fainlight.
In 1966 I attended the Trips Festival in Vancouver, a psychedelic extravaganza of several days that included, most memorably for me, a reading by poet Michael McClure broadcast over a grid of some 40 overhead speakers, orchestrated so that his animal noises seemed to move in waves around the space, and a “retrospective” of films by Andy Warhol, all projected simultaneously around the outer walls of the Pacific National Exhibition Garden Auditorium, of which only Harlot had a sound track. 67 min.
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 5:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2
General Idea: Films and Videos, 1969–85 (6 SHORTS)
Jorge, Felix, and I lived and worked together under the name of “General Idea” from 1969 through 1994, when Felix and Jorge both died, bringing our experiment in collaboration to an end. Looking back over our life together, I realize that much of our work was a kind of self-portraiture, a picturing of ourselves in a semi-fictitious narrative as whom we felt we really were. Especially in our film and video work, this queer vision is central.
God Is My Gigolo 1969/70. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
General Idea’s first collaborative project is this 16mm film, here beautifully restored, but missing its sound track. General Idea’s extended family make appearances in this epic poem of a young woman’s voyage to sexual fulfillment. Key influences were the Kuchar Brothers and the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague). 30 min.
Double Mirror Video 1971. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
A conceptual self-portrait using two mirrors and a Sony portapak. 5 min.
Pilot 1977. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for television broadcast by OECA TV, Toronto. From 1971 on, all of General Idea’s videos were conceptualized as television broadcasts. Pilot is the first actually made for television though, and became a late night cult hit on Canadian educational television in the late seventies. It is conceived as a “pilot” for a non-existent series, and acts as an introduction to General Idea. Much of it was shot with super-8 film, only the head-and-shoulder segments being recorded in the television studio. 29 min.
Test Tube 1979. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for television broadcast by de Appel, Amsterdam. In 1979, we were invited to Amsterdam by de Appel to produce the first of a series of artists’ made-for-television videos. The Stedelijk Museum gave us a small studio, as well as our first museum exhibition. We lived there for three months, meeting the local artists, many of whom (Marina Abramović, for example) made cameo appearances in the finished video. Test Tube used the language of television, including the visual formats of talk show, soap opera and so on, but also the chromatic language of television, to construct a portrait of the artist. Portending the future, Test Tube presented the artist in a context of the marketplace: dealers, sales, museum shows, and Documenta. Dutch television refused to air the completed work, because it “looks too much like television,” but it went on to be broadcast in Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S. 28 min.
Loco 1982. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for CBC Television by Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon. A more ethereal view of the artist as “lunatic poodles”, receiving their inspiration from the night. Black and white views are excerpted from our first film God Is My Gigolo. 10 min.
Shut the Fuck Up 1985. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for television broadcast by Talking Back to the Media, Amsterdam. Conceived as a sequel to Test Tube, and once again produced fro Dutch television, Shut the Fuck Up again presents the three artists of General Idea on the artist’s relation to the media. We appropriated edited versions of popular media as samples from which to draw our subject matter: a B movie, a television show, and a made-for-television music spectacular. In the end, our message to the media is “Shut the Fuck Up”—or is it? 14 min.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2 (Introduced by AA Bronson)
Works by Scott Treleaven (4 SHORTS)
From Scott Treleaven: “From 1996 to 1999 I published a queer zine called This Is the Salivation Army. The film The Salivation Army (2002) was an attempt to make a documentary about my adventures in underground publishing that respected not only the actual events, but people's perceptions of those events which proved to be just as consequential. Everything in the film is "real" so to speak, but the reality is delivered alongside a mythology that eventually eclipses it.
Lustre (2005) was based on a short story that never made it into the zine, an allegory about how people with shared affinities find one another, and a literal interpretation of the punk aphorism "the flowers in the dustbin."
In a similar vein to The Salivation Army, Silver(2006) and Gold (2006) started off as an idea to make film portraits of friends who'd had a mentoring influence on me, but I eschewed more straightforward biographical details and tried to draw on the kind of iconography and aura I associated with them instead.
The films came together around things like AA Bronson's use of mirrors in his artwork, his interest in scrying and fortune-telling, his John Dee–like countenance; [Lady] Jaye and Genesis [P-Orridge]'s fascination with the pandrogyne, their physical dynamic and relationship, their surgeries, and an amazing staircase in their Ridgewood apartment building that could visually be made to (un)wind like an enormous DNA strand.
The films also emerged as meditations on the Hierophant and Art cards of the tarot, respectively. Also embedded in the portraits are mini-homages to Derek Jarman, Maya Deren, Jack Smith, and others.”
Silver. 2006. Canada. With AA Bronson. Soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
Gold. 2006. Canada. With Genesis P-Orridge, Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge. Soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
Lustre. 2005. Canada. With Massimo & Pierce of Black Sun Productions. Soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
The Salivation Army. 2002. Canada. With Kevin Drew, Will Munro. Soundtrack by KC Accidental, Psychic TV
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 6:45 p.m., Theater 2, T2
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Queer Cinema from the Collection: Today and Yesterday
March 11–17, 2011
In conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibition Contemporary Art from the Collection, AA Bronson, an artist, writer, curator, and member of the artists’ group General Idea, curates a small and idiosyncratic selection of queer cinema and AIDS-related films and videos, drawn from and inspired by the Museum’s collection.
AA Bronson offers these thoughts about the program: “Toronto, February 17, 2011, 7:59 am: I am sitting at my computer, feeling rather jet-lagged, and anticipating my return flight to New York several hours from now.
Let’s say I am feeling queer: I have just come from Paris, where a 25-year retrospective of General Idea brought huge lineups to the opening night. That exhibition circulates around ideas of queerness, and especially General Idea’s queerness, the means whereby we queered whatever we touched, including concepts of the artist, the audience, the museum, the media, and the work of art.
I am even later than usual in providing this text, and I am not sure exactly what it is I want to say here. I know that I do not know, and that is already a kind of queering. The films and videos that I have chosen represent a loose narrative of my own history; there is a story to go with each one.
The story begins in the mid-sixties, when I screened a double bill of Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures at the School of Architecture where I was studying. Both films had been banned, and that was reason enough for me to present them, in a long evening that eventually became rather rowdy, ending in some sort of happening, with wet noodles and nudity.
I include Anger’s Eaux d’Artifice for equally personal reasons: in 1970 a friend who was working at a film distribution house stole a copy of this soulful work, so moved was she by its beauty. We played it again and again in our rather cold and barren General Idea loft, stunned into (stoned) silence by its cold blue luminosity. Our loft was situated on the third floor of an old office building in the heart of the financial district of Toronto, and I remember that blue light flickering through the night, reflecting off the sea of desks that presented itself so mesmerizingly in the building facing ours.
Each work in this series carries memories for me and perhaps I will be able to tell stories as we proceed. I have included one program of General Idea film and video, because those carry the most memories of all. And I begin with some new and younger talent, because as far as queerness goes, we are only just beginning.”
All film descriptions are by AA Bronson.
Organized by AA Bronson, with Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.
New and Younger Talents (9 SHORTS)
The Dolly Shot 2009. Canada. Directed by Mr. & Mrs. Keith Murray.
A lip-synched performance of Dolly Parton’s heart-breaking “I Will Always Love You.” The video is shot in one take, using a continuous pull on a camera dolly. Using makeup to restore the breasts the artist had surgically removed at the age of 14, the final composite (as in the Buddhist meditative tradition where one imagines themselves at the end goal) is a vision of the fully integrated self, the trans(cendent/gender) God(dess) of love embodied.
4'27" 2007. USA. Directed by Terence Koh.
The artist, face hidden by a long black wig, and naked except for a pair of very high black patent-leather high-heeled boots, dances to music on an iPod that only he can hear. The title alludes to John Cage’s infamous composition consisting of 4 minutes 26 seconds of silence.
The Gold Room 2004. France. Directed by Christophe Chemin.
I first came across Christophe Chemin on MySpace, when he asked to become my friend. He is a sexy lad with a magnetic, almost mystical force, which hit me from the far side of the Atlantic. The Gold Room is imbued with shamanic energy, fringed with the erotic. He was an easy choice for this project.
Public Inconvenience 2004. Colombia. Directed by Fernando Arias.
Public Inconvenience was shot in a public toilet in London using a small surveillance camera hidden on the artist’s body.
Mansfield 1962 2006. USA. Directed by William E. Jones.
In Summer 1962 the Mansfield, Ohio, police department clandestinely photographed men having sex in a public restroom, convicting over 30. Later, the police produced an instructional film for internal use, showing how to set up a sting operation to arrest “sex deviants.” Jones re-edits this footage into a haunting, silent condensation of the original.
Now It Is in My Eyes 2005. France. Directed by Christophe Chemin.
One Night at Andre’s 2007. Canada. Directed by Steve Reinke.
Steve Reinke, master of the one-minute video, came to my rescue when I complained about the lack of explicit sex in artists’ videos.
Inside the Pavilion of Virginia Puff Paint 2004. Canada. Directed by Jeremy Laing, Will Munro.
“Peer through the glory-hole into the Pavilion of Virginia Puff Paint… Watch as this insatiably versatile vision of hand-stitched polysexuality tickles multiple lacy orifices… Freshly plowed by a rhinestone stiletto and dripping pearled entrails… Virginia, having exhausted the possibilities for penetration, collapses in a shower of sequins.”
Anthology of American Folk Song 2004. Canada. Directed by Steve Reinke.
From Reinke’s own website, myrectumisnotagrave.com, comes this description: “Named after Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music, Anthology of Anthology Of American Folk Song…is the first in a series called Final Thoughts, an archive of found and original material collected by Reinke. Anthology is permeated by a sense of menace, standing as an oblique, disparate catalogue of small humiliations, traumas and strange, absurd, occasionally beautiful images and songs that queer the mythologies of a culture in crisis.” This rarely seen video is probably Reinke’s most complex and beautiful/perverse work.
Friday, March 11, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2 (Introduced by AA Bronson)
(Anger & Jarman: 1 SHORT and 1 short Feature)
Eaux d’artifice 1953. USA. Directed by Kenneth Anger.
In 1970 a friend who was working at a film distribution house stole a copy of this soulful work, so moved was she by its beauty. We played it again and again in our rather cold and barren General Idea loft, stunned into (stoned) silence by its cold blue luminosity. Our loft was situated on the third floor of an old office building in the heart of the financial district of Toronto, and I remember that blue light flickering through the night, reflecting off the sea of desks that presented itself so mesmerizingly in the building facing ours. 12 min.
Blue 1993. Great Britain. Written and directed by Derek Jarman.
With the voices of Jarman, Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, John Quentin.
I first met Derek Jarman when he came to a General Idea exhibition opening in London in 1978. He invited us to come to the premiere of Jubilee the following night and generously picked us up in his car. His boyfriend at the time felt me up surreptitiously in the back of the car while Derek chattered excitedly to us from the front. After the premiere, a group of us feasted on roast potatoes in the warmth of a plastic-enclosed tent in his otherwise frigid loft. I have chosen Blue rather than that earlier film because my life… 79 min.
Saturday, March 12, 2011, 1:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2
(Feature)
Shortbus 2006. USA. Written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell.
With Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawon, Lindsay Beamish, Jay Brannan, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, and Justin Bond.
I found this brief description online: “A group of New Yorkers caught up in their romantic-sexual milieu converge at an underground salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.” The title refers to a weekly social/artistic/sexual salon in Brooklyn called "Shortbus," hosted by Justin Bond, the inimitable drag performance artist, who plays himself. Although I have never attended a salon of quite this type, I recognized it immediately as my natural home. This is the first and last movie, especially of the variety seen in mainstream cinemas, to speak directly to me, depicting any number of people who might have been my friends. One of the radical aspects of this film, apart from its very direct depiction of sex, is its vision of intense social community. 101 min.
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 2:30 p.m., Theater 1, T1
(Anger & Warhol: 1 SHORT and 1 short Feature)
Scorpio Rising 1964. USA. Directed by Kenneth Anger.
In 1965 I screened a double bill of Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising and Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures at the School of Architecture in Winnipeg, where I was studying. Both films had been banned, and that was reason enough for me to present them, in a long evening that eventually became rather rowdy, ending in some sort of happening, with wet noodles and nudity. Scorpio Rising was the first message I received from the world of culture that who and what I felt myself to be was entirely OK, that there is lots of room for diversity in this world. 28 min.
Harlot 1964. USA. Directed by Andy Warhol. Screenplay by Ronald Tavel.
With Gerard Malanga, Mario Montez, Philip Fagan, Carol Koshinskie. Offscreen voices: Tavel, Billy Name, Harry Fainlight.
In 1966 I attended the Trips Festival in Vancouver, a psychedelic extravaganza of several days that included, most memorably for me, a reading by poet Michael McClure broadcast over a grid of some 40 overhead speakers, orchestrated so that his animal noises seemed to move in waves around the space, and a “retrospective” of films by Andy Warhol, all projected simultaneously around the outer walls of the Pacific National Exhibition Garden Auditorium, of which only Harlot had a sound track. 67 min.
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 5:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2
General Idea: Films and Videos, 1969–85 (6 SHORTS)
Jorge, Felix, and I lived and worked together under the name of “General Idea” from 1969 through 1994, when Felix and Jorge both died, bringing our experiment in collaboration to an end. Looking back over our life together, I realize that much of our work was a kind of self-portraiture, a picturing of ourselves in a semi-fictitious narrative as whom we felt we really were. Especially in our film and video work, this queer vision is central.
God Is My Gigolo 1969/70. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
General Idea’s first collaborative project is this 16mm film, here beautifully restored, but missing its sound track. General Idea’s extended family make appearances in this epic poem of a young woman’s voyage to sexual fulfillment. Key influences were the Kuchar Brothers and the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague). 30 min.
Double Mirror Video 1971. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
A conceptual self-portrait using two mirrors and a Sony portapak. 5 min.
Pilot 1977. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for television broadcast by OECA TV, Toronto. From 1971 on, all of General Idea’s videos were conceptualized as television broadcasts. Pilot is the first actually made for television though, and became a late night cult hit on Canadian educational television in the late seventies. It is conceived as a “pilot” for a non-existent series, and acts as an introduction to General Idea. Much of it was shot with super-8 film, only the head-and-shoulder segments being recorded in the television studio. 29 min.
Test Tube 1979. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for television broadcast by de Appel, Amsterdam. In 1979, we were invited to Amsterdam by de Appel to produce the first of a series of artists’ made-for-television videos. The Stedelijk Museum gave us a small studio, as well as our first museum exhibition. We lived there for three months, meeting the local artists, many of whom (Marina Abramović, for example) made cameo appearances in the finished video. Test Tube used the language of television, including the visual formats of talk show, soap opera and so on, but also the chromatic language of television, to construct a portrait of the artist. Portending the future, Test Tube presented the artist in a context of the marketplace: dealers, sales, museum shows, and Documenta. Dutch television refused to air the completed work, because it “looks too much like television,” but it went on to be broadcast in Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S. 28 min.
Loco 1982. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for CBC Television by Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon. A more ethereal view of the artist as “lunatic poodles”, receiving their inspiration from the night. Black and white views are excerpted from our first film God Is My Gigolo. 10 min.
Shut the Fuck Up 1985. Canada. Directed by AA Bronson, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal.
Produced for television broadcast by Talking Back to the Media, Amsterdam. Conceived as a sequel to Test Tube, and once again produced fro Dutch television, Shut the Fuck Up again presents the three artists of General Idea on the artist’s relation to the media. We appropriated edited versions of popular media as samples from which to draw our subject matter: a B movie, a television show, and a made-for-television music spectacular. In the end, our message to the media is “Shut the Fuck Up”—or is it? 14 min.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2 (Introduced by AA Bronson)
Works by Scott Treleaven (4 SHORTS)
From Scott Treleaven: “From 1996 to 1999 I published a queer zine called This Is the Salivation Army. The film The Salivation Army (2002) was an attempt to make a documentary about my adventures in underground publishing that respected not only the actual events, but people's perceptions of those events which proved to be just as consequential. Everything in the film is "real" so to speak, but the reality is delivered alongside a mythology that eventually eclipses it.
Lustre (2005) was based on a short story that never made it into the zine, an allegory about how people with shared affinities find one another, and a literal interpretation of the punk aphorism "the flowers in the dustbin."
In a similar vein to The Salivation Army, Silver(2006) and Gold (2006) started off as an idea to make film portraits of friends who'd had a mentoring influence on me, but I eschewed more straightforward biographical details and tried to draw on the kind of iconography and aura I associated with them instead.
The films came together around things like AA Bronson's use of mirrors in his artwork, his interest in scrying and fortune-telling, his John Dee–like countenance; [Lady] Jaye and Genesis [P-Orridge]'s fascination with the pandrogyne, their physical dynamic and relationship, their surgeries, and an amazing staircase in their Ridgewood apartment building that could visually be made to (un)wind like an enormous DNA strand.
The films also emerged as meditations on the Hierophant and Art cards of the tarot, respectively. Also embedded in the portraits are mini-homages to Derek Jarman, Maya Deren, Jack Smith, and others.”
Silver. 2006. Canada. With AA Bronson. Soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
Gold. 2006. Canada. With Genesis P-Orridge, Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge. Soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
Lustre. 2005. Canada. With Massimo & Pierce of Black Sun Productions. Soundtrack by Andrew Zealley
The Salivation Army. 2002. Canada. With Kevin Drew, Will Munro. Soundtrack by KC Accidental, Psychic TV
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 6:45 p.m., Theater 2, T2
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++