Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

Gregg Araki wins the first Queer Palm at Cannes

Gregg Araki's new film has won the first prize ever awarded at Cannes for Queer Film. The new movie, Kaboom, is a teen comedy with a sci-fi/supernatural twist features explicit scenes of gay, lesbian and bisexual sex. Perfect for an LGBT film festival, no? Take a look at the Kaboom trailer on youtube.

NewFest 2010: Topp Twins called "The Lesbian Carol Burnett Show"

The Topp Twins were interviewed this week in the Toronto Star, where their brand of sketch comedy was compared to Carol Burnett's comedy. Well, if Carol Burnett were channeling Murray Hill and Lily Tomlin perhaps.

I loved learning that they are not only out and proud lesbian, but they are very politically involved at home:

...the movie... shows how the Topp Twins have been agents of political change in their homeland, campaigning against nuclear power and for Maori land rights, gay and lesbian rights and demanding the 1981 tour of New Zealand by the South African football club the Springboks, be halted

....“It’s so subversive when you think about it,” says singer Billy Bragg in the film of the twins’ cross-cultural appeal. “Of all the forms, to choose county and western (music) is the most redneck, the most gender-specific of all popular culture. To use that as a way of pushing forward gay rights, it’s so subversive.”

Untouchable Girls: The Topp Twins will play at NewFest on Thursday, June 10th at 7:30pm. Get your tickets here.

Cannes Film Festival: Who will win the first award for gay film at this premier festival?

So the Cannes Film Festival has decided to give an award for queer film: and Xavier Dolan, whose I Killed My Mother won more than 30 awards last year (and it will be at NewFest 2010 in NYC in June) has a new queer film at Canned this year. Yes, he's back and cuter than ever.

This heart-throb's new films is called Heartbeats, and it's a situation many of us recall from our youth: falling in love with a guy who is unattainable. The wrinkle here is that his friend, a young woman, is also in love with the unattainable guy. He's beautiful and beyond both their reach. It seems.

He's 21. And he's up against the old man in queer film. Gregg Araki. Never thought you'd see that sentence anywhere did you? Time is relentless, and there's always a new generation behind you. And there's also a film about Grace Slick, the lead singer for the Jefferson Airplane, that involves her in a lesbian relationship. 

Who's going to win? I have no idea — but I certainly hope all three of these movies will be at NewFest, NYC's lgbt film festival next year. Meanwhile, there's more than 100 films from 20 countries that you can see from June 3rd to 13th. Like Dolan's much lauded film from last year at Cannes. It's at NewFest 2010. Get your tickets now.

NewFest 2010 at the JCC: Gay Jewish Film, Uncut.

NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival has hooked up with the Faigele Film Festival, New York’s Jewish LGBTQ Film Festival: presenting Gay Days and The So-Called Movie.

A Movie About A Gay Hip Hop Cowboy Klezmer DJ Video Artist. Say Nu?

The NewFest program describes Josh Dolgin, the subject of the documentary "The So-Called Movie" as the love child of Woody Allen and Lil Wayne. Uh huh. Okay. Well, What I can say is that Dolgin is one very interesting character whose passion for music of all kinds is infectious, and whose beats just make me happy. Makes me want to get up and dance.

Along with Gay Days, a documentary about the lgbt movement in Israel, this NewFest trek uptown represents a move to recognize the fact that the lgbt community is made up of many communities around the city. So on June 8^th, NewFest will be at the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side.

The night before, on June 7^th, NewFest will be at Harlem Stages showing Children of God, a high-tension romance that takes places in the midst of a homophobic crackdown in the Bahamas. Complete with a right-wing preacher on the down-low, this film captures the claustrophobia of life in a society where shame, secrecy and the threat of violence are always present.

Tickets are available now at Newfest.org

Glee Fan? Here's your cheat sheet to seeing movies at NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival.

Gleeks Have Plenty to see at the LGBT Film Festival, Starting With After The Storm

After The Storm: What happens to a real community when natural disaster strikes and the local high school students are separated from families? Not to sound glib, but they put on a show. In this stunning documentary, After the Storm, the playwright and director of the Broadway production of Once On This Island, went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and helped the rebuild a community center and young lived by staging a local production of the show with the teens. This is Glee for real.

Tickets are on sale now for members, and will go on sale for non-members on Monday, May 24th. You can get your tickets at NewFest.org And you can see trailers for many of the films at the NewFest YouTube channel.

Broadway Show Queen Alert: Put Gypsy in a blender with Hairspray and you’ve got Leading Ladies.

Leading Ladies: An over the top backstage mother pushes her daughter to be a star — on the ballroom dancing circuit. Her sister fades into the background. The gay boy dance partner brings the “ugly duckling” sister to a gay bar where he dances up a storm with his boyfriend and she discovers she’s a lesbian. With a stage mom straight out of John Waters territory and hot dance numbers, this is one fun movie. The boy is played by last year’s So You Think You Can Dance winner, Benji Schwimmer. Cute, very cute. So this is a lesbian love story with a gay male sidekick and is a movie that both lesbians and gay men will enjoy.

Fruit Fly: From the people who made the indie hit, Colma, Fruit Fly has 19 original songs in a story that follows Bethesda, a young Filipina woman, who like Rachel in Glee, is searching for her birth mother — in San Francisco while living with a house full of gay men. The opening number is also the title of the film, about how she gets dubbed a fag hag and what it means for her.

Singing, Dancing, Waiting: There’s a shorts program that are all musicals! I always love the shorts programs.

Prima Donna: A documentary about Rufus Wainwright putting on his opera. If you’re a fan, this is a must see.

The Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls: This is THE LESBIAN FILM EVERY GAY MAN WANTS TO SEE! Imagine if Dolly Parton had children with Lily Tomlin, and those children would be the lesbian twin singing sister act from New Zealand, the Topp Twins. They do drag king character sketch comedy. Country singing. And yodeling. Yep, yodeling that you just have to hear. Trust me on this. Oh, and after the film, the Topp Twins will be there in live performance. This is an event. And you won’t want to miss it.

A Gay Men’s Cheat Sheet to Seeing Movies at New York’s LGBT Film Festival - Part 1

My Top Picks For Gay Men at NewFest 2010

NewFest 2010, the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in New York (or more accurately New York’s LGBT Film Festival) has just posted their movie schedule. There’s a great line up of gay movies with cute boys and hot men. Not to mention sizzling stories, provocative documentaries and men in sexy shorts (short films that is).

So with so many movies to choose from, how can you know what to see? My taste is entirely subjective, but here’s part 1 of my quick overview of the must-see movies for gay men (more will follow tomorrow). I wanted to share my top picks with you now, since tickets go on sale exclusively to members on Monday, May 17th. If you want to buy your NewFest tickets this next week, you’ve got to be a member. And there are some really hot films this year, so if you can join rather than wait, I say go for it.

Must-see movies for gay men:

David’s Birthday: A hot Italian story about a jaw-droppingly sexy 18 year old boy whose hormones awaken suppressed desires on a family beach vacation — I you liked Call Me By Your Name, think of this as a similar story from the adult’s point of view.

I Killed My Mother: Lets start with the shallow — lead actor 20 year old Xavier Dolan is such a sexy boy with pouty lips it’s stunning to discover he is also the writer and director of this award winning film debut. Award winning? Over 30 awards internationally, including 3 at Cannes last year. It’s a great movie about the tension between a young man coming into his sexuality and the tension it creates in his close relationship with his mother. Intense. Funny. Moving. Go.

Is It Just Me? Cyrano de Bergerac for the modern online age, with gay men. Need I say more? Cute guys, sweet romantic story, go-go boys, muscles and true love. Go and feel good falling in love.

Release: What kind of release are we talking about here? Well, this is a prison movie. And for those of you who miss your Oz fantasies, this movie tackles a relationship between a prison guard and a jailed priest that other inmates suspect was guilty for molesting boys. A film both violent and spiritual, it’s going to be an intense experience.

Boys Will Be Boys: If you like cute boys in shorts, you’ll see them. But lets be serious for a moment. Some of these shorts explore important stories that don’t often get told, which is why I love NewFest and support lgbt film. One film, Billy and Aaron is about the African American jazz composer Billy Strayhorn and the consequences in his life of living openly as a gay man the 1940s. That’s a lot of drama to pack into ten minutes. And that’s why I love short film. When done right, it’s powerful. Powerfully moving, or funny, or provocative. And the shorts in this program run the full range. You can be sure I’ll be in the audience for these films.

By the way, you can see trailers for many of the films at the NewFest 2010 YouTube channel. And check back here tomorrow for part 2 of my cheat sheet of top picks for gay men.

NewFest 2010: A rare film that appeals to both lesbians and gay men: Leading Ladies

Cute boys. Hot lesbians. Together in one fun film. At NewFestt 2010 in June.

In the world of LGBT movies, there aren't many that attract both lesbian and gay audiences. Leading Ladies will. Imagine combining Gypsy with Hairspray and add a dash of So You Think You Can Dance and that's Leading Ladies: the story of a John Waters style crazed stage mother pushing one of her daughters to national competition. Her partner on the dance floor is played by the delightfully cute Benji Schwimmer (who in fact won first place in So You Think You can dance).

His character is a bit over the top fey (not that it isn't hilarious). And it doesn't hold a candle to the almost drag performance of the mother by Melanie LaPatin, who is so over the top she could well be in orbit. It's hard to know whether to laugh (because is funny) or to cringe (because she is a horrifying mother and the writing is just too much). Quibbles all.

The men's dance sequence between the two cute boys is hot and fun. And the supermarket production number with a wink to Busby Berkeley is just the kind of musical theater we need more of. Or at least this gay man thinks so. 

You can join NewFest to get tickets at a discount here.

And here's the trailer:

Liza Minelli & SpongeBob: A Gay Musical Cabaret Mash Up.

SpongeBob has always been pretty gay. And you can’t get much more gay than Liza Minelli. So to mash-up Cabaret with SpongeBob cartoons seems almost obvious, until you see the sheer insane genius of this 10+ part musical on youtube. Because it takes what is obvious to a level of Dadaistic brilliance. Underwater Weimar. It doesn’t get queerer than part 1, except for maybe parts 2, 3 and so on... Enjoy: 

Sunday morning cartoon: The UnGay

If you don't check in regularly at Mark Fiore's site to see his weekly animated political cartoons, you're really missing something. Like this for example:

Sunday Morning Short Film: Yossi and Yasmin

This beautiful little Israeli film of remembered queer adolescent longing and desire is sweet and sad, filled with yearning that aches with with the mixture of love and sensuality.

I love the way it tells the story indirectly: what happenened to the young gay boy and his young lesbian friend with their respective love interests, and what happened after the kiss...is left to the imagination. That makes for a good discussion post film, and I'd love to know what you think...