Charles Lum (1958 - 2021) was a New York based artist and filmmaker who died of AIDS-related lymphoma on November 30th, 2021. As an HIV activist and long-term survivor, much of his work deals confrontationally with gay sexuality ethics and how the changing realities of HIV affect culture and personal experience. His shorts include Sex... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Mike Ruiz embraces his inner leatherman with new photography project “it’s been an epiphany for me”
Celebrity and fashion photographer Mike Ruiz, whose career spans over 30 years, has turned his lens to an ongoing portrait series focusing on the beauty and diversity of the leather community. Through meeting and bonding with leathermen during open call sessions, photographing them and collecting their personal stories, Ruiz has been inspired by their spirit of liberation and... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Ashish Gupta on his intimate queer photography book GAZE “I wanted to be unapologetic about gay cruising & sex & hookups & trade”
Ashish Gupta, best known for his eponymous fashion label, has departed from his usual creative practice to photograph intimate, frequently unashamedly explicit portraits of men, that capture the queer male gaze with tenderness, joy, and humour, while challenging established notions of masculinity and sexiness in mainstream gay culture and porn. The result is GAZE for... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Samuel Van Grinsven on his seductive queer coming-of-age tale Sequin in a Blue Room
Writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven’s seductive, visually striking debut feature, Sequin in a Blue is the compelling story of Sequin (Conor Leach) a gay teenager exploring his burgeoning sexuality in the digital age, who is obsessed with an anonymous hookup app and the no-strings encounters he arranges through it. When he finds his way into the... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: It’s A Sin writer Russell T. Davies “I didn’t want to write a drama about deathbeds. I wanted to reclaim that ground & remember those lives with joy”
Over the past three decades the Swansea-born multi-BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated writer Russell T. Davies has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in television. With bold, groundbreaking series like Queer As Folk, Cucumber, A Very English Scandal, and Years and Years he has entertained and provoked audiences, creating some of the most memorable queer... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: David Färdmar on his gay breakup movie Are We Lost Forever “I wanted to challenge viewers to think for themselves”
Breaking up is hard to do as Swedish filmmaker David Färdmar explores in his brooding bittersweet debut feature Are We Lost Forever premiering in the UK and Ireland via Peccadillo Pictures on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital on Monday January 18th. When we first meet protagonists Adrian (Björn Elgerd) and Hampus (Jonathan Andersson) they're sitting up... Continue Reading →
Graphic Novel Review: Horny and High Vol. 1 by Ed Firth ★★★★
Ed Firth’s Horny and High is a dark series of tales of gay life in the city - sex, drugs and a pervasive sense of inevitable doom. It’s deliberately bleak, but undeniably compelling. Consisting of three stories, The Nightbus, Chillout and 🎵, this first volume is as visually stunning as it is depressing. The Nightbus... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: New Queer Cinema digital pioneer Todd Verow on his latest feature Goodbye Seventies “all of my films have led up to this one”
Todd Verow's 1995 feature debut Frisk elicited strong reactions, resulting in a near riot, when it world premiered on as the closing night of the 19th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (now Frameline) at the iconic Castro Theatre, before going on to screen at Sundance, Berlin and Toronto. Based on Dennis Cooper's... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: queer pop musician Aish Divine on his throbbing new track BBC “we can’t discuss sexuality without discussing porn’s role in how we understand, consume & express it”
Get those eggplant emojis ready. New York based queer pop singer, writer and composer Aish Divine has just unleashed his throbbing BBC. The video for this pulsating new track has already racked up nearly a quarter of a million views on YouTube in just a few weeks and marks the second offering from his forthcoming... Continue Reading →
Forbidden Letters and Passing Strangers: The Adult Film Romances of Arthur J. Bressan Jr.
In 1977, Arthur J. Bressan Jr. was promoting his landmark documentary Gay USA (1977) on the gay-centered New York City television program Emerald City TV at the height of gay liberation. He dressed unpretentiously in blue jeans and a t-shirt with long-hair and a mustache that made him look more 1960s San Francisco Haight Ashbury... Continue Reading →