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 →
GLAAD Awards Exclusive Interview: Michael R. Jackson on writing A Strange Loop “I felt misunderstood, unseen & unheard”
A Strange Loop became the most Tony Award-nominated production of the season today, receiving 11 nominations including Best Musical. On Friday night the show's Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, composer and lyricist, Michael R. Jackson, gave a powerful and moving performance of Memory Song from the musical on stage at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Ahead... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Jared Frieder on Three Months “I set out to tell a story that I really needed as a queer kid, that would have made me feel less alone”
Writer-director Jared Frieder's coming of age comedy Three Months, inspired by his own personal experience, follows a queer teen, Caleb (Troye Sivan), who has just graduated from his South Florida high school in 2011. He's passionate about his camera, his weed, and his loving grandma (Ellen Burstyn) whom he lives with. He continually turns up... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Holly Johnson on performing This Was Me in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie “it’s a very emotional moment in film”
One of most poignant, moving sequences in Everybody's Talking About Jamie, the screen adaptation of the hit West End musical now streaming globally on Amazon Prime Video, features a bittersweet, rousing new song, This Was Me, written specifically for the film by Dan Gillespie Sells with lyrics by Tom MacRae, the original show's co-creators. As... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Jeffrey Friedman on his Oscar-winning decades-long filmmaking partnership with Rob Epstein
This Pride Month the Criterion Channel is showcasing the Oscar-winning work of filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman with the eight film collection, Pride and Protest. In 1977, Friedman, who was working as an assistant editor in New York, was struck by the power of queer filmmakers putting queer lives on screen when he encountered... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review : Cruise (Duchess Theatre, London) ★★★★
It’s been a strange year, we all know it. Some of us found out we were brilliant bread bakers, others discovered they had a fitness fanatic within them, and some just hid under the covers and waited for the world to stop being a really scary place. Jack Holden however decided to sit down and... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: activist Marc Thompson on Black and Gay, Back in the Day “It’s about showing us in our richness & our diversity being joyful”
When it comes to Black History Month and LGBTQ History Month in the UK, Black British queer lives "fall through the cracks of both of those", according to social justice activist and sexual health campaigner Marc Thompson who recently launched an empowering new archive on Instagram, Black and Gay, Back in the Day which celebrates... Continue Reading →
Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart virtual reading with Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope, Guillermo Díaz, Ryan O’Connell & Daniel Newman directed by Paris Barclay
ONE Archives Foundation, in collaboration with Invisible Histories Project, announced today a historic virtual reading of Larry Kramer’s largely autobiographical play The Normal Heart on Saturday May 8th at 5pm PT. Directed by Emmy Award-winner Paris Barclay, this new presentation will be the first time the Tony Award-winning play features a cast that is predominately BIPOC and... Continue Reading →
It’s A Sin: Dr Emily Garside’s guide to the HIV/AIDS narratives to read & watch next
Dr Emily Garside's guide to which HIV/AIDS narratives to read and watch next after Russell T Davies' acclaimed series It's A Sin. There is a vast array of work to choose from. Since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic those affected began telling their stories, both as an act of memorial, remembering those the government... Continue Reading →
SXSW Online 2021 Film Review: The Beauty President ★★★★
While the drag queen presidential debate challenge on RuPaul's Drag Race might seem a little far-fetched, like so much on the show it is actually a homage to real queer history. Following an earlier bid for mayor of Chicago as detailed in the film Drag in for Votes, in 1992 Joan Jett Blakk announced, "We're... Continue Reading →