Certified drag legend, Wigstock creator and emcee, DJ, actress, singer-songwriter, and RuPaul's oldest friend, Lady Bunny, helps us to celebrate this socially distant holiday season with such aptly festive numbers as Santa's Spreadin' Covid Around, All I Want for Christmas (Is a Vaccine), and It's Beginning to Look Apocalyptic in her new comedy show What... Continue Reading →
TV Review: Equal ★★★★★
Equal is an ambitious, fast-paced, dynamic, creatively told, often gripping and frequently moving four-part docu-series landing on HBO Max this LGBTQ History Month to remind us that queer history in the USA did not begin and end with the Stonewall riots in June 1969. The final episode though, Stonewall: From Rebellion to Liberation, directed by... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Stephen Kijak showrunner of HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ rights docu-series Equal “there was queer history in the image making as well as the actual storytelling”
The Max original LGBTQ+ civil rights docu-series Equal premieres on HBO Max today, Thursday October 22nd. Dynamically and stylishly breathing life and potent emotion into queer history, the series recontextualises the Stonewall riots in the final episode, having set out in the previous three episodes the long, often hidden, fight for equality that came before... Continue Reading →
Outfest Film Review: Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of José Sarria ★★★1/2
“They always forget the ones who were first,” someone says in voiceover in Joe Castel’s remarkable documentary, Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of José Sarria. After watching this essential record of an important life in the LGBTQ+ community, I doubt anyone will forget him. Sarria’s list of accomplishments include establishing the Imperial Court System,... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: 1950s NYC drag queen doc P.S. Burn This Letter Please filmmakers Michael Seligman & Jennifer Tiexiera “gay history did not begin at Stonewall”
Due to world premiere at 2020's postponed Tribeca Film Festival, a stunning new documentary co-directed by Michael Seligman and Jennifer Tiexiera, P.S. Burn This Letter Please now streaming on Discovery+, looks back at the lives of several New York drag queens during the 1950s and '60s, and introduces us to some of them now in... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Lord Michael Cashman “we always have to stand in the shoes of those most attacked, those most misrepresented”
Last month saw the publication of actor, activist, former MEP and LGBT global envoy, Lord Michael Cashman's fascinating, frank and beautifully written autobiography One of Them: From Albert Square to Parliament Square. Read our ★★★★★ review here. Michael Cashman, now Baron Cashman of Limehouse, grew up in the war-torn resilience of London's East End of... Continue Reading →
BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival 2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
The British Film Institute has taken the difficult decision to cancel this year's LGBTQI+ Flare festival, two days before it was due to begin "due to the scale and complexity of running a large international film festival with filmmakers set to travel from across the world". In a statement released to media the BFI said,... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: The View UpStairs (Soho Theatre, London) ★★★★
It was a sweltering 38+ degrees celsius (100+ fahrenheit) outside so I grabbed a last minute ticket to the Soho Theatre on the promise of air-conditioning and showtunes. Turns out the air-con was either not working, or was so weak it made no difference. So I wasn’t exactly excited to sit through an hour and... Continue Reading →
BFI Southbank marks 50th Anniversary of Uprising with Stonewall (1995) Screening
BFI Southbank will screen the BBC Film Stonewall (1995), not to be confused with the best forgotten 2015 Roland Emmerich film of the same, on Friday 28th June 2019 at 6.15pm. The special screening on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising will be introduced by the film's writer Rikki Beadle-Blair and producer Anthony Wall.... Continue Reading →
Are You Proud? Doc screening with Director Q&A ahead of London Pride
A special preview screening of new documentary Are You Proud? will be followed by a Q&A with director Ashley Joiner on Wednesday 3rd July at London's Picturehouse Central. Some of the participants from the documentary will also be present. Are You Proud? a new documentary by Ashley Joiner Are You Proud? brings together rare archive... Continue Reading →