SUMMER SOLSTICE: is a story of non-binary unrequited love Written and directed by queer, non-binary film-maker Noah Schamus, it’s based on their own experiences of the shifting dynamics of friendships post-coming out. It’s also an interesting analysis of unrequited love and how college friendships mature once we are in our late twenties. This film is both refreshing and mature in that the queer trans narrative threads throughout the film, but doesn’t dominate. The likable characters have the right balance of confidence and self-doubt true to most twenty-somethings. Strong casting means all the performances are great – in particular a very funny bad sex scene.
When the film had its World Premiere at Provincetown Film Festival Schanus and their partner/producer Arno Makros and co-producer Jesse Miller sat down and talked about the film with QUEERGURU
There Are Things To Do: a Celebration of the Life of URVASHI VAID ….. an extraordinary human being and a queer icon: a short film made by Ptown filmmakers Mike Syers and Fermin Rojas IT not only celebrates her life but also makes us very aware of how much she actually achieved to benefit the LGBTQ community globally. The documentary simply doesn’t have the time to list the many steps of her highly successful career or e\qually mind-blowing are the 13 very prestigious Awards that she was deservedly honored with. What does particularly shine through from the very first frame, is Vaid’s extraordinary sheer unselfishness …… and her joyous relationship with her wife and partner Kate Clinton.
The word icon is greatly overused in the LGBTQ+ community ……. and I believe Urvashi Vaid would hate being called one ….. but she is undoubtedly one. This is a must-see film for anyone who loves PTown and Urvashi Vaid
P.S. You may also like to check out Queerguru’s full review of the film HERE
Agniia Gladanova & Igor Myakotin talk to Queerguru about their new documentary QUEENDOM which is the story of Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism – and put her life in danger.
\The artist Beau McCall and his Curator Souleo (also his life partner) have a timely and heartfelt exhibition spotlighting the Black LGBTQ+ experience in America and featuring collages by McCall and archival material from the Stonewall National Museum, Library, & Archives (SNMAL). The collages are drawn from McCall’s debut artists’ book, REWIND: MEMORIES ON REPEAT which honors the legacy of ten of McCall’s deceased friends. Each collage is composed of McCall’s personal archival photos and papers, along with images from his clothing button embellished artwork. The collages capture the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, from Philadelphia to New York, during the LGBTQ+ rights movement, the height of disco music and the AIDS crisis. McCall’s work is rooted in framing personal memories and experiences within historical and social contexts. To aid in this narrative select collages are paired with an archival item from SNMAL that relates to the theme of McCall’s artwork. This pairing draws a parallel between the personal experiences of McCall and his friends and the larger historical moments that impacted their lives. Collectively, McCall’s collages and Stonewall’s archive reflect the joys and struggles of the Black LGBTQ+ community and demonstrate how art and archives can be used as tools to better understand our lives, find connections between the past and present, and imagine a brighter future.
Bafta Nominated American filmmaker Stephen Kijak has carved out quite a niche making some critically acclaimed documentaries about musicians such as Scott Walker, The Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Backstreet Boys, and more recently The Smiths. For his latest film, however, he has captured the narrative of the life of one of Hollywood’s golden matinee idols ROCK HUDSON. The star of such great movies as Giant, Hudson enjoyed a career that lasted more than three decades.
Although discreet regarding his sexual orientation, it was known among Hudson’s colleagues in the film industry that he was gay. This didn’t become public knowledge until 1984 when Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS. The following year, he became one of the first celebrities to disclose his AIDS diagnosis. Hudson was the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness, on October 2, 1985, at age 59
Hijak’s film is a wonderful celebration of a great actor who even in the closet enjoyed a rather fabulous life, and how his death unwittingly propelled the AIDS Pandemic finally into public conversations that were so long overdue.
This affectionate profile of a real star will be unmissable to those of us who remember him BUT it should also be compulsory viewing for young gay men who haven’t, so they can appreciate such an important era in our community’s history
Author queerguruPosted on Categories queerguru.tv
Bafta Nominated American filmmaker 
