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The sixth edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (August 30 – September 1), which takes place during the Venice Film Festival, will feature 51 projects in the final stages of development and funding.

Of those, 23 projects from Europe and beyond are narrative features with 70% funding in place. Five projects are documentaries.

Among highlights are Czech feature Sarlatan by Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland (Mr. Jones) about a man gifted with exceptional abilities set against the background of the events of the totalitarian ’50s; Russian film Air by Dovlatov director Alexey German Jr; Grbavica director Jasmila Zbanic’s Euro co-pro Quo Vadis Aida (working title); and Canadian pic Saint-Narcisse by Bruce La Bruce.

Here’s a full list of projects taking part in the market:

28 Selected Fiction And Documentary Projects

Air (Russia) by Alexey German Jr., SAGa, Metrafilms Alam (France, Lebanon, Belgium) by Firas Khoury, Mpm Film A la sombra de los árboles (Chile) by Matías Rojas Valencia,...

Every year, we here at PopOptiq celebrate the month of October with a series of articles we like to call 31 Days of Horror; and every year, I update the list of my favourite horror films ever made. Last year, I released a list that included 150 picks. This year, I’ll be upgrading the list to 200 movies, making minor alterations, changing the rankings, adding new entries, and possibly removing a few titles.

Note: Since there are so many great horror films and so much to choose from, I am not including documentaries such as Haxan — short films such as Outer Space – a mini-series such as Stephen King’s It — nor animated films such as Perfect Blue, Ninja Scroll and Coraline. I am, however, including some films as special mentions along with a few movies that some people consider horror films, but I don’t.

****

Special Mention: King Kong

Directed by Merian C. Cooper...

Bruce La Bruce does not care if you’re offended. Probably the most respected filmmaker to also claim a robust oeuvre of pornography, his work often includes Bdsm, sex work, fetishes ranging from gerontophilia to amputees, castrations, and vampire sex. It is also biting social satire with a queer punk sensibility and a deep love of cinema, made by the X-rated love-child of John Waters and Robert Altman. Labruce’s newest film, “The Misandrists,” is true to form, but with one important difference: This time, it’s all about the women. And not just any women — it’s militant lesbian separatists trying to overthrow the patriarchy.

“It’s kind of an exploitation movie, or it certainly references a lot of exploitation genres,” Labruce told IndieWire during a recent phone interview. “There’s nunsploitation in there, there’s ’70s softcore sexpolitation films, which quite often have lesbian undertones. And there’s the reform-schoolgirl genre,...

Updated at 12Pm Pt with more numbers and analysis. Three-day numbers were being reported sporadically in the early part of Sunday ahead of the Memorial Day holiday. Tops among specialty newcomers based on these early returns is Magnolia’s new documentary, The Gospel According to André, which posted the best per-theater average.

The Kate Novack-directed portrait of André Leon Talley, who is known for his long tenure as a Vogue editor and fashion-world tastemaker, grossed an estimated $44,500 in four New York and La theaters Friday to Sunday, for an average of $11,125. Well Go USA’s Mandarin-language romance How Long Will I Love U followed close behind with a three-day average of $9,130 from a comparatively wider debut in 23 locations, and a total gross of $210K.

IFC Films opened Elle Fanning starrer Mary Shelley, taking in $12,016 from two runs, while Oscilloscope bowed Venice award-winner Summer 1993 in four locations, grossing $21,500 Friday to Sunday.

IFC Films is scaring up a narrative on Frankenstein author Mary Shelley over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The feature stars Elle Fanning as the writer, whose real-life story had its own dose of the bizarre. Also noteworthy is that the film is directed by Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour as the follow-up to her successful 2012 debut Wadjda. Non-fiction newcomer The Gospel According to André by the filmmaking team behind hit doc The First Monday in May also joins the list of Specialty releases Friday. The title centers on maverick fashion editor André Leon Talley, and bows in New York and L.A.

Oscilloscope is opening Carla Simón’s Venice fest debut Summer 1993, which was Spain’s entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar consideration last year. And Cartilage Films is launching Bruce La Bruce’s latest The Misandrists.

Also among the weekend’s debuts is John Cameron Mitchell’s How To...

It’s that time of the year again. Every fall, New York City becomes the focal point for any and every fan of non-fiction cinema, as one of the year’s most prestigious documentary festivals is finally, again, set to take the city by storm. Doc NYC is now in its eighth edition, and this is one of their best, and largest, lineups to date.

Broken down into over 15 different sections and sidebars, Doc NYC 2017 features everything from short films to films looking at art, design, music and social activism, just to name a few. There are sections like Metropolis, a competition sidebar featuring films set in and about New York City, as well as the Short List, a section of the best documentaries curated from the year so far. It’s a dense, broadly reaching festival with films from across the globe and that defy definition.

Besides films from...

The sprawling Festival do Rio runs from October 5th to 15th this year and - as per usual - there is a generous assortment of genre titles both in the dedicated idnight lineups and spread throughout the program. Whether you're looking for Asian action or high energy music docs, Rio has your fix. Here's the lineup! Midnight Movies Brawl in Cell Block 99 (dir. S. Craig Zahler, USA) Let the Corpses Tan (dir. Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani, France/Belgium) The Villainess (dir. Jung Byoung-Gil, Sputh Korea) Jailbreak (dir. Jimmy Henderson, Cambodia) Sweet Virginia (dir. Jamie M. Dagg, USA) Lake Bodom (dir. Taneli Mustonen, Finland/Estonia) Prevenge (dir. Alice Lowe, United Kingdom) The Misandrists (dir. Bruce Labruce, Germany) My Entire High School Is Sinking Into the Sea (dir. Dash Shaw, USA) Salt (dir. Diego Freitas, Brazil)   Midnight Music Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (dir. Sophie Fiennes, Ireland/United...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Misandrists will open Sqiff Photo: © Jürgen Brüning Filmproduktion / J.Jackie Baier The Scottish Queer International Film Festival has announced that is third edition will open with the Scottish premiere of Bruce Labruce's new film The Misandrists on September 27 at Cca Glasgow. Labruce will introduce the film and he and star Caprice Crawford will also take part in a Q&A.

The film dives headfirst into the world of the Female Liberation Army hiding out in the heart of Gerwomany. Led by Big Mother, the Fla indoctrinates its young recruits to take up the struggle of freeing all female people through a mix of revolutionary porn-making, songs about taking down the patriarchy, and even a sneaky dancing nun. But does the Fla's brand of radical feminism hide some darker and more exclusionary beliefs?

Labruce will also introduce a rare screening of his early cult hit Hustler White at Glasgow Film Theatre on October 1.

Last year was a windfall year for Lgbtq cinema, thanks to a historic Best Picture win for “Moonlight” and Park Chan-wook’s exquisite “The Handmaiden” both receiving critical and commercial acclaim. While these highly deserving queer stories rose to the top, many smaller Lgbt films were either forgotten or simply nowhere to be found.

Read More: Lgbt Superheroes: Why ‘Wonder Woman’ Couldn’t Be The Lesbian Avenger We Need

Hollywood studios have begun to shoehorn blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gay stories into an endless stream of remakes and TV adaptations, and there is a wide range of indies exploring the breadth of queer stories with ever-expanding joy and nuance. While it’s still difficult to get a gay film made (or any film, for that matter), it’s wonderful that, only halfway through 2017, there are already so many queer films on the horizon. Which is why we think it’s important to celebrate them now,...

Narrowing down the 15 best movies in any genre is tough, but for lesbian films you have to begin with a reductive question: What is a lesbian film? What, in fact, is a lesbian? (But that’s a different piece). Must the film focus primarily on a gay storyline, or can it feature strong lesbian characters doing something entirely different than just being lesbians? Is subtext enough? How much cinephile wrath will rain down on us for the absence of a certain recent Oscar nominee?

Ultimately, the best lesbian films honor the traditions of queer cinema in all of its glory: Strong women, high entertainment value, and bold visuals reign supreme. Too often, lesbian characters are either unattractive man-haters or used for titillation. These movies reclaim all of that; they’re the movies you will see played on a loop in the club, or at an underground rooftop movie night. Some...

Director Patricio Guzman’s Cordillera among winners in industry strands.

The 32nd Guadalajara Film Festival (March 10-17), bookended by fierce criticism of Us president Donald Trump by local and international industry, has feted Everardo Gonzalez’s documentary Devil’s Freedom (La Libertad Del Diablo) with best Mexican feature, best Ibero-American documentary and best cinematography as well as the Mexican film critics trophy.

The feature, about violence in Mexico, is handled by Films Boutique and received its world premiere in Berlin earlier this year where it won an Amnesty International award.

Carlos Lechuga’s Santa And Andres, about political dissent in Cuba, was named best Ibero-American feature and also won best script.

Nicaraguan director Jose Maria Cabral’s prison drama Carpinteros (Woodpeckers) won best Ibero-American director in addition to best actor for Jean Jean.

Mexican debutant Sofia Gomez’s The Blue Years (Los Anios Azules), a coming of age drama, garnered five awards including best director, the Fipresci...

Exclusive: M-Appeal closes series of deals on sales slate.

Berlin-based M-Appeal World Sales has confirmed a raft of sales on its current slate.

Among the deals, the company has sold Body Electric [pictured] by Marcelo Caetano and Discreet by Travis Mathews to Peccadillo Pictures for the UK and Ireland. Both titles are screening in Guadalajara at the moment, and Body Electric will screen at BFI Flare later this week.

“It’s a pleasure to be working with M-Appeal on the fabulous Body Electric which will have its UK premiere at BFI Flare and the astonishing Discreet by Travis Mathews. Body Electric adds beautifully to our catalogue of South American and especially Brazilian cinema, whereas Discreet demonstrates the outstanding talent of Travis Mathews,” Peccadillo Pictures’ managing director Tom Abell commented.

M-Appeal has also closed further deals on its slate of titles.

Jonathan by Piotr J. Lewandowski and Take Me For A Ride by Micaela Ruedahave have both gone to...

Bruce Labruce is one busy renaissance man. The queercore icon — director of 11 features (not to mention numerous short films and music videos, and several theater works), visual artist and author — has now teamed up with Erika Lust’s XConfessions to release Refugee’s Welcome. The story of a Syrian refugee in Berlin who both suffers a hate crime and finds a poetic (and explicitly sexual) connection with a Czech punk, the short will be available on Eroticfilms.com (Nswf link, obviously!) on March 9th. (And today only for free — use the code Bruce). Filmmaker spoke with Labruce — who […]...

With Eduardo Casanova‘s visually and conceptually startling debut Skins (aka Pieles) , the question of how John Waters and Pedro Almodóvar’s love child would fare as a filmmaker might just have been answered (high praise in queer film terms, of course). Fierce style, check. Subversive sexuality, check. Gross-out humor, check. Blown-up melodrama, check. Skins is a pointedly shrill, singularly provocative exposé on our relationships to our bodies that will scar some minds, offend many sensibilities, and exhilarate all the rest of us. We spoke with the director about his debut while at Berlinale and one can read the conversation below.

How did you find your way into filmmaking?

I started out as an actor when I was 12 and began making my own shorts at 17, so I practically grew up in the world of cinema. In a way this also relates to Skins since the film came from a need to be understood.

“The Other Side of Hope”

Winsome, sweet, and often very funny, the second chapter of Aki Kaurismäki’s unofficial trilogy about port cities is a delightful story about the power of kindness that unfolds like a slightly more somber riff on 2011’s “Le Havre.” The Finnish auteur’s latest refugee story begins with a twentysomething Syrian man named Khaled (terrific newcomer Sherwan Haji), who escapes from Aleppo after burying most of his family and sneaks into Finland by stowing away in the cargo hold of a coal freighter. His path eventually crosses with Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), a newly single restauranteur who could use a helping hand. Part Roy Andersson and part Frank Capra, “The Other Side of Hope” deepens the director’s recognition of how immigrants and refugees are victimized by their invisibility, and its timeliness could help it strike a chord with domestic audiences. “Le Havre” grossed more than...

Childhood abuse affects its victims in myriad and often abstract ways. The disparate images and mysterious female voiceover that provide Travis Mathews’ “Discreet” its illusory opening do eventually come together, like the concentric cycles of abuse and pain experienced by its woeful protagonist, Alex (Jonny Mars).

A drifter and filmmaker, Alex travels the country in a dark blue van shooting footage of highways. On a passing visit to his unstable mother, he learns that the man who abused him is living in a small cabin on the outskirts of the rural Texas town where his mother lives. Seeking out the older man, Alex finds a severely incapacitated John (Bab Swaffar), complete with an involuntary twitch in his left arm and a vacant stare.

John is a ghoulish cartoon of a predator; even in his weakened state, his fluffy white beard, ruddy red nose, and lanky frame tower over Alex. Facing...

If Jill Soloway’s declaration of “topple the patriarchy” at the 2016 Emmy Awards represented the mainstreaming of radical feminism, here’s the film to make it scary again. “The Misandrists” is the latest film from Canadian provocateur Bruce Labruce, a low-budget, high-fantasy tale of radical lesbian separatists living a cult-like existence. It’s a wild romp with all the campy noir you might expect in a film by the father of queercore.

For the uninitiated, Labruce is a queer filmmaker, actor, critic, and self-described reluctant pornographer. He came up as filmmakers like Gregg Araki, Todd Haynes, and Cheryl Dunye established the New Queer Cinema, but Labruce embraced a strictly anti-establishment queer aesthetic aligned with the underground punk scene. His aesthetic weds sexually explicit images, stilted B-movie acting, and cult film tropes like zombies and vampires, along with more traditional narrative filmmaking techniques. Kurt Cobain famously called Labruce’s 1991 debut, “No Skin Off My Ass,...

Berlin Panorama darling Bruce Labruce returns with The Misandrists, a playful provocation about a lesbian separatist terrorist cell called the Female Liberation Army, plotting to topple the patriarchy and using porn as their chief propaganda tool. Despite name-checking Schopenhauer and Ulrike Meinhof, and including a brief lecture on parthenogenesis, the movie is far more silly than subversive. At first, there's a certain cheesy charm to the Eurotrash '70s aesthetic, with a cast of minimally skilled actors spouting lines like, "Young lady, have you seen anything queer in the area?" But any resemblance to a coherent thesis is purely coincidental.

Canadian...

Berlin’s Panorama lineup also includes new films from Us, China and Brazil.

Berlin’s Panorama strand is now complete following the addition of 24 additional titles.

A total of 51 works from 43 countries have been chosen for screening in the section, including 21 in Panorama Dokumente and 29 feature films in the main programme and Panorama Special. 36 of these films will be getting their world premieres at the Berlinale.

The German production Tiger Girl by Jakob Lass will open this year’s edition of Panorama Special at Berlin’s Zoo Palast cinema, along with the previously announced Brazilian production Vazante.

Among newly confirmed films are UK Sundance title God’s Own Country, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Cate Shortland’s Berlin Syndrome, feminist fairy tale The Misandrists by Berlinale regular Bruce Labruce, Erik Poppe’s The King’s Choice and Belgian-French-Lebanese co-production Insyriated which stars Hiam Abbass as a woman trapped in an apartment during war.[p...

Update: The rumor of Jason David Frank's involvement has been debunked by Jason David Frank on his official fan page.

I've got a couple bits of new Power Rangers movie news to share with you today. Just yesterday we got our first look at what Goldar will look like in the film, and it was completely trashed by the fans. The images of the villain sparked a little argument with Blake Foster on his Instagram page which caused him to drop a bit of news about the film. In case you don't know who Foster is, he plays Justin Stewart/Blue Ranger in the Power Rangers Turbo series. 

It seems like he must have a little inside information because during the argument he said, "you don't even know bro but Jdf is in it so don't come on my page trying to bash people."

Jdf would be short for Jason David Frank,...

Undoubtably the dirtiest mainstream comedy of the year, Bad Santa 2 is lacking the critical elements of surprise and heart the first film had underneath its nihilist exterior. Billy Bob Thorton’s Willie Soke returns, as hung-over and down-and-out as ever, stuck in a dead-end job as a 50-something stock boy living in a crappy motel. He’s not good at anything; he can’t even get his own suicide right as he sticks his head into his oven only to discover its electric. In the middle of his botched suicide attempt, the slow-witted kid from the first film, Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), shows up, grown up and now working as a “sandwich artisan” at a sub chain. He still means well, even if he’s unable to read any signs of human behavior in a joke that falls quite flat.

Even though they should have left a good thing alone,...

There’s a scene in Cheryl Dunye’s groundbreaking 1996 debut, “The Watermelon Woman” in which Dunye is hassled by two police officers. Playing a fictionalized version of herself, the black lesbian endures their harassment as they mistake her for a man and call her a “crackhead.” The scene is a short one; after the cops search her, they let her go, and she doesn’t mention the encounter again. It’s a moment of head shaking, not skull cracking.

Read More: National Coming Out Day: 5 Online Shorts That Celebrate Queer Lives

In a recent conversation, Dunye recalled a Q&A in which a young viewer marveled at how the filmmaker could have been so prescient in trumpeting “Black Lives Matter” issues. “That was an issue then!” She laughed, not dwelling on the pain underlying her statement. “I think that speaks to the power and the double-edged nature of this moment.

The current crop of acclaimed Quebec filmmakers shooting feature films south of the border speaks to an unprecedented infatuation on Hollywood’s part with French-Canadian directors.

Among the heavy hitters: Jean-Marc Vallée (“Wild,” “The Dallas Buyers Club,” HBO’s upcoming “Big Little Lies”), Philippe Falardeau (“The Bleeder,” “The Good Lie”), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Sicario,” the forthcoming “Blade Runner” sequel), not to mention Xavier Dolan, who’s currently shooting his star-studded English-language debut, “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.”

But there’s another remarkably prolific, genre-bending Montreal filmmaker – an award-winning festival regular who has clocked in nine features, one medium-length production and shorts to spare over the last decade – who’s never shown much enthusiasm about dipping his toes in the American studio system. No matter how many prizes or festival selections his films rack up (Berlin, Cannes, Locarno and Sundance among them) or how many retrospectives film societies program about his work,...

Towleroad Jack O'Connell will star in Andrew Haigh's Alexander McQueen biopic. Good casting

MTV Is Jon Hamm funny... when the punchline is always just, "Jon Hamm"

Guardian Tom Hardy to play famous Antartica explorer in 1914 set film

/Film Scott Derrickson says he wants to make a Doctor Strange sequel 'in the vein of The Dark Knight'. First the Inception inspired visuals than this? Someone take his Chris Nolan dvds away pronto!

Tracking Board Catherine Keener joins Del Toro & Brolin for the Sicario sequel called Soldado

The Talkhouse Filmmaker Bruce Labruce sings the praise of...wait for it... John Travolta & Lily Tomlin in infamous Moment By Moment (1978)

Express Susan Sarandon in costume as Bette Davis for Feud

Interview talks to rising star Alden Ehrenreich - great photoshoot too

Comics Alliance shares concept art from Suicide Squad that wasn't used. Too colorful and fantastically gorgeous (Enchantress) - not grimy and...

Documentary The War Show won best film while Sami Blood won the Europa Cinemas Label.

Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon’s documentary The War Show [pictured] has won the top prize in the Venice Days strand at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

A jury chaired by Canadian artists Bruce Labruce chose the film from the 11-strong selection.

The documentary about a Syrian radio DJ sharing her experiences in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring is also set to play at Toronto International Film Festival tomorrow (Sept 11) and the BFI London Film Festival in October.

Elsewhere, Swedish-Danish-Norwegian co-pro Sami Blood has won the festival’s Europa Cinemas Label prize as the Best European Film in the Venice Days strand.

Amanda Kernell’s drama follows a young girl who wants to escape from her life at boarding school.

The film will now go on to receive promotional support from Europa Cinemas and better exhibition thanks to financial incentives for cinemas...

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

323 BC Alexander the Great dies of an unknown illness. Colin Farrell plays him in a movie centuries and centuries later and it's suggested that it's a combo of Typhus, Bad Wigs, and Loving Jared Leto that does him in. Who could survive that combo? (Remember when Baz Luhrmann was going to make an Alexander movie, too, but Oliver Stone beat him to it? We wish it had been the other way around.)

38 Ad Julia Drusilla dies in Rome. In the infamous Bob Guccione movie Caligula (1979) her brother Caligula (Malcom McDowell) is shown licking her corpse. Somehow that's not remotely the most perverted thing in the movie!

1692 Bridget Bishop is executed for "Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries." She's the first victim of the notorious Salem Witch Trials that will claim many lives and inspire many works of art including The...

"For those still immune to the glories of Douglas Sirk’s cinema, the 25-film retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (most in 35 mm) is a rare opportunity to see what they’ve been missing," writes Tony Pipolo in Artforum, topping our overview of the series: Richard Brody on All I Desire, Melissa Anderson on Imitation of Life and There's Always Tomorrow, Max Kyburz on Written on the Wind, Justin Stewart on Sleep, My Love, plus an appreciation by Rainer Werner Fassbinder: 'Film is like a battleground,' Sam Fuller, who once wrote a script for Douglas Sirk, said in a film by Jean-Luc Godard, who, shortly before he made Breathless, wrote a rhapsody on Douglas Sirk’s A Time to Love and a Time to Die. But not one of us, Godard or Fuller or me or anybody else, can touch Douglas Sirk." » - David Hudson...

"For those still immune to the glories of Douglas Sirk’s cinema, the 25-film retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (most in 35 mm) is a rare opportunity to see what they’ve been missing," writes Tony Pipolo in Artforum, topping our overview of the series: Richard Brody on All I Desire, Melissa Anderson on Imitation of Life and There's Always Tomorrow, Max Kyburz on Written on the Wind, Justin Stewart on Sleep, My Love, plus an appreciation by Rainer Werner Fassbinder: 'Film is like a battleground,' Sam Fuller, who once wrote a script for Douglas Sirk, said in a film by Jean-Luc Godard, who, shortly before he made Breathless, wrote a rhapsody on Douglas Sirk’s A Time to Love and a Time to Die. But not one of us, Godard or Fuller or me or anybody else, can touch Douglas Sirk." » - David Hudson...

British cinema (and to a certain extent, British pop-culture as a whole) has always had a strange relationship with screen portrayals of sex and sexuality. In the mid-1950’s, Britain’s film censorship board the BBFC passed a documentary about a naturist camp uncut, suitable for mainstream cinema release, leading to a wave of exploitation filmmakers using naturist camp settings in order to display as much nudity as possible onscreen. During this period, the BBFC’s guidelines clearly dictated that “breasts and buttocks, but not genitalia” were allowed to be displayed, as long as the naturist camp setting was clearly clarified to the audience- a guideline that unwittingly opened the floodgates to multiple films from opportunistic producers.

Despite the plethora of films showing the human body (almost) as nature intended, elsewhere British cinema was still offering archaic views of sexuality- the Carry On franchise, that begun in 1958 and still has...

Howard the Human #1

Written by Scottie Young

Art by Jim Mahfood, Colors by Justin Stewart

Published by Marvel Comics

Some arbitrary sci-fi geek stuff happened in the Marvel universe recently thanks to the Secret Wars event comic, resulting in really weird continuity that is going to last for the few months this event will need tie-ins to hit comic shops with. For nerds who want more pieces of the large, sprawling story, there are certainly tie-ins to fit their desires, but there are also straight up goofy releases that certainly don’t need Secret Wars to exist. Yes, tie-ins like Howard the Human aren’t even remotely anchored to the main Secret Wars storyline, simply using the messed-up-continuity angle to deliver a wacky What If? story.

In the case of Howard the Human #1, a very stylish, cool and funny What If? story.

Enter Howard the Human, a familiar human version...

With The Princess of France beginning its theatrical run, Matias Piñeiro discusses five of his favorite cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare's work at Indiewire. Naturally, one of them is Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Jana Prikryl and Jonathan Rosenbaum on Jaromil Jireš’s Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, interviews with Piotr Szulkin and John Waters, J. Hoberman on Crystal Moselle's The Wolfpack and Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's The Tribe, David Cairns on Fritz Lang, Bruce Labruce on Jason Banker’s Felt—and more. » - David Hudson...

With The Princess of France beginning its theatrical run, Matias Piñeiro discusses five of his favorite cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare's work at Indiewire. Naturally, one of them is Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Jana Prikryl and Jonathan Rosenbaum on Jaromil Jireš’s Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, interviews with Piotr Szulkin and John Waters, J. Hoberman on Crystal Moselle's The Wolfpack and Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's The Tribe, David Cairns on Fritz Lang, Bruce Labruce on Jason Banker’s Felt—and more. » - David Hudson...

m-appeal has picked up Argentinian director Gabriel Lichtmann’s How To Win Enemies ahead of the Marché du Film in Cannes.

The Doménica Films production, which had its world premiere during the Bafici festival in Buenos Aires last month, centres on a young lawyer who believes he has finally found his ideal woman until she disappears without a trace – and with his life savings

The Berlin-based sales agent has also added three new Lgbt titles to its line-up.

The films are Israeli filmmaker Michal Vinik’s coming of age lesbian love story Barash, actor-director Gerald McCullouch’s Daddy, based on Dan Via’s acclaimed play of the same name, and Micaela Rueda’s Uio: Take Me For A Ride.

M-appeal will also be continuing sales in Cannes for such films as veteran German director Rosa von Praunheim’s latest feature Tough Love (Härte) which premiered at the Berlinale’s Panorama in February.

Last week, the...

Canada's Bruce Labruce has been one of the more notable cinematic provocateurs of the last couple of decades. Starting off in Toronto's queercore scene, he's won acclaim on the festival circuit thanks to the taboo-busting, sexually explicit likes of "The Raspberry Reich," "Otto, Or Up With Dead People," and "L.A. Zombie" (the latter of which was banned from the Melbourne Film Festival). So when his latest film, "Gerontophilia," opens with a blank screen over which we seem to hear a woman nearing orgasm as she recites the names of "female revolutionaries" including Lizzie Borden and Winona Ryder, you'd be forgiven for expecting more of the same envelope pushing.  Read More: Bruce Labruce Making 'Gerontophilia' A Rom-Com About A Teenager Who Develops Feelings For An 80-Year-Old Man But as it turns out, Labruce is having a sly play with the expectations of those who know his previous work,...

BAMcinématek’s 3D in the 21st century series features James Cameron's Avatar, Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language, Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution, Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Wim Wenders's Pina, Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, works by Ken Jacobs, Jodie Mack and more. More writing on more goings on: Bruce Labruce and Carolee Schneemann in New York, Federico Fellini’s 8½ and Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight in London, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flowers of Shanghai in Los Angeles and more. » - David Hudson...

BAMcinématek’s 3D in the 21st century series features James Cameron's Avatar, Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language, Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution, Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Wim Wenders's Pina, Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, works by Ken Jacobs, Jodie Mack and more. More writing on more goings on: Bruce Labruce and Carolee Schneemann in New York, Federico Fellini’s 8½ and Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight in London, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flowers of Shanghai in Los Angeles and more. » - David Hudson...

Last year, Bruce Labruce presented at Fantaspoa what is, in his own words, the most accessible and mainstream effort he has made so far. I'm talking about Gerontophilia, a film about an 18-year-old boy with a fetish for old men. I watched it during its one and only screening at the festival and thought it was very good. The protagonist, Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie), is in the middle of a relationship with a beautiful girl of his own age when he begins working at a nursing home, taking care of the old men. It's a piece that tackles self-discovery and an honest portrait of people in love, without any explicit sex scenes (though still, and obviously, not for everybody). Director Labruce was kind enough to talk...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

In a recent MoMA retrospective, queercore pioneer Bruce Labruce cemented his reputation as a shock-and-schlock auteur whose tendency toward pornography and violence set him apart from the serious-minded New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s — an approach so left of the left that John Waters, in a 2011 documentary on Labruce called The Advocate of Fagdom, described it as "gayly incorrect." Though its imagery is tame by Labruce's standards, Gerontophilia follows his fascination with taboo sexual behavior; it concerns a relationship between a teenage boy and a much older patient at an assisted-living facility. After an embarrassing bodily response causes him to quit his lifeguard gig, angel-faced Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) moves on to a menial job sterilizing ...

The Centerpiece Presentation of this year's Japan Cuts in New York will be the North American premieres of Shingo Wakagi's Asleep and Masaharu Take’s 100 Yen Love. The star of both films, Sakura Ando, is also this year’s honored recipient of the Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film. More goings on: Joel McCrea and Bruce Labruce in New York, Iranian cinema in Los Angeles, Gus Van Sant and Nicholas Ray in Portland, Allan Dwan in Melbourne, Polish cinema in London, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy throughout the UK, Agnieszka Holland in Berlin and Gregory J. Markopoulos in Basel. » - David Hudson...

The Centerpiece Presentation of this year's Japan Cuts in New York will be the North American premieres of Shingo Wakagi's Asleep and Masaharu Take’s 100 Yen Love. The star of both films, Sakura Ando, is also this year’s honored recipient of the Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film. More goings on: Joel McCrea and Bruce Labruce in New York, Iranian cinema in Los Angeles, Gus Van Sant and Nicholas Ray in Portland, Allan Dwan in Melbourne, Polish cinema in London, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy throughout the UK, Agnieszka Holland in Berlin and Gregory J. Markopoulos in Basel. » - David Hudson...

A water main break at a movie theater can wreak havoc on a film festival!

The Eighth Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, was supposed to start Sunday April 19th at the Tivoli Theatre. But the organizers had to reschedule when the Tivoli had to shut down because of the water disaster. The show will go on, but the schedule has been changed.

The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 23 films – 11 features (six narratives and five documentaries) and 12 short subjects. The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.

Highlights include the St. Louis premieres of two biographical documentaries on Olympic diver Greg Louganis...

This Sunday! – Come get your Q on, St. Louis!

The Eighth Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, runs April 19-23 at the Tivoli Theatre. The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 23 films – 11 features (six narratives and five documentaries) and 12 short subjects. The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.

Highlights include the St. Louis premieres of two biographical documentaries on Olympic diver Greg Louganis (“Back on Board”) and former Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter (“Tab Hunter Confidential”). Other prominent films include the latest from avant-garde queer filmmaker Bruce la Bruce (“Gerontophilia”) and lesbian-themed films starring Geraldine Chaplin (“Sand Dollars”) and the directorial debut...

Xavier Dolan tied contemporaries Philippe Falardeau and Denis Villeneuve by winning his second Best Feature award at the 17th annual Jutra Awards. Quebec’s answer to the Oscars was a rather suspense-less affair as Mommy claimed nine (plus the top box office award honor) awards winning in all major categories with the exclusion of Best Supporting Actor category win, which would only end up going to Dolan’s other nominated film, Tom at the Farm. Pierre-Yves Cardinal was sublime in his predatory type role and as was the case for several nominees, was hard at work on another project and therefore not on hand for trophyware. Ricardo Trogi’s throwback to awkward teen years tale 1987 did win a trio of awards, but if there were any surprises in the Dolan camp it was the acceptance speeches: Dolan delivered a keynote speech type quality for the last win of the night...

Come get your Q on, St. Louis! The Eighth Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, runs April 19-23 at the Tivoli Theatre. The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 23 films – 11 features (six narratives and five documentaries) and 12 short subjects. The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.

Highlights include the St. Louis premieres of two biographical documentaries on Olympic diver Greg Louganis (“Back on Board”) and former Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter (“Tab Hunter Confidential”). Other prominent films include the latest from avant-garde queer filmmaker Bruce la Bruce (“Gerontophilia”) and lesbian-themed films starring Geraldine Chaplin (“Sand Dollars”) and the directorial debut from HBO...

Peter Strickland talks about the mechanics of sex in his new film, The Duke of Burgundy as well as his influences: Bruce Labruce’s Skin Flick. "Certainly," says Strickland, "the first person who introduced me to the whole film world in New York was Mm Serra at the Film-maker’s Co-op. The films she made with Maria Beatty, A Lot of Fun for the Evil One, with John Zorn’s sound effects and music, were totally in this world. Again, the films Maria Beatty made as well, like The Black Glove.">> - Shade Rupe...

Peter Strickland talks about the mechanics of sex in his new film, The Duke of Burgundy as well as his influences: Bruce Labruce’s Skin Flick. "Certainly," says Strickland, "the first person who introduced me to the whole film world in New York was Mm Serra at the Film-maker’s Co-op. The films she made with Maria Beatty, A Lot of Fun for the Evil One, with John Zorn’s sound effects and music, were totally in this world. Again, the films Maria Beatty made as well, like The Black Glove.">> - Shade Rupe...

Break out the candles! The venerable Melbourne Underground Film Festival becomes a full-fledged teenager when it celebrates its 16th annual edition on September 11-20 this year.

Last year saw a stripped down Muff, focusing on local outre filmmakers and a fine selection of international weirdness — and they want more this year. The fest will also be returning to its new home, the Backlot Studios.

Sixteen years and counting, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival has shown a fierce commitment to under appreciated cinema and it’s awesome to see them still kicking it. If your film is kick ass, a little bit or a lot out there and faintly uncategorizable and possibly unloved wherever “decent” people like to congregate, then Muff might be a good home for it.

See below for submission deadlines, entry fee information, submission links and guidelines.

Deadline & Entry Fees

Deadline via Festhome:

June 30

Entry Fees:

Feature Film:...

They didn’t make our final Top 100 cut, but here is a list of foreign film titles that are on our radar for 2015. We being with…

200. Remember – Dir. Atom Egoyan

199. Suffragette – Dir. Sarah Gavron

198. Kills on Wheels – Dir. Attila Till

197. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend – Dir. Yuen Woo-ping

196. The Go-Between – Dir. Pete Travis

195. Peur de Rien Dir. Danielle Arbid

194. Regular Boy – Dir. Michele Civetta

193. Flaskepost – Dir. Nikolaj Arcel

192. The Lady in the Van – Dir. Nicolas Hytner

191. Zoom – Dir. Pedro Morelli

190. Away from the Sea – Dir. Imanol Uribe

189. Tulip Fever – Dir. Justin Chadwick

188. Ulrike’s Brain – Dir. Bruce La Bruce

187. Tsunami – Dir. Jacques Deschamps

186. And Your Sister? – Dir. Marion Vernoux

185. There Was Las Vegas – Dir. Alexandre Castas

184. Prejudice – Dir. Antoine Cuypers

183. Stepne – Dir. Maryna Vroda

182. Irreplaceable – Dir. Olivier Masset-Depasse

181. Histoire de Judas Iscariot – Dir. Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche

180. The First, the Last – Dir. Bouli Lanners

179. Selection Officielle – Dir. Jacques Richard

178. Desierto – Dir.

"John Huston doesn’t have a flawless track record as a film director, but few have so perfectly embodied the idea of what a film director ought to be," writes Nick Pinkerton in his overview of Let There Be Light: The Films of John Huston, the retrospective running at the Film Society of Lincoln Center through January 11. In the L, Justin Stewart recommends The Kremlin Letter (1970), which "delivers everything you want in a Cold War spy thriller, along with a vintage draught of sexism and groovy S&M particular to its moment in time." And Henry Stewart writes up White Hunter, Black Heart (1990): "In this fictionalized telling of the making of The African Queen, Clint Eastwood performs a sustained, fascinating, campy impression of the larger-than-life John Huston." » - David Hudson...

"John Huston doesn’t have a flawless track record as a film director, but few have so perfectly embodied the idea of what a film director ought to be," writes Nick Pinkerton in his overview of Let There Be Light: The Films of John Huston, the retrospective running at the Film Society of Lincoln Center through January 11. In the L, Justin Stewart recommends The Kremlin Letter (1970), which "delivers everything you want in a Cold War spy thriller, along with a vintage draught of sexism and groovy S&M particular to its moment in time." And Henry Stewart writes up White Hunter, Black Heart (1990): "In this fictionalized telling of the making of The African Queen, Clint Eastwood performs a sustained, fascinating, campy impression of the larger-than-life John Huston." » - David Hudson...