ImageOut 18 Guest Roster

Have you seen the amazing lineup of guest stars and guest filmmakers who are gracing the ImageOut "red carpet" this year? Household names and up-and-coming talents in the world of LGBT cinema share the spotlight for 10 days in Rochester. Popular and internationally-acclaimed stars such as Casper Andreas, Jesse Archer, Cathy DeBuono, Jill Bennett and many others will be attending the screening of their respective films at ImageOut to meet their fans and to talk about their movies.

So be sure to have your tickets, enjoy the movies, and meet our guests! Check out our website for more information.

Online Ticket Sales Now Open!

Just a reminder that festival tickets are now available through the ImageOut website. Scroll down the page to get step-by-step instructions for making your ticket purchases, or just click the blue "BUY TICKETS" link at the top of the page, and select which films you'd like tickets for.

Also on that page, you'll find the schedule of all the upcoming in-person ticket sales, the first of which will be THIS SUNDAY, September 19th, from 12:30 - 4:00pm in the ImageOut office (Village Gate Square, 274 N. Goodman Street, Bldg A, Suite A209).

ANNE LISTER & UNDERTOW Win Austin Awards

The winning films at the recently concluded Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival have been announced. And a couple of our ImageOut 18 Gala screenings came out victorious. Our gorgeous Closing Night film, THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS ANNE LISTER, won the Audience Award for Best Feature. While UNDERTOW, our Centerpiece Feature, won the Jury Award for Best Feature.

But the big winner at AGLIFF is the comedy short, YOU MOVE ME, which won both the Audience and Jury Awards for Best Narrative Short. YOU MOVE ME screens with THE OWLS at ImageOut.

BEARCITY New Trailer

Finally! The trailer for the fab, funny and hairy movie, BEARCITY, has been released and we've posted it on our website. Check it out here.

UNDERTOW for an Oscar?

UNDERTOW, ImageOut 18's Narrative Centerpiece Feature, was recently submitted by Peru as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film competition at the 2011 Academy Awards. A film festival favorite and already a winner of various jury and audience awards all over the world, UNDERTOW will definitely represent LGBT cinema at its best if it makes it to the final list of nominees.

I hope you get a chance (it's currently one of our bestsellers!) to see this amazing and touching drama at ImageOut in October. It's definitely one of my favorites in the lineup. Watch the trailer in our website and tell me that you weren't moved. Because that's just cold.

~MG

Festival Fair THIS FRIDAY!

Seriously, what else do you have going on tomorrow evening? Come join us for snacks, drinks (cash bar available), and witty repartee regarding this year's festival lineup. Buy tickets early for those shows that are sure to sell out, and hang around for two great films. Those planetarium seats are really comfortable!

Festival Fair

When: Friday, September 10, 6:30pm - Midnight
Where: Strasenburgh Planetarium
at the Rochester Museum & Science Center
657 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14607
Cost: FREE!

FILM SCREENINGS

7:00PM: Loving Annabelle
9:00PM: Kick Off
TICKETS: $5 each in advance ($6 each at the door)

ImageOut 18 Program

Now that the ImageOut 18 program guides are all over Rochester, I hope you've had a chance to grab your copy and have enjoyed checking out our film offerings for October. This has been a very tough year for some reason, probably because of all the high-quality film options we have. But I'm very satisfied with the resulting Festival lineup. It's a very strong program and I want to personally highlight the amazing lesbian and trans choices this year.

So what films have caught your attention? Anything you are looking forward to see? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

In the weeks leading to the festival, we will be posting some of our recommendations and favorites here in the blog.

For now, click here for the latest trailer of the controversial film, TICKED-OFF TRANNIES WITH KNIVES. I'm posting it here as it will give you an idea of what the film is about and how graphic the violence could be. We love this film but we want you to be aware of what it's about. Is this too gory or bloody for you? This is nothing compared to the movie so just be warned!

PHILLIP MORRIS News

The Jim Carrey - Ewan McGregor gay flick, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, has finally been picked up for US distribution by Roadside Attractions, with a planned release date of (cross your fingers!) Dec. 3 -- that would be a few weeks shy of the film's Sundance debut back in January 2009. Read the Indiewire article for more on this story.

Coming Soon

Michael, Adam, and Jessica are busy putting the finishing touches on the 2010 Festival lineup. We are almost there!

Once it's set, you will get regular updates including teasers, links, and all kinds of Festival goodies.

See you soon!

TKAAR comes to Rochester (finally!)

The underdog hit of the summer--The Kids Are All Right--opened at the Little Theater last Friday, and it is packing the theater! When I attended on Saturday, I don't think there was a single empty seat left in the house. Beyond box-office buzz, this film is striking up discussions and debates across the country while viewers try to decipher its messages and work this particular queer family into their psyches. There are many such debates springing up online. In fact, there are at least three different conversations about this film going on right now on my Facebook home page.

Here are a few of the more interesting full articles I have seen so far: (spoiler warnings for both links)

"An Indie Hit's Sex Message" (The Daily Beast)
"‘Lesbian marriage movie’ shakes up US cinema" (france24.com)

More importantly, what do you think about it?

Salt

Angelina Jolie + explosions + espionage=What I MUST see this weekend.

Full review forthcoming...

Fagbug Screening Tonight at the Little

ImageOut's presentation of 8: The Mormon Proposition (which you're all going to, right?) tomorrow night isn't the only Pride Week screening worth checking out. The Gay Alliance and Little Theatre are teaming up for a single showing of the documentary Fagbug tonight at 6:30. It's a really great movie, so don't miss your one-night-only opportunity to watch it on the big screen and meet the film's director, Erin Davies.

From the Little Theatre's site:

The Gay Alliance Anti-Violence Project and The Little Theatre welcomes filmmaker Erin Davies and Fagbug to Rochester Pride! Following the screening will be a Talkback with Erin. The Little Talkback Series is made possible through support from the New York State Council on the Arts.

On the 11th Annual National Day of Silence, Erin Davies was victim to a hate crime in Albany, New York. Because of sporting a rainbow sticker on her VW Beetle, Erin's car was vandalized, left with the words "fag" and "u r gay" placed on the driver's side window and hood of her car. Despite initial shock and embarrassment, Erin decided to embrace what happened by leaving the graffiti on her car. She took her car, now known worldwide as the "fagbug," on a 58-day trip around the United States and Canada. Along the way, Erin discovered other, more serious hate crimes, had people attempt to remove the graffiti, and experimented with having a male drive her car. After driving the fagbug for one year, Erin decided to give her car a makeover.

Erin's mission is to raise awareness about hate crimes and homophobia in our society, to give a voice for those who are silent, to inspire others to take a stand against bullies and to be an example of how to overcome obstacles in bringing a creative project to life.

Meet Erin and see the car that started it all!

Tickets for the screening are $6.

Happy Pride!

Rochester's Pride Calendar is busting at the seems this year! ImageOut will be at a number of events this week including the parade, festival, and picnic, and our own big night of course.

Join us at the Cinema Theater on Thursday night (July 15) at 7pm for an ImageRaisers special screening of 8: The Mormon Proposition

After the screening, a panel of local folks in-touch with the themes of the film will participate in a panel discussing Proposition 8, The involvement of churches in bolstering the legistlation, and the wider issues of sexuality and the Mormon church.

Tickets are $7 in advance ($8 at the door). Advance sales can be found at:

Corn Hill Fine Wine & Spirits, 260 Exchange Blvd
Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave
Hedonist Artisan Chocolates, 674 South Ave
OUTlandish Video & Gifts, 274 N Goodman St
Parkleigh, 215 Park Ave


Get in some learning before the party weekend begins!

Little Theater Discount

Who doesn't love a deal?

Today only, Rochesterians can get a super deal for one of ImageOut's BFFs, the Little Theater. $9 for one movie ticket, specialty coffee, and a dessert. That saves you $10!

Groupon, an internet marketing and discount website, offers a different area deal each day. Be sure to check them out soon!

Make sure to read all of the terms and conditions while you are there.

Joan Rivers Documentary

Opening at the Little Theatre in downtown Rochester this weekend is JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, one of my favorite documentaries from my film festival travels this season.
A couple of filmmakers, Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, followed the comedian for a year giving the audiences a look at the life and career of a truly hardworking woman. Today, most people know Joan if at all as an almost caricature-like poster child of plastic surgery and for her borderline tasteless jokes thrown at celebrities during red-carpet events. This film reveals a businesswoman who needs to, almost pathologically, keep her calendar booked with comedy gigs and such to maintain her lavish NYC lifestyle and to support her staff and dependents. Most importantly, the documentary shows us, the viewers, a very funny woman -- from her humble beginnings as a struggling act whose "revolutionary" writing and comedy style paved the way for the likes of Roseanne Barr and Kathy Griffin, up to her triumphant success as a reality star in Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice." But beyond the laughter, we are introduced to a complex and interesting human being. I truly cried and laughed when I saw this film in Toronto a couple of months ago. And she totally gained my utmost respect.
The film premiered at Sundance last January. Since then, it has screened at various international film festivals. While technically not a GLBT film, I seriously considered it for ImageOut 18. Our audiences would have truly enjoyed it. But now I'm glad that Rochester will get a chance to see it anyway. And I recommend you do.

~MG

True Blood Season 3 - "Beautifully Broken"

I'm a little late getting this up, but it's time we talk about last week's episode of TRUE BLOOD, "Beautifully Broken". While not as fast-paced as the season premiere, I still enjoyed this episode, which further developed the season's various plots.

First and foremost, we were finally introduced to Russell Edgington, the vampire King of Mississippi, who we learn was behind Bill's abduction, having hired a group of werewolves to apprehend him proposition him into helping overthrow Queen Sophie-Anne. I loved the developments in this plot line, from the awesome opening sequence with Bill ripping apart the werewolves with his teeth (though I wish we could have seen a bit more of the fight), to the multi-course dinner with Edginton's husband, Theo ("Chilled, carbonated blood. It's cruelty-free. All willingly donated. Note the citrusy finish. This one only ate tangerines for a week"). Also, that final shot, with Bill launching a lantern at Lorena, causing her to burst into flames? Amazing.

The second major plot line involved Eric reluctantly providing Sookie with more information about the werewolves and included a pretty sweet flashback to Eric and Godric posing as SS officers and hunting werewolves. Any excuse to bring back Godric is a good thing in my book.

I'm not exactly loving that we're getting even more of Tara wallowing in misery, which has kind of become her default activity since season one. The one redeeming aspect was Lafayette's decision to take charge following her suicide attempt and drag her miserable ass to the mental hospital for a "Scared Straight" introduction to his crazy mother, and, more happily, allowed him to meet her crazy hot nurse, Jesus. I do like that by the end of the episode, Tara's storyline had taken a more positive turn with her introduction to Franklin, some sort of vampire detective who's apparently trying to dig up information on Bill's past. The pair's tag-team ass-whupping of some racist rednecks toward episode's end hint that their relationship could take a dangerous turn.

I'm intrigued to see where Jason's story goes, as his feelings of guilt morphed into jealousy of Andy's new role as town hero after he shouldered the blame for Egg's death. When he rode along with Andy on a routine call and ended up tacking a meth dealer, I got the impression that we may see a career change in Jason's immediate future.

Jessica continued to be a source a humor and pathos as she scrambles to figure out how to dispose of the body she's been squirreling away beneath the floor of her home. I LOOOOVED her scenes in Fangtasia this week as she grilled Pam for advice on the vampire "birds and the bees". Her scene with Hoyt, though, was a heart-breaker. Why can't those two crazy kids just find a way to make it work?!

Can't wait for tonight's episode, where Sookie's werewolf protector, Alcide is finally due to make an appearance. Why am I so excited? Um, because Alcide looks like this:
How's everyone else liking season three so far?

Summer is Here!

Happy first day of summer!

Like everyone involved with ImageOut, I love movies. However, summer in Rochester is not the best time to be inside a movie theater. I always have a hard time keeping up with new movies in the summer just because I'd rather be outside.

It only took a little bit of looking to find out that Rochesterians don't have to choose between enjoying the warm weather and catching some great stage and screen entertainment. Here are some ideas for this summer, and most of them are free!

The Rochester Community Players present Much Ado About Nothing as this year's Shakespeare at the Highland Bowl production. The show runs July 2 through 17 every evening except Mondays, Thursdays, and the Fourth of July. FREE!

Why no Thursday Shows? Well, that's because RCP switches gears to co-sponsor Movies at the Bowl. Family-friendly movies under the stars play throughout the summer on Thursday nights. FREE!

Highland Park isn't the only place to catch a movie outdoors. You can also catch a free flick at other area parks (Jaws at Ontario Beach Park is a past favorite) through August. The full schedule hasn't been released yet, but you can keep checking the Parks website for updates. FREE!

And if you are dying to keep up with the summer blockbusters, There's always the drive-in! Vintage Drive-in in Avon is only about a 30 minute drive from the city, and you can catch a double-feature of new movies for just $8.

True Blood Season 3 - "Bad Blood"

How this blog went so long without ever talking about HBO's TRUE BLOOD, I have no idea. Creator Alan Ball's follow-up to his hugely popular show Six Feet Under, True Blood is based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, about what would happen if vampires were real and decided to announce their existence to the world. The novels are a mix of romance and fantasy, focusing on the love life of a small-town cocktail waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who possesses the ability to read minds. Ball has chosen to only loosely follow the plot of the novels, and has expanded the show's world to become something unlike anything else on television. The mix of campy plotlines, over-the-top violence, gore, sex, and a healthy dose of gayness make it by far the most entertaining show on television right now. The second season, which aired last summer, is when the show truly found it's audience and grew to become HBO's most successful show since The Sopranos.

The third season of True Blood premiered on Sunday, and I had high expectations. I can't remember the last time I've been so excited for a new season of television. Thankfully, the premiere completely delivered. The episode, "Bad Blood", set into motion the various plotlines that will develop throughout the season, and it did it in a fast-paced, funny, and sexy hour of television.

In addition to being a lot of fun, this episode was possibly the gayest yet, featuring the most homoerotic scene of the series thus far (and that's saying a lot). Early in season one, we learned that vampire blood contains healing properties when drunk by a human. However, there is a side effect when this occurs; a strong bond is formed between the human and the vampire, often manifested in the human having intense sexual dreams about the vampire from whom they drank. Those who have been watched True Blood previously will recall that during last season's finale, a mortally wounded Sam drank a great deal of Bill's blood. Happily, the show isn't afraid to shy away from depicting said side effect, even when the act occurred between two men. Sam's dream about Bill was fantastic and pretty damn hot, if I do say so myself. I've included a clip below, for those who'd like to see for themselves.

Even with that plot twist, which I hope will be further developed throughout the season, True Blood promises to get even gayer this year, with an increased role for the hilariously droll lesbian vampire, Pam, a boyfriend for Lafayette, and a gay vampire king all coming up in later episodes.

New episodes will be on HBO Sunday nights at 9pm, and hopefully I'll be posting about each episode after it airs. So tune in, check back on this blog, and we'll do bad things all summer long.

Really, Mormon Church?

From RGJ.com (June 9, 2010): Mormon Church will pay fine for donations to campaign against gay marriage

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to pay a $5,538 fine to settle a complaint over its campaign contributions supporting California's ban on same-sex marriages, the executive director of the state agency that regulates campaign finances said Tuesday.

Roman Porter, who directs the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said an investigation revealed the Mormon Church was tardy in revealing about $37,000 worth of work its staff performed on behalf of Proposition 8 in the final weeks before the November 2008 election.

Read more here.


You can learn more about details of the Mormon Church's deep involvement with the campaign for Proposition 8 from ImageOut's Pride Screening of the documentary "8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION" at the Cinema Theatre on July 15 at 7pm. This screening will be followed by a panel discussion on the many issues raised in the film.

Save the date!

ImageOut, Exposed!

Thanks to the marketing effort of the people behind the film, JUST SAY LOVE (ImageOut 17), the Festival is enjoying some free international publicity. The poster for the film, which is featured in the May issue of The Advocate, proudly boasts of the film's selection at last year's ImageOut Film Festival and even thoughtfully quoted positive comments from my program writeup.

~MG