HOWL on DVD/Bluray

ImageOut 18 Opening Night feature, Howl, is being released on DVD/Bluray today. The film features a very mature performance by James Franco. Unfortunately, the film is overshadowed by Franco's higher profile film and critical darling, 127 Hours, for which he is already guaranteed an Oscar nomination. Oops, I hope I didn't jinx that for him. Ha!

Program 2: Howl

Opening Night could not be any more exciting with the Rochester premiere of James Franco's latest pic, Howl, co-directed by Academy-Award-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. We are also fortunate to have Jeffrey for the screening so please stay for the Q&A. How many times do you get to chat with an Oscar winner?

And don't forget about our opening night party at nearby Eros. See you all tonight!

Howl Is Sold Out!

Advance tickets for ImageOut's Opening Night screening of Howl are now sold out! The announcement of the year's first sold out screening always signals an increase in ticket sales, so make sure you purchase your tickets ASAP if you haven't already. Opening Night has sold out completely for the past four years running, so consider this a warning if you haven't yet bought your passes for The Four-Faced Liar. And there are only 16 tickets remaining for Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!

A limited number of rush tickets may become available for our sold out screenings. Rush tickets are only available on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you'd like a chance at them, make sure you line up at the door well before the screening's scheduled start time.

Our final in-person ticket sale will be this Thursday, September 30th from 6-8pm at the ImageOut office in Village Gate. You can also purchase tickets online through the ImageOut website up until Thursday, October 7th at 5:00pm.

Tickets Sales Update ...

... or more like Ticket Sales Warning! As we enter the second week of ImageOut ticket sales, some shows are proving to be more popular than others. If you are planning on seeing Howl and/or Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! at the Festival, be advised that these two shows are close to selling out. So get your tickets within the next few days before they run out!

Closely following these two films in sales (and would most likely sell out as well), in no particular order, are The Four-Faced Liar, From Beginning To End, Is It Just Me?, Room In Rome, You Should Meet My Son!, Violet Tendencies, Undertow, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, and Elena Undone.

Other popular titles include: Plan B, Twisted Love (shorts), Just Curious (shorts), Purple Sea, Children of God, The String, We Have To Stop Now, A Frozen flower, Wild About Harry, BearCity, Making the Boys, A Marine Story, and Word Is Out.
You can purchase your ImageOut tickets online until Oct. 7. Our next phone-in and in-person ticket sales at our Village Gate office is tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 25 from 12:30 to 4:00pm.

Do not delay your ticket purchase for too long or you'll be sorry!

~MG

Sundance Film Festival

The movies and festivities start today at the popular winter indie filmfest, Sundance. There are a handful of LGBT titles in their lineup including some high-profile titles that I'm pretty sure will have a theatrical release soon.

HOWL, starring James Franco, centers around the young Allen Ginsberg but also touching on the obscenity trial the artist faced due to the publication of his poem, HOWL. This is the narrative feature debut of award-winning documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (Word is Out, The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Celluloid Closet, Paragraph 175).

The Kids are All Right stars Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as lesbian lovers whose two teenage kids try to find out who their biological father (played by Mark Ruffalo) is. Of course, familial complications ensue.

Based on the novel by Nick McDonell, Twelve is a chilling chronicle of privileged urban adolescence on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. If that isn't enough to remind you of TV's Gossip Girl, the film also stars Chace Crawford. Not sure how gay the film is but one of the characters definitely is. And very fashion forward at that.

There are also promising documentaries about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Joan "can we talk?" Rivers.

But the film I'm most excited to see is Undertow (Contracorriente). It looks very intriguing and definitely sexy. I can't wait to see it. Check out the trailer here.

It's also interesting to note that one of the short films in the lineup is Raw Love (Amor Crudo) which had it's East Coast Premiere at ImageOut 2009 last October.

Many people always ask me if I go to Sundance. The answer is no. It's too close to Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival in February) and I only have a very limited budget and can only spare so much of my precious vacation time from my actual day job. The GLBT selection has always been pretty limited at Sundance and whatever big titles they have end up either showing at Berlinale or being available at the European Film Market anyway. So it all works out. But maybe someday.

~MG