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MOVIES Dutch journalist talks about making 'My Friend, the Mayor'
In the Amazon Prime Video documentary My Friend, the Mayor: Small-town Democracy in the Age of Trump, Dutch journalist Max Westerman profiles friend Sean Strub, an openly gay activist, activist, long-term AIDS survivor and POZ magazine ...
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New dance film features 46 dancers from 20 countries
Films.Dance—a global film series produced by and under the creative direction of LA-based Jacob Jonas The Company—continues with Match, the single most expansive collaboration in the 15-film series. Match features ...
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LGBTQ+ film critics group unveils nominations
The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA) revealed the nominations for the 2021 Dorian Film Awards on Feb. 11. Minari leads the way with six nominations, including best film and best foreign-language film; Nomadland scored five ...
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MOVIES 'Wonder Woman 1984' coming to PVOD, Digital, Blu-Ray
The movie Wonder Woman 1984—the sequel starring Gal Gadot, with Patty Jenkins as director—is arriving on Premium Video on Demand (PVOD), 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital, according to a press release from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. ...
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Groundbreaking ceremony held for Sisters in Cinema Media Arts Center
Sisters in Cinema held a press conference Feb. 8 at the South Shore Cultural Center to commemorate the construction of its new state-of-the-art Media Arts Center that will be at 2310 E. 75th St. The event, ...
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Sisters in Cinema groundbreaking Ceremony promises access, training in South Shore
--From a press release
CHICAGO, IL - South Shore will soon have access to a state-of-the art media facility now that a local organization has begun construction on its new brick-and-mortar home. Sisters in Cinema, a 501(c)3 dedicated to celebrating ...
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Wizard World Chicago moved from June to August
Wizard Brands, Inc. announced that its scheduled 2021 live event in Chicago has been postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions and in continued accordance with federal, state and local guidelines. Instead of the original dates of June ...
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SAG nominations announced; Boseman gets four nods
Nominations for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards were announced Feb. 4. On the film side, Deadline noted that the late Chadwick Boseman made SAG Awards nomination history by receiving four nominations: for his lead role ...
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Donald Trump resigns from SAG-AFTRA; group tersely responds
Former U.S. President Donald Trump resigned from SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) after the organization's national board recently voted overwhelmingly to find probable cause of ...
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'Draw With Me' follows trans teen who's Jennifer Lopez's nibling; director reflects
Draw With Me—an official Oscar entry for Documentary Short Subject—is the story of talented teen artist Brendon Scholl, who identifies as trans non-binary and whose art has been a vital outlet for self expression. The movie—created ...
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MOVIES Director Mike Mosallam discusses queer Muslim film 'Breaking Fast'
A warm romantic comedy that may seem simultaneously recognizable and unfamiliar to many viewers, Breaking Fast follows Mo (played by out actor Haaz Sleiman), a practicing Muslim still reeling from heartbreak. When an All-American guy named ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Tunde Johnson,' John Waters, Jane Lynch, Billie Eilish
Wolfe Releasing has slated the film The Obituary of Tunde Johnson for a theatrical and digital release on Feb. 26, a press release noted. The film—written by Stanley Kalu; directed by Ali LeRoi; and starring Steven ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Batwoman,' Village People, Neil Patrick Harris, Mariah Carey
SPOILER ALERT: Season two of Batwoman (featuring the lesbian superheroine) began by introducing Ryan Wilder, the new lead character on The CW show played by Javicia Leslie—and explained how first-season ...
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SHOWBIZ LGBTQ movies, 'Color Purple,' Nick Jonas, gay coach
The film Draw with Me has launched its virtual theatrical release at ArenaScreen through Feb. 9, and was the subject of the first-ever panel at the United Nations on Transgender Health, a release stated. Featuring Jennifer ...
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Report: Here are the highest grossing LGBTQ+ actors on Netflix
--From a Journalistic.org press release
Highest grossing LGBTQ+ actors on Netflix - Kristen Stewart comes in first, with a net worth of 70 million dollars - Bisexual women are the top earning members of the LGBTQ+ community - The TV industry ...
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SHOWBIZ Laverne Cox, lesbian coach, Jim Parsons, 'Brokeback,' theater items
Laverne Cox is teaming with Meryl Streep and Rashida Jones to executive-produce a new documentary exploring one of the most critical issues at the intersection of race, feminism, and power: the sex industry, out.com noted. Sell/Buy/Date ...
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Billy Masters
"Harry Styles is looking REALLY good. I'm into the fishnets. And we have very similar tastes. I think sharing a closet, sharing a life together, it just makes sense."—Miley Cyrus. I'd rather see Harry with Miley's ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Tales' star dies, 'Wonder Woman 1984,' holiday songs, 'Drag Race'
Marcus D'Amico—the original Michael "Mouse" Tolliver from the miniseries Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City—died at age 55, Queerty noted. In 1992, he also originated the role of Louis in the National Theatre's London run of ...
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SHOWBIZ Trans movie, best/worst LGBTQ films, sports items, Whitney
Shout! Studios entered into an exclusive deal with Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions (KKP) and Scatena & Rosner Films (SNR) to distribute the new LGBTQ-focused documentary The Sound of Identity, a press release noted. The movie chronicles ...
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'Party Monster' killer Michael Alig dies at 54
Michael Alig who was at the center of the LGBTQ "club kids" scene in late 1980s and early '90s Manhattan, and whose involvement in the murder and dismemberment of his drug dealer was chronicled in the 2003 film Party Monster died Dec. 25th ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Drag Race,' year-end honors, 'Guardians,' Taylor Swift
VH1 unveiled a game-changing twist from the upcoming season of the Emmy-winning RuPaul's Drag Race, premiering Friday, Jan. 1, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, a press release noted. For the first time in Drag Race "herstory," queens ...
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'Cheer' star pleads not guilty to child-sex charges
On Dec. 17, Cheer star Jerry Harris pled not guilty to new federal felony charges that he tried to lure minors for sex and shared sexually explicit photos with them, media outlets reported. The charges alleged ...
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Billy Masters
"I don't agree that only gay actors should play gay. … I don't agree with having to laser focus the casting of it all, or else you'll be playing yourself the rest of your life."—Juan Pablo ...
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SHOWBIZ Trans acting challenge, NYE parties, Charlize Theron, Diana Ross
Michael D. Cohen, with support from Nickelodeon, is launching the Trans Youth Acting Challenge, according to a press release. Trans and non-binary kids can submit audition self-tapes online (preferably through their parents), and the top 12 ...
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SHOWBIZ Naya Rivera, Jodie Foster, MTV, Marc Jacobs
Naya Rivera's Glee co-stars are honoring the late actress with a fundraiser launched in her memory, Page Six noted. A GoFundMe account has been established by the crew in her name, with proceeds going toward Alexandria ...
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Actor formerly known as Ellen Page comes out as trans
Elliot Page has come out as transgender. The star of movies like Juno and TV shows like The Umbrella Academy, formerly known as Ellen Page, posted about his transition on social media on Dec. 1, according ...
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SHOWBIZ Singer Justin Utley, Gus Kenworthy, video game, 'Jackplot' film
OUTMusic Award winner Justin Utley has released the single "All Is Bright"—his first holiday release, a press release noted. Utley described the song as a little-bit of Lumineers/Mumford & Sons mixed in with a lot-a-bit of ...
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Laverne Cox 'in shock' but okay after transphobic attack
Transgender actress/activist Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black) said she was "definitely in shock" and "triggered" but okay after an anti-trans attack while walking with a friend in a Los Angeles park, USA Today reported. ...
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SHOWBIZ: Awards, 'Bebop,' Andy Cohen, Mariah Carey, Revry
The American Music Awards aired live Nov. 22 and some of the biggest names in music took home awards; Taraji P. Henson hosted. According to CNN.com, Doja Cat won new artist of the year and Becky ...
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MOVIES Paul Bettany talks 'Uncle Frank' and his own closeted father
In the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios movie Uncle Frank, out Nov. 25, Paul Bethany (the Avengers and Iron Man series; Master and Commander; The Da Vinci Code) plays the title character—a literature professor who has two ...
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MOVIES Peter Macdissi reflects on making 'Uncle Frank'
In the Amazon Studios movie Uncle Frank, out Nov. 25, Peter Macdissi plays Walid "Wally" Nadeem—the partner of the title character (played by Paul Bettany). However, the dynamics are a bit different in that Frank Bledsoe ...
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Day With(out) Art: Transmissions launches online Nov. 30
--From a press release
NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2020 — Visual AIDS, the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to raising AIDS and HIV awareness through dialogue, art exhibitions and public forums, announces their ...
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SHOWBIZ Wentworth Miller, Whitney, lesbian author, Mark Wahlberg
Out actor Wentworth Miller said he doesn't want to be involved in a new season of the TV show Prison Break if it happens, according to Deadline. On Instagram, he thanked fans for his support and ...
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MOVIES Trans-focused Born to Be to be released Nov. 20
Born To Be—a hit documentary on the country's first hospital center for transgender medical care—will open in Philadelphia on Friday, Nov. 20 (also the Transgender Day of Remembrance) with Gene Sickle Film Center Virtual Cinema. The ...
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MOVIES Henry Golding gets intimate in 'Monsoon'
Taking a turn from larger-budget movies such as A Simple Favor and Crazy Rich Asians, actor Henry Golding stars in the intimate film Monsoon. The movie features Golding as Kit, a young British-Vietnamese man who returns ...
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Mama Gloria, about Chicago's elder, trans, activist icon, to screen
--From a press release
CHICAGO, IL — Luchina Fisher's Mama Gloria, an important and timely documentary about Chicago's trailblazing Black trans elder icon and activist Gloria Allen, will hold nationwide screenings during Transgender Awareness ...
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SHOWBIZ Rock Hudson, The CW, Jillian Michaels, Isis King
Among Kino Lorber's December DVD and Blu-ray releases is a three-movie set (with the 1953-54 features Seminole, Golden Blade and Bengal Brigade) starring the late actor Rock Hudson, a press release noted. Co-stars in the films ...
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Chicago Underground Film Festival offers virtual and drive-in screenings in November
--From a press release
CHICAGO—The 27th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), the world's longest-running underground film festival and called "the festival you wouldn't take home to mom," returns in 2020 with virtual screenings ...
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SHOWBIZ RuPaul, LGBTQ athletes, film winners, Charles Busch
RuPaul has a lot of irons in the fire, according to out.com. Not only is she on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK's January 2021 issue, but the drag icon has also posted her new five-track Hey Sis, It's Christmas EP. Also, ...
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Billy Masters
"We've got control of this thing. If you look at my Instagram, it's gone to almost nothing."—Donald Jr. tells Laura Ingraham that people don't have to worry about quarantine or the coronavirus, and that the deaths ...
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Blumhouse's Diverse Box of Halloween Horrors
Over the past several years, Blumhouse Productions has been the force behind a number of horror films with a sense of diversity rolling down the backbone of their creation. In 2017, openly gay-writer director Christopher Landon ...
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SHOWBIZ Viola Davis, Tyler Posey, Elton John, Tegan and Sara
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom will premiere on Netflix on Dec. 18, a press release noted. The movie—based on the August Wilson play—will star Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman and Colman Domingo. In the film and ...
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BOOKS Former Warner Brothers head Alan Shayne reflects on a pivotal summer
Many things happened in 1941—Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Wonder Woman comic began publication and Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in for his third term as U.S. president. It was also a pivotal year for Alan ...
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Chicago Filmmakers to participate in Masterwork: Industry Conversations series
--From a press release
(Chicago, IL) Chicago Filmmakers is pleased to announce two new editions of Masterwork: Industry Conversations, a series of virtual interviews with long established and award-winning filmmakers followed by a Q&A ...
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'V for Vendetta' at Music Box Oct. 30. includes talk with Wachowski
The 15th-anniversary theatrical re-release of V for Vendetta, which now includes bonus content—a 13-minute, pre-recorded conversation with director James McTeigue and writer/producer Lana Wachowski—will run at the Music Box Theatre ...
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Trans films at Chicago International Film Festival
The 56th Chicago International Film Festival illuminates varying gender norms—in childhood, adolescence and old age—now through Sunday, Oct. 25 as part of the Festival's "Out-Look" LGBTQ+ programming. Three feature films ...
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Billy Masters
"I think it's important to find a way, all of us, to move on and fly away from this subject onto something else."—Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris responding to Rachel Maddow asking if she saw the ...
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MOVIES Ruby Rose talks new film 'The Doorman,' LGBTQ actors
In the new movie The Doorman, out actress Ruby Rose (TV's Orange Is the New Black and Batwoman; movies such as John Wick: Chapter 2 and Pitch Perfect 3) stars as the titular character in an ...
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Alliance of Illinois Judges hosting 'Coming Out Stories'
In celebration of National Coming Out Day (which took place Oct. 11), the Alliance of Illinois Judges (AIJ) unveiled the short film Coming Out Stories. Coming Out Stories features members of the judiciary sharing coming out ...
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Matthew-Lee Erlbach talks Be An #ArtsHero, career, other endeavors
Writer, actor and filmmaker Matthew-Lee Erlbach is on a mission to get financial relief to the many arts workers and institutions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Erlbach is calling on U.S. senators to sponsor the DAWN ...
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Director's cut of 'But I'm a Cheerleader' will be out Dec. 8
People can celebrate the 20th anniversary of a classic lesbian film when But I'm a Cheerleader: Director's Cut arrives on Digital 4K Ultra HD on Dec. 8, from Lionsgate. From Primetime Emmy-nominated director Jamie Babbit ...
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Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival names winners
--From a press release
(Chicago, IL) Reeling is pleased to announce the winners of the 38th annual Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. The festival was held virtually this year from September 24 to October 7. The event included ...
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SHOWBIZ Diversity report, Zachary Quinto, 'Schitt's Creek,' Mariah Carey
In a new report from the UCLA-based Center for Scholars and Storytellers titled "Beyond Checking A Box: A Lack of Authentically Inclusive Representation Has Costs at the Box Office," researchers found that bringing authentic diversity to ...
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Pride Fall Film Festival Oct. 12
Eight short films, including work by new directors, some using new technology (iPhone 11, Filmic Pro), in explore sexual orientation and gender identity across cultures and among male and female-identifying ...
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Filmmaker Ric Burns explores life of neurologist/writer Oliver Sacks
For documentarian Ric Burns, whose work includes New York: A Documentary Film, American Ballet Theatre and VA: The Human Cost of War (and who co-produced and co-wrote The Civil War), the tumultuous life of gay neurologist ...
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Billy Masters
"It's terrifying. It's scary. We have to get out and vote."—Lil Nas X's response to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Michael Bloomberg has found a way to help Joe Biden get more votes in Florida: ...
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SHOWBIZ Bradley Cooper, Spice Girls, greatest albums, film 'The Glorias'
Bradley Cooper has found his onscreen partner and a new title—Maestro—for the Leonard Bernstein film he will star in and direct for Netflix, Deadline reported. Carey Mulligan has been cast as Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, wife ...
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Reeling 2020 Reviews
For complete festival information and to buy tickets, visit reelingfilmfestival.org/2020. Ratings are on a **** scale but I'm a tough grader, so nothing gets over ***. Note: This year's installment of Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International ...
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MOVIES 'Cicada' flies into virtual film festivals this fall
Set in New York City, a queer-centered movie called Cicada is now hitting virtual film festivals and explores complicated relationships with a backdrop of childhood trauma. Ben and Sam meet at a bookstore and a journey ...
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Chicago focus of 'City So Real' TV event running Oct. 29
National Geographic Documentary Films announced that the critically acclaimed five-part documentary series from Participant and Kartemquin Films, City So Real, will air in an unprecedented one-night, five-hour, commercial-free event on ...
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg films out Sept. 25
As a tribute of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life and legacy, Focus Features and Magnolia Pictures will be re-releasing On the Basis of Sex and RBG—both films about Ginsburg—Friday, Sept. 25 in theaters, ...
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SHOWBIZ Julia Child movie, Janelle Monae, 'Ammonite,' Harry Styles
David Hyde Pierce will star opposite Sarah Lancashire in Julia, HBO Max's drama pilot about the famous chef, trailblazing cookbook author and TV personality, Deadline reported. He replaces Tom Hollander, who originally had been tapped for ...
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Billy Masters
"The fact is, I'm a cheerleader for this country. I love our country. And I don't want people to be frightened. I don't want to create panic."—Donald Trump. No offense to any leaders of cheers out ...
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MOVIES Reeling goes online for 2020 edition
The pandemic did not stop officials from Chicago Filmmakers, the organization behind Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, from planning a diverse program of feature-length and short-subject narrative and ...
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MOVIES David Pevsner brings performance to home screens
Although Los Angeles-based performer David Pevsner's solo performance piece Musical Comedy Whore! is technically a one-man show, Pevsner takes care to differentiate it from others. "I think people are kind of surprised by it, [thinking] that ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Pose,' Matt Bomer, 'Mr. Soul,' Lil Nas X, Halsey, Dave Koz
SHOWBIZ 'Pose,' Matt Bomer, 'Mr. Soul,' Lil Nas X, Halsey, Dave Koz COMPILED BY ANDREW DAVIS FX's award-winning series Pose is planning to return to production in October, Variety noted. Production on season three was halted ...
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Reeling 2020 reviews
For complete festival information and to buy tickets, visit http://reelingfilmfestival.org/2020. Ratings are on a **** scale but I'm a tough grader, so nothing gets over ***. Note: This year's installment of Reeling: ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Star Trek,' Julianne Moore, benefit album, 'To Wong Foo'
The producers of Star Trek: Discovery announced that next season they will be introducing the first nonbinary and trans characters in the history of the Star Trek franchise, Advocate.com noted. Nonbinary character Adira, played by Blu ...
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Resisterhood, Democracy through female, LGBTQ+, minority lens, streaming Sept. 22
--From a press release
Washington, D.C. — Sept. 1, 2020 — Examining the ongoing reverberations of the 2016 U.S. presidential election from a women's perspective, Resisterhood is a compelling and impactful documentary urging us all to use our voice and ...
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MOVIES New documentary visits 'House of Cardin'
It took a queer eye to bring the new documentary House of Cardin to life. Husbands and business partners Todd Hughes and P. David Ebersole have directed a history of designer Pierre Cardin. Viewers of the ...
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LGBTQ+ actor Hank Chen talks OneWheaton, Tyra Banks and Robin Williams
Hank Chen is an actor and—perhaps more interestingly to people in Chicagoland—is a co-founder of the LGBTQ+ group OneWheaton, which consists of LGBTQ+ students and alumni of Wheaton College. Two of his recent credits include Life-Size ...
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Reeling: Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Fest announces program
--From a press release
(Chicago, IL) Reeling will celebrate its 38th anniversary this fall with a new virtual edition of the second-oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world. Showing 30 features, 54 shorts across eight shorts programs from 21 countries, ...
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Filmmakers look back at pioneering movie 'Transsexuals'
Chicago-based Media Burn Archive presented an online screening of the rarely-seen 1971 documentary Transsexuals Aug. 27, and hosted members of its original crew, who presented insights on both its production ...
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SHOWBIZ #ReadOutProud, Mj Rodriguez, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Lopez
Non-profit organization Pride and Less Prejudice (PLP) has launched a #ReadOutProud fundraising campaign video with LGBTQ celebrities including Adam Rippon, Nicole Maines, Darryl Stephens, Patrik-Ian Polk, Theo Germaine, Nikki Blonsky ...
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'The Boys in the Band' on Netflix Sept. 30
More than 50 years after Mart Crowley's play became an unexpected smash hit for putting gay men's lives center stage, The Boys in the Band will premiere on Netflix on Wed., Sept. 30, in a new ...
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