| Television
Sundance Channel Celebrates Gay Pride Month
Sundance
Channel celebrates Gay Pride with its June FilmFest,
“Out Loud,” showcasing gay- and lesbian-themed
films. Now in its third year, “Out Loud” has
become an annual favorite at Sundance Channel, thanks
to a wide range of genre-spanning features, documentaries,
and shorts that look at gay and lesbian life in all
its emotional colors.
Highlights include the world premiere of Nisha Ganatra’s
extremely funny, highly original feature debut, Chutney
Popcorn. The multi-talented Ganatra (center) co-wrote
the film and also stars as Reena, a young woman whose
sexuality and artistic vocation (she’s a photographer)
have put her at odds with her Americanized, yet still
traditional, Indian family. When her newlywed sister
discovers she’s infertile, Reena steps up to the
plate with an offer to carry a baby conceived with her
brother-in-law’s sperm—a prospect that does
not thrill Reena’s lover, played by Jill Hennessy
(left, yes, assistant district attorney Claire Kincaid
on TV’s Law and Order!). This also stars Cara Buono
(right).
 Another
notable “Out Loud” television premiere is
David Moreton’s critically acclaimed Edge of Seventeen,
winner of the Grand Jury Award at the 1998 L.A. Outfest
and the Audience Award at the 1998 San Francisco International
Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Screenwriter Todd Stephens
drew on his teenage memories for this sweet, funny,
and knowing look at a high school boy’s coming
out circa 1984, a giddy period when gender-bending pop
stars like Boy George were making inroads into mainstream
culture. Featuring glowing performances by Chris Stafford
(left), Tina Holmes, Anderson Gabrych (right), and the
inimitable comedienne/musical comedy star Lea DeLaria
(On the Town), Edge of Seventeen also boasts an irresistible
soundtrack of ’80s hits by the Eurythmics, Bronski
Beat, and other peroxide powerhouses.
Sundance
Channel’s Films for Gay Pride Month:
•
Another Country (1984), with Rupert Everett, Cary Elwes,
and Colin Firth.
• Butterfly Kiss (1995), with Amanda Plummer.
• Chutney Popcorn (1999).
• Crush (1992), with Marcia Gay Harden.
• Desert Hearts (1985), with Helen Shaver, Patricia
Charbonneau, and Audra Lindley.
Director: Donna Deitch.
• East Palace, West Palace (aka Dong gong xi gong)
(1997).
• Edge of Seventeen (1999), with Lea DeLaria.
• Female Perversions (1997), with Tilda Swinton.
• Finding North (1999).
• Floating (1997), with Chad Lowe.
• Gods and Monsters (1998), with Ian McKellen,
Brendan Fraser, and Lynn Redgrave.
• The Hanging Garden (1996).
• I Think I Do (1997), with Alexis Arquette.
• Let It Come Down: the Life of Paul Bowles (1998).
• Liquid Sky (1983).
• Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100 (1999).
• The Mother and the Whore (aka La Maman et la
Putain) (1973).
• Paul Monette: the Brink of Summer’s End
(1997).
• Sixth Happiness (1998).
• Stonewall (1996).
• Treyf (1998).
• The Well (1997).
• When Love Comes (1998).
• Wild Reeds (1994).
• Wilde (1997), with Stephen Fry , Jude Law, and
Vanessa Redgrave.
• You Don’t Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of
Transsexual Men (1996).
• Shorts Out Loud #1: Alkalai, Iowa (1995); Two
Girls and a Baby (1998); The Absolution of Anthony (1998).
• Shorts Out Loud #2: The Dadshuttle (1997); Dinner
Party (1996); Nunzio’s Second Cousin (1994), with
Vincent D’Onofrio and Eileen Brennan; Must Be the
Music (1995).
For more information, visit www.sundancechannel.com.
To request Sundance Channel,
call 1-800-SUN-FILM.
Showtime Celebrates Robert Mapplethorpe
Dirty
Pictures stars James Woods (pictured) as Dennis Barrie,
the director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center
whose exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe’s controversial
photographs 10 years ago instigated a firestorm of controversy
about the First Amendment, creative expression, and
public financing of the arts—a battle that continues
to resonate in today’s headlines. While many people
recognized the artistic value of Mapplethorpe’s
photographs, others objected to a number of images in
the exhibit which graphically depicted gay sex and sadomasochistic
acts.
The film is intercut with commentary by prominent figures
on both sides of the issue, including conservative commentator
William F. Buckley Jr.; National Endowment for the Arts
chairman John Frohmeyer; author Salman Rushdie; and
choreographer Bill T. Jones, among others. The film
also includes filmed interviews with Robert Mapplethorpe
before his death.
Diana Scarwid plays Barrie’s wife, and Craig T.
Nelson plays the sheriff who sought not only to shut
down Mapplethorpe’s exhibit, but to personally
prosecute and imprison Dennis Barrie. • Dirty Pictures
debuted in May on Showtime, but two additional playdates
are scheduled in June: on the 6th at 9 p.m. and on the
18th at 11 p.m.
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