"Croquembouche"
Marion and her husband host a private dinner for four, in which one of the guests turns out to be a woman she had an affair with back during the Second World War.
"Genderfreak"
What happens when Rachel, the token straight friend in her group, meets a genderqueer teenager named Sammy who just happens to be able to play guitar to her violin?
"Gyre"
Dreams, reality, sex and sexuality blur leaving Lex stranded in her own nightmares (or are they realities?) in this chilling tale of love, monogamy, and breaking-up.
"Queen"
Nikki Holiday, a drag queen cabaret star, tries to fill the void in her life after her plans to start a family fall apart. Starring Ryan Eggold (“90210”) and Bobby Campo (The Final Destination).
"Polaroid Song"
In 1991, Lisa is 18. The Gulf War ends, the USSR collapses, Nirvana gives birth in a pool and three-girls create the rock band Peroidink.
When most people hear the word ‘forensics’ they think of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or something related to solving crimes; what they don’t think about is speech and debate. However, the competitors at the Texas Forensics Association State Championships take that word very seriously and Thank You for Judging is about the event, the people who conduct the event and the very brave and talented students from all across Texas who participate in it. One such participant was the 1998 TFA champion, Michael Urie, who would go on to star on the series Ugly Betty and in the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; he also co-directs the film. Urie chronicles many of the students participating in the event, particularly young men and women struggling with their sexual identities. Students performing monologues about coming out as gay find their goals thwarted by small-minded and anonymous judges who view their scoring as an opportunity to save souls. In the end, the competition is a way for kids who are usually on the outside looking in to participate in the competitive spirit that flourishes in the state of Texas, and Thank You for Judging chronicles their journey, with all of its ups and downs.
Catch the trailer here: http://vimeo.com/29845476
***
Screening with the short film "In Search of Avery Willard."
Who was Avery Willard? Photographer, filmmaker, writer, publisher, leatherman, pornographer…this short uncovers the life and work of a groundbreaking yet forgotten artist.
Jenn and Matt are best friends from college who are now in their thirties. Single by choice, Jenn spends her days teaching hot yoga and running errands for her demanding boss. Matt suffers from comic-book writer’s block and can’t get over his jerky ex-boyfriend. They decide to fulfill a youthful promise to have a child together… the old-fashioned way. Can they navigate the serious and unexpected snags that they hit as they attempt to get their careers and dating lives back on track in preparation for parenthood? Gayby is an irreverent comedy about friendship, growing older, sex, loneliness, and the family you choose.
Based on the celebrated short film of the same name that screened at Sidewalk in 2011 (as well as at over one hundred other film festivals), Gayby is relentlessly hilarious, admirably hopeful and surprisingly poignant.
Check out the trailer here: http://www.movieweb.com/movie/gayby/trailer
No film in recent memory has embodied the idea of ‘independent spirit’ quite like My Best Day, which premiered as part of Sundance’s avant-gardish Next section. It’s a sharp and quirky little comedy that features some incredibly engaging performances and a tightly manufactured script that screams with rural authenticity. The film is set on the Fourth of July in a town where everyone’s a character: Karen (Rachel Style) is working the holiday at the local refrigerator repair shop when she gets a call from a man (Hunt Block) who could be her long lost father. Her best friend Meagan (Ashlie Atkinson) agrees to come along and pretend to fix the fridge so Karen can meet her father and perhaps her sister. Meagan has a hankering for a used motorcycle, which she rides down to the local hangout to impress Heather (SNL’s Kate McKinnon), whom she’s sweet on, ticking off her main squeeze, Amy (Molly Lloyd), a nurse at the local hospital. My Best Day is a colorful assortment of entertaining characters that all blend together thanks to writer/director Erin Greenwell’s attention to detail and her adept understanding of rural life.
Check out the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPOtZuqMp8o
***
Screening with the short film "Cock 'N Bull."
This SHOUT Exclusive Short comes to us from Nathan Adloff, star of the 2010 Best Narrative Feature winner “Blackmail Boys” and writer/director of the film “Nate & Margaret”. Wes (co-writer Danny Rhodes) invites his best friend, Chris (Nathan Adloff), over for a night-in after being dumped by Henry. They attempt to blow off some steam by prank calling strangers, but soon realize that may have been the worst idea ever.
Films about dysfunctional families are nothing new and have been explored at SHOUT in each and every year of its existence, whether it was the housewife overcoming abuse in Drool or the father coming to terms with his son’s homosexuality in The Wise Kids. In Naked As We Came, writer and director Richard LeMay takes it to an absorbing new level. After a strange phone call, Laura and her brother Elliot rush to their family’s mesmerizing country home. Once there, they discover that their estranged mother is dying of cancer and being cared for by Ted, a gorgeous young groundskeeper. Finding themselves stuck together in the home, the family start bringing to light years-old secrets that have haunted them individually and forced a wedge between their familial bonds. And, when Elliot turns to Ted for emotional support, he discovers that the stranger might have ulterior motives. This well-paced and haunting exploration of regret is a welcomed addition to the SHOUT line-up. Starring Ryan Vigilant, Benjamin Weaver, Karmine Alers, and S. Lue McWilliams.
Imagine Hollywood decided to remake The Talented Mr. Ripley and gear it more towards a younger audience-base. Now, imagine that they found a ‘talented’ writer/director to put her own original twist on the subject matter. Then you get something like The Silent Thief. But, keep in mind – this film is no remake; it’s a wholly original take on familiar themes of family and belonging. Toby Hemingway, in a powerful performance, stars as Brennan, an unusual young photographer who ends up renting a room from a normal suburban family, the Hendersons (Frances Fisher & Kurt Fuller play the parents; Scout-Taylor Compton & Cody Longo the kids). Brennan is quiet, keeps to himself as much as possible and, somehow, manages to rub the Hendersons eldest son, Mike, the wrong way. But Mike is hiding a secret just like Brennan. Slowly, the Hendersons start to realize that the tenant in their home might be more than they ever bargained for. Filled with stellar performances and crisp, clear writing from co-writer/director Jennifer Clary, The Silent Thief is an intense psychological thriller that takes a number of unexpected twists and turns.
Watch the trailer here: http://vimeo.com/37077130
Screening with the short film "Troy: Naked Boys Behind Bars, Sing!"
Based on the popular, long-running, gay comic strip, “Troy”, this is a silly, sweet, slightly sarcastic, animated satire of cheesy, gaysploitation entertainment.
Ever wanted your life to be more like Strictly Ballroom? Welcome to the world of Anny Salerni, the charismatic owner of Melbourne’s only gay and lesbian ballroom dancing studio, and the driving force behind the art of same-sex ballroom dancing in Australia. Banned from the mainstream, Anny and her students have limited opportunity to compete, so they must look overseas to find bigger competitions in order to improve. With the world’s biggest same sex dance competition about to be held at the Gay Games in Cologne, Germany, Anny and her students make the decision to travel halfway around the world to take on the world’s best same sex dancers. Ballroom Rules is the story of their incredible journey as they prepare for the biggest moment in many of their lives. Through interviews with Anny, her students, overseas competitors, judges and representatives from the mainstream ballroom dancing world, Ballroom Rules provides a unique look at people who live proudly outside what society views as the “norm” and the universal passion that drives us all.
Catch the trailer here: http://vimeo.com/34496452
***
Screening with the short film "Johnny and Lyman."
Two men. 65-years together. What can they tell us about surmounting challenges, keeping a relationship alive and strong – and grace?
Who is more fit to raise a child: a convicted killer or a lesbian? According to one judge in Florida, the convicted killer. Unfit: Ward Vs. Ward follows the true story of Mary Ward, who lost custody of her eleven-year-old daughter because she was a lesbian. The judge decided that the father was a more fit parent even though he had served nine-years in prison for murdering his first wife, had no idea what grade his daughter was in or what school she attended, and had only spent four consecutive days with his daughter in the previous five-years. No one could have imagined the firestorm that would ensue and the tragic consequences the judge’s decision would have in the lives of everyone involved. In the tradition of ‘too incredible to believe’ documentaries like Dear Zachary comes one of the most infuriating real-life stories you’re likely to see anywhere.
Screening with the short film "Sepulte the Buried."
In an apartment on 12th Street, a chatty old woman sits in a cluttered room of sheet music that very few people remember. She tinkles occasionally at the piano as she speaks - any interview with the eccentric Mimi Stern-Wolfe is always punctuated by music. The Benson salons, as Mimi calls them, were a regular meeting of artists and composers in a downtown Manhattan loft owned by Eric Benson, her dear friend and musical collaborator. At this loft, writers and composers showcased new classical and populist musical works and an artistic community thrived. Amongst them were Chris DeBlasio, Robert Chesley and Kevin Oldham. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic swept through New York, and indeed the world in the early 1980s, each were infected and the majority of people who attended the soirees, including the composers themselves, were dead by the early 1990s. After these deaths, Mimi devoted much of her life to The Benson AIDS Series, an annual concert of works by composers who were lost to HIV/AIDS, which she performs on World AIDS Day. Directed by Rohan Spong, All the Way Through Evening follows Mimi as she prepares for one such concert. Her interviews recount the glory days at the Benson Salons, the initial awareness of HIV/AIDS and provide a character portrait of some of the original composers. The film also includes touching interviews with some of the surviving family members and musical collaborators of these men.
***
Screening with the short film "Shopping."
A poetic journey of two women in search of love in an ever changing world.
An offbeat family of New Yorkers must come to terms with their own misgivings about life, relationships and the sheer unpredictability of love itself. Petunia weaves together the lives of brothers Charlie, Adrian, and Michael as they unlearn everything their psychoanalyst parents have taught them. While Michael's cynical wife Vivian discovers she is pregnant, the family is also changing. Charlie's would-be boyfriend George is in a polyandrous relationship with fitness fanatic Robin and Adrian has developed an unrelenting sex addiction. Meddling parents Felicia and Percy must decide whether to reignite the spark in their relationship or decide to start all over again. Petunia is a film about a dysfunctional family unit on the verge of a nervous breakdown and how they start to pick up the pieces. Join Sidewalk Alum director, Ash Christian, and star Thora Birch for the screening.
Nate is an aspiring film student on a journey of self-discovery. Margaret is kind of going through the same thing except she’s in her fifties and wants to be a stand-up comic. They are best friends and support each other through thick and thin. When Nate meets James and falls in love for the first time, their friendship is put to the test as Margaret struggles to deal with the idea that her best friend has found someone new in his life. Nate and Margaret is a sweet and fragile film about friendship, love and the idea that you’re never too young or too old to find out who you really are. Co-writtern and directed by Nathan Adloff, Nate & Margaret might be familiar to lucky SHOUT audiences who saw it as the 2011 “Super Secret Screening” at the festival; since, it has gone on to great acclaim, including a theatrical run in New York City. Roger Ebert called it, “a sweet, delicate story about friendship” and gave it a positive recommendation. The film stars Natalie West (“Roseanne”), Tyler Ross (The Wise Kids), Conor McCahill and Gaby Hoffman (Now and Then). On a personal note, I especially appreciate the way the film treats the gay characters and doesn’t turn their homosexuality into any kind of issue or event – it’s just something that they are. Trust us on this one: if you like movies, you’re going to love Nate and Margaret.
From writer/director Del Shores (Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will, Sordid Lives), Blues for Willadean is the screen adaptation of his popular play, Trials and Tribulations of A Trailer Trash Housewife about Willadean (Beth Grant), a woman trying to find her place in life. Her husband (David Steen) is physically and mentally abusive and has banned Willadean from having contact with their homosexual son, which eventually leads Willadean down her path of discovery. Supporting her along the way is her best friend, Lasagna (Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer), her sole confidant and someone who has seen her fair share of the world and knows exactly what Willadean is going through. Blues for Willadean is darkly comic and entertaining drama about a woman’s journey into her own self-discovery, brought to you by the master of Southern culture, Del Shores. Birmingham SHOUT is proud and honored to host the World Premiere of this thought-provoking motion picture.
