Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Reeling LGBTQ+ film fest offers movies showcasing queer diversity
From a press release
2015-09-01

This article shared 8656 times since Tue Sep 1, 2015
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


( Chicago, IL ) Reeling, the second-oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world and a beloved Chicago cultural institution for more than 30 years, is back with an exciting slate of movies that showcases the diversity of the queer experience. From the hilarious gay dude comedy FOURTH MAN OUT on Opening Night, the hotly anticipated Julianne Moore-Ellen Page real-life drama FREEHELD and director Roland Emmerich's chronicle of the burgeoning gay rights movement in STONEWALL, to the entertaining and empowering trans documentary TCHINDAS, the sexually adventurous BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING and THE SUMMER OF SANGAILE, the 33rd edition of Reeling has something to satisfy every cinephile. This year's fest will entertain, inspire, amuse, arouse and break a few hearts along the way. A bevy of special guests and events is also part of the schedule. Reeling 2015: The 33rd Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival takes place September 17-24, 2015.

Reeling will present nearly 40 features and more than 60 short films from around the world, the majority of them Chicago premieres. The festival's opening night presentation returns to the Music Box Theatre ( 3733 N. Southport Ave. ) and to the Landmark Century Centre Cinema ( 2828 N. Clark St. ) for the bulk of the festival. The fest's home base, Chicago Filmmakers ( 5243 N. Clark St. ), will also host screenings. Additional satellite screenings and venues TBA.

Reeling launches its eight-day festival with the Opening Night Gala presentation of FOURTH MAN OUT, director Andrew Nackman's uproarious debut feature, a bro comedy with a lot of heart. When Adam ( Evan Todd ), a sweet-spirited car mechanic in a small, working class town, comes out of the closet to his unsuspecting, blue-collar best friends who are straight, his bros are baffled but supportive. All seems copacetic until one night mixed signals between Adam and one of his buds threaten to change things for good. The Second City alum and Annoyance Theater co-founder Kate Flannery ( Meredith on The Office ) co-stars as Adam's overbearing but well-intentioned mother. The bright, energetic cast — which also includes Glee's Chord Overstreet and Enlisted's Parker Young — shines in Nackman's endearingly funny elevation of the typical bromance comedy which Variety has hailed as, "A sleeper delight…a thoroughly ingratiating, touchingly heartfelt comedy." Flannery, Todd and Nackman are expected to attend the 6:00 pm Music Box Theatre red carpet event and pre-screening reception before the film starts at 7:30 pm.

Reeling is also honored to present FREEHELD, director Peter Sollett's ( Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist ) eagerly anticipated real-life drama about a lesbian police officer ( Julianne Moore ) fighting to leave her pension to her life partner ( Ellen Page ) when she is stricken with terminal cancer. Based on Cynthia Wade's 2005 Oscar-winning short film of the same name, Freeheld also stars Academy Award nominees Michael Shannon and Steve Carell, plus Luke Grimes ( 50 Shades of Gray ) and Josh Charles ( The Good Wife ). The film is Julianne Moore's follow-up to last year's Oscar-winning performance in Still Alice and was scripted by Oscar nominee ( for Philadelphia ) Ron Nyswaner.

Director Roland Emmerich, renowned for action blockbusters like 2012, Independence Day and White House Down, is represented in the Reeling festival with his most personal film: STONEWALL. Jeremy Irvine ( War Horse, The Railway Man ) stars as a confused young man, kicked out of his home for being gay, who heads to New York's Greenwich Village in the summer of 1969. Here, he is befriended by a group of queer outsiders and is eventually caught up in the swirl of events leading up to the Stonewall riots, the historic series of events cited as having kickstarted the gay rights movement in America. Jonathan Rhys Meyers ( The Tudors ), Joey King ( White House Down ), Caleb Landry Jones ( X-Men: First Class ) and Ron Perlman ( Sons of Anarchy ) co-star.

Other highlights of the festival include: GUIDANCE, Canadian writer-director Pat Mills' boisterous black comedy in which he also stars; Natalia Meta's erotic, queer-tinged crime thriller from Argentina DEATH IN BUENOS AIRES starring Academy Award nominee Demian Bichir ( A Better Life ); Alanté KavaÃŻté's sensual Lithuanian lesbian love story THE SUMMER OF SANGAILE; Marco Kreuzpaintner's outrageous German comedy COMING IN; Fina Torres' passionate and surprisingly moving Chilean lesbian drama LIZ IN SEPTEMBER; François Ozon's latest French cream puff, the trans dramedy THE NEW GIRLFRIEND; Joey Kuhn's spot-on portrait of Upper East Side privileged young gay men in the romantic drama THOSE PEOPLE; Josh Kim's contemplative Thai drama of brotherly love, HOW TO WIN AT CHECKERS ( EVERY TIME ); Catherine Stewart's rich character study of a South African black lesbian couple's faltering relationship in WHILE YOU WEREN'T LOOKING; Louise Wadley's exciting genre smasher ALL ABOUT E, an Australian road movie/thriller/romance all in one; and William Clift's latest drag queen parody HUSH UP SWEET CHARLOTTE, an homage to the Bette Davis-Olivia de Havilland Grand Guignol Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte featuring Mink Stole, Varla Jean Merman and Heklina in its ribald cast; and, the world premiere of KISS ME, KILL ME, the latest from gay film fave Casper Andreas ( Going Down in La-La Land, Violet Tendencies, The Big Gay Musical ). A gay twist on the classic L.A. film noir thriller, this over-the-top and very sexy murder mystery features Queer As Folk's Gale Harold and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Jai Rodriguez in its cast.

Documentaries, as always, are part of the exciting Reeling lineup. This year's Documentary Centerpiece is TCHINDAS, a glittery, oh-so-fabulous examination of a little-seen culture reminiscent of Paris Is Burning. Director Marc Serena and Pablo Garcia Perez de Lara's cinema vérité approach looks at the close-knit world of a renowned transgender woman and her colorful cohorts on the tiny island of Cape Verde, Africa as they and their neighbors, prepare for their annual Carnival festivities. Other documentary highlights include: director Malcolm Ingram's ( Small Town Gay Bar ) OUT TO WIN, which focuses on the unique challenges faced by professional gay and lesbian athletes; A SINNER IN MECCA, Parvez Sharma's controversial, eye-opening follow-up to A Jihad for Love; Kirill Sakharnov's up-to-the-minute, inside look at the battle for LGBTQ+ rights in Russia in OLYA'S LOVE; IN THE TURN, Boston filmmaker Erica Tremblay's affectionate, bracing portrait of a 10-year-old Canadian trans girl whose life is turned around by a US-based queer roller derby collective; and SHE'S THE BEST THING IN IT, the charming biography of Tony Award-winning actress Mary Louise Wilson ( Grey Gardens ) from Freeheld screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, making his directorial debut.

Special retrospective screenings are also a part of the Reeling lineup. What better way to celebrate queer cinema than with a 10th anniversary screening of Ang Lee's multiple Oscar winning BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, the instant classic of the hidden love story of two cowboys in Wyoming in 1963, and with a 5th anniversary screening of Luca Guadagnino's lavish I AM LOVE, starring gay film audience favorite Tilda Swinton as an Italian matriarch who finds inspiration in her daughter's lesbian love story to find her own happiness? These two celebratory films with their sensational acting work are matched by the more recent SAND DOLLARS, a lesbian themed romantic drama with a tour-de-force performance by Geraldine Chaplin, winner of the Best Actress award at the 2014 Chicago International Film Festival.

Ticket Information

Tickets and passes may be purchased online ( www.reelingfilmfestival.org ) or in person at Chicago Filmmakers ( 5243 N. Clark St. ) beginning August 27.

Sponsors confirmed at this time include:

Presenting Sponsors: Showtime, XFINITY

Official Airline: Southwest Airlines

Premier Media Sponsor: ChicagoPride.com

Grand Media Sponsor: Nexus Radio

Major Hotel Sponsor: Days Inn Chicago

Contributing Media Sponsors: Chicago's Progressive Talk Radio ( WCPT ), GC Magazine, GRAB Magazine, Windy City Media Group

Event Sponsor: Dark Horse Wine


This article shared 8656 times since Tue Sep 1, 2015
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Sundance items, Green Day, 'Wednesday,' Queerties, 'The Wiz' 2024-01-26
- At the Sundance Film Festival, Jodie Foster told Variety that the $1.4-billion success of Barbie helps confirm that Hollywood no longer views women directors as too much of a risk. She said, "With a big success ...


Gay News

WORLD Arrest in Brazil, athlete dies, Ghana attack, World Economic Forum 2024-01-26
- A 30-year-old man was arrested in Brazil on Jan. 18 for his alleged role in the stabbing murder of prominent NYC art dealer Brent Sikkema, Gay City News reported. Authorities took Cuban resident Alejandro Triana Trevez ...


Gay News

OSCARS Gladstone, Domingo receive nominations 2024-01-23
- LGBTQ+ actors Lily Gladstone and Colman Domingo were among those receiving Oscar nominations when they were announced Jan. 23. Gladstone received a Best Actress nod for her role in the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.