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Margaret Cho’s ‘Cho Dependent’ to debut at Out on Film

The Georgia Voice Editors
Culture
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Part-time Atlanta resident and full-time funny woman Margaret Cho will debut her concert film “Cho Dependent” at Atlanta's Out on Film Festival. The film features footage taken from Cho's last tour and was filmed at Atlanta's Tabernacle in December 2010.

During Cho's comedy routine, she discusses her stint on “Dancing with the Stars,” living in Atlanta while filming “Drop Dead Diva,” her support for LGBT equality and more.

“Having ‘Cho Dependent” as part of our schedule is extremely exciting, to say the least,” says Jim Farmer, festival director of Out On Film, in a media release issued today. “Margaret Cho is a long-time icon in the LGBT community, someone who has always stood by us and supported us. She’s also one of the funniest people on the planet. Margaret spends a lot of her time in Atlanta these days and the concert was filmed here, so there is a wonderful symmetry about being able to debut it.”

‘Beginners’ is moving film about older gay father, son

The Georgia Voice Editors
Culture
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Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in

Writer/director Mike Mills’ father did something bold at the age of 75: After his wife of 45 years passed away, he came out of the closet as gay. That autobiographical story is the basis of the new film “Beginners,” opening next week in Atlanta.

In the film, the bombshell revelation comes from the mouth of Hal (Christopher Plummer) to his surprised son Oliver (Ewan McGregor).  Hal isn’t interested in being quietly gay either: He wants to go out and find a new partner, even as he battles illness.  How he goes about leading his life eventually parallels the relationship of Oliver, who has romantic issues of his own, has with an actress (Melanie Laurent) with her own baggage.

Although Mills based the film on his own family circumstances, it isn’t a mirror image.

Atlantic Station offers up outdoor movies after Piedmont Park cancels ‘Screen on the Green’

The Georgia Voice Editors
Atlanta
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Movie-goers at Atlantic Station's outdoor movie event

Atlanta's Piedmont Park will not hold the annual “Screen on the Green” series at the park in 2011, according to the Piedmont Park Conservancy. Organizers of the summer-time outdoor movie nights have been held continuously since 2000, but suffered a tarnished image last year when a melee broke out during a showing of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Organizers say the series' main sponsor, Peachtree TV, pulled out of their sponsorship agreement after a management shuffle in January and they have failed to find a replacement.

“It is our desire to continue the tradition of kicking off every summer with great movies in this great park,” said Yvette Bowen, President of the Piedmont Park Conservancy. “As one of our many free community-building initiatives, we have treasured our first ten years of movies on Piedmont Park’s Meadow. This year’s event, however, the timing of Turner’s announcement left us with too little time to secure sufficient sponsors to support it and, as such, must be cancelled,” she added.

Atlanta Film Fest features LGBT flicks

The Georgia Voice Editors
Culture
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There’s a lot of masturbation, literal and figurative, going on in the LGBT entries in the 2011 Atlanta Film Festival, whether they’re included in the gay “Pink Peach” section or in general narrative categories.

It’s common in festivals to find the results of filmmakers’ onanism splayed across the screen, but this year actors are doing the deed as well. Look for werewolf movies next year to explain all the hairy palms.

Joslyn Jensen in “Without” and Mark Cirillo in “The Seminarian” are each given more close-up face time than Meryl Streep has had in her whole career, so it’s not surprising that the camera doesn’t venture below the waist when they pleasure themselves. The prize for the most masturbation goes to Lydia Hyslop, who can’t keep her hand off herself in “Vacation!” except when she’s substituting household appliances, especially a blender.

King & Spalding controversy shows danger of basing our movement on marketing

The Georgia Voice Editors
Outspoken
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Once upon a time, it was hard to get companies to support LGBT organizations. They worried they would lose their non-gay customers if they were open about wanting gay ones.

So we got smart: We showed how much discretionary income same-gender couples without kids had. Never mind that it was less than opposite-gender couple without kids, it was still a good argument.

Not only did it give the marketing teams cover, it had the added benefit of being true: We were a valuable target market. “The color of diversity,” we would say, “is green.”

As some of the big companies came out as supporters, their employees came out as LGBT. Then their friends and family members started coming out as LGBT-supportive. Visibility was shifting every landscape. Next thing you know, 20 years later, we not only have friends in high places, we have our own people there —running companies, winning election to Congress and hosting major TV news shows.

Spring Film: Outside of festival, season offers little new for us at the movies

The Georgia Voice Editors
Culture
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Spring films

While we may be infected with spring fever in our private lives, it’s not the best season to expect to see our LGBT passions reflected on movie screens.

At one end of the scale, if 2011 holds any blockbuster gay films — think along the lines of “Milk,” “Brokeback Mountain” and “The Kids Are All Right” — they are waiting to be released during award season at the end of the year.

At the other end, the distributors of smaller-budget movies try to maximize their potential by building word of mouth at the big three queer summer festivals: Outfest in Los Angeles, Newfest in New York and Frameline in San Francisco. Others will hit the fall festival circuit in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and other cities.

The Atlanta Film Festival (April 28-May 7) will premiere four LGBT features and two programs of shorts in its Pink Peach section, plus a few others that sound gay-ish.

Local filmmaker spotlights gay politicians ‘Breaking Through’

The Georgia Voice Editors
Culture
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Filmmaker Cindy Abel examines out politicians in new film

Cindy Abel loves politics and politicians.

“I am cheese ball enough to believe in the promise of America. That sounds very naïve but I’m in love with the promise of America,” she says.

But it wasn’t always that way. She cast her first presidential ballot for Bill Clinton in 1992 when she was 31, at a time when she was coming to grips with her own sexual orientation as bisexual.

“I had never voted until 1992 when I was 31. I didn’t feel we, regular people, had any impact, any voice, any say in the process. But as I sat watching the inauguration I cried — tears streaming down my face in my room in Orlando, Fla. I was recently out. I had reached a point a few weeks earlier that I was not going to lie about who I am,” she says. “I had decided I would rather pump gas for a living than live in the closet.”

‘Heartbeats’ is latest from young gay director

The Georgia Voice Editors
Culture
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Xavier Dolan releases new film 'Heartbeats'

Xavier Dolan was only 19 when he made his first film, the startlingly original, semi-autobiographical “I Killed My Mother,” about a gay teen’s love-hate relationship with his mom during his coming-out process. It’s had countless showings in festivals (including last year’s Out on Film) and museums (Atlanta’s High Museum of Art for one) but has yet to have a proper American theatrical release.

Dolan turned 22 on March 20 as his second film, “Heartbeats” started playing around the country. Cinephiles can make a drinking game of spotting Dolan’s influences in “Heartbeats,” but don’t expect a film on the level of “I Killed My Mother.”

The bones of the plot have potential. Francis (Dolan) and his best friend Marie (Monia Chokri) meet “blond Adonis” Nicolas (Niels Schneider), who has just moved to Montreal.