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Only Murders in the Building season 5 made its premiere on Sept. 9 with three all-new episodes that set the stage for another mysterious season full of twists and turns. This season, our favorite trio are investigating the death of their beloved doorman Lester and its possible connections to the disappearance of a prominent New York City mobster. We're already captivated by this mystery.

However, the conclusion of the Only Murders in the Building season 5 premiere episode ended on a somber note. The first episode featured a dedication in its end card that read, "Dedicated to the memory of Jim Edmiston and Collin Smith." After seeing the dedication, viewers might be curious...

Cintima — the SAG-AFTRA-accredited intimacy coordinator training organization — is mounting an inaugural short film festival featuring works that explore “the complexity and artistry surrounding intimacy on film” in three minutes or less.

The one-night event, dubbed Flicker Festival, will unspool inside Culver City’s Culver Theater on Oct. 16. Submissions are now open for the projects, which can take any form from narrative and nonfiction to animation. Per the organization, the time constraints of finished works under three minutes are in place to “showcase that even the smallest ‘flicker’ of time can uncover depths of emotion and depictions of intimacy.” Deadline for submissions is Sept. 15, and works will be selected by Sept. 22.

Cintima has corralled a group of creatives to serve on Flicker Festival’s first annual jury, including BAFTA nominated star Danielle Deadwyler, producer and director Miranda Bailey, filmmaker Amanda Kramer, producer Seth Caplan, actor Clark Moore, intimacy coordinator Alicia Rodis,...

For more than 70 years, the Cannes Film Festival has been synonymous with sex, and we can credit an 18-year-old Brigitte Bardot for bringing them together. Bizarrely, though, this had nothing to do with movies. Despite her global fame as a sex symbol, the actress, now 90, has only ever had one contemporary film accepted by the festival. Even then, it was as part of an ensemble, in a section of a three-part 1968 portmanteau called Spirits of the Dead, directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini. All three stories were based on stories by Edgar Allen Poe, and Bardot appeared in Malle’s section, William Wilson, the macabre story of a man (Alain Delon) haunted, and taunted, by his double. It never screened, though. As part of a countrywide protest — ironically, brought to boiling point in Cannes by Malle himself — the whole event was canceled.

But, by then, Bardot had...

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to “Vulcanizadora,” a dark comedy from Joel Potrykus, the indie director behind “Ape” and “Buzzard.” The movie stars Potrykus along with the guerrilla filmmaker’s longtime collaborator Joshua Burge. Financial terms of the sale were not immediately available.

According to the official description: “The film follows two friends as they trudge through a Michigan forest with the intention of following through on a disturbing pact. Once their plan goes shockingly awry, the haunting consequences of their failure can’t stay hidden for long.”

“Vulcanizadora” premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, scoring strong reviews with Variety praising the film as “surprisingly moving in its depiction of mid-life crisis.” Oscilloscope first collaborated with Potrykus on the breakout cult favorite, “Buzzard.” “Vulcanizadora” marks the fourth collaboration for Potrykus and Oscilloscope Laboratories.

“Vulcanizadora” was shot in 16mm and written and edited by Potrykus. The movie was produced by Ashley Potrykus,...

Indie distributor Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to “Paying for It,” an indie comedy about an introverted cartoonist who starts sleeping with sex workers that premiered positively in Toronto.

Set in the late ’90s, “Paying for It” is a live-action adaptation of Canadian alternative-cartoonist Chester Brown’s bestselling graphic novel. In the partly autobiographical film, when Chester’s girlfriend announces she wants to explore other romantic options, Brown opts to sleep with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy.

“Paying for It” is directed by multidisciplinary artist Sook-Yin Lee, who was Chester Brown’s real romantic partner when the real-life story took place.

The film – which is executive produced by John Cameron Mitchell and Dan Beirne – stars Beirne, emerging actor Emily Lê (“Riceboy Sleeps”) and acclaimed activist, author and performer Andrea Werhun.

“Paying for It” launched from Toronto’s Platform section in 2024 and was named by...

Nicole Kidman Rabbit Hole Role (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Nicole Kidman didn’t just play Becca in Rabbit Hole—she practically became her. And not in some “method actor” way. No, Kidman plunged so deep into the grief of losing a child that she ended up producing the damn movie too. Why? Because she had something to prove. To herself, Hollywood, and anyone who thought a film about loss could be too dark to sell.

Rabbit Hole isn’t your average tearjerker. It’s raw and brutally honest. Kidman’s character, Becca, a grieving mother, wrestles with rage, grief, and hopelessness after losing her son. Her emotions hit hard—neck muscles bulging, hands twisting. Kidman made it real, not holding back an ounce of the pain. “It was really raw, and I felt it was genuine and delicate,” Kidman alluded. Yeah, there’s no sugar-coating here.

But hold up—this film...

“Is the sperm still in there?” That’s a question for the ages, but in the case of Luca Guadagnino’s new film, “Queer,” it’s apt in more ways than one. This particular query came (stop it) during a recent interview with Variety where Daniel Craig asked if a shot of sheets stained with semen was kept in the final cut’s establishing scene. In this opening tableaux, Guadagnino’s camera holds on a series of items that evoke the story about to unfold between Craig’s protagonist and the object of his desire, Drew Starkey’s Eugene Allerton. According to Guadagnino, that particular shot Craig’s referring to has since been removed after the actors watched a very early cut, but have no fear, Guadagnino reassures us, because, “Of course, there’s a lot of semen in the movie.”

Early on, Craig’s William Lee takes an unnamed...

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in February 2022 and has been updated multiple times since.]

Sex on film is nothing new, and yet unsimulated intercourse in non-pornographic movies has raised eyebrows and drawn eyeballs for decades. From Vincent Gallo’s controversial directing for “The Brown Bunny” to Robert Pattinson’s masturbatory method acting in “Little Ashes,” genuine intimate encounters captured on film — however staged they may be — can pull audiences into the bigger stories their writers and directors are trying to tell.

Catherine Breillat’s first film in 1976, “A Real Young Girl,” adapts her own controversial novel about a 14-year-old exploring her newfound sexuality. Breillat’s later work, 1999’s “Romance,” tells the story of a woman desperately seeking human connection and featured similar scenes, including sadomasochistic sex play.

“Actors are prostitutes because they’re asked to play other feelings,” Breillat told IndieWire. “This prostitution is not profane; it’s a sacred act that we give them.”

John Cameron Mitchell set out to “honor” sex as a pastime for real people,...

Paris-based Loco Films has boarded “Paying For It,” Canadian helmer Sook-Yin Lee (“Octavio is Dead!”)’s adaptation of Chester Brown’s best-selling graphic novel. The movie is world premiering at Toronto Film Festival in the competitive Platform section.

Co-written by Lee and Joanne Sarazen, the live action movie stars Dan Beirne, emerging actor Emily Lê (“Riceboy Sleeps”), and acclaimed activist, author and performer Andrea Werhun.

The film explores the themes of love, sex and non-monogamy for adults. It’s set in the late 90s and revolves around Chester, an introverted cartoonist who starts sleeping with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy after his girlfriend, Sonny, decides to redefine their committed relationship.

“Paying For It” is produced by Matt Code of Wildling Pictures, whose credits include “See for Me,” “Mary Goes Round” and the upcoming “Young Werther;” as well as Sonya Di Rienzo and Aeschylus Poulos of Hawkeye Pictures...

The last few years have not only brought LGBTQ films and stories further into the mainstream, but queer movies have dominated awards seasons and found commercial success in unlikely places.

Lydia Tár — played by “Carol” star and esteemed lesbian (adjacent?) icon Cate Blanchett — dominated the 2022 Oscars race and became a well-worn touchstone in the year’s critical film and cancel culture conversations. The summer before that, Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller made history with Universal Pictures’ “Bros,” among the first ever gay rom-coms funded by a major studio: an important victory — even if that film did go, uh, soft at the box office.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg on another banner year for queer film: at least one win in a hard-fought cultural movement, seemingly poised to face new challenges in the not-so-distant future.

New Queer Cinema was a major influence on the indie film boom of the ’90s,...

These days, queer movies come in all shapes and styles, from handsomely mounted biopics (“Milk”) to kid-friendly rom-coms. That’s a good thing; you want queer art to enjoy variety and novelty, and appeal to all audiences in the LGBTQ community. But sometimes, you want something very specific from a queer film; you want it to be sexy as hell.

When queer movies started bubbling into the mainstream in the early ’90s via movies like “Philadelphia,” they tended to be slightly sanitized, lacking much in the way of physical depictions of intimacy. That’s changed as the years have gone on. Thanks to films like “Brokeback Mountain,” there’s now a ton of modern examples of queer films that aren’t shy about their leads getting it on. But there’s a longer history of sexy queer cinema that goes back well before the ’90s, even if many of those...

Zackary Drucker will direct the upcoming biopic about Andy Warhol superstar Candy Darling starring Hari Nef. John Cameron Mitchell also joins the untitled film about the transgender icon as executive producer.

It was previously announced that Nef (“Barbie”) will star in the movie.

The film traces Darling’s childhood in Long Island through her years alongside underground icons Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis in Warhol’s Factory scene, and her influence on musicians including Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith. She was immortalized in popular songs including Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and The Velvet Underground’s “Candy Says.”

Darling also starred in Warhol’s cult film “Women In Revolt” before she died of leukemia in 1974 at age 29.

“I’ve dedicated my life and career to amplifying the history of trans and queer icons, and their impact in shaping art and culture for everyone,” Drucker said in a statement.

Noted Hollywood publicist Mickey Cottrell passed away on January 1, 2024, at the age of 79. He was known throughout the 1990s for his advocacy of independent film, his knowledge of queer history, and his wild blowout parties. He promoted films like Jonatha Couette's "Tarnation," Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire," and Philip Noyce's "Dead Calm," as well as "Weekend," "Querelle," and "Earth Girls Are Easy." 

Cottrell was so well-liked in the industry, and such an outsize character, that he would occasionally appear in films. In fact, he has several dozen acting credits to his name, many of them in indie queer films. He played a corpse in John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus," a barfly in "The Fluffer," and a mincing French aristocrat in league with demons in "Hellraiser: Bloodline." He was also the one who got to say "Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!" in Tim Burton's "Ed Wood." His first acting...

Mickey Cottrell, the beloved indie film publicist and producer who long championed independent cinema dating back to the early days of Sundance, has died at 79. He passed away Monday, January 1, 2024 at Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif. The news was confirmed by his sister, Suzy Cottrell-Smith, who shared on Facebook, “My adorable, fun, critical, foodie, particular, brilliant, loving brother passed on to the next life early on New Year’s Day. He was smiling when he died. Mickey Cottrell will be missed by many.”

Many of Cottrell’s friends and colleagues shared memories of the veteran PR whiz — who also had many credits as an actor — on Facebook. Cottrell suffered a stroke in 2016, with friends and loved ones raising more than $57,000 to help with medical bills on GoFundMe. He relocated back to Los Angeles in 2019 after recovering from the stroke with his sister in Arkansas.

Cottrell was never afraid to pick up the phone,...

Mickey Cottrell, the PR executive who specialized in the indie film business and worked both as an actor and a producer, died on New Year’s Day at the Motion Picture & Television Fund in Woodland Hills. He was 79.

His death was confirmed by his sister, Suzie Cottrell-Smith, who told Deadline he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Cottrell experienced a stroke in 2016 and had gone to live with his sister in Arkansas before returning to Los Angeles in 2019.

Cottrell was born September 4, 1944, in Springfield, Il, and spent part of his childhood in Monroe, LA. At age 8, he moved with his family to Little Rock, Ar, where he grew up. He attended the University of Arkansas and spent more than 30 years in the film and PR industries, co-owning multiple firms including most recently Inclusive PR, repping pics including Bill Cunningham: New York, Stones in Exile, Ballets Russes, Down to the Bone,...

Mickey Cottrell, a veteran publicist for independent films known as a champion of filmmakers and actors, died Monday at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, his sister Suzy Cottrell confirmed. He was 79.

Cottrell had returned to Los Angeles in 2019 after living with his sister in Arkansas while he recovered from a stroke he suffered in 2016.

His sister remembered him on Facebook, writing, “My adorable, fun, critical, foodie, particular, brilliant, loving brother passed on to the next life early on New Year’s Day. He was smiling when he died. Mickey Cottrell will be missed by many.”

A fixture at film festivals, he was remembered by friends on Facebook as a generous and sassy raconteur, a devoted mentor, the “life of the party” who threw star-studded Sundance parties in the 1990s and an expert on gay Hollywood history.

Cottrell also acted in numerous small roles over the years, including turns...

October is the time for horror, which makes it a great time for independent movies.

As long as independent movies have existed, horror movies have provided a huge bulk of the films made by artists outside the studio system. It’s one of the cheapest and easiest genres to make, with some of the best potential to make a profit, and has unsurprisingly thrived in the independent film market. Many of the most important and acclaimed American horror movies were independent productions. “Night of the Living Dead” practically created the zombie film, while the original slasher “Halloween” was a tiny budget indie made for just $300,000. Sure, there are plenty of quality horror films made by studios, but nothing beats the grit and pure terror that great indie horror films can provide.

For the latest in our monthly column of streaming independent film recommendations, we took a look at the plethora...

Exclusive: xXPonyBoyDerekXx, described as “a boundary-breaking digital play fusing theater, film, and mixed digital media into an epic multi-week online event,” will play out across the internet on X (formerly Twitter) and OnlyFans starting today, executive producer John Cameron Mitchell announced.

The project, from Mitchell and producer Arterial Projects, is written by playwright Gage Tarlton and co-directed by Tarlton and Carlos Cardona, and follows the character of an 18-year-old OnlyFans creator in real-time as he navigates “a fraught path of autonomy, capitalism, sexuality, and survival amid the demands of physical commodification in a virtual world.”

The story, utilizing a hybrid approach to drama, will be told entirely through OnlyFans and X posts, with producers describing the story as “an incendiary coming-of-age story detailing how the internet distorts reality and leaves a mark on the young and on-line body.”

Viewers will need to subscribe at OnlyFans.com/xXPonyBoyDerekXx. The xXPonyBoyDerekXx videos are all pre-recorded.

A remake of the classic horror film Spider Baby has wrapped filming. Earlier this year, we reported that the remake was in the works with Dustin Ferguson serving as director. Now, Ferguson has confirmed, via Horror Geek Life, that shooting has been finished on the project. Also revealed is the cast of the new film, which includes Ron Chaney — the grandson of Lon Chaney Jr., one of the stars of the original Spider Baby. Beverly Washburn, who appeared in the original movie, is also in the remake.

Along with Ron Chaney and Beverly Washburn, the remake stars Brinke Stevens, Robert Mukes, Peter Stickles, Traci Burr, Jennifer Moriarty, and Vida Ghaffari.

“We’ve reached an exhilarating milestone with the completion of the Spider Baby remake, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have worked with an extraordinary ensemble of genre stars such as Robert Mukes, Beverly Washburn, Brinke Stevens, and Ron Chaney,...

How did John Cameron Mitchell become the head of this year’s Queer Palm award jury in Cannes? “Sexual favors,” he quips.

While the director of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” (which played out of competition at Cannes) is joking, sexuality is at the heart of one of the world’s most prestigious LGBTQ+ film awards. And with more anti-queer legislation being enacted around the world than at any time in recent memory, the attention it brings to films that humanize this scapegoated population is arguably more important than ever.

“The Queer Palm, the festival and any awards help to dignify work, so that it often can be distributed and sometimes celebrated in its own queer-phobic country,” says Mitchell, who helped start a queer dance night at the American Pavilion in 2004 and DJs when he’s in town. “[The trans-themed] ‘Joyland’ was banned in...

Exclusive: Julie Baldassi of Younger Daughter Films and Brian Robertson of Low End announce Britt Lower (Severance), Tom Mercier (We Are Who We Are), Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience) and Sook-Yin Lee (Shortbus) will star in the drama/thriller/romance The Incident Report.

The film is executive-produced by Academy Award-winning Charlie Kaufman, and written/directed by Naomi Jaye’s (The Pin). Principal photography runs from August 2-29, 2022, in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario.

Librarian Miriam Gordon (Lower) lives in a fog of grief while working amidst marginalized members of the public who populate her downtown public branch. When a burgeoning love-affair with Janko, a younger foreign cab driver (Mercier) coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters addressed to her, Miriam’s sheltered existence is cracked open.

The Incident Report is Jaye’s sophomore adaptation of the novel written by Martha Baillie. It is...

John Cameron Mitchell has given us so much: the glam rock musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," the real sex dramedy "Shortbus," and most recently, his portrayal of Hal, a scene-stealing supporting character in Netflix's long-awaited adaptation of "The Sandman." Hal owns the house Rose Walker (Kyo Ra) moves into in the series, but he's also her friend and mentor, helping her find her brother Jed and performing in dreams as a drag star alter ego.

Mitchell has been a fan of Neil Gaiman's work for years, and even adapted one of his short stories, "How To Talk To Girls At Parties," in 2018....

The post One Sandman Star Wants to Tackle Another Iconic Vertigo Comic appeared first on /Film.

If you’re lucky enough to live in a fairly progressive or even populous place, it can feel like everyone and everything is queer. LGBTQ identities are everywhere: From The New York Times writing about they/them pronouns to the year’s second highest-grossing movie including an (albeit chaste) same-sex kiss. For the average queer person just trying to live their life, the focus of the mainstream microscope can be exhausting. For queer filmmakers, or filmmakers who happen to fall somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, it can be a double-edged sword.

John Waters, for example, bristles at being called an “openly gay director.” In sharing this fact with Luca Guadagnino, whom he spoke to recently at the Provincetown Film Festival, the “Call Me by Your Name” filmmaker concurred. “I don’t believe in openly anything,” Guadagnino said.

There is no doubt that the man who introduced Divine to the world makes queer films,...

Filmmaker John McNaughton and actor Michael Rooker, the team who created the classic, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, will reteam, after thirty years, on a new film titled Road Rage, the first in a vigilante film series. Tim Perell will produce through his banner, Process Media.

In 1986, McNaughton co-wrote and directed the award winning and critically acclaimed film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Called “truly disturbing” by John Waters, the groundbreaking film was a huge crossover hit with genre fans as well as the art house crowd. The film won best picture awards at both the Sitges and Brussels International Film Festivals and was nominated along with McNaughton and Rooker individually for 6 Independent Spirit Awards in 1991. Time Magazine and Roger Ebert both named it one of the top ten films of the year.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer also marked the feature film debut for award-winning actor Michael Rooker,...

Exclusive: Michael Rooker is reteaming with his Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer director John McNaughton for the first time in nearly four decades on a new film titled Road Rage, which is intended to be the first in a series.

The film in the vein of Dexter and the great avenger films of the ’70s will center on a serial killer who only kills those who deserve to die—presenting a modern hero who is a bad guy gone good, protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. Tim Perell will produce the vigilante thriller through his banner, Process Media. In addition to the film, Process Media will partner with the BAFTA-nominated entertainment studio iNK Stories, to develop a Road Rage video game—providing an interactive experience in which audiences can participate in the expanded story world.

“I’d wanted to work with Michael Rooker again since, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,...

UK LGBTQ+-focused distributor Peccadillo Pictures has claimed that Amazon Prime Video UK is refusing to make Canadian artist and filmmaker Bruce Labruce’s provocative dark comedy Saint-Narcisse available on its online store.

Company MD Tom Abell said its request to list the title on Amazon’s UK online offering had been turned down without explanation.

The comic, psycho-sexual thriller – which was the closing film of Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days) in 2020 – revolves around a narcissistic young man who discovers he has an identical twin. This unknown brother has been raised in captivity by a wicked priest. When destiny brings the pair together they embark on an incestuous web of revenge and redemption.

Abell said: “We are totally mystified as to why Amazon Prime Video is refusing to make the critically acclaimed Saint-Narcisse available to its customers, both here in the UK and internationally.”

“When their system...

Fans have been waiting a long while for “Shortbus” to become available on a streaming platform. Yet even 15 years after its initial release and a new 4K restoration, John Cameron Mitchell’s provocative, exuberantly sex-positive 2006 movie has been rejected five times by Amazon Prime Video when submitted by Oscilloscope Laboratories.

The official Prime Video reasoning is that the “captions are out of sync” for the feature, as well as it containing “offensive content.” The subtitle captions reportedly work on every other platform. The formal Prime Video publishing error response reads: “We aren’t making your title available on Prime Video as it violates our Content Policy Guidelines.”

However, there seems to be a double standard afoot for Amazon Prime Video subscribers.

“There’s no shortage of dicks readily available on Amazon, and apparently, there are plenty behind the scenes too,” “Shortbus” distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories president Dan Berger told IndieWire. “The...

Cinemas from Philly to New York State and Boston shuttered all or part of Sat., rattling but not routing the specialty box office. And a shout-out to theaters in NYC proper where all stayed open – sparse by day but picking up in the evening thanks to “younger people not afraid to trudge in the show,” said one distributor.

A separate weather pattern disrupted part of the Midwest. Storms “are the nature of the beast this time of year,” noted Variance Film president Dylan Marchetti, who reps Sideshow Janus/Films Drive My Car. Japan’s acclaimed Oscar entry shortlisted for best international feature reports an est. weekend gross of $103,488 on 114 screens (up by 18) for a PSA of $908 and a new cume of $807,010 in week 10. Marchetti said it’s the film’s best weekend to date despite the weather.

Special event flash first: Disney and IMAX said an exclusive one-day,...

Maybe Sony knew something when they delayed “Morbius” from its planned release this weekend. Omicron might not have been as harmful as it appeared when the studio delayed the film until April 1. But the winter blast that disrupted outdoor activity in the Northeast would have reduced its hopes for a strong opening.

In its absence (and without any other wide opening), the three day total will come to only $35 million. That makes it the weakest weekend since May 21-23 last year, just before “A Quiet Place II” opened and theaters started seeing steady improvement. This is how low a number this is – the last time the lowest gross of a year for a weekend was less than twice as much was in 2014.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony) scored its likely final #1 placement with an $11 million take, down 21 percent. Though a good hold, that put it at the lower end of...

by Nathaniel R

Dearest readers, January kills me. I feel overwhelmed for 31 days in a row from the moment I wake up to the moment I fitfully sleep and I never even get to have sex. There are always too many things: Oscar campaigns, best of lists, numerous deadlines, transcribing interviews, Sundance. Each year in January (why January?) there are also cool revivals and restorations that emerge at the same exact time everything else is happening (including the re-emergence of those "qualifying" Oscar releases). This is a long and navel-gazing way to say that one of the most singular movies of the the Aughts, John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus (2006), has been restored and is in theaters again right where it was born in New York City. Unfortunately we haven't made it to the theater yet.

I loved it so much in 2006. It meant a lot to me for numerous reasons back then,...

As a teenager encountering “Shortbus” for the first time, I felt a shimmering world of likeminded individuals suddenly open up in front of me. It was a bit like Dorothy entering Technicolor for the first time, only the Tin Man was a goth dominatrix and the Cowardly Lion was a pre-orgasmic sex therapist. Sure, movies had moved me before, but never in such a warm, communal way. Here was a group of artists, bohemians, and queer people who were funny, depressed, sexually liberated in some ways and stunted in others.

Like any queer, alternative, or outsider kid at the time, I knew and loved John Cameron Mitchell from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” but “Shortbus” felt like something completely different. His films are always hilarious, provocative, and deeply felt, but in “Shortbus” he weaves multiple compelling narratives (not an easy feat) into a gorgeous revery of a bohemian New York that was already slipping away.

For those of us around in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was a wild time for American cinema. You wouldn’t know it by looking at what’s screening at the multiplex today, but once upon a time sex actually existed at the movies. Practically every week there was a new erotic thriller like Unfaithful or an indie drama like Roger Dodger openly dealing with sex, laying it on the table and discussing it as if it were a natural thing to engage with and not run away from as cinema does today.

In fact, sex was so frequently present in the visuals and dialogue of films at the time, that occassionally there were even films that featured real sex. That’s right, unsimulated. Most films of this type were from outside of the United States, but sometimes you’d get some in the US, and we got...

The multi-hyphenate talks about the rerelease of his groundbreaking drama Shortbus and the changes in how we view sex in the past 15 years

It’s a little more than 15 years since John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus exploded – interpret that verb as lewdly as you like – into cinemas, and in a sense, it feels a whole lot longer. Which is not to say that Mitchell’s brazenly queer, joyously sex-positive comedy, about a female sex therapist pursuing the orgasm she’s never experienced at New York’s raunchiest underground club, is outdated. Rewatched today, as it enjoys a rerelease in US cinemas, it veritably hums with erotic vigour and philosophical playfulness, a presciently liberated film with its eye on the future of sexual connection, in all its poly, nonbinary possibilities.

It’s just that it’s hard to imagine film-making this proudly and playfully carnal coming out of the American indie...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHong Sang-soo's The Novelist's Film (2022)The competition slate has been announced for this year's Berlinale, featuring the latest by Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis, Rithy Panh, Phyllis Nagy, Ulrich Seidl, and more. Find the rest of the lineup here. In an interview with Variety, executive Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian discuss their plans for the festival to be an in-person event. Actor Michel Subor has died at the age of 86. Subor captivated audiences with his performances in films like Jean-Luc Godard's Le petit soldat (1960)—he also was the narrator for François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962)—and a number of films by Claire Denis, from Beau travail (1999) and L'intrus (2004) to White Material (2009) and Bastards (2013). We recommend reading Yasmina Price's excellent essay on L'intrus and Subor's distinct historiography as an actor. Recommended VIEWINGThe...

Following his directorial breakout Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2001, John Cameron Mitchell followed it up a half-a-decade later with 2006’s subversive sex dramedy Shortbus. Now celebrating its 15th anniversary following its Cannes debut, the film has undergone a 4K restoration and a new trailer has arrived ahead of a theatrical run beginning at IFC Center on January 26 via Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Starring Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, Pj Deboy, Raphael Barker, Peter Stickles, Jay Brannan, and Justin Vivian Bond, the film follows the lives of several emotionally challenged characters as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex in and around a modern-day underground salon. A sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, a dominatrix who is unable to connect, a gay couple who are deciding whether to open up their relationship, and the people who weave in and out of their lives, all converge...

NewFest, New York City’s premier LGBTQ film festival, swings into its 33rd edition on Friday, delivering over 130 features, shorts, and documentaries across theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and for those viewers outside of NYC, at home virtually.

The festival this year runs October 15 through 26, kicking off on Friday with the east coast premiere of the documentary “Mayor Pete,” about Secretary of Transportation and former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg. The film brings viewers inside his campaign to be the youngest U.S. President, and looking at his marriage to his husband Chasten, and their ambitious team — from the earliest days of the campaign to his unlikely victory in Iowa and beyond. This film reveals what goes on inside a campaign for the highest office in the land — and the myriad ways it changes the lives of those at its center. Buttigieg serves as the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet member in U.

The 33rd edition of the New York LGBTQ+ film festival NewFest will kick off with the East Coast premiere of “Mayor Pete,” the Amazon Studios documentary about Pete Buttigieg run for president in 2020.

Now Pres. Joe Biden’s Secretary of Transportation, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana had hoped to have been the youngest and first openly gay president of the United States.

The 2021 hybrid edition of NewFest will take place Oct. 15-26 in New York City theaters and virtually on the festival’s on-demand platform. The lineup includes 130 films and episodic series from 31 countries. There are 30 narrative features, 14 docs and 11 shorts program screenings.

“This year’s festival is all about connection. The LGBTQ+ community thrives on connecting to one another, and having spent most of the past 18 months apart, we are hungry for experiences that remind us we are a part of something bigger than ourselves,” NewFest executive director David Hatkoff tells me.

“Joe Exotic,” the upcoming limited series adaptation of the Wondery Podcast that also inspired the Netflix reality hit “Tiger King,” has added an exciting new face to its cast. Indie filmmaker and actor John Cameron Mitchell has been added to the cast as the larger-than-life Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel, better known by fans simply as Joe Exotic. Mitchell joins the previously announced Kate McKinnon, who will be playing Schreibvogel’s rival Carole Baskin. The NBCUniversal Television series will air across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network, as also previously announced.

“I’m thrilled to take on the role of this modern folk antihero,” said Mitchell in a statement. “Joe and I are the same age and like him, I grew up queer in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas so I feel like I know a little bit about this guy and his desperate attempt to conquer an inhospitable world.” Variety first reported the news.

The “Joe Exotic” limited series in which Kate McKinnon will play Carole Baskin has cast John Cameron Mitchell to play the infamous “Tiger King” himself, Variety has learned.

Mitchell has been cast as Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel, the larger-than-life zoo owner in Oklahoma who loses himself in his hatred for Carole Baskin (McKinnon). As previously announced, the show will air across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network.

“I’m thrilled to take on the role of this modern folk antihero,” said Mitchell. “Joe and I are the same age and like him, I grew up queer in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas so I feel like I know a little bit about this guy and his desperate attempt to conquer an inhospitable world.”

Mitchell is best known for co-creating the musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” His work on the Broadway version earned him the Tony Award for best revival of a musical...

The massive success of Jill Soloway’s “Transparent” offered a foot in the door for many trans actors, writers, and directors to get a first legitimate credit in Hollywood. Episode director Silas Howard directed Octavia Spencer in “A Kid Like Jake”; writer Our Lady J is a writer and producer on “Pose”; and actress Trace Lysette’s star is about to reach new heights when she appears opposite Jennifer Lopez in “Hustlers.”

Now, we can add Rhys Ernst to the list of trans Hollywood elite to come out of the school of Soloway. A visual artist and filmmaker, Ernst makes his feature filmmaking debut with “Adam,” a Ya romantic-comedy with an unusual twist.

The movie, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, packs a number of rising stars in its ranks. Margaret Qualley, who will next appear in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” costars in the film,...

John Cameron Mitchell, writer, director and star of 2001 rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and this year’s Filmmaker on the Edge Award recipient at the Provincetown Intl. Film Festival, has never been a “genre-based person.”

“I like to mix,” says Mitchell, who also directed the films “Shortbus,” “Rabbit Hole” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties.” He went the podcast route with his latest project, “Anthem: Homunculus” — a 10-part semiautobiographical musical featuring Glenn Close, Patti LuPone and Cynthia Erivo — after deeming it “too weird” and genre-crossing for Hollywood. “Life is not a genre then, either. It’s comedy and drama and music and mystery and fear and pain and love and laughter. So my pieces tend to be as varied as my life.”

With “Hedwig,” Mitchell fused rock ’n’ roll, Broadway, drag and performance art, and also pushed the gender fluidity of his German punk-rocker character. Mitchell...

To describe Anthem: Homunculus as a “podcast musical” really doesn’t begin to do it justice. In reality, it’s an unclassifiable omnibus of theater, music and strange narratives written by John Cameron Mitchell and Bryan Weller that translates to over six hours of storytelling packaged in 10 episodes, with 31 songs that span everything from indie-pop ballads and avant-garde noise to bebop and heavy metal. It encompasses: a love ballad from a brain tumor; a dead brother who’s now a gay gym rat living on his own planet; a gender-nonconforming lover named America; and another,...

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably.

It’s a pretty tame May for blockbusters this year. A lot of that probably stems from studios not wanting to compete with Avengers: Endgame‘s legs following a billion-dollar global opening weekend, but still. A Disney rehash, kaiju battle, and Nintendo critters are pretty much it besides A-list starring comedies and action flicks.

This isn’t a bad thing for posters since it means the little guys can reign supreme. While one side of the theater has six frames dedicated to the 24-hour superhero screening cycle, the...

In Season 2 of “The Chi,” Yolonda Ross‘s character is in a state of transition. “She’s now a mother without a child at home,” the actress explains. “So she’s dealing with empty-nesting, and it’s time for her to really find herself again because she spent all this time taking care of her child and taking care of others all the time.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Ross above or listen to the audio below.

See Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine interview: ‘The Chi’

Created by Lena Waithe, this Showtime series examines life on the South Side of Chicago as seen through the eyes of several different citizens. Ross plays Jada Washington, a single mother and nurse who’s raising her son Emmett (Jacob Latimore) while he fails to take responsibility for his own children.

This leads Jada to finally kick him out of the house. The season...

The Tribeca Film Festival will launch its inaugural Tribeca Celebrates Pride event on May 4 which will include a day of Lgbtq-focused programming of speakers, conversations, and events featuring Neil Patrick Harris, Asia Kate Dillon, John Cameron Mitchell, Raul Castillo, Patti Harrison, Angelica Ross and iconic writer Larry Kramer. The day will celebrates Lgbtq+ culture and honor the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. It will all conclude with the world premiere of the HBO documentary Wig, which spotlights the art of drag, followed by a performance by the legendary Lady Bunny. The event will also include a curated program of seven Lgbtq+ short films, all of which are playing in competition at the Festival.

“This year, Tribeca will showcase artists who have used storytelling to bring people together around a common goal: inclusivity. We’ve come so far in the fifty years since the Stonewall riots, but there is...

From the visionary minds of writer Neil Gaiman and director John Cameron Mitchell comes a story of the birth of punk, the exuberance of first love, and the universe’s greatest mystery of all in How to Talk to Girls at Parties – Out now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download.

The film tells the story of a wacky romance between a punk rocker and an alien, so to celebrate its release we are giving away a “Wacky Romance” bundle, where you have the chance of winning How To Talk To Girls At Parties, Sid And Nancy, Under The Skin and Submarine on DVD.

The “raucous, vibrant and outrageous” How to Talk to Girls at Parties is a funny and delightful genre mash-up that stars Tony Award winning Alex Sharp (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) as a shy teenage punk rocker in 1977 who falls in love with...

If Mitchell made cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch today, would he be able to get away with it?

“I’m off to catch chlamydia from a koala and Patti Lupone!”

As creator of the iconic Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the real-sex-on-screen indie classic Shortbus, this opener from John Cameron Mitchell ranks somewhere in the middle in terms of shock value.

John Cameron Mitchell occupies a unique place in show business. Described as a “glamrock multi-hyphenate,” he is as charismatic a stage performer as he is a visionary filmmaker. From “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” to “Shortbus” to “Rabbit Hole,” his films rarely fit into one succinct genre or tagline, but always reflect his unique point of view. His latest film, “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” is a teen romance between a punk and an alien set in 1970s Britain. Based on the short story by Neil Gaiman and featuring an eye-popping ensemble clad in matching latex bodysuits, Mitchell called it “The midnight movie that I grew up with, the one that I wanted to see.”

Never one to compromise, Mitchell often wrestles with the creative dilemma of working in a medium that requires so much outside financial support to come to fruition. ““I’m a money launderer, that’s how I see myself,...

There are a number of small pleasures to be found in John Cameron Mitchell’s “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” a stylish genre mash-up that’s oddly too messy and too prim at the same time. A clash between “Starman” and “The Clash” with a healthy side of “Rocky Horror,” the film sets a gang of young punks against a cabal of antiseptic aliens in grungy late ’70s London. It comes off feeling more like promising studio outtake than a polished final track.

It’s 1977, punk reigns supreme, and Enn (Alex Sharp) has just ended up at a party full of aliens. They don’t look like ETs – having assumed human forms and all that — but they sure do act the part, engaging in strange rituals, dressing in space-age latex and preparing for a bizarre ceremony.

One of the them, Zan (Elle Fanning doing a kind of manic-alien-dream-girl...

Earth, 1977: England's dreaming, London's burning, and punk is raging as the U.K.'s youth culture du jour. Enn (Alex Sharp) spends his days writing and drawing his zine – titled Virys, because punk! – and giving polite society the two-fingered salute. At night, he and his knuckleheaded buddies hit up warehouse spaces to see first-wave bands like the Dyschords play their two-chords-and-the-truth anthems; the scene is run by elder stateswoman Queen Boadicea (viva Nicole Kidman!), who is inspiring the kids to fly their freak flags Asap and, apparently, will one...