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It’s rare to watch a film as rich as Lovell Holder and Roger Q. Mason’s “Lavender Men.” It’s based on a play. It looks like a play. It is intricate and complicated cinema. There are those who behave as though cinema and theater are polar opposites, and that to be “cinematic” is to evade any whiff of the “theatrical.” Remove thyself from a single location, and only then art thou in a film.

But film captures life and life takes place at the theater, at least whenever we’re in there. For those to whom all the stage is a world, those people who make live theater breathe , a film about their lives must take place on stage. And in “Lavender Men,” Roger Q. Mason plays a theater manager whose contributions to a rather unremarkable play about Abraham Lincoln are unsung, or only sung with the wrong pronouns.

A narrative feature exploring Abraham Lincoln’s personal life and queer legacy has landed a theatrical release.

Lavender Men is set to hit select theaters May 2 in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York City from Pride Flix. Lovell Holder helmed the film and co-wrote the script with Roger Q. Mason, who also stars in the movie that is based on Mason’s stage play of the same name. Pete Ploszek and Alex Esola co-star.

The project focuses on theatrical stage manager Taffeta (Mason), who is feeling demoralized while working on a play about Lincoln and ends up in an elaborate daydream about the 16th president’s supposed gay love affair that has been fodder for speculation.

A trailer that is exclusive to The Hollywood Reporter can be seen below. Pride Flix is an Entertainment Squad label.

Mason wrote the play of the same name that premiered in 2022 at...

Entertainment Squad has acquired worldwide rights to Lavender Men, adding the queer drama to its international sales slate for this week’s European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.

The film will get a limited US theatrical release this spring under the Lgbtqia+ PrideFlix label, which Entertainment Squad acquired last month.

Adapted from his own stage play by Roger Q Mason and directed by Lovell Holder, Lavender Men blends historical fiction and contemporary memoir in the story of a non-binary stage manager (played by Mason) who re-imagines Abraham Lincoln’s life through a queer lens.

Also starring are Pete Ploszek, Alex Esola,...

Exclusive: Vertical Entertainment has acquired the North American rights to the ensemble comedy Tankhouse, starring Christopher Lloyd (The Tender Bar, Nobody), Richard Kind, Tara Holt and Stephen Friedrich (This is Us & Nice Girl Like You), with plans to release it in theaters and on VOD on May 13th.

The supporting cast includes Alex Esola (After The Wedding), Austin Crute (Booksmart), Carolyn Michelle Smith (Russian Doll), Devere Rogers (My Spy), Joe Adler (The Maze Runner), Luke Spencer Roberts (The Package), Nadia Alexander (Blame), Rachel Matthews (Frozen 2), and Sarah Yarkin (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), as well as Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy) and Andy Buckley (Jurassic World).

They’ve release a trailer for the film. Watch it below:

Tankhouse marks the directorial feature debut of Noam Tomaschoff, who co-wrote the script with Chelsea Frei (Dollface, The Moody’s). The film was shot on location in Fargo, North Dakota and Los Angeles,...

Christopher Lloyd and Richard Kind will lead Tankhouse, an ensemble comedy being directed by Noam Tomaschoff, who co-wrote the piece with Chelsea Frei. Tara Holt, Stephen Friedrich, Nadia Alexander, Joe Adler, Austin Crute, Luke Spencer Roberts, Devere Rogers, and Sarah Yarkin also star. It follows two pretentious New York theatre actors who, when blackballed from the local theatre scene, decide their only recourse is to travel to Fargo, North Dakota, and start a theatrical revolution. Rounding out the cast are Andy Buckley, Joey Lauren Adams, Rachel Mattews, Alex Esola, and Carolyn Michelle Smith. Producers are Frei, Tomaschoff, and Mathew Cooper of Momentum Studios in collaboration with Forum Communications of Fargo, North Dakota. Production is currently underway with plans to film in both Fargo and Los Angeles.

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Sydney Sweeney and Finlay MacMillan (Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children) will star in The Prince of Soho,...

Bart Freundlich on the Orangina scene in After The Wedding and Susanne Bier's Efter Brylluppet: "That was a beautiful moment also in the original movie. I love scenes where you don't need to say anything that's going on." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the second half of my conversation with Bart Freundlich on After The Wedding at the Langham in New York, we discuss Julianne Moore’s Theresa buying stuffed crocodile and shark toys, Michelle Williams as Isabel responding to Billy Crudup’s Oscar artwork, and sharing an Orangina with Abby Quinn’s Grace. The role of Jonathan (Alex Esola) would have been played by Ralph Bellamy or Gig Young in the last century.

After The Wedding is opening this century, on November 1 in the UK.

Isabel (Michelle Williams) in Theresa’s (Julianne Moore) office: “The only thing that I was interested in is this idea that no matter how...

Hints of autumn are unspooling this weekend with stars fronting Specialty fare opening in theaters. Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup and Abby Quinn headline Sundance ’19 opener After The Wedding, starting in New York and L.A. today via Sony Pictures Classics. The film by Bart Freundlich is based on the 2006 Oscar-nominated original by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. Shia Labeouf and Dakota Johnson join newcomer Zack Gottsagen in Roadside Attractions’ modern-day Huck Finn-style adventure Peanut Butter Falcon, opening in seven markets this weekend. Doc awards hopeful One Child Nation from Amazon Studios begins its theatrical with exclusive runs in Los Angeles and New York today, while non-fiction title This Changes Everything, featuring a slew of veteran actors and public figures, heads out to three theaters in both cities from Good Deed Entertainment. Following screenings at recent Lgbtq festivals Frameline and Outfest, Samuel Goldwyn Films rolls out Mexican period drama...

Bart Freundlich with Anne-Katrin Titze on After The Wedding: "It's always hard to talk about this movie in particular because there are so many secrets." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Bart Freundlich's treasure-packed After The Wedding, based on Susanne Bier's film Efter Brylluppet stars Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Billy Crudup with Abby Quinn, Vir Pachisia, Alex Esola, and Anjula Bedi.

After The Wedding, reversing the protagonists' genders from Bier's Oscar-nominated film, is a tale of two worlds. Isabel (Williams) has been working for years at an orphanage in Calcutta with her colleague Preena (Bedi), when a letter arrives from New York mogul Theresa (Moore), who offers to donate a lot of money to the struggling institution, which is close to bankruptcy. Theresa wants Isabel to fly over and discuss matters in person. This is a busy time - not only is Theresa in the process of selling her media company,...

NoPassport Theatre Alliance and Press presents reading of Obie-winner Caridad Svich's new play Fuel starring Jo Lampert Saint Joan, the Public, Alex Esola A View From The Bridge, Broadway, Luis Vega Tell Hector I Miss Him, Atlantic Theater Company, Sofia Jean Gomez Angels In America Parts 1 and 2, Signature Theatre Company, and Charlie Pollock TV's The Good Wife on October 4,...