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To put it bluntly, Valentine’s Day is perhaps the most awkward national holiday. On the one hand you have lovely and joyful romantic partners eager to get their plans started, and on the other hand you have lovely but dissatisfied singles preparing to witness all the plans in action, right? No! There are also people who get together with their palentines and do something quiet or have an absolute rager, people who go to bars or clubs or parties for the sake of a good time, people who visit loved ones—who may have lost loved ones—to offer comfort and company, etc. Then, there are those of us die-hard cinephiles who don’t have a fulfilling holiday without popping in a film or two. Whether you have a valentine, palentine, or you’re a singleton, there’s something for everyone to enjoy under the “Sweet and Sour” sublist,...

My friend Don Fairservice, who has died aged 92, was a creative film editor and film-maker. Active in his youth as an actor and set designer with the Mountview Theatre Club in London, he became fascinated by the details of making films, their structures and meanings, and this led to a long career as a editor for the BBC and with numerous directors.

Don edited more than 40 films and TV series, and won a Bafta in 1989 for the Channel 4 series A Very British Coup. Other editing projects included Me and Mrs Jones (2002), The Railway Children (2000), The Scarlet Tunic (1998), Emma (1996), Beautiful Thing (1996), The Hanging Gale (1995) and Chattahoochee (1989).

From trans lives to celebrations of drag, queer film pulled no punches as it hit screens in the 90s with a DIY bravura that transformed the movie industry

Queer film exploded like a glitter cannon in the 1990s, sending sparkling product raining down in every direction. Trans lives hit the screen in Orlando and Boys Don’t Cry, alongside dynamic bulletins from the Black queer experience. We had jubilant celebrations of drag with Paris Is Burning and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, provocations from New Queer Cinema in the shape of Poison, Swoon and Edward II; there were auteurist masterpieces and timeless coming-out stories. The Wachowski sisters, Lisa Cholodenko, François Ozon and Bruce Labruce all made their debuts; Pedro Almodóvar and Gus Van Sant went stratospheric. Benefiting from a surge in the fortunes of independent cinema, and a defined focus for anger brought about by Aids activism, queer...

John Hughes once explained why he loved stories about young people caught between childhood and adulthood. “One of the great wonders of that age is your emotions are so open and raw,” he said. “At that age it feels as good to feel bad as it does to feel good.”

The poet laureate of the coming-of-age film wasn’t wrong. These movies are built on some of the biggest feelings there are – first love! True friendship! Desperately trying to find a decent party and some booze! – and put you right back in the time when you felt everything so much, you thought you might actually burst. The arc is simple: a young person (or little gang of them) goes through some kind of quest or experience which opens their eyes to the world and shows them how innocent they were, and now never can be again. Come the credits, everyone...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve)

Parenthood, relationships, and the creative process: three key elements of the cinema of Mia Hansen-Løve casually combine in Bergman Island, a playfully self-aware meta-portrait of the filmmaker and, indeed, of filmmaking itself. Introspective, inventive, and effortlessly calm; it follows a couple, both screenwriters, on an idyllic work retreat to Fårö, an island in the Baltic Sea (population: 498) just off the South East of Sweden. It’s the place Ingmar Bergman called home for the majority of his life, where he made many films and eventually died. – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

Denis Villeneuve has surmounted this slew of bad omens, by arguably––in filmmaking terms––making the most impersonal adaptation possible. For all his skill and talent,...

October’s here and it’s time to get spooked. After last year’s superb “’70s Horror” lineup, the Criterion Channel commemorates October with a couple series: “Universal Horror,” which does what it says on the tin (with special notice to the Spanish-language Dracula), and “Home Invasion,” which runs the gamut from Romero to Oshima with Polanski and Haneke in the mix. Lest we disregard the programming of Cindy Sherman’s one feature, Office Killer, and Jennifer’s Body, whose lifespan has gone from gimmick to forgotten to Criterion Channel. And if you want to stretch ideas of genre just a hair, their “True Crime” selection gets at darker shades of human nature.

It’s not all chills and thrills, mind. October also boasts a Kirk Douglas repertoire, movies by Doris Wishman and Wayne Wang, plus Manoel de Oliveira’s rarely screened Porto of My Childhood. And Edgar Wright gets the “Adventures in Moviegoing” treatment,...

Exclusive: Here’s a hot one out of Blighty. Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent is set to star in the movie adaptation of Rachel Joyce’s genuinely best-selling novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

BAFTA-winner Hettie Macdonald, who directed BBC and Hulu hit Normal People with Lenny Abrahamson, is aboard to direct, and BAFTA-winner Kevin Loader (The Death Of Stalin) will produce with Juliet Dowling and Marilyn Milgrom. Embankment have launched worldwide sales ahead of the virtual EFM.

Broadbent, who teamed with Loader on box office hit The Lady in the Van and recently starred in Venice Film Festival hit The Duke, will play the eponymous Harold, an ordinary man who has passed through life, living on the side lines, until he goes to post a letter one day…and just keeps walking.

The character embarks on a 450-mile walk across the UK in the simple belief that his journey will...

We asked Team Experience to share favourite screen kisses this week. Here's Dancin' Dan...

Love, Simon isn't the first film to be made about Lgbtq teens. There's Beautiful Thing, But I'm a Cheerleader, Camp, Edge of Seventeen (not the Hailee Steinfeld one), Get Real... the list goes on and on. It certainly won't be the last film to be made about Lgbtq teens, either. But it is the first one produced and distributed in wide release by a major Hollywood studio. Because of that, yes, there is an air of polished mediocrity and safety to the whole enterprise. And yet, it's hard to deny the film's effectiveness.

I don't know if, when I was a teenager, I would have had the courage to buy a ticket to see Love, Simon by myself. I do know, however, that if I had, it would have made my teenage years that much better.

The 2018 QFest St. Louis begins on Wednesday, April 4, and runs through Sunday, April 8. All screenings will be held at .Zack,. 3224 Locust St. in Grand Center. Advance sales will be available through MetroTix. The schedule of screenings, events, trailers, and full descriptions of the films will appear on the festival website at cinemastlouis.org/qfest. The official QFest St. Louis page on Facebook is facebook.com/QFestSTL.

QFest St. Louis, a presentation of Cinema St. Louis, is sponsored by Jeffrey T. Fort, Aarp in St. Louis, Whitaker Foundation, Regional Arts Commission, Missouri Arts Council, Arts & Education Council, Coffee Cartel, Dekkoo, Just John Nightclub, Dennis Gorg Trust, Mark Utterback, and Michael Reisers:

Here’s the line-up for the 11th Annual QFest St. Louis:

Becks Wednesday, Apr. 4th at 7:00pm.

Singer/songwriter Becks (Tony-winning and Grammy-nominated Lena Hall) gives up her Brooklyn apartment and heads across the country to join her long-distance girlfriend (Hayley Kiyoko) in La.

As social attitudes evolve, mainstream cinema has begun to treat gay love stories like any other romance. Love, Simon proves the point

The coming-out movie, commonly found on the film festival or arthouse circuit rather than at a multiplex, has always been a reliable source of angst. For a sign of how times have changed, try this: at a London preview last week of Love, Simon, a glossy rom-com about a Us high-school student (Nick Robinson) inching slowly out of the closet, audience members were invited to ride a giant Love, Simon ferris wheel in Leicester Square in homage to the film’s giddy, fun-fair climax. There were few takers –well, it was raining – but that’s not the point. Even Beautiful Thing in 1996, which represented the previous benchmark for making a mainstream coming-out story that wouldn’t scare the horses, never had a ferris wheel erected in its honour.

The 2018 QFest St. Louis begins on Wednesday, April 4, and runs through Sunday, April 8. All screenings will be held at .Zack,. 3224 Locust St. in Grand Center. Advance sales will be available through MetroTix. The schedule of screenings, events, trailers, and full descriptions of the films will appear on the festival website at cinemastlouis.org/qfest. The official QFest St. Louis page on Facebook is facebook.com/QFestSTL.

QFest St. Louis, a presentation of Cinema St. Louis, is sponsored by Jeffrey T. Fort, Aarp in St. Louis, Whitaker Foundation, Regional Arts Commission, Missouri Arts Council, Arts & Education Council, Coffee Cartel, Dekkoo, Just John Nightclub, Dennis Gorg Trust, Mark Utterback, and Michael Reiser

Here’s the line-up for the 11th Annual QFest St. Louis:

Becks Wednesday, Apr. 4th at 7:00pm.

Singer/songwriter Becks (Tony-winning and Grammy-nominated Lena Hall) gives up her Brooklyn apartment and heads across the country to join her long-distance girlfriend (Hayley Kiyoko) in La.

The first time I ever ventured to Awards Daily was back in 2000, so long ago it wasn’t even Awards Daily, it was Oscarwatch. It was winter… October I think. I had finished an acting gig in Omaha, Nebraska and found myself broke, emotionally starving and physically stuck. Here I was, a young queer actor

The post Love and Heartbreak – from “Beautiful Thing” to “Call Me By Your Name” appeared first on Awards Daily.

Award-winning Italian director Paolo Virzi (The First Beautiful Thing, Human Capital) leaves his usual witty originality at home in his first English-language feature shot in the U.S., The Leisure Seeker, and not even the normally luminous presence of Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland as loving oldsters can raise this modest tale above the level of an occasional smile. A road movie short on comedy and drama should at least offer a keen level of observation, but here insight is scarce and emotional resonance is faint. More of a fizzle than an outright disaster, the film's star power should anyway get...

American Horror Story fans know Evan Peters as the hottest psycho on TV, but, my dear friends, we need to talk about how he is also extremely hot (and not psycho) in real life. While the 30-year-old actor, who is once again engaged to Emma Roberts, changes his looks for every season of the FX show, he still manages to look oh so good around the clock. And looking at pictures of him is nice and all, but there's just something about watching him move that takes it a step further. From his smile to his hair, we'd run our fingers all over . . . everything. RelatedEvan Peters's Hollywood Evolution Proves Puberty Is a Beautiful Thing...

Ashley Greene still has plenty of love for her Twilight co-stars.

The 30-year-old actress sat down with Et's Katie Krause on Monday to talk about the last season of her show, Rogue, when she also opened up about her Twilight co-star, Kristen Stewart. Stewart has been notably more open about her personal life since starring in the popular vampire franchise, declaring that she was "so gay" during her Saturday Night Live monologue last month.

"I'm definitely proud o​f​ her," Greene tells Et. "I think I read somewhere her saying that now that she's being open and honest and kind of true to herself, that she's much happier and she feels much more comfortable."

Watch: Ashley Greene Shows Off New Engagement Ring: 'It's the Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen'

"I feel like I hear a lot of stories when people are dealing with coming out in that way that it's -- I mean, it's something...

"I'm not sure that Americans have penises," Ewan McGregor declares, carefully and painstakingly keeping his expression as deadpan as possible.

Danny Boyle's ears suddenly perk up. "Wait, your penis isn't there? Did they blur it out?" He lets out a laugh that might be characterized as the sound of exploding joy. "That would explain a lot!"

"They have to import them from Scotland," Jonny Lee Miller adds, at which point McGregor's stone-faced look begins to crack a bit.

"Scottish sausage!" Ewan Bremner chimes in, chuckling. "It's where the term comes from.

"I'm the end of the line," Arthur Miller once asserted. "Absurd and appalling as it may seem, serious New York theater has died in my lifetime."

Many might argue otherwise. In fact, the best proof that theatre is still alive and kicking is Focus on Playwrights, the new coffee-table book, the cover of which showcases the life-crinkled face that once overlooked the birth of A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, and The Crucible. Yes, photographer Susan Johann’s scintillating collection of over 90 playwrights, whom she’s shot over 20 years -- and the inclusion of sharply revealing interviews with some of the same, is the best retort to anyone ready to cremate modern drama.

Some of those captured for publications such as Vogue and the New Yorker are now deceased (e.g. August Wilson, Edward Albee, and Joe Chaikin) while others are very much functioning (e.g. David Henry Hwang,...

America’s Got Talent had a lot of surprises during its eleventh season, and some unique acts, but nothing compared with the win by twelve-year-old Grace VanderWaal. Her haunting, amazing voice took over the show, and it wasn’t really that surprising to see her win.

Her debut Ep, “Perfectly Imperfect,” is now available to pre-order, and will be released December 2nd. The 5-song Ep has all of the original songs she performed on the show, as well as a new song, “Gossip Girl.”

If you preorder the Ep digitally, you get an instant download of “I Don’t Know My Name.”

Additionally, Walmart will be carrying an exclusive physical version of the Ep with a special “coffeehouse version” bonus track entitled “Missing You.”

Grace was obviously excited about the announcement, and also revealed that she will perform at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, on Today on November 28th, The Wendy Williams Show...

First Run Features has picked up rights to Garrett Zevgetis' documentary Best and Most Beautiful Things, a coming-of-age story that celebrates outcasts of the world. First Run is eyeing a December theatrical release for the film, which is produced by Zevgetis, Ariana Garfinkel, Jeff Consiglio and Jordan Salvatoriello. The documentary premiered at SXSW in March and has seen a successful festival run across the country. Best and Most Beautiful Thing follows Michelle, a…...

Paolo Virzì’s most recent film “Like Crazy” was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Now, currently in production on his latest drama, Sony Pictures Classics announced that it has acquired the rights in the Us, Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan), Eastern Europe, Portugal and South Africa to his movie “The Leisure Seeker,” starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland.

“‘The Leisure Seeker’ looks to be a major 2017 find. This is a rich story that promises career best performances from Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland,” the studio commented. “We look forward to bringing Paolo Virzi’s film to audiences in the United States and around the world.”

Read More: Watch Helen Mirren Shut Down a Sexist Interviewer Back in 1975

Written by Francesca Archibugi, Francesco Piccolo, Stephen Amidon and Virzì, the drama is inspired by Michael Zadoorian’s novel of the same name. This film centers...

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Grace Vanderwaal should be very flattered.

The 12-year-old winner of this season of America's Got Talent writes original songs, sings and plays the ukulele, and singers all over YouTube are already posting covers of Vanderwaal's music, which the show's judges have raved about all season.

"The most amazing thing about Grace is that you haven't heard anybody who sounds like her," Howie Mandel said. "You haven't heard any lyrics from somebody like her, and we've been saying to her, you are the most unique brightest star to come out of one of these shows.

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Grace Vanderwaal should be very flattered. The 12-year-old winner of this season of America's Got Talent writes original songs, sings and plays the ukulele, and singers all over YouTube are already posting covers of Vanderwaal's music, which the show's judges have raved about all season. "The most amazing thing about Grace is that you haven't heard anybody who sounds like her," Howie Mandel said. "You haven't heard any lyrics from somebody like her, and we've been saying to her, you are the most unique brightest star to come out of one of these shows.

At just 12 years old, Grace Vanderwaal has stolen America's heart and nabbed the title of America's Got Talent winner.

Throughout the season, Vanderwaal, a ukulele player, routinely wowed judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B with her original songs and raw musical talent. On night one of the show's finale on Tuesday, Vanderwaal performed her original song "Clay" and received a standing ovation.

"Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound," said Mandel. "It's not only a song. It speaks to you. You are amazing. Grace has to win. This is my favorite moment of the night."

After her finale performance,...

At just 12 years old, Grace Vanderwaal has stolen America's heart and nabbed the title of America's Got Talent winner. Throughout the season, Vanderwaal, a ukulele player, routinely wowed judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B with her original songs and raw musical talent. On night one of the show's finale on Tuesday, Vanderwaal performed her original song "Clay" and received a standing ovation. "Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound," said Mandel. "It's not only a song. It speaks to you. You are amazing. Grace has to win. This is my favorite moment of the night." After her finale performance,...

At just 12 years old, Grace Vanderwaal has stolen America's heart and nabbed the title of America's Got Talent winner. Throughout the season, Vanderwaal, a ukulele player, routinely wowed judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B with her original songs and raw musical talent. On night one of the show's finale on Tuesday, Vanderwaal performed her original song "Clay" and received a standing ovation. "Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound," said Mandel. "It's not only a song. It speaks to you. You are amazing. Grace has to win. This is my favorite moment of the night." After her finale performance,...

Grace Vanderwaal has officially stolen America's heart.

The 12-year-old ukulele player, who had the honor of being the closing act, wowed everyone with a performance of her original song "Clay" on night one of the America's Got Talent finale Tuesday.

And judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie and Mel B gave Vanderwaal a standing ovation with her self-penned tune.

"Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound," said Mandel, who chose her as his golden buzzer contestant. "It's not only a song. It speaks to you. You are amazing. Grace has to win. This is my favorite moment of the night."

Throughout the competition,...

[Embedcode {}] Grace Vanderwaal has officially stolen America's heart. The 12-year-old ukulele player, who had the honor of being the closing act, wowed everyone with a performance of her original song "Clay" on night one of the America's Got Talent finale Tuesday. And judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie and Mel B gave Vanderwaal a standing ovation with her self-penned tune. "Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound," said Mandel, who chose her as his golden buzzer contestant. "It's not only a song. It speaks to you. You are amazing. Grace has to win. This is my favorite moment of the night." Throughout the competition,...

Grace VanderWaal stunned the audience of “America’s Got Talent” again on Tuesday night as she performed another original song on the ukulele. The 12-year-old performed “Beautiful Thing,” written for her sister, in order to make it to the semi-finals of the talent competition. Before she was even finished with the song, the crowd and the show’s judges were already on their feet. Also Read: 'America's Got Talent' Re-Ups With All 4 Judges, Host Nick Cannon According to USA Today, Howie Mandel reminded the audience that Simon Cowell had told VanderWaal in a previous episode that she could be the next Taylor Swift.

Grace VanderWaal received heaps of praise for her original performance in the quarterfinals of this season’s “America’s Got Talent”. Related: ‘Agt’ Stars On Failed Flaming Arrow Trick The 12-year-old singer sang a song she wrote called “Beautiful Thing” for her second appearance on the show. Judge Howie Mandel awarded her with a golden buzzer during […]...

Italian director Paolo Virzi set to make English-language debut with Us-set vintage camper van road movie.

Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland are set to co-star in Italian director Paolo Virzi’s English language debut The Leisure Seeker as a couple who set off on a cross-country journey in a vintage camper van.

It will be Virzi’s next film after Like Crazy – starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti as two women who hit the road after escaping a secure psychiatric clinic – which premieres in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes this year.

Fabrizio Donvito, Benedetto Habib, Marco Cohen are producing for Indiana Production, the Rome, Milan and Los Angeles-based production house which also produced Virzi’s Golden Globe nominated The First Beautiful Thing and Human Capital.

Alessandro Mascheroni, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, and Dov Mamann are executive producers. The film is being produced with Rai Cinema.

David Grumbach and Mathieu Robinet at Paris-based Bac Films are co-producing in a second...

Italian director Paolo Virzi set to make English-language debut with Us-set vintage camper van road movie.

Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland are set to co-star in Italian director Paolo Virzi’s English language debut The Leisure Seeker as a couple who set off on a cross-country journey in a vintage camper van.

It will be Virzi’s next film after Like Crazy – starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti as two women who hit the road after escaping a secure psychiatric clinic – which premieres in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes this year.

Fabrizio Donvito, Benedetto Habib, Marco Cohen are producing for Indiana Production, the Rome, Milan and Los Angeles-based production house which also produced Virzi’s Golden Globe nominated The First Beautiful Thing and Human Capital.

Alessandro Mascheroni, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, and Dov Mamann are executive producers. The film is being produced with Rai Cinema.

David Grumbach and Mathieu Robinet at Paris-based Bac Films are co-producing in a second...

“Todd Haynes‘ filmography is often overwhelming in its intellectual acumen and emotional devastation,” we noted upon the release of his latest film this past fall. “This is true of Carol, which is at once a return to the deconstruction of femininity, social mores, and mild anarchy of privilege, as well as an honest and heartbreaking story about falling in love and the trepidation therein.” Over 100 film experts, ranging from critics to writers to programmers, agree on the emotional power of the drama, as they’ve voted it the best Lgbt film of all-time.

Conducted by BFI ahead of the 30th BFI Flare: London Lgbt Film Festival, they note this is the “first major critical survey of Lgbt films.” Speaking about leading the poll, Haynes said, “I’m so proud to have Carol voted as the top Lgbt film of all time in this poll launched for the Fest’s 30th edition.

Gimme Gimme Gimme's creator was told by the BBC that the sitcom would never have been commissioned today.

Writer Jonathan Harvey doesn't envisage a return for the comedy, which starred Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus and ran for three series from 1999 to 2001, because the TV climate has changed.

"I came up with an idea about four years ago for a new house-share sitcom that I knew was the best thing I'd written comedy-wise since Gimme Gimme Gimme," he told the Radio Times. "But the BBC turned it down because they thought it was too rude.

"And I said, 'It's only as rude as Gimme Gimme Gimme was'. And they said they'd never commission Gimme Gimme Gimme now because they can't be that risky. The climate changed. There's less space to try out something a bit different."

Harvey also works as a scriptwriter on Coronation Street, and described the soap's...

It's all part of the new Vincent.

Did you see the first season of Beauty & the Beast (2012)? Then let me catch you up. Are you familiar with the fairy tale by Beaumont? Well, it's got absolutely nothing to do with that. In fact, the show would probably be better named Beauty & the Beautiful Thing We Call a Beast Because He Has Scar. Maybe that's longer than what they wanted. Anyway, Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) is an ass-kicking NYPD detective who befriends (and, by season 2, falls in love with) a ass-kicking shadow-dweller called Vincent (Jay Ryan). Vincent is an ex-soldier who was genetically interfered with, giving him superpowers when he makes an ugly face--quite like the vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). Sadly, after many romantic and thrilling adventures, Vincent is kidnapped and reemerges (for season 2) having forgotten everything but with super spidey senses and a mission to kill all similarly mutated creatures.

Everything Is Terrifying!

Monday, October 27 @ 7pm

Strand Bookstore (828 Broadway, corner of Broadway and 12th Street)

Admission: Free (all you need to do is buy a book)

Just in time for Halloween, the biggest names in horror fiction appear live to talk about the things that scare them. Expect parasites! Terrible jobs! And probably sharks!

Laird Barron – horror writer (The Croning, The Beautiful Thing That … Continue reading →

Horrornews.net...

Sony Pictures Classics honchos Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been feted up one side and down the other lately. The duo celebrated 20 years of Spc in 2012 and have received awards from the Museum of the Moving Image and the Gotham Awards as of late. Tonight they will receive the Los Angeles Film Festival's Spirit of Independence Award as the love keeps pouring in. Given that we recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of Fox Searchlight — another crucial entity in the indie film space — it seemed like we were over due for a similar appreciation of Sony Classics' 22 years of output. The interesting thing, though, is that unlike Searchlight, there isn't necessarily anything outwardly identifiable about Sony Classics films as, well, "Sony Classics films." They all have a strong whiff of good taste but they don't have the heavy marketing footprint of some of the studio's contemporaries. Barker and Bernard's cinephile passion is always evident,...

There’s a bumper crop of albums coming this summer and fall, based on several new releases announced over the past 24 hours. Here’s a round-up of what’s coming soon listed chronologically: Jason Mraz, “Yes,” July 15 The singer/songwriter has a knack for releasing songs that take up residency at radio and do not move, such as “I’m Yours” and “I Won’t Give Up.” The new album, his first since 2012, features Mraz teaming with Raining Jane for an acoustic, intimate set covering such topics as love, faith, healing, environmental stewardship. A tour kicks off in August. First single, "Love Someone," is out now. "Yes" track listing: 1. Rise 2. Love Someone 3. Hello, You Beautiful Thing 4. Long Drive 5. Everywhere 6. Best Friend 7. Quiet 8. Out Of My Hands 9. It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday 10. 3 Things 11. You Can Rely On Me 12. Back To The Earth 13. A World With You 14. Shine Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,...

Rome – Paolo Virzi’s The Human Capital (Il capital umano) led the way with 19 nominations for Italy’s David di Donatello awards, one more than the 18 nominations for The Great Beauty (la grande bellezza), the Oscar foreign-language winner from Paolo Sorrentino. Along with the Nastri d’Argento (Silver Ribbons) awards and Italy’s version of the Golden Globes, the Donatello awards are one of Italy’s top film honors. Virzi, former artistic director of the Turin Film Festival, is best known internationally for The First Beautiful Thing (La prima cosa bella), which won three Donatello prizes, four Nastri d’Argento honors, and

read more...

It seems as though Italian filmmaker Paolo Virzi ("The First Beautiful Thing") is getting just the right amount of buzz for his latest feature "Human Capital." In advance of its North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month, the film has just been acquired by Film Movement. "Human Capital" follows the lives of two families, one middle-class and one very well-to-do and privileged, as their lives intertwine across social statuses when two of their children suddenly begin a relationship that leads to a tragic accident. "We love the movie's portrait of a society struggling with the same issues of economic inequality that we're seeing here in the U.S.," said Adley Gartenstein, co-president of Film Movement. "The film's unique structure and superb acting make it an incredibly exciting acquisition for Film Movement." Read More: Film Movement's Genre Label Ram Releasing to Focus on Darker, Edgier Fare...

Birthday shoutouts go to Sean Faris (above), who is 32, Ryan Lewis is 26, Marcia Cross is 52, Aretha Franklin is 72, and Sarah Jessica Parker is 49. And a birthday shoutout to Tbl reader Eagledancer!

TV Line talks to Jeff Davis about the Teen Wolf finale, and who may or may not be back. And Danny gets a mention!

MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart Rips Billy Graham‘s Homophobic Son for Supporting Putin

Christy Marx, the creator of Jem, speaks out about the big-screen adaptation. Why are there no women involved?

Wade Davis charts course for the NFL on gay issues at league’s annual meeting

The Glee cast Look Back On The Song That Started It All.

Christopher J. Hanke (star of Buyer & Cellar) with Andrew Rannells in NYC.

So this is happening… @Cabaret_Musical preview #1 Like in a couple of hours!! pic.twitter.com/RyA2VOOjQX

— Alan Cumming (@Alancumming) March 21, 2014

Here’s the Kickstarter for Guys Reading Poems.

When Lgbt people leave the safety of the city in films, it usually spells bad news – and Stranger by the Lake and Tom at the Farm don't buck the trend

Gay people and the city have been a good match since Sodom and Gomorrah. From the molly houses of 18th-century London to 1970s San Francisco via prewar Berlin, the urban environment has always been the natural habitat of queer culture – a place where Lgbt people can set their own rules, form their own families, be anonymous when they want to and find company when they fancy it. The countryside, on the other hand, is the place they escape from – a realm of social conformity with limited opportunities for culture, sex or socialising, and perhaps even a site of danger.

That's the stereotype, anyway, both in reality and on screen. Innumerable movies with claims to gay-classic status are inseparable from their urban settings: London has Victim,...

Harry Potter alumni shortlisted for respective theatrical roles in The Cripple of Inishmaan and Mojo

Harry Potter graduates Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint are among the nominees shortlisted for the only major UK theatre awards voted for entirely by the public.

Radcliffe is nominated in the best actor category of the 14th WhatsOnStage awards for his performance as Billy in The Cripple of Inishmaan.

He is up against Ben Whishaw for Mojo and Peter and Alice, James McAvoy for Macbeth, Lenny Henry for Fences and Rory Kinnear for Iago in the National Theatre's production of Othello. Kinnear also appears in the best new play category for his writing debut, The Herd.

Grint, making his stage debut as the endearingly dim Sweets in Mojo, is nominated in the London newcomer of the year. The category also includes actors Jack Huston (Strangers on a Train), Kyle Scatliffe (The Scottsboro Boys), Olivia Vinall...

Rising actor Daniel Brühl ("Rush," "The Fifth Estate") has scored the lead role in Michael Winterbottom's psychological thriller "The Face of an Angel".

Paul Viragh penned the script which is loosely adapted from Barbie Latza Nadeau's novel "Angel Face". That book deals with the Amanda Knox trial and the media manipulation around it - especially by Knox's family.

Winterbottom says his film version takes a different path, following a troubled filmmaker researching a sensational murder trial in Italy. When the victim becomes forgotten in the media frenzy, the filmmaker is inspired to reconnect with his own daughter.

Cara Delevingne ("Anna Karenina") and Valerio Mastandrea ("The First Beautiful Thing") also star in the project which begins shooting in November in Siena and Rome.

Source: Screen Daily...

If you’re all, “Help! I need a peek at Glee Season 5, like, yesterday,” I am here to tell you we can work it out.

In this new promo for the Fox drama’s first two hours of the coming season (that is, the weeks that precede the show’s tribute to late cast member Cory Monteith), Darren Criss teases “one of the greatest secret weapons” in Glee‘s arsenal: The Beatles.

Related | Glee‘s Naya Rivera Confirms: Demi Lovato Will Romance Santana

Criss also reminds us of the little black box Blaine was palming in the finale, promising that...

Sports figures and celebrities alike are reacting to the groundbreaking decision by NBA player Jason Collins to become the first major professional athlete to come out as gay. Below is a compilation of some of the latest comments posted on social media.

L.A. Laker Kobe Bryant: "Proud of @jasoncollins34. Don't suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others."

L.A. Laker Steve Nash: "The time has come. Maximum respect. Rt @Baron_Davis: I am so proud of my bro."

Chelsea Clinton, who attended college with Collins: "Very proud of my friend Jason Collins for having the strength & courage to be the first openly gay player in the NBA."

Related: Magic Johnson's Son E.J. on Being Publicly Outed

Bill Clinton: "I'm proud to call Jason Collins a friend."

Ellen DeGeneres: ".@NBA center @JasonCollins34 is the 1st out player on a Us major league team. I'm overwhelmed...

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone may have been at work, but that didn't stop them from stealing some smooches. While shooting The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in New York City on Tuesday, the cute couple clearly couldn't get enough of each other. And who can blame them, right? After all, both are pretty adorable. And here's something that makes Garfield all the more attractive. While chatting with The Times of London about the West London revival of the gay-themed play Beautiful Thing (the 29-year-old actor performed in a 2006 production), Stone's other half shared his feelings about marriage equality. "Of course I'm in favor of marriage equality," he said. "Same-sex...

British actress Zaraah Abrahams will star in the role of Leah when the 20th Anniversary Production of Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing runs from 13 April - 25 May at the Arts Theatre on London's West End. From Arts Theatre: Set during a heat wave on a rundown Thamesmead council estate, Beautiful Thing is an urban love story full of characters that abound with attitude, energy, frankness and humour. The story follows Jamie, an introvert, troubled teen whose dislike of football is reason enough for his classmates to bully him at every opportunity. Living with his pre-occupied single mum, Sandra, Jamie finds himself infatuated with his next door neighbour and classmate Ste....

Naya Rivera and Darren Criss perform during the 2013 Kids' Inaugural.

Birthday shoutouts go to Emma Bunton, who is 37, and Billy Ocean is 63. Here's his greatest song (and video), which peaked at #2 in February 1985.

Brace yourselves, those of a certain age ...Atari has filed for bankruptcy. A sad collective shudder just echoed across a New Mexico landfill. Charlotte Rae is shopping around her memoir, The Facts Of My Life, in which she reveals that her husband of 25 years came out as gay and divorced her. In ratings news, Football proved to be a disaster for ABC's lineup, with both Once Upon A Time and Revenge experiencing season low double digit drops. James Franco wrote an Inauguration Poem. David Sedaris has given the film version of his short story C.O.G. (which stars Jonathon Groff and Casey Wilson) a thumbs up.Below you can see the movie's director Kyle Patrick Alvarez talk about its journey to the screen.

A fresh crop of directors are rejecting stereotypical roles and predictable plots, creating films that deal with real life and rounded characters

Ira Sach's new film, Keep the Lights On, follows the decade-long relationship between two men who meet on a New York phone-sex line in 1998. It includes explicit sex and copious drug use; it also includes domestic squabbles, quotidian work hassles and meals with friends, straight and gay. No one comes out or dies, and everything is shown with the same fluid, elegant transparency. "I feel very few films convey the communal nature of urban life these days, the lack of boundaries," Sachs says. "'Those are the gays over there' – that's not how we live any more."

Keep the Lights On is at once very good and conspicuously ordinary. Like several other recent features about gay characters by gay directors, it deploys naturalism – often shooting handheld in found locations...

Brace yourselves. This list of the Top 100 Greatest Gay Movies is probably going to generate some howls of protest thanks to a rather major upset in the rankings. Frankly, one that surprised the hell out of us here at AfterElton.

But before we get to that, an introduction. A few weeks ago we asked AfterElton readers to submit up to ten of their favorite films by write-in vote. We conducted a similar poll several years ago, but a lot has happened culturally since then, and a number of worthy movies of gay interest have been released. We wanted to see how your list of favorites had changed.

We also wanted to expand our list to 100 from the top 50 we had done previously. We figured there were finally enough quality gay films to justify the expansion. And we wanted to break out gay documentaries onto their own list (You'll find the...