News

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and husband Justin Mikita have come aboard to executive produce Stonewall Forever, a feature documentary centering on the famed Lgbtq institution while marking the 50th anniversary in the ongoing fight for gay rights.

The duo join producer-director Jeffrey Schwarz, who previously made Tab Hunter Confidential and The Fabulous Alan Carr, and exec producer Craig Gartner on the project, which is in the nascent stages but is expected to take advantage of New York City’s Gay Pride festivities that are connected to the famed Stonewall Inn and the June 1969 riots that are seen as kicking off the ...

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and husband Justin Mikita have come aboard to executive produce Stonewall Forever, a feature documentary centering on the famed Lgbtq institution while marking the 50th anniversary in the ongoing fight for gay rights.

The duo join producer-director Jeffrey Schwarz, who previously made Tab Hunter Confidential and The Fabulous Alan Carr, and exec producer Craig Gartner on the project, which is in the nascent stages but is expected to take advantage of New York City’s Gay Pride festivities that are connected to the famed Stonewall Inn and the June 1969 riots that are seen as kicking off the ...

“To ask ‘Whatever happened to Tab Hunter?'” a reporter for The New York Times once wrote, “is to ask ‘Whatever happened to America?'”

As we remember Hunter — the Hollywood heartthrob who died this week a few days shy of his 87th birthday — it’s clear that his own career and personal path follows America’s (and Hollywood’s) arc of understanding homosexuality in the post-wwii era. A performer who was once deeply closeted in the industry could, in his later years, make two outrageous comedies in which his romantic co-lead was played by legendary drag queen Divine.

Born Arthur Gelien, Tab Hunter was one of a stable of performers groomed for stardom by agent Henry Willson, who gave the neophyte performer his name and his first forays onto the big screen.

Hunter made his big-screen debut in 1950 and would become one of the decade’s biggest stars, both...

Tab Hunter has passed away at the age of 86. The movie star, musician, novelist and gay icon passed away just three days shy of what would have been his 87th birthday. The news of his death was confirmed by the Tab Hunter Confidential Facebook page, which has been an official source for news regarding Hunter in recent years. Here's what the page had to say about his passing.

"Sad News: Tab passed away tonight three days shy of his 87th birthday. Please honor his memory by saying a prayer on his behalf. He would have liked that."

Starting in the early 1950s and lasting through the early 1990s, Tab Hunter starred in more than 70 movies and TV shows. He rose to fame in 1955 with a starring role in Track of the Cat and would later cement himself as a true star and heartthrob in movies such as Battle Cry and The Burning Hills.

Stars are mourning Hollywood heartthrob and gay icon Tab Hunter on social media. The “Damn Yankees” and “Battle Cry” actor died on Sunday at age 86 in Santa Barbara, Calif., after a blood clot in his leg caused cardiac arrest, Allan Glaser, Hunter’s partner for more than three decades, confirmed to Variety.

Elton John, Zachary Quinto, William Shatner, and Diane Warren are among those who have taken to Instagram and Twitter to share their memories and condolences.

“Rip to the most handsome and special man,” John wrote on Twitter. “‘Young Love’ forever.”

Rip to the most handsome and special man. “Young Love” forever. #RIPTabHunter E xx pic.twitter.com/TIrAjpbRtw

— Elton John (@eltonofficial) July 9, 2018

Quinto, who is producing a movie about Hunter’s secret love affair with Anthony Perkins, penned a lengthy tribute to the late actor on Instagram, along with a black and white photo of a young Hunter,...

With his blonde hair and all-American good looks, Tab Hunter was the picture of a 1950s heartthrob. At the height of his career, he made waves as a wholesome boy next door in films like “Battle Cry” (1955), “The Burning Hills” (1956) with Natalie Wood, and “Damn Yankees” (1958). He enjoyed a short career resurgence in the ’80s, after playing Divine’s love interest in John Waters’ “Polyester” (1981). On Monday, July 9, a Facebook post announced that Hunter had died. He was 86.

Hunter wrote candidly about his life as a closeted man in Hollywood in a 2005 memoir “Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star,” including his relationships with Olympic figure skater Ronnie Roberston and “Psycho” star Anthony Perkins. Their romance is the subject of a film from J.J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto in the early stages of development at Paramount, tentatively titled “Tab & Tony.” Hunter’s memoir was adapted into a documentary in 2015, directed by Jeffrey Schwarz.

Refresh for updates Tab Hunter is being remembered today as both an iconic Hollywood actor and as one of the very few stars of his 1950s peak era to eventually come out as gay, a decades-long process chronicled in Hunter’s 2005 autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential, and the 2015 Netflix documentary it inspired.

Zachary Quinto, who, along with J.J. Abrams, Hunter’s husband and producing partner Allan Glaser and Neil Koenigsberg are developing a Paramount project based on the part of Hunter’s memoir about his relationship with fellow actor Anthony Perkins, called Hunter “a pioneer of self-acceptance” who moved “through this world with authenticity as his guide.” (See Quinto’s entire Instagram message below).

Elton John tweeted simply, “Rip to the most handsome and special man.” Referring to Hunter’s 1957 hit cover of the song made famous earlier by Sonny James, John ended his tweet with, “‘Young Love’ forever.”

Here’s...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actor Tab Hunter has died at age 86 after sudden complications from a blood clot lead to a fatal heart attack. Hunter's blonde hair and hunky build made him a natural for the kind of beefcake leading men that characterized 1950s Hollywood. He was put under contract at Warner Brothers and became the studio's top grossing star during the years 1955-1959. Among Hunter's biggest hits of the era was the WWII film Battle Cry and the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees. Hunter's popularity briefly extended to singing and his recording of "Young Love" was a smash hit, displacing Elvis Presley at the top of the charts. However, changing attitudes among fickle movie-goers in the 1960s swerved away from the traditional studio concept of a leading man. Hunter continued to work but in less-than-stellar productions. He did, however, have memorable cameos in big studio productions such...

Fans of Tab Hunter, who died at the age of 86 on Sunday, have taken to social media to pay tribute to the late actor.

“Rip to the most handsome and special man. ‘Young Love’ forever. #RIPTabHunter E xx,” legend Elton John posted on Twitter.

Actor Zachary Quinto, who is producing and starring in a film about Hunter, wrote, “so sad to wake up to the news of the passing of tab hunter. i was honored to get to know him in the past year and am so grateful to have experienced his sheer joy and love of life.”

Also Read: Tab Hunter, Actor and '50s Hollywood Golden Boy, Dies at 86

“Tab passed away tonight three days shy of his 87th birthday,” his Facebook page announced late Sunday night. “Please honor his memory by saying a prayer on his behalf. He would have liked that.”

Hunter, who starred in such films as 1955’s “Battle Cry,...

Tab Hunter as seen in documentary Tab Hunter Confidential

Tab Hunter, actor, singer, producer and Hollywood legend, has died just three days before what would have been his 87th birthday, it emerged today. The star of Damn Yankees, The Virginian and Polyester had previously survived a heart attack and stroke, but died from a blood clot.

Hunter first came to public attention in 1955 when he appeared alongside Robert Mitchum in Track Of The Cat. In 1956, he had a number one hit record with Young Love.

A committed Catholic, Hunter was uncomfortable with press interest in his sexuality at a time when homosexuality was strictly taboo in Hollywood, and considered marrying a woman but didn't feel he could make it work. He had a long term relationship with fellow actor Anthony Perkins which was recently announced as the subject of a new film being made by Zachary Quinto. Despite the challenges he faced,...

Hunter embodied the clean-cut ‘beefcake’ image but was forced to deny his gay sexuality for years

Tab Hunter, the actor who found fame in the 1950s as a Hollywood heartthrob but who was forced to cover up his gay sexuality, has died aged 86. A Facebook account for Tab Hunter Confidential, a recently released documentary about him, posted the news, but did not give a cause of death.

Born Arthur Andrew Kelm in 1931, Hunter broke into movies in the 1950 film noir The Lawless after a spell in the coastguard as a teenager: he was given his screen alias by agent Henry Willson, who specialised in the pretty-boy “beefcake” stars of the time, such as Rock Hudson, Chad Everett, and Troy Donahue.

Tab Hunter, the 1950s epitome of the blond Hollywood heartthrob and teen icon pin-up, whose career included early A-list fare like Damn Yankees! and Battle Cry to later (much later) cult classics Polyester, Lust in the Dust, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and authorship of a memoir in part describing his life as a closeted gay movie star, has died. He was 86.

Hunter came out as gay with his 2005 autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star – later the basis for Jeffrey Schwarz’ 2015 Netflix documentary Tab Hunter Confidential – clearing up longstanding Hollywood rumors that. Since his ’80s resurgence in the John Waters and Paul Bartel films costarring Divine, Hunter had relaxed into a more self-amused, even self-deprecating attitude about the vast chasm between the man born Arthur Gelien in 1931 and the teen idol manufactured and rechristened Tab Hunter by Henry Willson, the agent behind such creatively named Hollywood hunks as Rock Hudson,...

1950s heartthrob actor Tab Hunter died Sunday night ... according to his Facebook page. Tab, known for his surfer boy looks and roles in "Damn Yankees" and "The Burning Hills," was also famous for remaining closeted during Hollywood's Golden Age. Publicly, he had studio setup relationships with his female co-stars, like Natalie Wood, but in his 2005 autobiography, 'Tab Hunter Confidential' ... he revealed he was actually having affairs with male actors. Most notably, he and...

Tab Hunter, a former on-screen heartthrob and gay icon, has died. He was 86.

Hunter died Sunday night in Santa Barbara after a blood clot in his leg caused cardiac arrest, Allan Glaser, Hunter’s partner for more than three decades, confirmed to Variety.

With his All-American good looks, wavy blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and toothy smile, Hunter rose to the top ranks of Hollywood leading men in the 1950’s and early ’60’s. He appeared in the likes of “Damn Yankees” and “Battle Cry,” and had chart-topping records such as “Young Love.” But at the height of his popularity, he was dogged by rumors that he was gay, a potentially career-ending rumor during that culturally conservative era. At one point, he was “outed” by the gossip rag, Confidential.

Hunter fell out of favor as the 1960s continued and a new breed of stars such as Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino,...

Tab Hunter, who rose to fame as a movie star in 1950s Hollywood with his California surfer-boy looks, has died at age 86, according to a Facebook page closely tied to the star.

The cause of death was not disclosed. A rep for the actor did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Hunter, who starred in such films as 1955’s “Battle Cry,” 1956’s “The Burning Hills” and the 1958 musical “Damn Yankees,” also parlayed his onscreen success into music, scoring a Billboard hit with the 1956 single “Young Love.”

Also Read: Tab Hunter Remembered by Elton John, Zachary Quinto and More: 'Most Handsome and Special Man'

The star later found a younger cult audience playing opposite the drag queen Divine in John Waters’ 1981 film “Polyester” and Paul Bartel’s 1985 film “Lust in the Dust.”

In his 2005 memoir “Tab Hunter Confidential,” he disclosed that he had remained a closeted gay man...

J.J. Abrams is teaming up with his Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness star Zachary Quinto to develop a new biopic entitled Tab & Tony, about the secret gay love affair between actors Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter. The project has no director or actors attached at this time, with both Abrams and Quinto only currently attached as producers, with Abrams producing through his Bad Robot company along with Zachary Quinto, Neil Koeningsberg and Hunter's long-time partner Allan Glaser. Playwright Doug Wright, who won a Pulitzer for his play "I Am My Own Wife," has been hired to write the screenplay.

The movie will be adapted from Hunter's own 2005 biography "Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star," which chronicled his struggles as a gay actor in the 1950s, while detailing his rise to stardom where he was being marketed as a Hollywood heartthrob and the ideal leading man.

Jj Abrams and Zachary Quinto are producing a movie for Paramount about the secret love affair between Tab Hunter and Anthony Perkins.

The project, titled “Tab & Tony,” is in early development without actors or a director attached. Playwright Doug Wright, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “I am My Own Wife,” has been hired to write the screenplay.

Producers are Abrams through his Bad Robot company, his “Star Trek” collaborator Quinto, Hunter’s longtime partner Allan Glaser, and Neil Koenigsberg.

The movie is based on Hunter’s account of his struggle to come to terms with being gay in the 1950s. Hunter wrote the 2005 book “Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star,” which became a New York Times bestseller and detailed his rise to Hollywood heartthrob status in the 1950s while he was being marketed as the ideal man, as well as his issues with revealing his sexuality...

Author: James Kleinmann

It’s rare that a producer’s name becomes as familiar to the public as the stars of the films he or she makes, but in the late 1970s and ’80s, Allan Carr was a regular talk show guest and caftan wearing celebrity in his own right. A new fast paced, fascinating documentary by Emmy winner Jeffrey Schwarz (‘I Am Divine’, ‘Tab Hunter Confidential’) follows the highs and lows of Carr’s colourful career featuring interviews with those who knew him best.

‘The Fabulous Allan Carr’

Starting out in the entertainment industry as a talent booker for Hugh Hefner’s television show, Carr soon became a talent manager representing the likes of Ann-Margaret, Peter Sellers, Tony Curtis and Mama Cass Elliot. Following Carr’s legendary New York subway station premiere party for ‘Tommy’, he gained a reputation for being able to launch a movie with a splash.

Jeffrey Schwarz, a specialist in light gay-showbiz documentaries like I Am Divine and Tab Hunter Confidential, looks behind the scenes in The Fabulous Allan Carr, profiling a producer-manager whose considerable achievements have probably been overshadowed by his role in the great Rob Lowe/Snow White Oscar debacle of 1989. Benefiting from ample interview footage of this colorful self-promoter, the entertaining doc lacks the broad appeal of the Divine film but will play well to fest auds with a strong interest in musical theater and 1970s/'80s Tinseltown lore.

Friends from high school and college remember Carr (born Alan Solomon) as uncommonly gregarious;...

On the day a U.S. appeals court lifted an injunction that blocked a Mississippi “religious freedom” law – i.e., giving Christian extremists the right to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, etc. – not to mention the publication of a Republican-backed health care bill targeting the poor, the sick, the elderly, and those with “pre-existing conditions” – which would include HIV-infected people, a large chunk of whom are gay and bisexual men, so the wealthy in the U.S. can get a massive tax cut, Turner Classic Movies' 2017 Gay Pride or Lgbt Month celebration continues (into tomorrow morning, Thursday & Friday, June 22–23) with the presentation of movies by or featuring an eclectic – though seemingly all male – group: Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Dirk Bogarde, John Schlesinger, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins. After all, one assumes that, rumors or no, the presence of Mercedes McCambridge in one...

What's the right thing to say about a closeted movie career in an industry that feeds on gossip? There's plenty to say, if you're Tab Hunter. The '50s heartthrob breaks his silence with a remarkably candid and positive account of his astonishing, unique Hollywood experience. Tab Hunter Confidential Blu-ray FilmRise 2015 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 90 min. / Street Date August 23, 2016 / 19.95 Starring Tab Hunter, Allan Glaser, Clint Eastwood, Connie Stevens, Portia de Rossi, Robert Wagner, Debbie Reynolds, Lainie Kazan, George Takei, Noah Wyle, John Waters, Liz Torres, Tab Hunter, Dolores Hart, Terry Moore, Don Murray, Robert Osborne, Darryl Hickman, William Wellman Jr., Rae Allen, Rona Barrett, Venetia Stevenson, Rex Reed, Etchika Choureau, Marilyn Erskine, Henry Willson, Shannon Bolin, Eddie Muller, Ronnie Robertson, Gary Giddins, Tamara Asseyev, Neal Noorlag, Marilyn Gevirtz, Jo-An Cox Bunton, Lou Simon, Evelyn Kramer. Cinematography Nancy Schreiber Film Editor Jeffrey Schwarz Original Music Michael Cudahy Produced by Allan Glaser, Neil Koenigsberg,...

Get out those orange jumpsuits: Season 4 of "Orange Is the New Black" debuts on Netflix on June 17.

Also new in June: The first three "Jurassic Park" films, "Life" (starring Robert Pattinson as a Life magazine photographer and Dane DeHaan as James Dean) and Best Picture Oscar winner "Spotlight." ("The Big Short" arrives in July.)

Here's the complete list of what's new on Netflix streaming in June 2016:

Available June 1

"7 Chinese Brothers" (2015)

"72 Cutest Animals:" Season 1

"72 Dangerous Places:" Season 1

"A Walk to Remember" (2002)

"Big Stone Gap" (2014)

"Bob Ross: Beauty is Everywhere (1990)

"Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed:" Season 1-2

"Cold in July" (2014)

"Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land On The Moon?" (2001)

"Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution" (2015)

"(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies" (2015)

"El Libro de Piedra" (1969)

"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007)

"Extraordinary Tales" (2015)

"The Fear of 13" (2015)

"Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel García Márquez" (2015)

"Gentlemen and Gangsters:" Season 1

"The Good Witch...

GLAAD announced the nominations for its annual awards, and the organization announced that for the first time, more than 50 percent of its English-language nominees are trans-inclusive.

The GLAAD Media Awards honor "fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives."

On the movie side, acclaimed films "Carol" and "The Danish Girl" led the pack. On the TV side, the Emmy-winning "Transparent" continued to bask in awards love.

Here is the list of 2016 GLAAD nominees:

Outstanding Film — Wide Release

Carol

The Danish Girl

Dope

Freeheld

Grandma

Outstanding Film — Limited Release

52 Tuesdays

Appropriate Behavior

Boy Meets Girl

Drunktown's Finest

Tangerine

Outstanding Comedy Series

Brooklyn 99

Faking It

Grace and Frankie

Looking

Master of None

Modern Family

Orange Is the New Black

Please Like Me

Transparent

Vicious

Outstanding Drama Series

Arrow

Black Sails

Empire

The Fosters

Grey's Anatomy

How to Get Away With...

The Summer of Sangaille.

The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (Mqff) has teased its 2016 line-up ahead of the complete program being announced in March.

Mqff Program Manager Spiro Economopoulos said, .I.m really excited in bringing you my first Mqff program and a sneak peek of the new strands we are introducing. I.m particularly thrilled by our music focus which is something that is close to my heart..

Mqff's new music strand .includes the Australian premiere of The Glamour and the Squalor, a documentary following the career of radio DJ and taste-maker Marco Collins, who introduced the world to grunge music and was instrumental in launching the careers of Nirvana, Beck, Pearl Jam and Weezer.

Another doc in the line-up is Chemsex, which looks at the devastating effect of the use of amphetamines amongst London.s gay community..

Chemsex explores the desires that lead these men into a hedonistic spiral...

Tab Hunter Confidential has been making the rounds at festivals. Tab Hunter was a 1950s movie star, handsome and a hearthrob, who worked with Sophia Loren, Natalie Wood, and Rita Hayworth.

Scott Feinberg talks to the legendary Tab Hunter about the Oscar long listed doc, Tab Hunter Confidential. “It really isn’t important,” Tab Hunter said of the fact that he...

Read More: Watch: Tab Hunter Reveals His Career-Spanning Secret in 'Tab Hunter Confidential' Trailer In this exclusive clip from director Jeffrey Schwarz's documentary "Tab Hunter Confidential," interviewees reveal why Tab was such a popular commodity back in the 1950s. The film features interviews from Tab Hunter himself, as well as Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, John Waters, George Takei, Clint Eastwood, and Portia De Rossi, among others. The official synopsis reads: "In the 1950s, Tab Hunter is America’s Boy Next Door. Nothing, it seems, can damage his skyrocketing career. Nothing that is, except for the fact that Tab Hunter is secretly gay. Now, Tab Hunter’s secret is out. In 'Tab Hunter Confidential' we will meet, for the first time, the real Tab Hunter as he shares with us the whole story of a happy, healthy survivor of Hollywood’s roller coaster." The film opens...

Tab Hunter was a teen idol in the mid 20th century: he starred in dozens of films, appeared on countless magazine covers and recorded the #1 pop song "Young Love" in 1957. Yet the entire time he was in the public eye, Hunter closely guarded his private identity as a gay man, even while engaging in fairly public relationships with "close friends" like Anthony Perkins (the tabloid Confidential threatened to expose his involvement in a "limp wristed pajama party" at the time). "Tab Hunter Confidential" is so enjoyable principally through many interviews with Hunter himself, who makes clear that he wasn't a stereotypical tortured, self-loathing homosexual. He was an amazingly well adjusted, clean-cut kid who followed his gut and loved who he wanted to love His behavior was quietly groundbreaking. At the start of this documentary, which is based in part on a book of the same name that Hunter wrote with Eddie Muller,...

Why did Tab Hunter, 1950s all-American adonis and Hollywood star, want to make a movie about his life? "I figured, 'Get it from the horse's mouth, not from some other horse's ass after I'm dead and gone." You might not know this blond-headed hunk (now 83) from the days of Tinseltown's yesteryear because he wasn't exactly a marquee idol. He enjoyed a mid-sized movie career, starring in war pictures in the 1950s before landing a plum contract at Warner Bros. — all the while keeping his private life off the record, on the Q.T. and very hush-hush. Well, almost. Director Jeffrey Schwarz un-closets this Fifties Golden Boy in "Tab Hunter Confidential," the documentary film version of Hunter's memoir, co-penned by noir czar Eddie Muller nearly a decade ago. Schwarz discovered Hunter's story while interviewing him and his longtime partner (and former Fox executive) Allan Glaser for Schwarz's "I Am Divine," a documentary portrait of none-other-than Divine,...

You might not know this blond-headed hunk (now 83) from the days of Tinseltown's yesteryear because he wasn't exactly a marquee idol. He enjoyed a mid-sized movie career, starring in war pictures in the 1950s before landing a plum contract at Warner Bros. — all the while keeping his private life off the record, on the Q.T. and very hush-hush. Well, almost. Director Jeffrey Schwarz un-closets this Fifties Golden Boy in "Tab Hunter Confidential," the documentary film version of Hunter's memoir, co-penned by noir czar Eddie Muller nearly a decade ago. Schwarz discovered Hunter's story while interviewing him and his longtime partner (and former Fox executive) Allan Glaser for Schwarz's "I Am Divine," a documentary portrait of none-other-than Divine, John Waters' muse and a close friend of Hunter's. Read More: Tab Hunter, Out of the Hollywood Closet and in His Own Words The Film Collaborative opens "Tab Hunter Confidential" October 16th.

Read More: SXSW Review: Riveting And Insightful Documentary 'Tab Hunter Confidential' Reveals The True Story Of A Hollywood Star Tab Hunter was a Hollywood golden boy known for his roles in "Damn Yankees" and other hits during the 1950s, but despite being a teenage heartthrob, he kept a big secret -- which is now being revealed for the first time in Jeffrey Schwarz's documentary, "Tab Hunter Confidential."  The documentary follows Hunter's growth as a star and his decision to hide his sexual identity. Now at a distance from his hectic 1950's fame, Hunter discusses his sexuality and everything that came with stardom. Through interviews with Hunter and his famous collaborators, including Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, John Waters, George Takei, Clint Eastwood and Portia De Rossi, Schwartz explores dealing with fame and hiding sexuality as a celebrity. "Tab Hunter Confidential" will premiere in New York theaters on October 16 and in Los Angeles.

While we like to think that today we live in a more cultured era, celebrity personalities are still carefully crafted to properly present to the public a particular image of A-list stars. And that means managing all aspects of their lives, including yes, their sexuality. The decision for gay and lesbian actors to live "out" is not an easy one, because it comes unfairly saddled with certain baggage, but during Hollywood's golden era, there wasn't even a choice. And Tab Hunter knows what it was like. The legendary actor takes the central focus of "Tab Hunter Confidential," with Hunter sharing his experiences living as a closeted gay man, while trying to maintain his place as Hollywood's next big star. Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, John Waters, George Takei, Clint Eastwood, Portia De Rossi, and more join Hunter in the documentary. Here's the official synopsis:  In the 1950s, Tab Hunter is number...

Following a 10-day program of 180 Lgbtq films from 33 countries, Frameline's 39th edition came to an end Sunday night in San Francisco. Toh! reveals the exclusive list of festival winners, feted at the Oasis Nightclub & Cabaret.  Big winners include Chilean coming-out drama "In the Grayscale" (well-reviewed on the circuit) and kidnapping documentary "The Amina Profile," which earned Sundance buzz. Earlier in the fest, the career-honoring Frameline Film Fest award went to doc-maker Jeffrey Schwarz, whose "Tab Hunter Confidential" screened for Frameline audiences (it will play Outfest in La this Summer). Juried Awards: Outstanding First Feature Award: "In the Grayscale," directed by Claudio Marcone. Honorable mention: "Stories of Our Lives," directed by Jim Chuchu. Outstanding Documentary: "Alex & Ali," directed by Malachi Leopold. Honorable mention: "The Amina Profile" directed by Sophie...

Kristen Wiig, Katherine Heigl, Clint Eastwood, Aubrey Plaza and Zach Galifianakis are among the stars appearing in films included in the 2015 Outfest Los Angeles Lgbt Film Festival line-up, organizers announced Thursday. Wiig stars in Sebastián Silva’s drama “Nasty Baby,” Heigl takes the lead as a gay woman coming out to her family in “Jenny’s Wedding,” and Eastwood is among the talking heads in “Tab Hunter Confidential,” a documentary about matinee idol Tab Hunter’s rise from teenage stable boy to closeted Hollywood star of the 1950s. The nation’s leading Lgbt festival, presented by HBO, will feature six world premieres and three U.

A water main break at a movie theater can wreak havoc on a film festival!

The Eighth Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, was supposed to start Sunday April 19th at the Tivoli Theatre. But the organizers had to reschedule when the Tivoli had to shut down because of the water disaster. The show will go on, but the schedule has been changed.

The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 23 films – 11 features (six narratives and five documentaries) and 12 short subjects. The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.

Highlights include the St. Louis premieres of two biographical documentaries on Olympic diver Greg Louganis...

Tab Hunter Confidential now screens Monday, April 27th at 7pm at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) as part of this year’s QFest St. Louis. For ticket information, go Here

Hollywood can destroy people. For every survivor of the Hollywood system, whether from years ago or any current actors, there are dozens of actors and other artists who crashed and burned, had serious substance abuse issues, committed suicide or never made it at all.

Just from memory I can name Barbara Payton, Jayne Mansfield, Jeanne Eagles, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Diana Sands and Montgomery Clift. For a complete rundown you can’t do much better than Kenneth Anger’s incredible book Hollywood Babylon and it’s even more depressing sequel Hollywood Babylon Part Two. Vincent Price called Hollywood “the most evil place on Earth!” And Vincent Price would know something about evil!

A few short years ago I read Tab Hunter...

Tab Hunter Confidential screens Monday, April 20th at 7pm at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) as part if this year’s QFest St. Louis. For ticket information, go Here

Hollywood can destroy people. For every survivor of the Hollywood system, whether from years ago or any current actors, there are dozens of actors and other artists who crashed and burned, had serious substance abuse issues, committed suicide or never made it at all.

Just from memory I can name Barbara Payton, Jayne Mansfield, Jeanne Eagles, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Diana Sands and Montgomery Clift. For a complete rundown you can’t do much better than Kenneth Anger’s incredible book Hollywood Babylon and it’s even more depressing sequel Hollywood Babylon Part Two. Vincent Price called Hollywood “the most evil place on Earth!” And Vincent Price would know something about evil!

A few short years ago I read Tab Hunter...

This Sunday! – Come get your Q on, St. Louis!

The Eighth Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, runs April 19-23 at the Tivoli Theatre. The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 23 films – 11 features (six narratives and five documentaries) and 12 short subjects. The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.

Highlights include the St. Louis premieres of two biographical documentaries on Olympic diver Greg Louganis (“Back on Board”) and former Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter (“Tab Hunter Confidential”). Other prominent films include the latest from avant-garde queer filmmaker Bruce la Bruce (“Gerontophilia”) and lesbian-themed films starring Geraldine Chaplin (“Sand Dollars”) and the directorial debut...

London Lgbt film festival records biggest box office to date.

BFI Flare: London Lgbt Film Festival concluded on Sunday (March 29) with the European premiere of Malcolm Ingram’s new documentary, Out To Win, celebrating the battle for equality by Lgbt sports people. Special guests included director Malcolm Ingram and basketball star John Amaechi.

The closing night screening broke all box office records in the festival’s 29 years, with audiences of more than 23,500 recorded over the 11-day festival - up by 6.8% on the previous year.

This year’s festival also saw a step-change in industry attendance with a substantial increase in delegate accreditation, including 120 film-makers and more than 200 other industry attendees.

An expanded industry offering included a series of daily workshops on all aspects of film-making, fund-raising, marketing and the creative process.

Mentorship

The inaugural BFI Flare Mentorship programme in association with Creative Skillset was launched with five film-makers.

A partnership between BFI Flare and the British Council...

South by Southwest (SXSW) is the best week of the year for film fanatics. Period. It's in a wonderful place (Austin, Texas), sweetened by a lovely atmosphere that mixes the highbrow appreciation of erudite film nerds with the go-for-broke excitement of genre enthusiasts. There's nothing quite like it in the world of film festivals -- the vibe at SXSW isn't something that's easily replicated or translated; it just is.

We were on hand to take it all in and report back. Our interviews from the festival will be coming soon, along with the films that they accompany. But we also wanted to rank every film that we saw, in order of best to worst. This year's crop was pretty wonderful, even those in the back half of the list are still pretty great. (There were a couple of stinkers, but that happens at every festival.)

So sit back and relax,...

SXSW 2015 Film Review

complete coverage of the SXSW Film Festival 2015

7 Chinese Brothers

Director/Screenwriter: Bob Byington

A man unaccustomed to telling the truth learns to at least describe it. Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Tunde Adebimpe, Eleanore Pienta, Olympia Dukakis, Stephen Root. (World Premiere) (film synopsis from sxsw.com)

Overall

The film is almost about nothing, just like the title of the film. Most of the time this doesn’t matter because we get to watch Schwartzman do many Schwartzman things, including acting opposite his real-life dog. There is a very sweet and surprisingly authentic death involving a key character. Besides that moment, when the film ends, you’ll quickly forget about it and move on.

Final Score: 6/10

Adult Beginners

Director: Ross Katz, Screenwriters: Jeff Cox, Elizabeth Flahive

Out of a job after a disastrous product launch, a big-city yuppie retreats to his suburban childhood home, in this heart-warming and hilarious film about crashing hard,...

It's a question that will never be answered. Even so, for decades, there have been rumors that James Dean was bisexual and maybe quite possibly gay. Tab Hunter, a former 1950s matinee idol and friend of the Rebel Without a Cause star who publicly came out of the closet in 2006, weighed in on the gossip when I sat down with him at South by Southwest to talk about his new Jeffrey Schwarz-directed documentary, Tab Hunter Confidential. Hunter, now 83, said he knew "Jimmy pretty well" because his friend Dick Clayton was his agent. "People always said that," Hunter said about Dean swinging both ways. "All I know is I saw him with Ursula Andrews a lot and with Pier Angeli."...

Tab Hunter was a teen idol in the mid 20th century: he starred in dozens of films, appeared on countless magazine covers and recorded the #1 pop song "Young Love" in 1957. Yet the entire time he was in the public eye, Hunter closely guarded his private identity as a gay man, even while engaging in fairly public relationships with "close friends" like Anthony Perkins (the tabloid Confidential threatened to expose his involvement in a "limp wristed pajama party" at the time). "Tab Hunter Confidential" is so enjoyable principally through many interviews with Hunter himself, who makes clear that he wasn't a stereotypical tortured, self-loathing homosexual. He was an amazingly well adjusted, clean-cut kid who followed his gut and loved who he wanted to love; his behavior was quietly groundbreaking. At the start of this documentary, which is based in part on a book of the same name that Hunter wrote with Eddie Muller,...

Come get your Q on, St. Louis! The Eighth Annual QFest St. Louis, presented by Cinema St. Louis, runs April 19-23 at the Tivoli Theatre. The St. Louis-based Lgbtq film festival, QFest will present an eclectic slate of 23 films – 11 features (six narratives and five documentaries) and 12 short subjects. The participating filmmakers represent a wide variety of voices in contemporary queer world cinema. The mission of the film festival is to use the art of contemporary gay cinema to illustrate the diversity of the Lgbtq community and to explore the complexities of living an alternative lifestyle.

Highlights include the St. Louis premieres of two biographical documentaries on Olympic diver Greg Louganis (“Back on Board”) and former Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter (“Tab Hunter Confidential”). Other prominent films include the latest from avant-garde queer filmmaker Bruce la Bruce (“Gerontophilia”) and lesbian-themed films starring Geraldine Chaplin (“Sand Dollars”) and the directorial debut from HBO...

Lgbt festival to close with documentary Out To Win; Rocky Horror to screen at BFI Imax.

The full line-up of this year’s BFI Flare (March 19-29) has been unveiled in London this evening.

As previously announced, the 29th edition of the Lgbt film festival will open with Justin Kelly’s I Am Michael, starring James Franco and Zachary Quinto.

It was revealed this evening that the festival will close with the European premiere of documentary Out To Win on March 29.

Malcolm Ingram’s film examines of the lives and careers of aspiring and professional gay and lesbian athletes from all over the world, featuring contributions from Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, David Kopay and John Amaechi, among others.

It marks Ingram’s return to the festival having previously screened documentaries Small Town Gay Bar and Continental. Out To Win will world premiere at SXSW on March 15.

Gala screenings

The Accenture Gala will be the European Premiere...

Amy Schumer and Bill Hader in TrainwreckPhoto: Universal Pictures With Sundance just wrapping up and Berlin starting up in a few days, we are now immersed in the year-long barrage of film festivals. One such festival in South By Southwest. A few weeks back they announced the first seven films of their program, including the opening night film Brand: A Second Coming. Today, they have revealed the rest of the features to be shown in March (except for the midnight program), and some of it has me very excited. The bigger titles announced do not do much for me. Paul Feig's Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, and the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart starrer Get Hard leave a lot to be desired in terms of anticipation, as does a work in progress cut of Judd Apatow's latest film Trainwreck. I'm guessing an Apatow work in progress is probably around three and a half hours.

South by Southwest, the multi-faceted film, music and technology festival held annually in Austin, TX will feature such upcoming films as Paul Feig’s Spy, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Alex Gibney’s documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, and Ondi Timoner’s Russell Brand profile Brand: A Second Coming as headliners in this year’s film festival lineup.

SXSW runs from March 13 to 21 in Austin and is now in its 22nd year. Variety has details of the 145 films and 100 world premieres bowing at this year’s festival. Brand, as previously reported, will be the festival’s opening night film.

Other notable titles on the list are the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, a rough cut of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, the directorial debut of 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland, Ex Machina, and a new comedy by Michael Showalter, Hello, My Name is Doris.

On the small screen,...

Divine in the cult classic “Pink Flamingos”

The documentary I Am Divine made its world premiere at this year's SXSW Film Festival and as the title suggests, it documents the life and times of the iconic Divine, the mother of all drag performers. Divine worshippers and newbies will be happy to know that this movie has all the crazy and outlandish antics expected from the late great performer, but it's also surprisingly intimate, heartfelt, and a bit somber.

All of us remember our first encounter with the lovely Divine (born Harris Glenn Milstead). More than likely, you know her from John Waters' Pink Flamingos (a.k.a. The movie where she eats dog poo). It wasn't any different for Jeffrey Schwarz, director of the film. He was in his teenage years when he started worshipping at the altar of Divine.

“I had read about Pink Flamingos before actually seeing it,...