Now Available On-Demand: Together

From writer-director Stanley Bain and the team at Together Magic Films, Together is an 18-minute, black and white short film about two characters: Kelly and Mason (Tom Svaldi and Anthony Laurita).

Ex-boyfriends, both men are alcoholics. One is in recovery while the other one is still falling prey to his deadly addiction. One night, after many months, the two reconnect when Mason finds himself in crisis and reaches out for help.

A film about growing up and finding one’s identity in the face of betrayal, Together is Bain’s thesis film from the Colorado Film School. Born and raised on the Navajo reservation, he moved to Tempe, Arizona after graduation high school and had spent much of his life there. He also earned a BA in Mathematics from Arizona State University.

“While I enjoyed math and was good at it, I still felt like something was missing,” said Bain. “So after some time just working and earning a living, I decided to pursue my dream to tell stories through the medium of film. Three years ago, I relocated to Denver, Colorado in pursuit of my dream to be a filmmaker.”

 

You can watch an intro video from Bain below along with a teaser trailer for Together – and click here to rent or download the film. It’s available now, on-demand, at TLAgay.

 

 

Writer-director Etienne Kallos talks about the intense new drama The Harvesters

South Africa, Free State region, isolated stronghold to the Afrikaans white ethnic minority culture. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno (Brent Vermeulen) is different, secretive, emotionally frail. One day his mother, fiercely religious, brings home Pieter (Alex van Dyk), a hardened street orphan she wants to save, and asks Janno to makes this stranger into his brother. The two boys start a fight for power, heritage and parental love. An official selection of Cannes Un Certain Regard, Etienne Kallos‘ debut feature film The Harvesters explores teenage angst, sexual awakening and family dynamics set against a harsh yet stunning South African backdrop.

Could you tell us a little about your background prior to this feature debut?

I am a Greek-South African from Cape Town and my first love was theatre. I did my Bachelors in play-writing and stage design. This is where I met a mentor who changed my path: the Afrikaans playwright Reza de Wet. She wrote in Afrikaans, the language of Afrikaners, the descendants of the first Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries.

‘Afrikaner’ is the old Dutch word for ‘African’. Reza is probably the most translated Afrikaans playwright in the world. I first attended her class when I was 17 years old. Her plays showed me new ways to explore the South African experience, especially in the post-colonial era. Her work isn’t political, but rather mythological, some might say it’s gothic. She’s the one who first told me about the eastern Free State, the region where The Harvesters was born as a project. We shot between Free State and KwaZulu Natal, the bordering region which is the only one to have funded the film.

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Gay movie heartthrob Felix Maritaud talks about his role in the new Sauvage/Wild

We’ve seen a whole lot of Felix Maritaud in gay cinema circles lately. Over the past few years alone, he’s had prominent roles in BPM (Beats Per Minute), Boys, Knife+Heart and the gay short film collection Male Shorts: International V2. You’d think we would be sick of him by now, but we simply can’t get enough. Between his smoldering good looks and his intense and committed performances, we’re consistently excited to see what he’ll do next.


A premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival his new film, Sauvage/Wild takes us on the riveting and vibrant erotic journey of a 22-year-old male prostitute named Leo – who trades in love as much as lust and wanders through his life without rules or restrictions. Through a series of encounters that offer a glimpse into the complicated and visceral world of male sex work, Leo finds himself searching for affection anywhere he can get it – whether it’s the unrequited love for his hustler friend Ahd (Eric Bernard) or in the arms of an older, vulnerable client. Will Leo choose his freedom and the dangers that come with it, or the comforts of a stable relationship? After all, in this unpredictable world, who knows where he’ll end up?


Enjoy this interview with Felix Maritaud below (taken from the film’s press materials) and click here to pre-order your copy of Sauvage/Wild. The film is coming to DVD in July.

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Writer-director Camille Vidal-Naquet talks about his intense new gay film Sauvage/Wild


With a master’s degree in literature, writer/director Camille Vidal-Naquet broke onto the international film scene directing shorts. First was an experimental work, entirely in sign language, called Génie. He followed that with his first fiction films, Backstage and Heady Stuff. While teaching film analysis, he managed to write and direct his first feature-length film.


A premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival (quote an honor for a first-time feature director), Sauvage/Wild takes us on the riveting and vibrant erotic journey of a 22-year-old male prostitute named Leo (Felix Maritaud). Leo trades in love as much as lust and wanders through his life without rules or restrictions. Through a series of encounters that offer a glimpse into the complicated and visceral world of male sex work, Leo finds himself searching for affection anywhere he can get it – whether it’s the unrequited love for his hustler friend Ahd (Eric Bernard) or in the arms of an older, vulnerable client. Will Leo choose his freedom and the dangers that come with it, or the comforts of a stable relationship? After all, in this unpredictable world, who knows where he’ll end up?


Enjoy this interview with Camille Vidal-Naquet below (taken from the film’s press materials) and click here to pre-order your copy of Sauvage/Wild. The film is coming to DVD in July.

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Director Yann Golzalez talks about his sensational new thriller Knife+Heart

French writer-director Yann Gonzalez is well studied in the art of cinema. A connoisseur of art films both high and low-brow, his influences show in his work, but he manages to take what he likes and give it his own spin.

A former member of the esteemed electronic group M83 with his brother Anthony, Gonzalez moved into the world of film in the mid-2000s (while still collaborating with the group on projects). Between 2006 and 2012, he directed six short films before turning to full-length features with You and the Night, which was presented during the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Festival and was released in theaters internationally in November 2013. His second full-length feature film, the critically-acclaimed gay porn industry-centered period piece/thriller Knife+Heart (frequently referred to by the French title Un Couteau dans le cœur), will be released on DVD and Blu-ray June.

Enjoy this interview with Yann Gonzalez below (taken from the film’s official press package) and click here to pre-order your copy. Knife+Heart is an exceptional flick and an absolute must-see for gay cinema lovers.

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Director Christophe Honoré talks Sorry Angel

Paris, 1993. Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps) is a semi-renowned writer and single father in his thirties trying to maintain his sense of romance and humor in spite of the turmoil in his life and the world. While on a work trip to Brittany, he meets Arthur (Vincent Lacoste), an aspiring filmmaker in his early twenties, who is experiencing a sexual awakening and eager to get out of his parochial life. Arthur becomes instantly smitten with the older man.

From acclaimed writer-director Christophe Honoré (Love Songs, Dans Paris) comes Sorry Angel, a mature and deeply emotional reflection on love and loss, and youth and aging. In its intergenerational snapshot of cruising, courtship and casual sex – Jacques’ forty-something neighbor Mathieu (Denis Podalydès) rounds out the triumvirate – Sorry Angel balances hope for the future with agony over the past in an unforgettable drama about finding the courage to love in the moment.

Read what director Christophe Honoré has to say about Sorry Angel below and click here to pre-order your copy. It’s coming to DVD in May.

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Director Matthew Montgomery talks about the intense new gay thriller Devil’s Path

Set in the early 1990s, the new gay thriller Devil’s Path follows Noah
(Stephen Twardokus) who, while searching for his missing brother in a remote gay cruising park, sets his sights on a handsome stranger (JD Scalzo).

When Noah is viciously attacked, he and his new companion escape through the woods with two menacing thugs in hot pursuit. Lost and frightened, they begin to turn on each other and slowly unravel the truth of what’s really going on around them.

This moody, picturesque psychological thriller from prolific gay cinema star and first-time director Matthew Montgomery features unexpected twists and turns, and seamlessly blends sharp, opposing perspectives about sex and love with suspenseful set pieces filled with existential dread.

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Writer/Director Steve McLean talks about his sexy new film Postcards from London

Postcards from London is writer/director Steve McLean‘s homage to a lost Soho, a Soho which no longer exists. Or perhaps it only ever existed in his dreams. So instead of trying to re-create a specific bygone era, the Soho of his youth in the 1970’s and early 80’s, he created a gorgeous, eye-catching Soho of the imagination, a Soho of memory.

 

The film tells the story of a beautiful young man named Jim (Beach Rats star Harris Dickinson) who, having traveled from the suburbs, finds himself in Soho where he falls in with The Raconteurs – a gang of unusual high class male escorts who specialize in post-coital conversation. From shy novice to highly sought-after escort (and, eventually, artist’s muse), Jim would be the toast of the town if it wasn’t for his annoying affliction. He suffers from Stendhal Syndrome, a rare condition which causes him to hallucinate and faint when he encounters real works of art. But when Jim is roped into the world of detecting art forgery, could his condition bring about his downfall?

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Don't Call Me Son (c) Zeitgeist Films

Writer-director Anna Muylaert discusses her work and the new film Don’t Call Me Son

Tall, dark, androgynously handsome Pierre wears eyeliner and a black lace g-string while having sex with both boys and girls. The confusion only goes deeper when the teenager’s single, working-class mom is arrested for having stolen him (and his “sister”) at birth. Thanks to the wonders of DNA, he’s returned to his biological parents: bourgeois, straight-laced and thrilled to have him back… at least until he shows up in a zebra-print mini dress. The turmoil of adolescence is plumbed with wit and compassion by writer/director Anna Muylaert in Don’t Call Me Son. Her earlier film, The Second Mother, also dealt with familial loyalty and class tensions. Actress Dani Nefussi gives completely believable knock-out performances as both mothers, and newcomer Naomi Nero defies expectations as a broodingly intense, potentially volcanic six-footer in stiletto heels.

 

Born in São Paulo in 1964, Muylaert studied cinema at ECA/USP where she directed many shorts, among them the awarded The Origin of Babies. She has directed the feature films Durval Discos, Collect Call and The Second Mother (which won the Special Jury Award for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Film in the Panorama Section at the Berlin Film Festival). The Second Mother was sold to over 30 countries. Formerly a film reviewer, she also collaborated on the scripts of the features The Year My Parents Went on Vacation and Xingu by director Cao Hamburger, the excellent and deeply underrated Futuro Beach by Karim Ainouz.

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Q&A: Charlie David, producer and screenwriter of Mulligans

Gay movie mainstay Charlie David wrote and stars in this beloved kinda/sorta gay update of The Graduate!

Tyler (Derek Baynham) brings his college buddy Chase (David) home for the summer to hang out with his surprisingly hot dad, Nathan (Dan Payne), and mom, Stacey (Thea Gill from “Queer as Folk”). They have the picture-perfect, All-American life going on here in quaint Prospect Lake. The father-son duo golf with regularity, there’s always a family barbecue and the conversation is straight out of “Leave It to Beaver.” While Chase knows he’s gay, he has never come out to his friend, who tries in vain to set him up with girls. But when Chase comes out to his summer family, the cracks in the family dynamic start to show. Nathan looks with a lusty new eye to his son’s best friend, and when he and Chase are left alone for the night, their mutual passion bubbles to the surface, and clothes are quickly shed. The drama hits a peak as Tyler and Stacey return early and discover the shocking secret about this young dad. Can Nathan remain true to himself and keep his family together? Sparkling dialogue, a fast pace and lots of screen time for the ridiculously gorgeous Charlie David have made Mulligans, originally released in 2008, a movie we keep coming back to again and again.

With the 10th anniversary of Mulligans approaching, we thought it was a great time to revisit the film, so we’re presenting this Q&A with Charlie. Enjoy!

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