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Many of the most important queer films in cinema history share a birthplace: the Sundance Film Festival. Organized by the Sundance Institute, the legendary annual fest in Park City, Utah, has boasted international and U.S. premiere titles as varied as the groundbreaking New York ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning in 1991, Donna Deitch’s 1985 lesbian road drama Desert Hearts or even recent masterworks like Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 adaptation of Call Me by Your Name.

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Kim Yutani, director of programming at Sundance, about some of the most important Lgbtqia+ films to debut there.

“Seeing the films that Sundance has programmed over the years, especially around the early 1990s with the New Queer Wave, that was what attracted me to Sundance,” says Yutani, who’s been working with the festival for 17 years, and has also worked in various positions within the film industry, like as Gregg Araki...

Quentin Tarantino first worked alongside veteran actor Steve Buscemi in his debut feature film Reservoir Dogs. But before the two linked up, Buscemi already left an unforgettable impression on Tarantino with his acting alone.

Steve Buscemi didn’t think Quentin Tarantino was the writer behind ‘Reservoir Dogs’ when he first talked to him Quentin Tarantino | Massimo Insabato/Getty Images

Buscemi was already one of Hollywood’s most prolific and versatile actors before starring in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. He built up a nice career for himself in the mid to late-80s, and was maintaining momentum in the beginning of the 90s.

Tarantino, however, was a very small name in the world of cinema while Buscemi was reaching new heights in his career. Buscemi only first heard of the filmmaker when he was given the script for Reservoir Dogs. But the actor formed an impression of Tarantino based on the...

The coronavirus pandemic is still going on, and shutdowns are being lifted oh so gently. That generally means two things: go outside with a mask on while strafing away from passersby on the sidewalk, or stay in and watch stuff. Luckily, The Criterion Channel has announced its June 2020 lineup, which is full of things old and new.

June sees the streaming premiere of Bertrand Bonello’s fantasy-horror, Zombi Child, which originally premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The month also brings us the Channel’s addition of Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, which comes with deleted scenes, a making-of documentary, and more. Meanwhile, they will also flesh out the service’s Chantal Akerman selection, adding features such as One Day Pina Asked…, Golden Eighties, and her penultimate feature, Almayer’s Folly. On the other side of the coin comes Jamie Babbit...

Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, the producers of such films as “Carol,” “Their Finest” and the recent “Colette” starring Keira Knightley, will receive the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the BAFTA Film Awards.

The prolific pair run Number 9 Films and have a long list of credits. They will pick up their accolade at the awards ceremony on Feb. 10, joining a roster of previous winners who include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, and Ridley and Tony Scott.

“Elizabeth and Stephen are two of the U.K.’s leading producers, whose contribution to the British film industry over the last four decades is outstanding,” Marc Samuelson, chair of BAFTA’s Film Committee, said. “Their commitment to producing independent films in the U.K. which breaks down barriers and connects with audiences internationally is an inspiration to us all.”

Woolley’s film career stretches back to the 1970s. He ran the legendary...

The producers of Carol and Colette will receive the honour at the 2019 Bafta film awards.

Producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, co-founders of Number 9 Films, will receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the 2019 Bafta film awards (February 10).

The husband-and-wife producing duo founded independent powerhouse Number 9 in 2002. Known as makers of taste-driven, quality UK cinema, Karlsen and Woolley’s films include Todd Haynes’ Carol, which was nominated for six Oscars in 2016, On Chesil Beach, Their Finest, Made In Dagenham and Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth (as co-producers).

Upcoming Number 9 projects include So Much Love starring Gemma Arterton as Dusty Springfield,...

Carol and Colette producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, co-founders of Number 9 Films, are to receive the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the 72nd BAFTAs on Sunday 10 February in London. Previous recipients of the prestigious BAFTA award include Mike Leigh, Kenneth Branagh, Ridley and Tony Scott, Working Title, John Hurt and BBC Films.

Producing duo Woolley and Karlsen are among the most prolific indie film producers working in the UK today. Woolley began his career in the mid-70s before owning and running iconic repertory cinema, the Scala. Alongside Nik Powell, he founded Palace Pictures, distributing more than 250 films from the likes of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach as well as international hits like Paris, Texas, When Harry Met Sally and The Evil Dead. On the production side, 1983 marked the beginning of his collaboration with Neil Jordan. The Company of Wolves was their first film together, which was nominated for four BAFTAs.

In the summer, Outfest celebrates the latest Lgbtq movies and short films in downtown L.A. During the fall, the non-profit organization turns its attention to legacy: It honors key entertainment figures working today, while raising money to help ensure that past landmark Lgbtq movies do not vanish before our eyes.

The annual Outfest Legacy Awards serve as the key fundraiser for Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, a preservation initiative in conjunction with UCLA Film & Television Archive. UCLA’s archive contains more than 40,000 Lgbtq pieces — from fiction to nonfiction films, home movies and news reports. Among the project’s restored films: “Different From the Others,” the earliest known movie with a gay protagonist.

The German silent feature from 1919 was nearly destroyed by the Nazis, who objected to the story about two male musicians whose love is threatened by blackmail. Within a year of its release, the movie was banned from public...

Thanks be to the generous souls on Letterboxd who run the“Not Andrew Sarris” and “Not Dave Kehr” accounts with their thoughtful capsule reviews. When logging my viewing for Metrograph’s upcoming series, On Fire Island, I found reviews for Andy Warhol and Chuck Wein’s My Hustler, Frank Perry’s Last Summer, and Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances by the aforementioned critics. Stan Lopresto’s Sticks and Stones and Wakefield Poole’s Boys in the Sand (also screening in the series) are noticeably missing professional critiques. Looking further, Last Summer is the only film of the five to receive a fair shake from a robust number of film critics and the write-ups for My Hustler and Parting Glances are more first impressions than researched arguments.

On Fire Island is programmed by Michael Lieberman, head of publicity at Metrograph, and picks up the critical slack with programming-as-criticism. The series is...

One week a month, Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by the week’s new releases or premieres. This week: With Sundance in full swing, we’re looking back at some of the best directorial debuts that premiered at the festival.

Parting Glances (1986)

Bill Sherwood’s New York‒set Parting Glances is chiefly remembered as the first movie of any consequence to tackle the AIDS crisis. True enough, but the tone of the movie couldn’t be further from Longtime Companion, Philadelphia, or the many other earnest AIDS pictures that followed. It is, more than anything, a party movie, with a sprawling cast of characters, a fresh scene to explore, some classic Bronski Beat tunes, and an infectious eagerness to fit as much life as it can into its 24-hour time frame. Accordingly, it feels like the first major gay movie made for gay people.

At the picture’s ...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...

The Dobie Theater and Events Space will be the site of great celebration this weekend. Both aGLIFF (Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival) and AIDS Services of Austin are celebrating 25 years in our fair city, and are throwing a fundraiser bash at the former campus arthouse theater. On Saturday, August 18 starting at 6 pm, the fun begins with a schedule of four films followed by a dance party at 9 pm.

The first film of the night starting at 6 pm is 1986's Parting Glances, one of Steve Buscemi's first films and the only film made by director Bill Sherwood, who died in 1990 from complications due to AIDS. This historic independent dramedy focuses on a gay couple soon to be separated when one of the men heads to Africa for two years. Buscemi plays ex-boyfriend Nick, living with AIDS.

Show Me Love, a Swedish drama from 1998 about two teenage girls who begin a tentative relationship,...

Steve Buscemi, SAG Award winner for Best Actor in a Drama Series and co-winner for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series for Boardwalk Empire, poses in the press room at the 18th Screen Actors Guild Awards. The SAG Awards show was broadcast on TNT/TBS from the Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/WireImage.) Steve Buscemi, SAG Awards 2012 Among Buscemi's Boardwalk Empire Best Ensemble Award co-winners were Dabney Coleman, Charlie Cox, Stephen Graham, Jack Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Gretchen Mol, Kevin O'Rourke, Aleksa Palladino, Vincent Piazza, Michael Pitt, Michael Shannon, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Their competitors were the casts of the following television series: Breaking Bad (Bryan Cranston, Giancarlo Esposito, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Anna Gunn, etc.), Dexter (Michael C. Hall, Edward James Olmos, James Remar, Lauren Velez, Peter Weller, etc.), Game of Thrones (Mark Addy, Iain Glen, Julian Glover, Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean, Lean Headey,...

Bill Sherwood's comedy-drama Parting Glances and the Mariposa Film Group's documentary Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives are the first two films slated for restoration by the Outfest Legacy Project for the LGBT Film Preservation Partnership. The UCLA Film & Television Archive and Outfest, the gay and lesbian film and video organization, joined forces last year to found the project.