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In 1992, Tilda Swinton portrayed the titular role in Orlando, written and directed by Sally Potter and based on the book Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf. The topic of gender roles and the societal expectations attached to them has always been prominent in the public discourse. Orlando provides much more than just a commentary on the rigid societal structure that pertains to these roles, but also on the ambiguity that exists between them.

In a narrative that spans multiple centuries, Orlando brings the audience along with them on a journey that will thoroughly deconstruct the nature of gender. Not just as it relates to the character, but the way in which it's presented in society, how males and females are expected to behave, and their treatment. Supplementing the journey through time and its exploration of the topic of gender is an immaculate presentation and set designs that make it one...

As Gladiator II returns audiences to the savagery and spectacle that existed in Ancient Rome, a genuine interest in the Imperial Family that ruled the empire for hundreds of years has once again been piqued by Ridley Scott's stylized depictions of history. The intrigue and cloak-and-dagger tactics of manipulation that exist in the corridors of power have always spurned interest among audiences. There is no better example of the plotting, scheming, and manipulation within the confines of the Roman Imperial family than that depicted in the 1976 BBC miniseries I, Claudius.

Based on the novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves, I, Claudius consisted of a narrative that took place during the reign of Augustus Caesar and culminated with the ascension of Nero to the throne. Fans of Ridley Scott's first Gladiator movie will recognize the actor in the titular role, Derek Jacobi. Taking it upon himself...

BBC Studios has announced the titles coming to BritBox in June 2024, which include everything from new BritBox Originals to classic British fare. BritBox is a digital video subscription service offering the largest collection of British TV in the U.S. and Canada.

Summer will see the powerful return of gritty, impactful crime dramas on BritBox, starting with the June 13 return of BritBox Original Blue Lights. A breakout hit in the UK, the Belfast-based series delves into complex local politics through the lens of a police drama.

Additionally, the Alan Carr (Alan Carr’s Adventures with Agatha Christie) semi-autobiographical sitcom Changing Ends will premiere on June 6. It chronicles the comedian’s childhood and adolescence in Thatcher’s Britain. IFTA-nominated Irish drama Northern Lights will premiere in the U.S. and Canada on June 26.

BritBox is a digital subscription video-on-demand service offering the largest and most comprehensive, unmissable collection of British entertainment available all in one place.

Gay cinema certainly has turned a corner lately, in the wake of films as varied as Cassandro, Rustin and All of Us Strangers, stories in which the lead character’s sexuality might form a crucial part of the tapestry of the drama but isn’t the be-all and end-all. Leading the vanguard for the next generation is this confident debut from 33-year-old British-Iraqi director Amrou Al-Kadhi, a frank and emotionally honest portrait of someone who falls outside society’s boxes and steadfastly refuses to conform to them. This emphasis on the positive is sometimes counterintuitive (more on that later), but, thanks to its core cast, Layla is an engaging study of love in the pronoun era.

Layla (Bilal Hasna) is a non-binary drag queen/performance artist who lives in London, in a house they share with a bunch of like-minded queens, a sharp, ragtag bunch more prone to discussing the...

In the wee hours of Christmas morning, Channel 4 offers a quirky and alternative take on the traditional festive broadcast with “The Alternative Christmas Message.” Airing at 3:40 Am on Monday, December 25, 2023, this unique program provides a refreshing break from the monarch’s annual televised message, showcasing a diverse lineup of speakers ranging from the legendary Quentin Crisp to the charismatic Tom Daley, and even featuring animated icons Marge Simpson and the incomparable Ali G.

Viewers are in for a treat as these unconventional voices share their perspectives on the year gone by, injecting humor, wisdom, and a touch of irreverence into the early hours of Christmas. Whether it’s insightful reflections or unexpected laughs, “The Alternative Christmas Message” promises a distinctive and offbeat start to the day, making it a must-watch for those seeking a break from the conventional holiday fare. Tune in to Channel 4 at 3:40 Am for...

This Christmas, Channel 4 is offering a unique twist to the traditional holiday broadcast with “The Alternative Christmas Message.” Airing at 5:10 Pm on Monday, December 25, 2023, this alternative to the monarch’s annual address brings together a diverse lineup of speakers, ranging from the iconic Quentin Crisp to the charismatic Tom Daley, with surprise appearances by Marge Simpson and Ali G.

Diverging from the usual royal fare, this unconventional broadcast promises a refreshing and varied perspective on the year gone by. The inclusion of speakers from different walks of life ensures an eclectic mix of insights, humor, and perhaps a touch of irreverence.

Tune in to Channel 4 at 5:10 Pm for an entertaining and thought-provoking alternative to the traditional Christmas message. Whether it’s wisdom from Quentin Crisp or a dose of humor from Ali G, “The Alternative Christmas Message” offers a break from convention, making it a unique and...

Drag queen Alyssa Edwards is back in “Alyssa’s Secret — The Reboot.”

The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 5 contestant’s return is part of World of Wonder’s 2023 slate of original content for their SVOD service, Wow Presents Plus.

“Alyssa’s Secret,” which first began airing 10 years ago on the Wow Presents YouTube channel, is returning to Wow Presents Plus after four years. Since its inception, the series has been a fan-favorite as the charm of Season 5 breakout Alyssa Edwards has captivated viewers. With “Alyssa’s Secret – The Reboot,” Alyssa will be spilling tea and popping tongues alongside a sparkling lineup of guests in a fresh take on the original series. “Alyssa’s Secret – The Reboot” premieres exclusively on Wow Presents Plus on April 26.

Additional titles include brand-new originals and new seasons of beloved series.

Originals include “Click Boys,” a revealing docuseries exposing the real-life triumphs and struggles of today’s biggest Lgbtqia OnlyFans entertainers,...

David Lynch's 1977 debut feature "Eraserhead" is a dank, horrifying picture, replete with surrealist imagery and themes of urban blight, suicidal ideation, and parental resentment. There are dreams within dreams, and even pleasant things are craggy and ugly. It's a smoky, messy film full of squirting bodily fluids and clumps of earth. It's one of the best films of its decade.

His 1980 follow-up film, "The Elephant Man," appears on paper to be one of the least likely sophomore efforts imaginable. Produced by Mel Brooks, "The Elephant Man" was a biographical prestige picture about the real-life Joseph Merrick (named John in the film), a man afflicted with, some have conjectured, Proteus syndrome. Merrick had an enlarged head, an outside right arm, and loose, tumor-ridden skin. He was a performer in circus sideshows and was assumed to be mentally infirm by his cruel "handlers." An English doctor named Frederick Treves discovered Merrick,...

You’ve never seen Udo Kier like this before. The heavily accented German character actor, who got his start in Andy Warhol’s “Flesh for Frankenstein” and was finally accepted as a member of the Motion Picture Academy this past year, has spent the intervening decades alternating between art films and exploitation movies, appearing as Nazis and nutjobs in everything from “Iron Sky” to “Nymphomaniac.” In Todd Stephens’ “Swan Song,” he plays a flaming small-town Ohio hairdresser who burns brighter than a dying star — which is precisely the way his character, Pat Pitsenbarger, sees himself.

Dressed like a cross between Liberace and Quentin Crisp, “Mister Pat” — who was in fact a real person — catered to the socialites of straight-laced Sandusky by day. In his off hours, he entertained at the local gay bar, the Universal Fruit and Nut Company, so comfortable with his queerness that he inspired Stephens’ own coming-out...

In Lee Daniel’s upcoming “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” coming to Hulu on Feb. 26, Andra Day plays legendary Billie Holiday. The film centers around her 1940s court trial and her encounters with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

Leslie Jordan plays journalist Reginald Lord Devine, who sits down with Holiday for an interview to discuss “Strange Fruit.” The song, which condemns the U.S. history of lynching Black people, caused Holiday to come under fire by the agency.

Of Jordan’s casting, Daniels says, “I’m a big fan of Leslie’s and I’ve always wanted to work with him. When I was thinking about this character — a journalist who interviews celebrities down on their luck – I envisioned a fusion of Quentin Crisp and Skip E. Lowe, a role I knew only Leslie could bring to life.”

Jordan has built himself a varied career over the years. In...

Rainbow flags are flown to celebrate Pride Month Photo: torbakhopper

June is Pride Month, so we’re looking at some of the best documentaries exploring Lgbti history around the world, plus two films that made history by changing the perspectives of those who watched them.

50 Years Legal

50 Years Legal, Amazon Prime, NowTV

Only 53 years ago, it was illegal for consenting adult men to have sex with each other in the UK. Simon Napier-Bell’s documentary remembers the piece of legislation that changed this (at last for those over 21) and reflects on what has happened since, taking in further legislative changes and the gradual cultural change that accompanied them. There are strong contributions from the likes of Peter Tatchell, Quentin Crisp, Angela Eagle, Marc Almond and Julian Clary, providing insights that blend the personal and the political, packing a lot into just 90 minutes. With Us documentary The Lavender Scare sadly not...

If the state of things today is a source of frustration, know that Russell T. Davies is right there with you. “What a mad world we live in at the moment. Everything seems to get hotter and madder and stranger and faster,” he said to IndieWire the day his new miniseries, “A Very English Scandal,” began streaming on Amazon Prime.

The openly gay Welsh writer pointed to the current global sports obsession as just one example of that. “We’re all hopping around Russia celebrating because the World Cup’s there, and all the stuff about the politics of Russia seems to have been forgotten,” he said. “My nighttime television is now full of people celebrating all over Russia, a country that’ll happily lock men like me up. Before the World Cup, we were all going, ‘Oh, is it right to forgive them their laws on homosexual rights? Should...

Released in 1992 to critical acclaim, Sally Potter’s sophomore feature film Orlando follows the life of an eponymous, time traveling, androgynous nobleman who transforms from a man to a woman over the course of the film. An adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel of the same name, Potter’s stunning film is a sumptuous take on Woolf’s stream of consciousness writing; a fleshing-out of the “viable skeleton” of the novel.1 For a film with such an unusual conceit, it was important that there to be a unifying element to tie the film’s different time periods together, and this cohesion was attained through the film’s ruminative, near-constant musical score. In addition to writing and directing Orlando, Potter, a trained musician and improviser, also took on the task of composing music for the film. Whilst lamenting to producer Christopher Sheppard that the film had gone over budget and they couldn’t afford a composer,...

22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017

The film director remembers his friend, the actor with ‘a single malt of a voice’, who despite his ups and downs, remained a rare talent and a true professional

• Darcus Howe remembered by Diane Abbott

That voice, distilled from alcohol and Gauloises, a single malt of a voice, caressed the nation for half a century. In The Elephant Man it was only the voice. As Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant the voice swerved into a gay queenery. It expressed pain and suffering as a monster exploded out of his stomach in Alien. His Christ for Mel Brooks persuaded us that Jesus had such a voice. Its emollience spread over hundreds of movies, plays and commercials. On stage, it put audiences into a light hypnosis.

He lent it to me for two short films which were the most enjoyable of my career. He was a fine companion over 45 years.

Stars: John Hurt, Liz Gebhardt, Patricia Hodge, Stanley Lebor, Katherine Schofield, Colin Higgins, John Rhys-Davies, Stephen Johnstone, Antonia Pemberton | Written by Quentin Crisp, Philip Mackie | Directed by Jack Gold

When John Hurt died we lost a true legend of film, and an actor loved by both young and old. Some knew him for his role as Kane in Alien, John Merrick in The Elephant Man, and even Doctor Who. Perhaps his most daring role though was as Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant.

The Naked Civil Servant is the story of Quentin Crisp, a shamelessly (and famously) homosexual man who was never afraid to be himself, even at a time when it was illegal. Looking at his coming of age and growth into old age the film celebrates the life of a truly inspirational individual.

Quentin Crisp is anything but shy, you get to see this in The Naked Civil Servant...

Sir John Hurt, a British actor who enjoyed a long career filled with distinguished performances, has passed away, according to multiple news reports. He was 77. Born in a coal-mining village in England, Hurt was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and made both his stage and movie debuts in 1962. He first gained international attention in A Man for All Seasons (above right and below) in 1966. On television, he made big marks as the notorious Quentin Crisp in The...

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For a man whose first claim to screen immortality came when an extraterrestrial freak of nature ripped a hole in his chest and screeched bloody murder in Alien, John Hurt was a hell of an actor. "The alien won the Oscar," a laughing Hurt told me nearly three decades later, referring to the Academy Award that Ridley Scott's 1979 film took home for H.R. Giger's visual effects. It might be the only time in his 55-year career that anyone, let alone a creature that looked like a penis with teeth,...

Sir John Hurt, a British actor who enjoyed a long career filled with distinguished performances, has passed away, according to multiple news reports. He was 77. Born in a coal mining village in England, Hurt was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and made both his stage and movie debuts in 1962. He first gained international attention in A Man for All Seasons (above right and below) in 1966. On television, he made big marks as the notorious Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and in the miniseries I, Claudius as the nasty, duplicitous Caligula. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his dramatic supporting role in Midnight Express and followed that up with his brief, yet incredibly memorable (and Nsfw) appearance in Ridley Scott's...

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John Hurt, the British actor famed for his wide-ranging roles in films as diverse as Harry Potter, Alien and The Elephant Man, has died at the age of 77. He rose to prominence after portraying Quentin Crisp in the 1975 TV film The Naked Civil Servant and went on to become a versatile, Oscar-nominated actor. Hurt, who had been suffering from pancreatic cancer since 2015, died in London on Friday

John Hurt, versatile star of The Elephant Man, Alien and Harry Potter, dies aged 77 Continue reading...

Update: The two-time Oscar-nominated British star of The Elephant Man and Midnight Express has died, his publicist confirmed to Screen on Friday night. He was 77.

Hurt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015 and continued to work after it appeared he had overcome the disease. However last summer he withdrew from the stage revival of The Entertainer upon the advice of his doctors. According to his publicist Hurt had intestinal issues when he died.

He recently played a priest in the Natalie Portman starrer Jackie and was in the cast of Joe Wright’s upcoming Second World War drama Darkest Hour for Working Title and Focus Features.

His wife Anwen Rees-Myers issued the following statement: “It is with deep sadness that I have to confirm that my husband, John Vincent Hurt, died on Wednesday 25th January 2017 at home in Norfolk.

“John was the most sublime of actors and the most gentlemanly of gentlemen with the greatest of hearts...

The Party

Director: Sally Potter

Writer: Sally Potter

British filmmaker shot to prominence in 1992 with her sophomore feature, an exquisite adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s genderbending novel Orlando, which starred Tilda Swinton and Quentin Crisp.

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England is viewed by the wider world as a nation of eccentrics. This is considered a genetic characteristic, and something to be celebrated. Like most assumptions, the truth lies somewhat wide of the remark. Quentin Crisp, one such "National Treasure," is now rightly revered as one, but his journey from pariah nuisance to that of sage-like venerability was a long and winding affair. He migrated to New York, remaining vital till the end, an amalgam of defiance and disappointment worn as wit.

Some considered him a latter-day Oscar Wilde, a comparison he didn't much value, remarking that he'd known many who'd been sent to prison for crimes of the flesh like Wilde's, without being broken or penning such bad verse.

Unkind maybe, but Wilde had it all and lost it largely because of his own arrogance. He could have fled to Paris, had the chance to but didn't take it.

Far Away So Close: Josue Pays Personal Homage to Memory of Murdered Friend

His name now synonymous with progressive social policy, Matthew Shepard, the young gay man murdered in 1998, would come to represent a generation of bullied, battered and butchered Lgbt American youths. At last, he receives a moving, often devastatingly sorrowful homage in Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, a documentary from his close friend and first time filmmaker Michele Josue. There have been other significant filmed documents attempting to grapple with his horrific demise, most notably the 2002 television film adaptation of Moises Kaufman’s play The Laramie Project, which featured a star studded cast. Now, nearing seventeen years since his death, Josue finally was able to assemble a more personal ode to Shepard, something that was initially discouraged by Shepard’s mother. The only trouble is, though often meaningful and loving, it’s a document that seems unnecessary,...

Very few of Andy Warhol's anointed "superstars" managed a long shelf-life. They simply were too wild, too beautiful, and too damned. There were the poor little rich girl Edie Sedgwick, the transgender icon Candy Darling, and the husky, glacial, heroin-swamped charm of Nico. All gone, along with a cavalcade of others; too soon and in the 20th century. Ultra Violet survived into this one, and originally arrived as a somebody already in the anybody everybody world of The Factory.

Often compared to Vivien Leigh, she was a striking beauty, a privileged French girl from a chateau via a host of reform schools. A muse to the surrealist eccentric Salvador Dali, she was also his muse, assistant, and confidante, although theirs was a decidedly platonic affair begun after she'd entranced him after delivering him a present in New York from a mutual friend. By the time she encountered Warhol, she...

To be a great frontman you must possess a commanding presence. As Quentin Crisp rightly put it, charisma is “the ability to influence without logic.”

People often get confused between what makes a great frontman and what makes a charismatic frontman. Lou Reed, Alex Turner, Ian Curtis, Brandon Flowers and Liam Gallagher are all amazing frontman but to label them ‘charismatic’ is something totally different. There may be some names you don’t agree with, some you’re surprised are in there or perhaps you’ll end up swearing at your laptop screen because Bruce Dickinson and Randy Blythe weren’t listed: this isn’t a Metal list by any means. Nor is it a list that favours pure Indie. It’s a collection of 15 frontmen from all eras of popular culture, neatly gathered in one place for your entertainment.

15. Brian Molko

The Brian Molko is often overlooked in lists such as this,...

A brilliant performance by Michael Douglas illuminates an affectionate and funny portrait of the flamboyant entertainer

Liberace was a fabulously rich, self-created midwesterner, the child of humble immigrant parents known for his extravagant lifestyle and vulgar tastes, as well as his worship of the American dream and the mystery in which he was wrapped. He was in effect a gay Jay Gatsby. His life was not, however, tragic, that is until his death of an Aids-related illness at 67, and he can be considered a success in that he achieved the acclaim and celebrity he had always dreamed of, and he died believing that he had taken the secret of his homosexuality to the grave.

Steven Soderbergh's cinebiography of Liberace, Behind the Candelabra, is (so he claims) his final movie, and it had to be made for America's HBO network because no Hollywood studio would finance a film for the...

Yes, I have too much time on my hands. Here's a new feature that was fun to put together (though quite time-consuming, which makes me worry about my ability to do this every month). I look back at rock, pop, and R&B albums that came out five years ago, ten years ago, etc.

1967

Buffalo Springfield: Again (Atco)

There was much chaos surrounding the creation of this quintet 's second album. Bassist Bruce Palmer, in some ways the soul of the band, was unavailable due to a drug charge deportation, and a string of session players took his place. Stephen Stills, who saw himself as the leader of the group, was feuding with Neil Young, who considered himself an equal, and Young actually quit -- but returned. And that's without getting into the fiasco that was the band's management team.

Nonetheless, it was a quantum leap forward from their debut,...

Stars of the small screen reveal their TV secrets

The entertainers: Ant and Dec

This feels like real life," says Declan Donnelly, settling back into the sofa next to Anthony McPartlin. "We've done this before." You would have thought that after all those hours on telly performing – often live – for millions, Ant and Dec would want to do anything but watch it when they got home. "It's my number-one way to relax," says Dec. "We watch everything and anything and we constantly text each other to check what we're watching." Dec's last text to Ant was about the best ham sandwich in the world, as featured on Countrywise Kitchen. Ant's alerted Dec to the Hairy Bikers' pork terrine. Both food related, "but we text through sport, documentaries and dramas, too," says Dec. As hosts of Britain's Got Talent, the pair have been baffled by the competition revved...

Stars of the small screen reveal their TV secrets

The entertainers: Ant and Dec

This feels like real life," says Declan Donnelly, settling back into the sofa next to Anthony McPartlin. "We've done this before." You would have thought that after all those hours on telly performing – often live – for millions, Ant and Dec would want to do anything but watch it when they got home. "It's my number-one way to relax," says Dec. "We watch everything and anything and we constantly text each other to check what we're watching." Dec's last text to Ant was about the best ham sandwich in the world, as featured on Countrywise Kitchen. Ant's alerted Dec to the Hairy Bikers' pork terrine. Both food related, "but we text through sport, documentaries and dramas, too," says Dec. As hosts of Britain's Got Talent, the pair have been baffled by the competition revved...

While Episode 3 of HBO's hit Soapless Opera was a bit talkier - not to mention 100% less infanticidey - than the last two eps, that's not to say that it didn't offer its fair share of thrills, chills, and dead kids. Let's jump in, shall we?

We pick right off with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) getting his frozen ass handed to him by his sword-coveting, baby-killing host, Craster (Robert Pugh). Seriously, does no one have a copy of Martha Stewart Entertains to pass around north of the wall to help people navigate these situations? Because it says - right there in Chapter 1 - that it is considered impolite to murder your children and/or feed them to the Undead that Rule the Night when you have guests over. Also, I didn't see a single guest towel!

James Cosmo as Jeor

When his Night's Watch commander, Jeor (James Cosmo), learns that Jon...

Sean Penn discovers his sense of humour as a retired goth rocker reconnecting with his past – but director Paolo Sorrentino's road-movie takes a puzzling left-turn

Paolo Sorrentino's first English-language feature is not quite a misstep, but is less successful than his other films. It is an intriguing co-production oddity, and one in which a disconnect opens up between style and substance; this attempt to absorb an imagined remnant of European history's greatest horror into a quirky road movie in the manner of Wim Wenders does not entirely convince. There's much less political and historical savvy than in Sorrentino's earlier movie Il Divo, about Guilio Andreotti, and less of a solid base on which to rest his unmistakeable mannerisms: the emphatic low-angled establishing shots, the swooping perspectives and zooms, the deadpan closeups and shards of pop – although it's sad, incidentally, to see him here bring out a cliched theme of Arvo Pärt.

Keswick Film Festival

The paparazzi won't exactly be beating a path to the Lake District for this, but it's a small festival with an agreeably broad outlook. The guest of honour is John Hurt, who's in conversation and introducing a number of movies from his prolific career, including his celebrated Quentin Crisp double bill. There's also a tribute to the versatile Tony Palmer, including his seminal Leonard Cohen movie Bird On A Wire, and a complete showing of his eight-hour Wagner series (starring Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier). Also in the mix are recent releases such as Tyrannosaur and Melancholia, award-winning world cinema and uplifting films about life-changing illnesses.

Various venues, Thu to 26 Feb, keswickfilmclub.org/kff

Exposures: New Talent In Moving Image, Manchester

God knows it's not easy being a student these days, but at least you get your own film festivals. This is the UK's largest, and therefore...

Silence is golden for French film, while Meryl Streep wins best actress and John Hurt honoured for oustanding contribution

There were no spoken words, vibrant colours, impressive special effects, sophisticated plotlines or indeed anything at all that audiences expect in a modern film, and that was all very much in its favour as The Artist emerged triumphant at the 2012 Baftas.

The French silent film had been the bookies' favourite to sweep all before it and it did not disappoint, winning seven awards including best film, best director, best original screenplay, original music, best costume design, best cinematography.

The Artist's tally of Baftas equalled the number given to The King's Speech last year and Slumdog Millionaire in 2009. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid still holds the record with nine, followed by The Killing Fields with eight.

Picking up the screenplay award, The Artist's director, Michel Hazanavicius, said: "I'm very surprised,...

Although excluded from the Oscars race and unsuccessful with its one nomination for best actress at the Golden Globes, director Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin triumphed at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards.

The drama - about a woman's attempt to come to terms with her son's involvement in an American high school massacre - won the trophy for best film at last night's ceremony. However, it lost out in the best actress and best technical categories in which it had also been nominated.

Also up for best film were Archipelago, Shame, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Tyrannosaur.

Michael Fassbender (above) picked up the best actor award for his portrayal of a sex addict in Shame and his role in Jane Eyre, while Olivia Colman won the best actress award, beating three Oscar winners - Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Weisz and Tilda Swinton - to the prize.

Neil Ira Needleman is one of the most prolific and stylistically diverse filmmakers working in the independent and underground film worlds today. Yet, because of that diversity, his work tends to fly under the radar, catching audiences unaware at the dozens of film festivals he screens at every year.

Becoming familiar with Needleman’s films, one can at last start to piece together a consistency in his authentic documentation of a reality that may or may not exist. But, perhaps, an emphasis on “may not.” Although he began his career working with Super8, he now works exclusively in video, giving his films an immediacy and an air of authenticity that the filmmaker can completely subvert at will.

Drawing upon a broad range of personal experiences, such as his Jewish heritage and his long career working in advertising and marketing, there is always an element of emotional truth even when it...

From the director of Shark Tale comes A Monster in Paris, which splutters with creative spark but offers only sporadic charm

Homesickness was partly what inspired French director Bibo Bergeron to make animated fin-de-siècle fantasy A Monster in Paris, and it shows. The film vibrates with a warm, nostalgic affection for the capital city which is easily shared by the audience. Its characters and story, however, are less easy to love.

Set against the backdrop of the 1910 Parisian floods, A Monster in Paris boasts a number of charms, though none so consistently as to make it a truly satisfying or exciting feature.

Somewhat ironically for a film which opens in a projectionist’s booth, a lack of focus is partly to blame. A Monster in Paris opens on a love story between mild-mannered cinema projectionist Émile (and part-time leprechaun by the looks of his character design) and ticket booth attendant,...

Twenty years on, it is well worth revisiting Orlando, Sally Potter’s 1992 adaptation of a Virginia Woolf novel. Subtly convincing the audience that a person’s sex does not define them, the film achieves something which, in 2012, society is still far from accepting.

Orlando never grows old: when the film begins in the 1600s, he is a young man, and is still young when the film ends in the late twentieth century. The only difference is that Orlando is now a woman. Although changing sex certainly affects the way that Orlando is treated by other people, the film is remarkable in that the audience is prepared for this change, and experience it less as those around Orlando experience it, and more as Orlando him/herself.

From the very beginning of the film, the audience develops an affinity with Orlando and a sense of gender as something elusive and therefore of lesser importance than usual.

In a life that could have stepped straight from the pages of his beloved Dickens, albeit a 20th century and queer version, Peter William Burton was a boy of humble Hackney origins, born as the Second World War staggered to a close, who by dint of an extraordinary passion for books blazed a fascinating trail. His father was homosexual. Common of many of his kind, then persecuted, he married as a means of disguise. Like father like son, but their shared sexuality gave them nothing in common. What it created was an unhappy backdrop for growing up, and a desire to leave home and school as soon as possible. When he read the eulogy at his father's funeral, he stated, "George Burton was an old bugger!" Most of those gathered assumed he was being affectionately ribald. He was in fact being bluntly truthful. It is a great shame that he...

Today we are talking to the cultural raconteur, inimitable political commentator and monologue artist Justin Sayre all about the 2012 edition of his solo show The Meeting, a gathering of the I.O.S. International Order Of Sodomites, which returns to The Duplex on Thursday, January 19 at 930 Pm for a spotlight show dedicated to the one and only Dolly Parton. Much like a modern-day Quentin Crisp who Sayre has saluted in past engagements, Sayres erudite wit and idiosyncratic views on society have made him one of the hottest names in the downtown experimental theatre scene and in this all-encompassing conversation we discuss his many influences - ranging from Sandra Bernhard to fellow InDepth InterView participant Margaret Cho to Lenny Bruce, Jack Benny, George Carlin and beyond - as well as what we can expect from the upcoming shows in this, The MEETINGs third successful year onstage. Additionally, Sayre shares his views...

The Melancholia and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actor will be here to answer your questions on Wednesday 28 September at 3pm. And he has a striking back catalogue of work to choose from …

• Read John's answers here

• John Hurt interviewed earlier this month

Put it down to impeccable good judgment or a simple quirk of the release schedule. Either way, John Hurt has gone quietly viral in recent weeks. The British actor is currently riding high in the box office chart as Control, the chief mandarin in the acclaimed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. From Friday, he can also be seen as Kirsten Dunst's dyspeptic old dad in Lars Von Trier's award-winning Melancholia. And on Wednesday he'll be heading into the Guardian office for a live Q&A with readers. Rest assured we'll be checking to ensure it's him and not some crafty clone.

In the meantime we need your questions.

Take a look at this list of the top-grossing or most visible gay and bisexual movies of the last ten years: Brokeback Mountain, Milk, Capote, Taking Woodstock, A Home at the End of the World, Howl, Far From Heaven, The Hours, Little Ashes, Brideshead Revisited, I Love You Phillip Morris, Kinsey, and A Single Man.

Notice anything that they all have in common – other than the fact that most of them are quite good?

They're all set in the past – as is J. Edgar, an upcoming movie directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Dustin Lance Black that is getting considerable buzz, and the upcoming James Franco movie, The Broken Tower.

Meanwhile, over the same period, many of the TV movies that have made the biggest impression – Prayers for Bobby, Pedro, An Englishman in New York – have also been set in the past.

What's that about?

"Well, for one thing,...

Paolo Sorrentino's tale of an ageing rocker out to find a Nazi who tormented his father is a diverting if derivative American odyssey

For his technique, ambition and reach, 40-year-old Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is justifiably considered an emerging master of modern cinema, crucially nurtured here at Cannes. His new English-language film, This Must Be the Place – starring Sean Penn as Cheyenne, a retired goth rocker living in Dublin – has superbly elegant and distinctive forms: looming camera movements, bursts of pop, deadpan comedy, quasi-hallucinatory perspective lines in landscapes in which singular figures look vulnerably isolated. There's an awful lot to enjoy here and yet I couldn't help feeling that, when Cheyenne leaves Ireland to journey into the classic American midwest on a mission to find the fugitive Nazi who tormented his father in the camps, the film becomes derivative and Wim Wenders-ish. And a final twist-reveal gestures at...

Hopefully there won't be a chorus of voices proclaiming that I've discovered a new room in the house of 'wrong'. The same personal history that attracts us to certain faces (or quirks - or even defects) applies to how we respond to any particular human voice, so a list of 'best voices' is going to be pretty far from any kind of actuarial table on the matter. That said, there seems to be a pretty broad consensus of 'voice appeal' in a lot of my choices.

I note that I only came up with five female voices out of twenty. I don't know if that's some kind of unconscious sexism, or if it in any way ratifies the (itself probably pretty sexist) opinion I once heard that female voices have less scope than male ones. In any case that bias, if such it is, is in pretty broad opposition to...

The big entertainment news of the day yesterday was Charlie Sheen. He went on multiple radio shows and trashed Chuck Lorre, who created his show, and used some language some are calling anti-Semitic. CBS and Warner responded by cancelling the rest of the season of Two and a Half Men, and deciding they aren’t paying him the $1.8 million/episode for the eight episodes left to film.

The animals in Rango smoke, as did most characters in westerns. This has people upset. I can only assume they’re worried about their pets picking up the habit.

Corbin Fisher is suing a bunch of file sharers for torrenting its … films. While we’re against piracy here, there is legitimate concern that some teenagers may get outed unsafely by the mass lawsuits. To which Corbin Fisher responds “Liberty Media produces straight content too. So any thieving little shit who gets caught can...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Gulliver’s Travels – Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel

Little Fockers – Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro

True Grit – Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld

Movie of the Week

True Grit

The Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld

The Plot: A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer.

The Buzz: This one’s an easy pick for “Movie of the Week,” as for me, Jack Black has worn out his welcome, and any film I’ve ever seen with the word “Focker” in the title was absolutely horrid. Though the Coen Brothers have been hit-and-miss in the last decade, with amazing highs (No Country For Old Men, O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and abysmal lows (Burn After Reading, Intolerable Cruelty), this film, a modern day rehash of the old John Wayne vehicle, looks quite good.

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Quentin Crisp

Director: Sally Potter

The Scoop: (1992) This isn’t about the theme park vacationland; rather, this adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s acclaimed 1933 novel tells of a 16th century nobleman who becomes immortal… and eventually also transforms into woman, leading to many personal and legal complications. Swinton earned raves for her portrayal of the title character in this indie that earned two Academy Award nominations.

Special Features: Commentary, director interview, featurettes, archive footage

Rated PG-13, 93 min. | Watch the trailer...

Though the headline may come as a shock, it's true... and not unprecedented.

I'm not sure what today's teen and 20somethings know of Joan Collins if anything. Her sister Jackie, the romance novelist, seems to have stayed in the spotlight a bit more this past decade. But anyone who lived through the 80s just heard the opening theme of Dynasty trumpeting in their head. Ms. Collins was a 20something starlet of the 50s who migrated to television, peaking as a 50something with a Golden Globe win as bitchtastic icon "Alexis Carrington Colby" and the series becoming the #1 TV show in the land shortly afterwards. Alexis terrorized the feebler entities (i.e. everyone) on that soap for eight years. She was nominated at the Globes six consecutive times. Emmy voters didn't like the powerhouse serial as much, giving Collins and the show only won chance at the Actress and Series statue...

Craig here with another Take Three

Today: Peter Lorre

Take One: When you're strange...

Lorre did Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) because he owed Rko Pictures two days work; just enough time to fit in a slippery six-minute cameo role, though top-billed, as the titular stranger. Boris Ingster's B-movie has been long thought to have kick-started Film Noir - though some point to The Maltese Falcon, also starring Lorre - and the long, angular and accusing shadows from M have certainly followed Lorre to '40s New York; he's hiding in them again, under stoops, around stairwells, sporting a foppish white scarf and fixing passers-by with his signature beady glare (think Steve Buscemi playing Quentin Crisp). Lorre's cypher-like stranger could just be the real killer responsible for several throat-slit murders witnessed by reporter Mike Ward (John McGuire), the blame for which has landed at cabbie Joe Briggs' (Elisha Cook Jr.) feet.

Sally Potter's Orlando (1992), digitally restored in high definition, is being re-released this summer and sees its premiere today as part of MoMA's retrospective. And for the duration of the series, running through July 21, you can watch here, for free, Potter's 1970 short, Play.

"Based on Virginia Woolf's novel, Orlando remains Potter's masterpiece, with Tilda Swinton as a man who lives from Elizabethan days to the present, waking up as a woman in the 18th century," writes Caryn James in her profile of the director for Newsweek. "The film's wit and layered sense of history seem richer than ever. An angel slyly sings 'Eliza is the fairest queen' as Queen Elizabeth, played by Quentin Crisp (inspired casting!), sails on a barge and falls madly for the young male Orlando. A 19th-century hero on horseback rides out of a mist and literally tumbles at the female Orlando's feet, as Potter both indulges and tweaks Romanticism.

Sony Pictures Classics re-releases "Orlando" - a film which opened in 1992 and went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration as well as Best Costume Design. The Sally Potter-directed and written drama also took home a BAFTA award for Best Make Up Artist (Morag Ross). Sony re-releases the film in New York and Los Angeles on July 23rd. We have images in from the film starring Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Lothaire Bluteau, John Wood, Charlotte Valandreym Heathcote Williams, Quentin Crisp and Peter Eyre.