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As long as religion is so preoccupied with queerness, queer artists must reckon with religion. While the closeted zealot trope may be played out at this point, it seems every sect wants its shot at the clandestine queer romance. Of course, there is plenty of Sapphic fun to be mined from the queering of rituals, sacrifice, and self-flagellation, as with the sensual tension of recent entries like “Disobedience” or the outrageous heresy of “Benedetta.” More somber entries into the sub-genre include 2018’s conversion therapy duo of “Boy Erased” and “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.”

Amidst such a crowded field, the Jehovah’s Witness drama “You Can Live Forever” doesn’t quite stand out, short of opening a door into one of the lesser explored religious sects. Though the well-crafted film makes use of a unique regional setting for some moving moments, its straightforward approach to well-worn territory offers few surprises.

Further titles include ‘Eismayer’ and ’You Can Live Forever’.

UK LGBTQ+ specialist Peccadillo Pictures has picked up The Lost Boys from Paris-based Indie Sales for distribution in the UK and Ireland, following its premiere in the Generation strand at the Berlinale, plus a raft of other titles off the back of the European Film Market (EFM).

Belgian filmmaker Zeno Graton’s The Lost Boys sees two young men attempt to keep their burgeoning relationship under wraps at a tough juvenile detention centre. It stars Peter Von Kant’s Khalil Ben Gharbia alongside Julien De Saint Jean. It is produced by...

Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive trailer and poster for the horror-comedy Sorry About the Demon, written and directed by Emily Hagins (V/H/S), which is slated to premiere on Shudder on January 19.

The film world premiering at FrightFest 2022 follows the brokenhearted Will (Jon Michael Simpson), who after being dumped by his girlfriend Amy (Paige Evans), is offered a massive house at a very low rent. The catch is that the restless spirit haunting the place needs a human sacrifice and the prior owners must find one or else their young daughter is toast. So, Will must figure out how to make things right with his ex-girlfriend And banish the sacrifice-seeking demon residing in his house. Jeff McQuitty and Sarah Cleveland also star.

Pic is produced by Cameron Burns, Emily Gotto, Ben Hanks, Aaron B. Koontz, Pasha Patriki and Ashleigh Snead. Exec producers are Craig Engler, James Fler, Andrew Thomas Hunt,...

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Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future and Danis Goulet’s Night Raiders lead nominees for the upcoming Dgc Awards with three each.

The Directors of Guild of Canada unveiled nominations for its 21st Dgc Awards on Nov. 5 on Friday. Del Toro, who shot Nightmare Alley mostly in and around Toronto, did not receive a nomination for best feature film direction.

But del Toro’s tribute to the film noir genre, which starred Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett, did earn Oscar-nominated production designer Tamara Deverell a Dgc Awards nod in the same category, Cam McLauchlin a nomination for feature best picture editing, and best sound editing nominations for Nathan Robitaille, Jill Purdy, Dashen Naidoo, Josh Brown, Nelson Ferreira, Kayla Stewart, Craig MacLellan and Kevin Banks.

Cronenberg received a best film director nomination for Crimes of the Future,...

You Can Live Forever

The story of two teenage girls from different backgrounds who fall in love and have to make some difficult decisions as a result, You Can Live Forever is one of the most thoughtful films focused on young people to be screening at this year’s Outfest Los Angeles. It stars Anwen O’Driscoll as Jaime, who goes to stay with her aunt following a family crisis and has to adjust to life within a Jehovah’s Witness community – though one which treats her with kindness and is never pushy about trying to convert her. There she meets Marike, played by June Laporte, and the feelings which develop between them force the Jehovah’s witness girl to struggle with the irreconcilability of her sexuality and her faith.

The film was written and directed by Mark Slutsky and Sarah Watts, and I connected with them early on in the festival to ask them how.

By Abe Friedtanzer

Religions, as institutions, don't often make space for new ideas or changingn times. This includes LGBTQ+ people whose existence is essentially prohibited in the most literal and unimaginative readings of biblical texts. While there are more religious communities these days that are open and accepting, merging faith with a celebration differences, that is sadly not the general case. You Can Live Forever is set within the world of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, where scripture is quoted often and two women being together isn’t a concept that would ever be considered.

The new film from the co-written and co-directed by Sarah Watts and Mark Slutsky, follows a girl named Jaime (Anwen O’Driscoll), who has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle after the death of her father. At church she meets Marike (June Laporte), and a passionate romance soon develops between the two...

High school is often an angsty, unpredictable time, but even more so under the pressure of a strict religious community. Perhaps it’s easier if you’re born into it, but for outsider Jamie (Anwen O’Driscoll), at the center of “You Can Live Forever,” the claustrophobic nature of her aunt and uncle’s Jehovah’s Witness community is almost too much to bear.

It all feels so alienating and strange until she meets Marike (June Laporte), who promises to show her the Truth.

“You Can Live Forever” is the debut film of writer-directors Mark Slutsky and Sarah Watts, the latter of whom grew up gay in a Jehovah’s Witness community in Canada. Though the film is not autobiographical, it touches on much of the discomfort, repression and ultimate hope felt by those struggling with their feelings under a repressive religious atmosphere.

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Charlize Theron Would Love to Star...

Effie Brown, Howard Rosenman among participating industry executives.

The 28th annual Inside Out Toronto Lgbt Film Festival has announced the eight selected feature film projects included in this year’s second annual Finance Forum, as well as the participating industry executives.

The Forum, in its second year, will feature international projects from the Us, the UK, and India. Inside Out’s executive director Andria Wilson made the announcement on Friday (April 27).

The 2018 Finance Forum will take place over two days from May 24–25 and aims to provide Lgbtq-identified producers and as producers creating Lgbtq content the chance to pitch their projects to executives.

We’ve seen plenty of movies about romantic affairs happening behind the backs of significant others. However, in Mark Slutsky‘s short film Never Happened, which played at the Toronto International Film Festival, there’s a world where those cheating on their husbands and wives or boyfriends and girlfriends don’t have to worry about lying. That’s because there’s […]

The post Votd: Mark Slutsky’s ‘Never Happened’ Imagines Adultery With A Sci-Fi Twist appeared first on /Film.

Potential awards season contenders Truth from James Vanderbilt and Marc Abraham’s I Saw The Light starring Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams land world premiere slots, while Paco Cabezas’s Mr. Right will close the festival.

London is the subject of the seventh annual City To City programme that features world premieres of Tom Geens’ Couple In A Hole starring Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie and Michael Caton-Jones’ Urban Hymn with Letitia Wright and Shirley Henderson. Elaine Constantine’s Northern Soul gets a North American premiere.

The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already is among five additions to the galas alongside Mr. Right, an action comedy starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.

Matthew Cullen’s Martin Amis adaptation London Fields and David Gordon Green’s Our Brand Is Crisis get first public screenings in the Special Presentations roster with I Saw The Light.

Tiff top brass also unveiled the Contemporary World Cinema section, featuring...

Check out this incredibly well made sci-fi short film called "The Decelerators." The movie was directed by Mark Slutsky, and the story follows a group of friends who are looking for a way to slow down time to prolong their happiest memories. Through a series of trial and error tests they create a machine that allows them to do it, and the results aren't quite what they expected. 

 ...

If you enjoy the Shane Carruth brand of sci-fi — indie tales that float somewhere between experimental, overintellectualized, cryptic, stylish, audacious, pseudo philosophical and sometimes odd — then you'll probably appreciate Mark Slutsky's The Decelerators about a group of friends set out to stop time dead in its tracks. They build a machine that allows them to linger in the those special moments, until they get swept further and further away from the present. It's a compelling idea that is simply executed with a moody atmosphere that sets a wistful tone. The low-budget work is just four minutes long, so you have nothing to lose by watching it, and it features nary a robot or spaceship in sight. It's been exciting to see more attention paid to...

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Denis Villeneuve will have two films in the festival as it emerged that Canadian Features world premiere Enemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man and his doppelganger [pictured] has joined the previously announced Prisoners, also starring Gyllenhaal.

The Canadian Features selection includes Michael Dowse’s Goon follow-up The F Word, Xavier Dolan’s Tom At The Farm and Chloe Robichaud’s Sarah Prefers To Run as well as work from Jeff Barnaby, Bruce McDonald and Bruce Labruce. Also receiving its world premiere is All The Wrong Reasons featuring the final performance by the late Glee star Cory Monteith.

Festival organisers also unveiled Producers Lab Toronto participants and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! finallists, the shorts programme and participants in the tenth Tiff Talent Lab.

“The scope of this year’s feature films is as broad as Canada’s filmmaking community and demonstrates the deep versatility of our filmmakers,” said Tiff senior programmer Steve Gravestock. “From clever...

Denis Villeneuve will have two films in the festival as it emerged on Wednesday [7] that Canadian Features world premiere Enemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man and his doppelganger [pictured] has joined the previously announced Prisoners, also starring Gyllenhaal.

The Canadian Features selection includes Michael Dowse’s Goon follow-up The F Word, Xavier Dolan’s Tom At The Farm and Chloe Robichaud’s Sarah Prefers To Run as well as work from Jeff Barnaby, Bruce McDonald and Bruce Labruce.

“The scope of this year’s feature films is as broad as Canada’s filmmaking community and demonstrates the deep versatility of our filmmakers,” said Tiff senior programmer Steve Gravestock. “From clever, biting satire to intimate social commentary, powerful dramas and even a truly magical comedy, the settings and themes vary, but the perspectives are always uniquely Canadian.”

The City Of Toronto and Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film will be given to one of many outstanding...

The mighty Boston Underground Film Festival celebrates their impressive 15th edition this year on March 27-31 at the Brattle Theatre. Here’s some highlights to be on the lookout for:

Opening night film: I Declare War, a childhood parable about war and brutality, directed by Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson.

Closing night film: Big Ass Spider!, a raucous giant arachnid vs. the military flick, directed by Mike Mendez.

Other Feature Films: Both Drew Tobia’s first feature, See You Next Tuesday; and the punk documentary A Band Called Death by Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett recently won awards at the 20th Chicago Underground Film Festival and will now kill it at Buff. Sion Sono, a Buff regular, will be screening the last of his “Trilogy of Hate,” Guilty of Romance; while Calvin Lee Reeder has the gross-out feature-length version of his gross-out short The Rambler. And Zach Clark, a Bad Lit favorite,...

Sticking with the whole erotica theme that I think will play out at the fest this year, you can’t get more exotic with The Fruit Hunters – a doc about obscure, hard to find fruits and its select fans – which includes Bill Pullman. With a sneak preview screening at this year’s Tiff and debut at Ridm, filmmaker Yung Chang will likely be invited to Park City again – as it was the lieu for U.S premieres of his award-winning Up the Yangtze (Sundance ’08) and China Heavyweight (Sundance ’12). To the publicist: I definitely want an after-screening party invite for this one.

Gist: Co-written by Chang and Mark Slutsky, this is an adaptation of Adam Gollner’s bestselling nonfiction book of the same title. From Borneo to Hollywood, from Honduras to the monasteries of Umbria, the filmmaker follows these dogged fruit collectors (including actor Bill Pullman, among the most dogged of...

Day six of the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival is upon us!

Sliff’s main venues are the the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Tivoli Theatre, Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium, Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium and the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Il

The entire schedule for the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival be found Here.

http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2012

Here is what will be screening at The 21st Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival today, Tuesday, November 13th

Band Of Sisters

Band Of Sisters plays at 5:00pm at the Tivoli Theatre

nspired by Vatican II (a 1962-65 council of Catholic bishops) and the great social movements of the 1960s and .70s, U.S. nuns left their convents, found their mission with the poor, and grew in their spirituality . often to the chagrin of the Vatican hierarchy. Against this backdrop, .Band...

I think that YouTube comments have changed for the better since the top comments feature was introduced. Now, it is possible to instantly single out those YouTube viewers who have a special talent for humor, aptness, or cogent analysis. Now, a new blog is capturing a new class of YouTube comments that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks. It's called Sad YouTube, and you can probably guess what it catalogs. Sad YouTube was started by Mark Slutsky, a Canadian filmmaker who is fascinated by the rare heartbreaking comment he digs up, usually from music videos. Slutsky's blog showcases emotions besides sadness, as it includes heavy doses of longing and melancholy. The important link between all of the entries is in the way in which we see random people pining after something that is emotionally far away

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A highlight of last year's Toronto International Film Festival came in the short film program with Jeff Barnaby's File Under Miscellaneous. A visually astounding science fiction parable by one of the nation's most talented young directors - who is currently prepping for his debut feature - File was produced by John Christou at Prospector Films and Christou has another promising offering in this year's lineup.Directed by Mark Slutsky and starring Good Neighbours director Jacob Tierny with Mad Men's Jessica Pare, Sorry, Rabbi is a comedic culture clash pitting a young man against the Hasidic Jewish community of Montreal. Montreal - Prospector Films, in collaboration with Bravo!Fact, is proud to announce that the short film Sorry, Rabbi, written and directed by Mark Slutsky (Peepers), will have...

Once again, Peepers, a film I saw on Sunday at the Just for Laughs Film Festival, is a proof that in Canadian cinema, there are no taboo topics. As a matter of fact, Peepers adds itself to the growing list of smartly written Canadian comedies that deal with sexual desire.

A group of peeping toms led by Steve Sherman (Joe Cobden), a loser who lives in his mom's basement, enjoys taking Montreal's chilly rooftops during the night. Through the unshuttered windows, they want to have a glimpse at a “hottie hookup,” a “panty party” or a “big booty buffet”. However, the peeping toms' life is about to change when Annette Fulvish (Janine Theriault), an academic interested by "male gaze", enters the domain of peeping, which is dominated by men.

At the same time, some members in the group begin to question their interest for peeping. Bobby (Ricky Mabe), the youngest member of the group,...

As usual, Montreal's Just for Laughs Film Festival has two Canadian films in store and they both come from the province of Quebec. The one we're going to talk is called Peepers, a comedy that follows three peeping toms from Montreal.

Led by the eagle-eyed Steve Sherman (Joe Cobden), a rag-tag group of Peepers take to Montreal’s chilly rooftops under cover of night. They’re on the prowl for the perfect peep—desperate to glimpse a “hottie hookup,” a “panty party” or a “big booty buffet” through unshuttered windows.

But their lives are about to change. Enter Annette Fulvish (Janine Theriault), a brazen academic who turns the tables by setting her sights on the Peepers themselves. Soon it’s a battle royale for rooftop supremacy—will these die-hard obsessives manage to defend their turf, or will Peeping as they know it never be the same?

The ensemble cast also...

Yesterday, The Cultural Post learnt through Twitter that the teaser for the upcoming feature film Peepers is already online.

While the film's director is Seth W. Owen, the story was created by the imagination of Automatic Vaudeville, a Canadian comic trio made of Owen, Mark Slutsky and Daniel Perlmutter.

The story follows a group of voyeurs - or "peepers" (Joe Cobden, Paul Spence and Howard Bilerman) - who like to sneak across rooftops with binoculars at night. Moreover, they have an eye on women. However, an university student (Janine Theriault) plans to give to the "peepers" a taste of their own game. With a plot like that, needless to say that the film's story has been compared to Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Besides, the film also stars Jessica Paré, Ricky Mabe and Amy Sobol.

Finally, a theatrical release date has yet to be announced for this comedy that was shot in Montreal.

Two days ago, the comedy Peepers had its world premiere in San Jose, California during the Cinequest Film Festival and its story was created by Automatic Vaudeville, a Canadian clique made of Seth W. Owen, Mark Slutsky and Daniel Perlmutter.

The story follows a group of voyeurs - or "peepers" (Joe Cobden, Paul Spence and Howard Bilerman) - who like to sneak across rooftops with binoculars at night. Moreover, they have an eye on women. However, an university student (Janine Theriault) plans to give to the "peepers" a taste of their own game. With a plot like that, needless to say that the film's story has been compared to Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

The film also stars Jessica Paré, Ricky Mabe and Amy Sobol. The film will also be screened at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival on March 6 and 7. Moreover, Peepers's commercial release will be taking place later this year.