News

The latest in our series of writers highlighting underseen gems is a recommendation of an intimate drama set within Bedouin culture

So much of the drama in Elite Zexer’s quietly furious debut feature Sand Storm goes down while the Bedouin women in the film are attending to their chores.

Related: My streaming gem: why you should watch I Am Divine...

Looking for what’s coming to Netflix UK this month? Click here instead!

While much of the entertainment world is in lockdown and in danger of drying up their respective content pipelines soon, Netflix has claimed that they have more than enough finished projects and business will continue as usual. While that may seem to be an outlandish boast, it’s hard to look at Netflix’s new releases for May 2020 and not think “man, they’re really just not stopping.”

Netflix’s new releases for May 2020 are positively loaded with new Netflix originals, intriguing recent films, and even some fun new stock TV shows. Office creator Greg Daniels latest project, Space Force, premieres on May 29 and will likely be Netflix’s big blockbuster this month. Having access to Daniels, Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, and more will do that for a project.

Elsewhere on the Netflix original front,...

Netflix has confirmed that 50 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in May. Leading off the lineup are Ryan Murphy‘s limited series “Hollywood” and the debut of the comedy series “Space Force,” which reunites “The Office” star and creator Steve Carell and Greg Daniels. Also look for the sophomore season of the comedy noir “Dead to Me,” with Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.

In these trying times, we can take comfort in the slew of stand-up specials, including new sets by Jerry Seinfeld, Patton Oswalt and Hannah Gadsby. On the reality side, we can’t wait to gobble up season 2 of “Restaurants on the Edge” and season 3 of “Someone Feed Phil.”

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming and leaving Netflix in May 2020.

Available May 1

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

All Day and a Night – Netflix Film

Almost Happy – Netflix Original...

It’s the first day of May, and Netflix is already knocking it out of the park with a big content drop to keep you busy while you’re stuck inside. Tons of great new movies and shows have landed on the service today, including plenty of wonderful classics you’re going to want to check out.

Perhaps most notable is the inclusion of Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II, which will be joining the third film to round out the trilogy. This time-traveling classic would make for excellent weekend family viewing alongside Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and its more modern adaptation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

While those films are suitable for families, you can rest assured that Netflix has you covered on children-specific content, too. Your little ones will be happy to see multiple Thomas & Friends titles and the animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,...

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;...

It's impossible to keep up these days. So herewith a bunch of news we haven't covered and other enjoyable places to go on the web today...

News

Baz Lurhmann has written a letter to fans about the cancellation of The Get Down, his Netflix series. My favorite bit because I like having him on the big screen in 2 hour doses:

All sorts of things have been thrown around for the future... even a stage show (can you imagine that? I can, concert version anyone? Next summer? Just saying.) But the simple truth is, I make movies. And the thing with movies is, that when you direct them, there can be nothing else in your life. Since The Get Down stopped, I have actually been spending the last few months preparing my new cinematic work...

Variety IFC is on a buying spree at Cannes, including Lars Von Trier's latest, a...

Lousy Smarch is almost here and the debut schedules for all the movies and series that will be hitting Netflix in March have arrived. We also have the Amazon Prime folks covered as well! The second season of Marvel’s Daredevil and the premieres of the fourth season of House of Cards and the first season of the new comedy Flaked, with Will Arnett hit the small screen. Did you forget about the premiere of the Judd Apatow-produced Pee-wee’s Big Holiday? We didn’t.

On the Amazon Prime front, check out below to see what you’ll be able to stream for free and what’s going to have a cost. Let’s watch!

All Title Dates are Subject to Change

Netflix U.S. Release Dates Only

Available 3/1

Adult Beginners (2015)

Ahora o Nunca (2015)

Aldnoah.Zero: Season 2

American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007)

American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile...

March 2016 is a sad month for some Netflix subscribers.

Say goodbye to '90s films "American Pie" (1999), "Hackers" (1995), Mel Gibson's "Hamlet" (1990), "Indecent Proposal" (1993) and "Jumanji" (1995) in March. Also disappearing: Will Smith movies "Hitch" (2005) and "Men in Black II" (2002), as well as oodles of TEDTalks that are all expiring next month.

Here's the complete list of what's leaving Netflix streaming in March.

Leaving March 1, 2016

"Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman" (2000)

"American Pie" (1999)

"American Wedding" (2003)

"Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001)

"The Babysitters" (2007)

"The Chosen One" (2010)

"Down and Out in Beverly Hills" (1986)

"Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights" (1992)

"Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000)

"Hackers" (1995)

"Hamlet" (1990)

"Hannie Caulder" (1971)

"Hardball" (2001)

"Hart's War" (2002)

"Hitch" (2005)

"Indecent Proposal" (1993)

"Johnny Dangerously" (1984)

"Jumanji" (1995)

"Masters of the Universe" (1987)

"Men in Black II" (2002)

"The Monster Squad" (1987)

"Not Another Teen Movie" (2001)

"Paycheck" (2003)

"Switchmas" (2013)

"The United States of Leland" (2003)

"Wings" (1927)

Leaving March 2, 2016

"Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams" (2013)

Leaving March 3, 2016

"Night Catches Us" (2010)

Leaving March 4, 2016

"Getting...

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...

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.

Bryan Glick is the director of theatrical distribution for The Film Collaborative. Some of his notable releases include "I Am Divine," "Manos Sucias" and "1971". He has also worked for Laff, AFI Fest and Sundance. Below is his take on the top festivals. We at The Film Collaborative frequently hear from filmmakers after the fact that they regretted premiering at festival "A" and wish they had opted for festival "B." Similarly, when we ask a filmmaker why they want to premiere at a particular film festival, we rarely get an answer grounded in research. Read More: Attention, Filmmakers: 9 Tips for Maximizing Your Film's Success on the Festival Circuit The truth is that all the top festivals have certain types of films they gravitate towards, and all attract certain kinds of buyers looking for a particular type of product. With Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Tribeca and Cannes behind us (and many filmmakers going into production to meet.

Since 1986, San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival has given its Frameline Award to a person or entity who has made a major contribution to Lbgtq representation in film, television, or the media arts. Previous award recipients include film historian, author, and activate Vito Russo, "drag artiste extraordinaire" Divine, producer Christine Vachon, and producer/distributor Marcus Hu. On the opening weekend of Frameline 39, filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz, whose filmography includes documentaries about both Russo ("Vito," 2011) and Divine ("I Am Divine," 2013), joined their ranks. At an emotional ceremony in front of a standing-room-only crowd, the award was presented by noted Bay Area filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who had employed Schwarz, fresh out of film school, as an intern on their film "The Celluloid Closet," based on Russo's groundbreaking book, in the early 90s. As Friedman noted, it was a grim time in the San...

Maria Lynn will retire as co-president of Wolfe Releasing at the end of March as co-president Jim Stephens assumes the role of sole president.

During her 22-year tenure Lynn helped steer the company as a leading distributor of Lgbt cinema.

“From the beginning, Maria has been a passionate supporter of Lgbt films and filmmakers,” said founder Kathy Wolfe. “She has played an integral role in the growth of our company and we will miss her incredible talent, dedication and passion.”

“Wolfe has been an amazing journey and I will forever be grateful for the experience of working with our partners, filmmakers and the Wolfe Pack,” said Lynn.

Stephens (pictured) was named co-president last year and has sat on the board since July 2013.

His credits include Reaching For The Moon, I Am Divine, Free Fall, Pit Stop, Five Dances and Tru Love.

“I enjoyed working with Maria as Co-President and have deep respect for her and the company...

Laurie Strode running from Michael Myers in Halloween, Chris navigating the Parker kids and Daryl through the seedier side of Chicago in Adventures in Babysitting, funny socialites rushing through a mansion in Clue: Debra Hill helped make these and many more memorable movie moments possible, and her trailblazing accomplishments will be reflected on and celebrated in The Debra Hill Documentary.

“(Los Angeles, CA – November 10, 2014) In honor of what would have been the 64th birthday of pioneering film producer Debra Hill, we are proud to announce the upcoming production of The Debra Hill Documentary.

Filmmaking team Dpyx (Marcy Boyle and Rachel Holzman) will write, direct and produce The Debra Hill Documentary, a feature documentary about the late, legendary filmmaker. Lotti Pharriss Knowles of Weirdsmobile Productions will executive produce. This will be the first film about Debra Hill, and by telling her story, the filmmakers hope to preserve an important piece...

The Brisbane Underground Film Festival is one of the newest underground fests on the block, celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2015. It also exists almost entirely as a passion project by festival director Nina Riddel, who founded, programs and runs the fest entirely by herself. A daunting task indeed!

This is the first year that Riddel has taken to crowdfunding to help defray some of Buff’s costs next year. Contributions via Indiegogo will go towards “screening fees for the films, shipping, equipment, projection staff, printing and distributing the program, and a small amount of promotion.”

Riddel programs great films every year, bringing wonderfully weird, exotic and fun cinematic experience to a part of the world where these types of fantastic movies would otherwise would not be shown. In the past, she has programmed films such as Jeffrey Schwarz‘s awesome documentary I Am Divine, Usama Alshaibi‘s spiritual drama Profane...

Jeffrey Schwarz's award-winning documentary I Am Divine (2013) is the story of Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, from his humble beginnings as a bullied and teased you from Baltimore to internationally recognised drag superstar through his collaboration with queer filmmaker John Waters. To celebrate the DVD release of I Am Divine this coming Monday (25 August), we have Three DVD copies of Schwarz's fabulous tribute to "the most beautiful woman in the world" to give away to our regular readers, kindly provided by the team at Peccadillo Pictures. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

To mark the release of I am Divine on 25th August, we’ve been given a DVD and poster to give away from I am Divine. We also have DVDs for some runners up.

The ultimate outsider turned underground royalty, I Am Divine is a biographical portrait that charts the legendary icon’s rise to infamy as a cult superstar.

Featuring rare movie footage, live performances and brand new interviews with John Waters, Ricki Lake, Mink Stole, Tab Hunter and Divine’s mother in addition to many more of Divine’s friends and colleagues.

This is the definitive biography honouring Divine in a way she always craved: as a serious artist and immortal star.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Am Divine is out on DVD and On-Demand from Peccadillo Pictures from 25th August.

The Small Print

Open to UK residents only...

The late larger-than-life, cross-dressing extraordinaire who ushered in the now-established world of theatrical drag (simultaneously bringing queer performance art to the mainstream) is given the documentary treatment in the warmly nostalgic and playful tribute, I Am Divine.

The alter-ego of shy suburban boy Harris Glenn Milstead, Divine was the muse of “Pope of Trash” filmmaker John Waters (the biggest contributor here, offering up some deliciously trashy anecdotes). Described by her best friend as a “cinematic terrorist”, the duo were childhood friends in 60′s Baltimore, and Divine’s trajectory, from early transgressive dog poop-eating infamy to full-blown stardom, is exhaustively covered by director Jeffrey Schwarz.

Fully ‘out’ before being gay was even recognised as an alternative lifestyle, Divine managed to tap into the uninhibited more accepting culture which emerged during the seventies, and her popularity surged as her NY stage performances gaining prominence around the time Studio 54 and the world of disco exploded.

Mink and Divine in Female Trouble

This week sees the release of documentary I Am Divine, which explores the life of one of cinema’s most unforgettable stars. Mink Stole, who is featured in the documentary, worked with Divine on several occasions as part of John Waters’ Dreamlander ensemble, making films like Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingos, and she agreed to talk to me about those experiences.

“There are times when it is sad for me to remember but also times when it is not sad,” she says of the late star. “What we did was fun. Recollecting good days is a pleasure.”

They met “rather coincidentally,” she says, through their mutual friendship with John Waters, and her professional respect for Divine is immediately apparent. “He was an incredibly generous performer,” she tells me, though she acknowledges that, though hhe never intentionally upstaged other people, it could be difficult to make an impression alongside him.

Each Monday, we present you with the most up-to-date list of the top 10 indie movies in the iTunes store, combining rentals and purchases. This week, Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" tops the list and is joined by documentaries "I Am Divine" and "Anita." Meanwhile, "12 Years a Slave," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Philomena" and "August: Osage County" continue to be strong after months on the list. Note that both "The Machine" and "I Am Divine" are 99 cent rentals, which, no doubt, helped to drive their numbers up. 1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox Searchlight, $58,355,000) 2. The Machine (Phase 4 Films, N/A) 3. Philomena (Weinstein Company, $37,470,800) 4. Her (Warner Bros., $25,568,251) 5. August: Osage County (Weinstein Company, $37,738,810) 6. 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight, $56,671,993) 7. Ernest & Celestine (Gkids,...

"I Am Divine," the largely crowd-funded documentary directed by Jeffrey Schwarz, chronicles the life of none other than the Divine, John Waters' muse who defined a generation of proto-punk films like "Pink Flamingos" and "Female Trouble," and famously ate dog doo-doo in front of the camera. Beneath the fierce -- in the true sense of the word -- makeup and drag he was Harris Glenn Milstead. Divine was just a day job, he insisted, but he ended up getting pegged for that alter-ego throughout his career until his death at age 42. The documentary covers his struggle to be taken seriously as an actor outside the larger-than-life Divine persona, meeting John Waters and other gay folks in Baltimore and, of course, his love of drugs and partying. For Waters loyalists and Divine devotees, "I Am Divine" is pure pleasure start to finish. The talking heads-style doc features illuminating interviews with Waters,...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"

What's It About? Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), and the dwarves are back for the second film in this Tolkien cycle. Bilbo goes toe to scaly toe with Smaug, a dragon voiced by Freeman's "Sherlock" co-star Benedict Cumberbatch.

Why We're In: Even if you don't spring for the fancy Blu-ray set, you'll still get some goodies in this 2-disc package -- including the option to press pause while you take a bathroom break.

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"Wild at Heart"

What's It About? Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern are Sailor and Lula, two crazy, star-crossed lovers in David Lynch's tribute to "The Wizard of Oz," Elvis, road movies, and much more. Sleazy, crazy, and sexy.

Why We're In: This Blu-ray is packed with extras that are sure to please everyone who's wild at heart.

Welcome back to This Week In Discs! If you see something you like, click on the title to buy it from Amazon. A Touch of Sin Four stories of everyday people caught up in the maelstrom that is modern day China. Violence infects their lives, sometimes as victims, sometimes as perpetrators, and none of them will ever be the same again. Zhangke Jia‘s film made my list of 2013′s best foreign language films, and it marks a rare instance where Landon Palmer and I agreed on that assessment. In his own ‘best of’ list he wrote, “A work of national cinema meant primarily for an audience outside of its home nation, A Touch of Sin is a disturbing mosaic of contemporary global China, depicting the excesses and injustices of a country growing through an unprecedented combination of organized labor and capitalist exploitation. A potent combination of genre play and political commentary, Zhangke Jia...

Filmbuff always has an exciting and eclectic lineup of films released on VOD each month. And they have such a diverse lineup of documentaries and narratives to choose from each month. This month kicked off with Jeffrey Schwarz's documentary I Am Divine, and the docs Ages and Stages: The Story of the Meligrove Band and Let Timmy Smoke. And Canadian horror Discopath by Renaud Gauthier will cap off the month on the 29th. There are many interesting titles in the weeks to come. Unless otherwise noted, the films above are available on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Movies on Demand and everywhere else you get the best films on demand.Visit Filmbuff.com to learn more about this month's releases. ...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

A Note Before We Begin: I am aware that you're impatiently awaiting 2014's April Foolish Oscar Predictions but please to note: I am aiming for April 13th but they definitely won't be here today and that's no April Fool's Joke.

With 2013's best films all soon to or already arrived on DVD, let's wrap up the Film Bitch Awards which are getting later and later each year, damnit! I'm leading with "the most beautiful woman in the world" to your left, Divine, who also went by the alternate title "filthiest person alive." Can't they both be true? If you haven't caught up with the documentary I Am Divine, you should. It's really fun. I saw it about a year ago at the Nashville Film Festival at a late night screening in which two of our fellow moviegoers, utterly sloshed girls we accidentally befriended at a festival party, got lost in...

Chastity Bites has arrived on home video, and right now we have a pair of exclusive character vignettes to dig on. That's right, two of them. One for each fang.

Weirdsmobile Productions releases the horror comedy Chastity Bites on DVD today, February 11, 2014, from Grand Entertainment Group. The DVD includes an exclusive "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette and official trailer.

Synopsis

In the early 1600's Countess Elizabeth Bathory slaughtered more than 600 young women, believing if she bathed in the blood of virgins that she would stay young and beautiful forever. Still alive today, she’s found a perfect hunting ground for her "Botox" as an abstinence educator at a high school in red state America.

But will a brave, young feminist blogger and journalist for the school paper finally put an end to the Blood Countess' reign of terror and save her best friend from being the next victim?

The film is directed by...

The official DVD release of Chastity Bites is upon us, and we have a chance for your vamp-loving self to score a copy of the flick right here, right now. What are you waiting for? Drop the garlic, put away the crosses, and read on for details!

To enter for your chance to win, just send us an E-mail Here including your Full Name And Mailing Address. We’ll take care of the rest.

This contest will end at 12:01 Am, Monday, February 24, 2014.

From the Press Release

Weirdsmobile Productions wants you to prepare for the release of the horror comedy Chastity Bites, hitting DVD on February 11, 2014, from Grand Entertainment Group. The DVD will include an exclusive "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette and official trailer.

"We are thrilled to be working with Grand on the DVD release of Chastity Bites,” says writer and producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles. “Their enthusiasm for the movie was evident from the beginning,...

Digital Release Date: April 1, 2014; DVD Release Date: April 8, 2014

Price: DVD $24.95

Studio: Wolfe Video

Divine takes aim in John Waters' 1972 cult favorite Pink Flamingos.

Documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz (Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon) turns his camera on the plus-sized “cinematic terrorist” turned international icon of bad taste in the 2013 docu I Am Divine.

Harris Glenn Milstead, a.k.a. Divine, comes to life in this complex documentary that traces his humble beginnings as an overweight, teased Baltimore youth to internationally-recognized drag superstar and cult movie icon. The film includes interviews with many key figures from Divine’s life, including legendary filmmaker John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray), co-stars Ricki Lake (Hairspray), Tab Hunter (Polyester, Lust in the Dust) and Mink Stole (Female Trouble, Desperate Living), and his mother.

I Am Divine received numerous awards on the film festival circuit over the past year, including the...

On tap right now for you vampire lovers are two more vignettes that take you behind the scenes of the upcoming horror comedy Chastity Bites. Check 'em out and look for more on this flick soon! Until then... stay outta the sun!

From the Press Release

Weirdsmobile Productions wants you to prepare for the release of the horror comedy Chastity Bites, hitting DVD on February 11, 2014, from Grand Entertainment Group. The DVD will include an exclusive "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette and official trailer.

"We are thrilled to be working with Grand on the DVD release of Chastity Bites,” says writer and producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles. “Their enthusiasm for the movie was evident from the beginning, and their entrepreneurial spirit as a new company fits perfectly with our first indie feature."

“This horror comedy is sure to be hit with a variety of audiences," states David Rand, President of Grand Entertainment Group. "If you...

On tap right now for you vampire lovers are three vignettes that take you behind the scenes of the upcoming horror comedy Chastity Bites. Check 'em out and look for much more on this flick soon! Until then... stay outta the sun!

From the Press Release

Weirdsmobile Productions wants you to prepare for the release of the horror comedy Chastity Bites, hitting DVD on February 11, 2014, from Grand Entertainment Group. The DVD will include an exclusive "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette and official trailer.

"We are thrilled to be working with Grand on the DVD release of Chastity Bites,” says writer and producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles. “Their enthusiasm for the movie was evident from the beginning, and their entrepreneurial spirit as a new company fits perfectly with our first indie feature."

“This horror comedy is sure to be hit with a variety of audiences," states David Rand, President of Grand Entertainment Group. "If you...

The official DVD release details and artwork for Chastity Bites have arrived, and we have every single blood-soaked pixel of the goodies right here for your perusal. Drop the garlic, put away the crosses, and check it out!

From the Press Release

Weirdsmobile Productions wants you to prepare for the release of the horror comedy Chastity Bites, hitting DVD on February 11, 2014, from Grand Entertainment Group. The DVD will include an exclusive "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette and official trailer.

"We are thrilled to be working with Grand on the DVD release of Chastity Bites,” says writer and producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles. “Their enthusiasm for the movie was evident from the beginning, and their entrepreneurial spirit as a new company fits perfectly with our first indie feature."

“This horror comedy is sure to be hit with a variety of audiences," states David Rand, President of Grand Entertainment Group. "If you are a fan of Scream or Mean Girls,...

The 4th annual Brisbane Underground Film Festival will take place on three nights — and one afternoon screening — on Nov. 21-23 at the Brisbane Powerhouse arts center.

The fest opens on the 21st with two documentaries about two iconic performers. First up is Jeffrey Schwarz’s hit I Am Divine, about the legendary actress and drag queen; followed by the performance film Peaches Does Herself.

Screenings at the rest of the fest include Drew Tobia’s outrageous debut feature See You Next Tuesday, which has been tearing up the underground circuit; Zach Clark’s holiday dark comedy White Reindeer; transgressive filmmaker Jon Moritsugu’s return to the cinema, Pig Death Machine; the graffiti art documentary Vigilante Vigilante by Max Good and more. Each feature film is preceded by a short film, as well.

The full film lineup for the 2013 Brisbane Underground Film Festival is below. But, please visit the fest’s...

On a quiet street in late-1950′s suburban Baltimore – Baltimore! – an apple-cheeked upper-middle-class family moves in and two young men become neighbors by sheer coincidence. No one in their right mind could have predicted that these two boys would form a friendship that would last decades and unleash onto an unsuspecting public some of the most gloriously perverse collaborations in film history.

Then again, the world had never seen the likes of John Waters and Harris Glenn Milstead before.

The criminally entertaining new documentary I Am Divine yanks the cha-cha heels and wipes the liberally-applied makeup off of one of our true queer pop culture pioneers: Divine. Part drag queen, part vixen, part psychopath, and all woman (well, not quite), Divine subverted pretty much everything Hollywood had to say about women, sexuality, glamor, and common decency. Her face – often made up in garish, twisted masks and screaming to bring the walls down – is known everywhere.

Divine Intervention: Schwarz Resurrects a Trailblazer for Loving Tribute

As gay culture becomes more normalized and commodified into the fabric of the mainstream zeitgeist, the importance of remembering the career of the talented Divine seems paramount. Documentarian Jeffrey Schwarz manages to evoke the larger than life star with a comprehensive and lovingly made homage with I Am Divine, an effort to explore his life through a variety of interviews and archival footage. For those familiar with his output, there’s certainly nothing revelatory to be experienced here, and while it serves as a wonderful preface to Divine’s notable body of work, it’s equally enjoyable to revisit the infamous, intriguing, and incomparable career of a star whose life ended much too soon.

Born Harris Glenn Milstead in 1945 Baltimore, Schwarz delves into Divine’s somewhat troubled youth and adolescence via extensive interviews with Divine’s mother and a female high school sweetheart.

Before there was RuPaul’s Drag Race, hell, before there was RuPaul, there was the divinely dangerous Divine, actor, singer, drag queen, provocateur extraordinaire. Willing to do not almost anything but anything on screen (including eating dog feces for Pink Flamingos, one of the many films he made with the legendary shocksploitation director, John Waters), all in the name of art. Starting its theatrical run this week at the Cinema Village in NYC and the Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane in Austin, I Am Divine tells the behind-the-scenes story of this force of nature that left no taboo unturned. Filmmaker interviewed the doc’s director, Jeffrey Schwarz, over email. […]...

Before there was RuPaul’s Drag Race, hell, before there was RuPaul, there was the divinely dangerous Divine, actor, singer, drag queen, provocateur extraordinaire. Willing to do not almost anything but anything on screen (including eating dog feces for Pink Flamingos, one of the many films he made with the legendary shocksploitation director, John Waters), all in the name of art. Starting its theatrical run this week at the Cinema Village in NYC and the Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane in Austin, I Am Divine tells the behind-the-scenes story of this force of nature that left no taboo unturned. Filmmaker interviewed the doc’s director, Jeffrey Schwarz, over email. […]...

In I Am Divine, a worthy documentary tribute to the drag queen icon, trash king John Waters recalls hatching Pink Flamingos' infamous dog-shit scene: "What can we do that isn't against the law—yet?" Waters snickers. That dangling "yet" reminds viewers that Divine's life and career is now being considered from the safety of hindsight. In the film, Divine (né Glenn Milstead) is first an icon, then a person. As director Jeffrey Schwarz's bubbly gallery of talking heads observes, Divine had mixed feelings about his early collaborations with Waters. Divine couldn't find steady work as a character actor in later years because he was best known for gobbling feces. But he also understood that when you celebrate bad taste as much as he did, you look ...

Glenn here. After decades of trying to attain the same critical and cultural awareness as feature films, it appears documentaries are now suffering from a case of too much of a good thing. We’re in a day and age where documentaries are so common that it’s impossible for the Academy’s documentary branch to keep up. Apparently 151 docos have been submitted - an average of three a week! - for this year’s Oscars and just like Diane Keaton, something’s gotta give.

Last year the Academy set up a secret online forum of sorts for documentary branchmembers so they could post recommendations of titles to help whittle down the number of contenders. “Nobody’s recommended that anthopological documentary about North Atlantic fishermen? Fine, I’ll just watch Blackfish.” I like the idea in concept, but Leviathan was highly acclaimed so what then? Admittedly, it would be nice...

Divine wouldn’t have lasted a single episode on RuPaul’s Drag Race—the 1970s and ’80s drag icon was vulgar, intentionally unattractive and, well, ate dog poop. But she nonetheless paved the way for many queens to come and is a seminal figure in Lgbt entertainment history. A muse to John Waters and star of such seminal queer flicks as Pink Flamingos and Hairspray, Divine (born Glenn Milstead) came from meager beginnings but brought drag to the mainstream in a way no on had before.

I Am Divine, a new documentary from Jeffrey Schwarz (Vito), explores Divine’s origins and evolution, from Waters’ midnight movies and a raunchy cabaret act to chart-topping disco songs and friendships with art stars like Andy Warhol and David Hockney. Divine was even the inspiration for The Little Mermaid‘s Ursula the Sea Witch.

Hmm, maybe she would’ve done well on Drag Race after all.

Written by Lotti Pharriss Knowles and directed by John V Knowles, Chastity Bites is a new horror-comedy that has recently shown to great crowds at film festivals around the world. The husband-wife team has also been involved with Automat Pictures' Jeffrey Schwarz in the production of his last few documentary features, Vito, Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story, and I Am Divine.Chastity Bites is their debut as a writing-directing team, and I'm pretty psyched to see it. If the trailer is to be believed, the film looks to ride the line drawn by films like Cherry Falls, Excision, Teeth, and Saved. This sort of farce addressing moral rigidity is right up my alley. Chastity Bites has already played the Lund Fantastic Film Festival, the Philadelphia...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Every scene in Pink Flamingos without Divine is a little less filthy. Baltimore-based trash king John Waters put the drag queen on a pedestal worthy of a sideshow. But Divine, the subject of Bam's six-film "I Am Divine" retrospective, shone even without Waters's carnival barker hype. She even exudes beguiling charm in Lust in the Dust, Paul Bartel's otherwise snoozeworthy 1985 kitsch western. But Pink Flamingos remains the ur-text for Divine and Waters fans because it is a manifesto. Divine is introduced as "The World's Filthiest Person," a title that villainous power couple Raymond and Connie Marble (David Lochary and Mink Stole) covet. But Divine earns it throughout Pink Flamingos thanks to what Waters argues is a natural perversity. Try, if you can, to ig...

The 6th annual Arizona Underground Film Festival might be beginning on the unluckiest day of the year — Friday the 13th — but the residents of Tucson are lucky for this 9-night extravaganza of wild and wooly cinema from all over the globe. The fest runs Sept. 13-21 at The Screening Room and other locations.

Opening Night films include the retro, music-fueled slasher flick Discopath by Renaud Gauthier and the Internet-based bloodbath Truth Or Dare, directed by scream queen Jessica Cameron making her filmmaking debut. The last film of the fest on the 21st is the cryptic post-apocalyptic thriller Dust of War, directed by Andrew Kightlinger.

The rest of the fest includes mind-bending fiction flicks like the cult-ish Fateful Findings by Neil Breen; the 90-minute, one-shot noir Worm by Andrew Bowser; Zach Clark’s twisted holiday movie White Reindeer; Drew Tobia’s surreal See You Next Tuesday; as well as challenging documentaries...

Exclusive: Lbgt Wolfe Releasing has acquired rights to three films that screened at Outfest Los Angeles, which concluded at the weekend. Separately, Image Entertainment has set then release pattern for The Colony.

The distributor took worldwide rights to Doug Spearman’s Hot Guys With Guns, Us and Canadian rights to Cory Krueckeberg’s Getting Go: The Go Doc Project and Jeffrey Schwarz’s I Am Divine.

Spearman’s Hot Guys With Guns stars Marc Anthony Samuel and Brian McArdle as ex-boyfriends in a modern detective story.

Krueckeberg’s Getting Go: The Go Doc Project centres on a young person who sets out to make a documentary about New York nightlife as a way of meeting an object of desire. Schwartz’s I Am Divine is a documentary about the celebrated drag icon.

Wolfe will release the trio on VoD and DVD in 2014 following their theatrical runs. “Gay movie-lovers across the country are going to adore these films as...

Two new one-sheets for the latest flick from John V. Knowles, Chastity Bites, have arrived featuring artwork by illustrator Tim Seeley. Check 'em out!

From the Press Release

In celebration of San Diego Comic-Con 2013 (Sdcc 2013), Weirdsmobile Productions is thrilled to unleash exclusive Chastity Bites character art inspired by the feminist, ‘girl-powered’ heroine of the film Leah, played by Allison Scagliotti (“Warehouse 13’), and her virgin blood-obsessed arch nemesis Liz, played by Louise Griffiths (“The Revenant”). Created by comic book artist Tim Seeley of “Hack/Slash” fame, these designs sparked a unique collaboration between Team Chastity Bites and the popular artist after finding out about all-Geek podcast/radio show Fandom Planet’s campaign to encourage the producers of the “Hack/Slash” movie to cast Scagliotti in the lead role of Cassie (hashtag: #AllisonScag4Cassie).

Says producer and screenwriter Lotti Pharriss Knowles, "Tim Seeley obviously loves genre material and strong female characters as much as we do,...

"The phenomena are there, really there! That’s why I say, either you know or you don’t know spirit phenomena exist. If you don’t know, go investigate the findings yourself, but don’t tell me you don’t believe in spirits." — Ed Warren

Greetings from the apocalypse! Well "Pacific Rim" came and is on its way to "went," but I loved it just the same. Of this week's many new releases only one truly stands out, and it’s the lowest-budget one of the bunch. Prepare to pee yourself as Patrick Wilson uses the power of Christ to compel you towards "The Conjuring."

Friday, July 19

Pow! In Theaters

This week's muchas recomendado Survivor of Thunderdome is "The Conjuring," and for a damn good reason. Director James Wan follows up his success with "Insidious" with an even more old-fashioned ghost yarn based on true events that rocked a Rhode Island family.

With the onslaught of Comic-Con coverage beaming your way right now, this a firm reminder that Fantasia, one of the world’s preeminent genre film festivals, is also kicking off today; and we have a list of our Top 11 most anticipated entries.

The Fantasia Film Festival, now in its 17th year after debuting in 1996, will likely be making heads explode with this year's lineup so we thought we'd point you in the direction of those films that look dressed to impress. So take off your Hulk Smash Hands for a few minutes and give these talented filmmakers a little bit of your time!

24 Exposures (USA) Dir: Joe Swanberg (World Premiere)

Joe Swanberg has been an indie darling for years for his intimate portraits of twenty-something hipsters, but it’s his latest stint in the horror genre that has us turning our heads. After the director’s effort in last year...

The full Fantasia 2013 lineup has now been revealed, and we have here the third and final wave of titles to share. Prepare to drool!

From the Press Release:

The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.

Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries

Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film

Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)

Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)

Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)

Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...

The Fantasia Film Festival is taking place from July 18th to August 6th in Montreal and will feature over 100 films from around the world. We gave you a look at the initial lineup last month and now have an additional list of Fantasia 2013 films that will be screening, including Curse of Chucky, You’re Next, and Frankenstein’s Army:

Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)

A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...