Is anyone... Afraid of Vagina Wolf? New release starring Guinevere Turner (dir Anna Margarita Albelo)

DVD Release Date: 29 September 2014 

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Rating :

Country of Origin: USA
Director: Anna Margarita Albelo
Cast: Anna Margarita Albelo, Guinevere Turner, Janina Gavankar, Carrie Preston
BBFC Rating: 15 (tbc)
Available: 25 August, Amazon
 
Anna is a charismatic but struggling filmmaker facing a midlife crisis, having turned 40, she lives in her friend's garage in L.A., dances in a vagina costume for money, and has neither job nor girlfriend. Just when she's about to give up on both, she meets sexy post-feminist, Katia.
To impress her new muse, Anna decides to write and direct an all-female remake of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? casting Katia and her best friends Chloe and Penelope in the film. Along the way, with the help of those around her, she discovers some home truths with hilarious results. 

From director Anna Margarita Albelo (A Lez in Wonderland, Hooters) comes this eccentric, semi-autobiographical romantic comedy with Albelo in her first feature fiction film.

With an award-winning performance from  Guinevere Turner (The L Word, Go Fish, outstanding as Penelope and playing everything from supportive best friend to a drunk lesbian version of Elizabeth Taylor) and an award-wining script, great supporting cast turns from Janina Gavanka and Agnes Olech, as well as significant amount of the film in a handmade vagina costume, Albelo has created more than a universe for her character, it's really a multi-verse. 

Listen to our interview with Director Anna Margarita Albelo and lead Guinevere Turner:




Mixing genre (from fantasy to comedy) and even style such as film noir juxtaposed against documentary, Albelo offers us a sometimes surreal, sometimes meta, often funny, sometimes very dark (imagine peeling off Guinevere Turner's face and sticking it over your own...) vision for a character who goes on a mid-life journey of self discovery after reaching rock bottom. With an honest look at herself, and help from the friends and family that surround her, she realises she can achieve her dream.  

This is Albelo's first feature and she plays with as many of the possibilities that are open to her as can fit in one 80 minute film. And it works.

Writer, Director and lead Anna Margarita Albelo says  

"Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf? based on my original, semi-autobiographical story, is a film about honesty and unites many of the themes that concern me and my work for the past 20 years: the anti-hero's quest, unrequited love, unconditional love, facing demons, and creating change through our own hands.  

By using my life and becoming the protagonist, I am giving a voice to a person who is a woman, a Latina, a lesbian, out there in the world trying to give meaning and importance to her life and desires. Universal themes explored, with humour, by one person's personal experiences, this is the base of my work both in documentary and fiction.

"Inspired by the mid-life crisis films of two of my cinematographic heroes: Fellini's 8 1/2 and Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, I unite the different story-telling techniques I've perfected over the years combining fantasy, documentary, comedy, and drama. Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf? is a movie about a filmmaker telling you her story, illustrating her trials and tribulations and somehow understanding what it all means at the end. It's also about how humour, friendship, family and creativity can illuminate even the most dire of situations. How does one have love in their lives? They start with themselves!" 

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By Katie

 

Girls on Film: The First Date short film collection

Nine short stories from all over the world (including the UK) come together to create a smorgasbord of LBQ content with something for every taste.

Often hot & sweaty, and sensual in every way, a little bit of the mosaic of every day lesbian life is well and truly explored across these individual tales.

Highlights of the pack include: 

The sexy rom-com with a twist What's Your Sign (Dir. Leanna ‘Alex’ Siow) that has an L-Word feel to it through the fantasy projections and art gallery setting, but ends with a fantasticially modern and humorous twist (and love budding).

Dream Date (Dir Diana Juhr-DeBenedetti, Andromeda Godfrey) takes a witty look at the dating rituals of women, offering one anonymity perspective at first, then quickly flipping reality to a long-term couple and their intimacy needs. 

Social Butterfly (Dir Lauren Wolkstein) explores the impact of a stranger's entrance at an 18th Birthday party. The American beauty is on a mission and instead finds an unexpected moment of chemistry and connection with the birthday girl, before she is washed clean and exposed as a thief.


View the trailer:

Available from: Amazon: http://amzn.to/1nQejod | Play: http://bit.ly/1pQAA6C RRP: £15.99 
Or get your copy from The Planet Central Zone at L Fest! 18 - 21 July

COUNTRY: UK, USA, France, Germany, Norway, Ireland
RELEASED: 14th July 2014

The line up: 
The First Date- dir. Janella Lacson (USA) 7mins 2012
Air Balloon- dir. Yenni Lee (Norway) 11mins 2011
Fresh Air Therapy 2- dir. Christoph Scheermann (Germany) 16mins 2011
AWOL - dir. Deb Shoval (USA) 13mins 2011
What's Your Sign? - dir. Alex Siow (USA) 6mins 2013
James Dean- dir. Lucy Asten Elliott (UK) 8mins 2011
Hold On Tight - dir. Anna Rodgers (Ireland) 13mins 2011
Social Butterfly- dir. Lauren Wolkstein (France) 14mins 2013
Dream Date - dir. Diana Juhr DeBenedetti & Andromeda Godfrey (UK) 3mins 2012

By Katie

Review: Reaching for the Moon (dir. Bruno Barreto; Brazil)

Set at the height of 1950s glamour, this audience award winning drama recounts the extraordinary relationship between Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Elizabeth Bishop (played by Miranda Otto, Lord of the Rings) and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares (the beautifully handsome Gloria Pires). 

Rating:

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DVD Release Date:  12 May 2014
Country of Origin: Brazil
Director: Bruno Barreto
Cast: Gloria Pires, Miranda Otto, Tracy Middendorf

Available on DVD from Amazon, (RRP £15.99)

REACHING FOR THE MOON is released by Peccadillo Pictures. It can be ordered on DVD from Amazon and Play.

 

In search of inspiration, Bishop leaves America having accepted the invitation of an old college friend to stay with her on her sprawling country estate in Brazil. But she never counted on meeting the love of her life - her friend's partner.

At first, the fiery personalities of the two women collide and lead to passion-fuelled debates, but animosity quickly turns to attraction, then desire. 

This biopic explores the complicated and poetical life of poet Bishop, who wrote successfully (she's a Pulitzer Prize Winner) and defied gender oppression by ignoring the glass ceiling of feminist/lesbian literary writing. She did not allow these factors to infiltrate her poetry. 

Against a back drop of rural Brazil, and three strong female lead characters, who are shaping a three-sided female only family for themselves - possibly one of the first of its kind, and despite all the fame and fortune these professionally successful women have brought themselves, it doesn't make life any less complicated.

View the trailer

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G.B.F - gay teen comedy drama hits the big screen

Rating:
 



Director: Darren Stein 
Cinema release: 21 March 2014

On Demand Release Date: 22nd March 2014
DVD/Blu-Ray Release Date: Amazon: 7th April 2014
Country of Origin: USA
Cast: Michael J. Willett, Paul Iacono, Sasha Pieterse, Natasha Lyonne, Evanna Lynch, Megan Mullally, Andrea Bowen
BBFC Rating: 12 (tbc)

Tanner (Michael J Willet) and Brent (Paul Iacono) are two gay best friends in high school. Brent longs for the spotlight and believes that coming out will make him instantly popular as this year's must-have teen girl accessory; North Gateway High's very first G.B.F. (or Gay Best Friend). Tanner on the other hand, would rather fly under the radar and finish high school without ever being noticed.

When things don't go according to plan and Tanner is outed instead of Brent, the two boys go from B.F.Fs to instant frenemies. Enter the three most popular girls in school -- queen-of-mean bombshell Fawcett, drama club diva Caprice, and sweet, Mormon good-girl 'Shley, who launch an all-out social war to win Tanner's status-enhancing friendship.

Featuring an all-star cast including Desperate Housewives' Andrea Bowen, Will & Grace's Megan Mullally, Orange Is The New Black's Natasha Lyonne and Harry Potter's Evanna Lynch. 

G.B.F is the gay-themed high school popularity contest coming-of-age teen drama we have been dreaming of ever since Mean Girls hit the big screen. In a colourful, fashion-filled, stereotype-inducing and breaking formulaic story, the comedy wins out. Playing cleverly on parodying those high school dramas, the jokes and the physical comedy seductively mask a story where the ending might be a tad predictable for fans of the genre.

Set in small town, middle USA, the highs and lows of being the only two gays in the village and coming out are explored, adding some depth to what would otherwise be a nice to look at, but vapid jaunt. In particular, relationships with parents, and the complexities of the blurred boundaries between friendships and romance mean the film has something to offer for the young gay teens it represents.

Willet and Iacono's portrayal of the teens coming to terms with what their sexuality means to them are a strong combination and between them show off a spectrum of character that goes much deeper than stereotypes often seen in side-kick gay characters. 

In fact, the stereotyping is left to the surrounding entourage, cheerleader Fawcett (Sasha Pieterse of Pretty Little Liars fame), stage-performer Caprice (Xosha Roquemore), and religious 'Shley (Andrea Bowen). They are the American high-school archetype of popularity figures, with their ambition, agendas and attitude. However, the actresses all cleverly and deftly convey that there's more going on under the surface of these pretty high school divas.

The humour is a tad laden with gay subtext and might miss some of the mainstream audience the rest of the film is clearly aimed at. 

Casting the supporting adult roles with key actors from well known LGBT film and TV was a good touch, in particular the role of Brent's mother, Megan Mullaley and gay-straight alliance staff advisor, Natasha Lyonne, both played with genuine sensitivity and skill, adds credibility to the film overall.

G.B.F. is out in cinemas and on demand 21st March followed by the Blu-ray/DVD release on 14th April.

 

By Katie

'A Map for Love' dir Constanza Fernandez; review, interview & competition

A rare lesbian feature for Chile, creating a beautiful exploration of relationships, coming out and meeting parental expectation.

DVD Release Date: 10th Feb 2014 
Country of Origin: Chile 
Director: Constanza Fernandez 
Cast: MORO ANDREA, FRANCISCA BERNARDI, MARIANA PRAT BBFC Rating: 15 (tbc) 

Rating:

 

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A Map for Love is about that space journeys create, and the potential for relationships to grow and change within those spaces. Journeys can be between places we know, and places untravelled. Special conversations can take place in that space where there's nothing else to do. 

Roberta is a young lesbian living in Santiago. Her girlfriend, Javiera is a woman of the world; actress, a dancer and philosopher. Despite all of Roberta's best efforts to avoid it, she finds herself in an awkward situation when she has to introduce her new girlfriend to her conservative mother, Ana. 

Roberta hatches a plan to introduce her partner to her mother on a sailboat trip. Awkwardness and circumstance quickly becomes an alliance between the women, thanks to the wine on board and before long they reveal secrets and really get to know one another. For all those who understand what it is really like to introduce your parents to your partner, A MAP FOR LOVE is a fresh and exciting addition to the new wave of lesbian cinema.

We spoke to director Constanza Fernandez about the journey of A Map for Love and LGBT film making in Chile.

 

How was the experience of so much filming on a sail boat, and what were the challenges?

Since this was a movie with low budget we had no additional resources while filming on sea. There was no second boat to assist us, apart from the captain it was just the film crew itself. We went to sea in the morning, had lunch on the sail boat and came back with whatever we managed to shoot. We had no control over lighting, the boat's perpetual movement didn't allow us to choose and fix the background given a particular scene. All of us got seasick at least once and since the pills against seasickness made us feel drowsy several times I was forced to wake up an actress right before filming a scene.

One of our ways to approach these difficulties was to rehearse and plan not just for a particular scene but to extend the shooting as long as it would hold. In the end the actresses knew their text lines almost like in a theater play being able to play the movie's argument by heart.

My enthusiasm for the Roman Polanski movie Knife in the water in that sense played a trick on me: I had imagined my bourgeois drama evolving in calm waters of that lake in our Pacific Ocean, which unfortunately, is not pacific at all.

How well received are LGBT films in Chile/South America?

In Chile, LGBT movies are a very recent phenomenon. However, the year I released A Map for Love five other films with LGBT main character came out (bear in mind that in contemporary Chile there are about 30 new national film releases in a year).  In general, there has been a lot of public debate about gay and lesbian rights. There was this young man who got beaten to death which led to a anti-discrimination law which bears his name and also a famous female judge who went to international court to fight for the right to raise her children in a lesbian household. This context helped raise the interest in LBGT films a lot.

What’s it like coming out in Chile? Is it easy, are parents still conservative about it? Does the film reflect a typical experience?

Chile is in a remote geographical location and 16 years of dictatorship produced a cultural isolation which still has not been overcome. There is a long lasting tradition of concentrating economic and political power in the hands of a few traditional families and immigration rates are rather low. We are probably less open minded than several of our neighbors. Although I think coming out is not an easy task anywhere in the world, I guess we do have a rather adverse environment in my country. I try to show that in my movie; I think my movie reflects an encounter between a generation who had to cope with educating their children in an oppressive regime and the generation raised herein.

 

Available 
From Monday 10 Feb. RRP: £14.99. Order from Amazon: http://amzn.to/17XAEb0 | Play: http://bit.ly/MAP-YT-PL

Win yourself a copy in our free competition!