06/04/21
THIS WEEK: END THE LONG-SHORT WEEK WITH LGBTQ-CENTERED FILMS, SHOWS, MUSIC AND BOOKS.
TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞Youtube Billie Eilish - LOST CAUSE
☞Letterboxd CRUELLA
☞TikTok #PrideAnthems
☞Spotify Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)
☞Netflix LUCIFER
☞Twitter McLovin
PS WEEKLY ツ
Life & Culture
It’s somehow June already. Which marks not just the start of summer, but also the start of Pride month! Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime all have dedicated pages on their platforms to celebrate Pride, highlighting LGBTQ+ creators, actors, producers, writers and filmmakers. OutFest is also hosting a five-day digital festival in celebration of Pride month called Outfronts. Beginning today until Tuesday June 8, viewers will be able to access free panel discussions featuring creators and talent from several beloved LGBTQ+ programs available on television today, including GENERA+ION, RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, and THE WILDS. Please go enjoy all of it, and DM me on @picturestart on IG with your favorites.
Last month, Owen Hurcum became the world’s first non-binary mayor. They were overwhelmingly elected mayor of Bangor, Wales last year and took office on May 10. Oh, and at 23, they are also the youngest mayor to ever lead Wales. For Pride month, Owen encourages people to remember that “the world is still targeting LGBTQ+ people” and “as much as we can and should celebrate ourselves, we need to be using Pride as a platform to force change.”
And finally, my two favorite TikToks from this week. This video is from one of the creators I get most excited to see on my FYP. Max simply shares his take on adulthood and life but does it in the most hilariously relatable way. I highly recommend checking his page out but warn you that you could easily spend much more time there than you might plan to. And this one is very earnest but documents a quote from an episode of MODERN FAMILY. I haven’t seen too much of the show but this was honestly touching.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Film
I still remember the chills I had the first time I watched HAPPY TOGETHER 春光乍泄 (trailer here). In this emotionally raw, gorgeously stylized Wong Kar-wai film, a couple (portrayed by Hong Kong icons Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Leslie Chueng Kwok Wing) travels through Argentina as they go through a turbulent cycle of falling more deeply in love, breaking up, making up, infatuation and doubt. Set against the cusp of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, this heart-wrenching, feverish story captures the angst of an LGBTQ couple unsure of what their future holds. You may remember this film as one of Wong Kar-wai’s most influential work, or part of the New Queer Cinema movement in the 90s. Both are true, but I mostly love it for its pioneering style of visual storytelling, the powerful performances by two legendary actors, and the complexity and intensity of its portrayal of the LGBTQ community (at a time when Hollywood’s representation was minimal and problematic—at best). So, go watch already!
“Not every love story is a romance.” There are so many things I love about THE HALF OF IT (trailer here), the charming queer romcom directed by Alice Wu. In this refreshing take on CYRANO DE BERGERAC, a shy and studious Chinese-American girl (and possibly one of the only Asian kids in her small suburban town) is asked by a sweet and not-so-sophisticated classmate to help him write love letters for a beautiful popular girl. No problem—until she finds out that perhaps these love letters really do come from her heart. As a romcom, this coming-of-age story subverts many typical tropes, and focuses instead on love on all fronts—romance, sexuality questioning, friendship, family, and self-love. What I appreciate most about this coming-of-age film is the way it portrays the story of an immigrant girl without relying on an “other-ing” the narrative; yes, it is about a queer Asian-American girl, but it’s also a story about growth and self-discovery. Watch on Netflix!
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
TV
If you enjoyed our first Pride month tiny history lesson on Instagram but haven’t yet watched POSE(trailer here), I’m telling you to drop what you’re doing and get hip. The show and its fictional characters are strongly inspired by the Black queer community that created ballroom and its houses in 1970s New York. The show is just as much about dancing and fun as it is about chosen family. I also want to add that POSE is not the first depiction of ballroom I have ever seen but it is one of my favorites because the cast and crew really reflect the community they are representing—and not only does the show have one of the most diverse casts that I have ever seen on TV, but it also has an equally diverse team working behind the camera. Anyway, I am now a stan of the entire cast and I am absolutely devastated that the finale is airing this Sunday June 6th—tune in!
—Eden Bekele, Digital Associate
Theater
Next Tuesday at 6pm ET, the Vineyard Theatre is presenting the final installment of its Spring Gala conversation series. This installment is between Michael R. Jackson (who wrote the recent hit A STRANGE LOOP) and John Cameron Mitchell, and the two will discuss creating shows that have changed the way LGBTQ+ stories are represented on stage (among other things). I would watch both of these two men talk about pretty much anything, all day long, so I’m incredibly excited to see what happens when they come together!
—Julia Hammer, Director of Production
Book
THE BLACK FLAMINGO by Dean Atta is one of the most heartwarming coming-of-age stories I’ve read in a long time. Loosely based on the author’s own life and written in verse, the novel introduces us to Michael, a gay, mixed-race teen living in London, on his journey to embrace his identity. As he struggles to figure out where he belongs, he joins his campus’ Drag Society and thus his persona, The Black Flamingo, is born. I loved reading about a life so different from my own, told with incredible honesty and vulnerability. Atta is deftly able to pull from his own experiences to portray Michael’s intersecting values and multifaceted identities. Through this lens, we’re able to explore the complicated layers that make Michael who he is, and push us to make these same considerations about who we are.
—Marisa Harris, Executive Assistant
Music
Amaarae is a queer Alte/Afropop artist born in New York City and raised between Atlanta and Accra, Ghana. Her sound is hard to place as it’s an eclectic blend of airy Pop, Afro rhythms and smooth R&B. She floats on each track, singing in a hushed falsetto like she’s telling us a secret. And though she is private about her sexuality she is still very intentional, titling one of her early songs FLUID and featuring LGBTQ+ dancers, drag queens and pole dancers. Her latest album THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW is even more transparent in its sexual expression—on her track FANCY she whispers “I like it when you call me zaddy” on the hook— alluding to her being butch. So while pride should be every single day, this pride month I’m practically begging you all to check out this pioneering queer artist in one of the fastest growing spaces in music. My stand out tracks from the project are: JUMPING SHIP, SAD GURLZ LUV MONEY,and LEAVE ME ALONE.
Also, in celebration of Pride and with the help of some friends—I put together a playlist to showcase the talent of artists in our community. The entire playlist is straight heat, if I do say so myself. Plus, it’s open for collaboration, so please enjoy, share, and add to it!
—Eden Bekele, Digital Associate
Short Films
New York City’s LGBTQ+ film festival, NewFest, is teaming up with Vimeo for a third consecutive year of its Shorts Showcase. Available to stream for just $12, the digital event features five short films, and your ticket also gives you access to an exclusive roundtable Q&A with the filmmakers. I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out yet, but the film I’m most excited for is CLUB QUARANTINE, which documents how four friends’ IG page created on the first day of the pandemic lockdown got turned into a “Nightly-Online-Queer-Dance-Party with over 70,000 followers from all corners of the world.”
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist