#london lesbian and gay film festival

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 1, 2008, Mala Noche was screened at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

[jgroffdaily]

Sitting down ahead of A Nice Indian Boy’s London Film Festival premiere on 15 October, the all-gay team of 7 Days director Roshan Sethi, Deadpool’s Karan Soni and Looking’s Jonathan Groff reflect on what this South Asian, queer rom-com means to them.

Soni: For [7 Days], we were like: “Let’s test our relationship in this very stressful way.” It ended up being good couple’s therapy. Then, for [A Nice Indian Boy] we were so giddy we got to make this together because it was such a personal subject matter. If either of us made this individually, we would’ve been jealous of the other person. But we got to do it together so this one is very special.

Sethi: I don’t think I experience pure creative joy without him – it’s a deeper level of creative joy than I experienced with projects away from him. It’s a very special thing.

Groff: Oh my God, that’s so sweet. Is the joy happening when you’re actually on the set, or is it when you’re editing it?

Sethi: Both. The purest joy is watching him act. I feel like he’s acting for me when he’s being really funny.

Soni: For me, the joy is this part of it: putting the [film] out in the world. I feel so happy that we can share it because people feel moved by it. It’s so exciting to be engaged with that together.

Jonathan, your character has an interesting perspective, on paper he’s the outlier but his open-hearted nature is infectious. How was it for you to arrive with the character of Jay?

Groff: I’d never read anybody like Jay. It’s interesting to have adopted parents and grow up in a religion that you wouldn’t otherwise grow up in. I knew nothing about Indian culture, so it was a crash course. I watched the movie for the first time on Saturday, it was educational for me. I tend to be a very full-on person and I felt exposed, not in a bad way. That openness you’re talking about is part of the character but from the outside, I was like: “Oh God, Groff!” I could hold my cards a little bit closer, it was confronting to watch him be so open.

I especially loved the scene where you burst into song on the street. That set the tone.

Groff: I just did a full lip-sync to “Livin’ La Vida Loca” in the cafe at lunch with my friend today. So I am like Jay in that way, for worse or better.

Groff: It feels like a door has opened. For [Sethi, Soni] and the producers it was like pushing a rock up a hill to get this movie made, it’s the definition of a passion project. In addition, I would have never imagined in 2008, when I came out, being out would be an asset in my career. I always thought it would be a hindrance. Even though there is still so much work to do, the fact I have the opportunity to be who I am, at least my sexual identity on screen, still feels like a total shock and gift.

Also, to play romance scenes with Karan was magic; getting to be romantic as two men still feels like an incredible gift. I got to experience it on the TV show Looking, which was therapeutically transformational for me. Representation continues to be such a gift as an actor.

[Favourite film with a moment of revelation for the characters]

Groff: Mine is Grease, I love it so much!

Thank you for your thoughtful gay rom-com. I need a lesbian one next, please.

Groff: Oh! Yes!

Sethi: It’s on the list!

Soni: We need lesbian doctors.

Sethi: Yes! That’s what we need: two lesbian doctors fall in love!

[thishadoscarbuzz]

242 - Pride

This week’s episode is one we have promised for some time: 2014′s Pride. The film tells the true story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, a queer activist group that partnered with a Welsh town in the 1980s during the mining strike under Thatcher’s rule. Following the lives of both the straight townsfolk and the queer Londoners, the film paints a portrait of queerness, allyship, and activism that rings true today while also satisfying on a crowd-pleasing level. After launching at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and winning the Queer Palm, the film launched in the fall of 2014 to some ardent critical fans, but didn’t cross the Oscar finish line.

This episode, we talk about the theatre career of director Matthew Warchus and the film’s comforts in this current tumultuous moment for queer people. We also talk about the film’s tremendous ensemble headlined by Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy, gay infighting, and unofficial THOB mascot Men Trussler.

Topics also include the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Monica Bellucci bluntly listing director names, and the concept of Festival Regret.

Links:

The 2014 Oscar nominations

Subscribe:

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[denimbex1986]

'...1. Pride (2014)

This British comedy bagged the Queer Palm award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival – and for good reason. Starring the likes of Ben Schnetzer, Joseph Gilgun, George MacKay, Dominic West, Andrew Scott, Imelda Staunton, Jessica Gunning, Bill Nighy and plenty more, the film recalls the 1984 British miners’ strike and depicts the real group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help the families struggling as a result of the strike...

3. All Of Us Strangers (2023)

For a newer film to watch this Pride month, if you haven’t seen it already, All Of Us Strangers is a must-see. Led by the captivating Andrew Scott – who is joined by Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell – we follow a young screenwriter Adam who lives in a lonely London apartment block. After a chance encounter with his neighbour Harry (Mescal), his life descends into a strange mystery that also involves his long-dead parents who he finds in his childhood home somehow alive...'

[ciqff]

Media Release: Reel Desires CIQFF 2024

TWELFTH EDITION OF REEL DESIRES: CHENNAI INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL, SHOWCASES DIVERSE GENDER AND SEXUALITIES  AUGUST 16-18, 2024

MEDIA RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact 98415-57983, or email chennaiintlqueerfilmfest@gmail.com or visit www.ciqff.org.

The 12th annual edition of Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival will be held at the Goethe-Institut, Chennai,  from August 16-18, 2024. Reel Desires features films, shorts and documentaries showcasing sexuality and gender diversity issues.  This year’s line-up consists of 20 films from nine countries, selected via a community-led review process. The principal organisers of CIQFF 2024 are Orinam and Goethe-Institut Chennai, working in collaboration with Nirangal Charitable Trust  and SAATHII.

Commencing Friday Aug 16, 2024, the film festival opens with Love and Let Love, an evocative short by Shailaja Padindala  (2024) that examines unconventional love in couples of two generations.  Other highlights of Friday include  Prayers for  Sweet Waters by Elijah Ndoumbe (2021) a look into the vivid realities of three transgender women living in Cape Town, South Africa, during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Ili-Ili (Little One)  by Clister Santos (2024) is a charming animation in which a pregnant woman seeks parenting advice from her two gay dads. It was part of the 2024 Five Films for Freedom selection of BFI FLARE, London International LGBTQIA+ film festival.  Friday’s feature film My Father’s Clothes (Anima: Die Kleider meines Vaters, by Uli Decker(2022), set in Bavaria, is a story about family secrets, gender issues and the turmoil of love - told as a roller coaster ride through animated and documentary imagery. Among the films on Saturday, August 17,  the internationally acclaimed  Jodi (If)  Bengal short  by Tathagata Ghosh (2024) explores the  tribulations of an arranged marriage that tears a lesbian couple apart,  suggesting that with a mother’s love, perhaps another future is possible.  Samlingi a documentary debut by Mohan Singh Aulakh (2024) explores queer lives in rural and urban lives in Punjab.   Hai Con Chuột (Two Little Mice) by Nguyen Anh Thach  (2024) depicts the tender affection between a gay man and his crush, on the eve of the latter’s wedding to his girlfriend.  Make-up Majhi Dhaal Ga (Make-Up Is My Shield) by Kunal Vijayakar (2024) is a short music video in the Laavni style of song and dance from Maharashtra. It follows the affectionate banter between a cis heterosexual man and his trans sister as the latter recounts her process of embracing her transness and decision to perform an exaggerated femininity. As part of CIQFF2024’s collaboration with the British Council, we bring you three shorts from the British Council Touring Programme series ‘More Films for Freedom’.  On Saturday, the UK/Nigerian film Egungun (Masquerade) by Olive Nwosu ( 2021) explores a woman’s return to her hometown in Lagos, and her new understanding of the people and experiences that shaped her. 

Saturday’s film screenings will be followed by a panel discussion Surviving Queerphobia: Online and Offline. Panelists, who include members of Chennai’s LGBTQIA+ communities and allies,  discuss the upsurge in homophobia and transphobia in recent months leading up to Pride month,  influenced by the “gender critical” movements and bathroom panic of the global north. Following the panel discussion will be a hip-hop party on the roof of Goethe-Institut, with spot registration and entry limited to 100 persons.  It will be DJ’ed by K. Phani Kumar and team.

The program on Sunday, August 18,  commences at 3 pm with Naan oru Pen (I am a woman) a 17 minute solo theatrical performance by Sowmiya in Tamil, directed by A. Mangai.  The performance draws on  poet-memoirist Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise, to present an embodied narration of un-making the body, lived experience and resilience of queerness, especially of a trans life in India.

Highlights among the shorts on Sunday include Ragasiya, a Tamil short on love and friendship by Chandrasekar Srinivasan (2024) featuring Chennai’s own Prahasini Arumugam as the protagonist. Love Positive by Tushar Tyagi (2024) speaks of love among two gay men, one of whom is living with HIV.  Melvilasam (Address) by  Hariprasad KN (2024) is a heartwarming documentary of Parvathi T.S and her arduous journey of becoming the first openly trans postwoman in India, and successfully changing name and gender markers in her government identity documents. They/Them by Phelian (2023) describes the self-realisation of a 49-year-old art professor of their non binary identity.

The film festival closes with  the Gujarati feature film Katlaa Curry by Rohit Prajapati  (2024). Set in a sleepy fishing village along the banks of the river Narmada,  a local fisherman, Raaymal, pulls a young man, Ratan, adrift in his fishing net, setting off a journey of profound connection and self-discovery.

As LGBTQIA+ collectives in India advocate for inclusive institutions and reduced discrimination,, we also work to engender change in hearts and minds, a task substantially more challenging than legal reform. One way we do this is by participating in and producing cultures that reflect both the universality and specificity of our experiences.

Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival 2024, curated under this name since 2013, is the latest in a series of over 19  queer-themed film festivals held in Chennai to date, beginning in November 2004. The event is free and open to individuals 18 years and older.

[ginevranauaui-filmfestivals]

BFI flare: Londons’ LGBTQ+ film festival

It is the biggest LGBTQ+ film festival in Europe. It happens every year in the spring. It was first developed in 1986 with the name "Gay's own pictures". Nine feature films were shown at the event, which ran from October 16 to October 22. At the time, there was just one lesbian-themed film.

In 2018, they showcased fifty feature films and ninety short films.

The word "flare" was considered to better describe the programming's content and to supply an inclusive and flexible phrase that would enable previously ignored sexualities and emerging identity categories to be become a part of the festival's audiences.

[thequeereview]

35th BFI Flare London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival unveils full lineup available digitally UK-wide

35th BFI Flare London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival unveils full lineup available digitally UK-wide

Tickets are now on sale at bfi.org.uk/flare for the 35th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival which runs March 17th – 28th 2021. With 26 features and 38 free shorts from 23 countries, the UK’s longest running queer film event will deliver virtual premieres via BFI Player to audiences nationwide, making it the most accessible version of the festival yet, with closed captioning and…

[lgbtpopcult]

January 2022 WLW in Entertainment Rundown

Updated with all the latest

Movies

The first ever lesbian character(s) comes to the Scream franchise with Scream 5!

The last thing Mary Saw, on Shudder, January 20

Heatwave 2022, available on pvod (amazon, itunes etc.)

AM I OK? premieres at Sundance Film Festival 20-30 January

Lucy and Jane are the best of friends. They finish each other’s sentences, predict every detail of each other’s food order, and pretty much know everything about each other. But when Jane is promoted at work and agrees to move to London for her new position, Lucy confesses her deepest, long-held secret: She likes women, she has for a long time, and she’s terrified by this later-in-life realization. Suddenly, their friendship is thrown into chaos as the two choose different routes by which to navigate the unexpected changes in their lives.

Girl Picture premieres at Sundance Film Festival 20-30 January

GIRL PICTURE

Best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö work after school at a food court smoothie kiosk, frankly swapping stories of their frustrations and expectations regarding love and sex. Volatile misfit Mimmi, unexpectedly swept up in the thrill of a new romance with Emma (a driven skater training for the European championships), struggles to adjust to the trust and compromise required by a lasting relationship. Meanwhile, the offbeat, indefatigable Rönkkö hits the teen party scene, stumbling through a series of awkward encounters with members of the opposite sex while hoping to find her own version of satisfaction.

Marte Um, Brazilian film at Sundance Film Festival 20-30 January

TV

Many of our favorites are back including Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, New Amsterdam, Nancy Drew and more.

Chosen season 1 drops on Netflix January 27, has a gay girl as its lead and is easily the most interesting TV offering this month.

5 January 2022 Rebelde Netflix version will have some wlw.

In How I met your Father the father's adopted sister is a lesbian who "just moved to New York from a small farming town after separating from her wife. Ellen's more comfortable on an organic lettuce field than in a Brooklyn dive bar."

In Single Drunk Female the main character is bi and the series also has Rebecca Henderson. Henderson will portray Olivia, a brilliant melancholic lesbian who works as one of The Greeters at AA. Smart as a whip with an acerbic wit, Olivia is a highly regarded, Peabody award-winning PBS journalist known for her program “Off the Docs.”

In Hbomax's Peacemaker (yeah...I know 😩) one of the women of the team will have a supportive but tired wife, reluctantly dealing with her new wife’s government job and the secrecy it requires.

Gigi the daughter of the Monarch family is married to a woman. January 30.

In Pivoting one of the 3 leading ladies is a bi woman who is getting back into the dating game after a failed marriage.

One of the supporting characters in the CW's new superhero show Naomi is gay and interested in Naomi. It's unclear whether she's interested back but we are made to understand she's queer and could be interested and the show is cool overall. Will keep an eye on it.

Video Games, Comics and More

Curious Expedition 2 - Highlands of Avalon DLC adds to our favorite turn-based narrative roguelike. Explore while romance of all kinds flourishes.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat, Bang, Kill Tour #5

RELEASES JAN 11TH, 2022

Harley Quinn #11

RELEASES JAN 25TH, 2022

LIFE IS STRANGE: SETTLING DUST ISSUE #4

[yesrandyandy42]

I BELIEVE ( IN PINK ) We recorded this in a little studio in Abbotsford, Melbourne...of all places. I love surprise teasers, don't you?

[yurimother]

Yuri Expert Erica Friedman Dives Into LGBTQ Anime & Manga History in New Book 'By Your Side' – June 2022

In February, Yuri researcher and trend-setter Erica Friedman announced that they are writing a new book, By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Manga & Anime. The book will be published by Journey Press in June 2022, in time for pride month and the 20th anniversary of Okazu, the world's oldest and most comprehensive site on lesbian anime and manga.

The term "Yuri" began life as a coded reference to lesbianism within manga and anime genre, but in the past few decades, fans, creators, and publishers shaped the term into a beautiful genre of its own. Friedman traces the past, present, and future of the genre, all the way from the modern Yuri phenomenon manga, webcomics, novels, and games to its routes over a century ago in Yoshiya Nobuko's pioneering works. Walk together through the past, present, and future of Yuri in this insightful and entertaining new work.

By Your Side is a collection of interlocking essays, articles, and essays from Friedman's gloriously hilarious, witty, and unwieldable mind. Through these essays, readers will become familiar with many of the Yuri genre's greatest creators, tropes, concepts, symbols, and titles. As the title suggests, the series focuses on the first 100 years of lesbian anime and manga, 1919-2019.

Friedman describes her hopes for the book to YuriMother:

I want people to approach it like joining me at a Yuri panel - as an ongoing, casual discussion of a topic we love to talk about! I want to walk by your side as we wander through a garden full of lilies and chat about the changes we've seen in Yuri... I hope folks will pick it up and read a section, then put it down and think about that series, or person, or concept, then come back later and read another section!

Because the chapters in BYS are sourced from my writings and presentations, BYS can be used by fans of Yuri who want to know more about the history of the genre and by students of pop culture who are looking for research they can use for their own work.

We also spoke about the future of Yuri.

So much has changed in the past even 20 years, I can hardly project what we haven't even imagined yet. ^_^

But...the thing that is the most exciting change I've seen recently and the thing I hope for the most is creators modeling worlds where queer lives and happiness are normalized...creators imagining joy in queer lives in Yuri.

Indeed, the past few years have seen wonderous titles from a variety of creators embracing Yuri's queer identity to tell both joyful and brutally real Yuri stories. Works like My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, Yuri Life, and most recently, I'm in Love with the Villainess come to mind.

Friedman continues:

We spent a lot of time in the last century performing lesbian trauma for Yuri subplots. I'm looking forward to Yuri manga where lesbian couples just are and then the story happens.

They went on to express their excitement over finally getting ready to put out their "Big Book o'Yuri."

I'm very excited that the Big Book o'Yuri will be a reality, obviously. ^_^ And I'm delighted to be able to work with Journey Press on this. I know they'll give us all the best book they can make. We're probably going to run a Kickstarter, which will give us a chance to develop fun physical and digital goods, as well! And, when the pandemic is over, I absolutely want to do events at bookstores where I can talk to folks about their experiences with Yuri!

I'm also just exceptionally happy that there will be a book about Yuri out there. Right now we collect every essay we can on the Yuricon Essays page to help folks trying to do research (YuriMother is proud to have contributed works to this Essays page). Once this book is out, my wish is that we'll see more Yuri research being published as well. I look forward to reviewing other books about Yuri.

Just you wait, Erica Friedman! You blaze the trail, and YuriMother (which is to say I, the writer of this report) will happily follow in your footsteps! Readers, join me in supporting By Your Side when it is released next year and continue to consume and learn about Yuri!

Erica holds a Masters Degree in Library Science and a B.A. in Comparative Literature and is a full-time researcher for a Fortune 100 company. She has lectured at dozens of conventions and presented at film festivals, notably the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. She has participated in an academic lecture series at MIT, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Harvard University, Kanagawa University, and others.

She has edited manga for JManga, Seven Seas, and Udon Entertainment, most recently Riyoko Ikeda’s epic historical classic, The Rose of Versailles.

Erica has written about Yuri for Japanese literary journal Eureka,  Animerica magazine, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund,  Dark Horse, and contributed to Forbes, Slate, Huffington Post, Hooded Utilitarian, and The Mary Sue online. She has written news and event reports, interviews Yuri creators, and reviews Yuri anime, manga, and related media on her blog Okazu since 2002.

They were the founder of ALC Publishing, the first English publisher to release English Yuri manga. ALC Publishing passed the torch to new publishers in 2013 and no long publishes material.

Journey Press was born in 2019 with the goal of bringing unusual and diverse science fiction to the forefront of the publishing landscape. We are dedicated to supporting the women and queer people who have been erased from the history books, and to the reprinting of worthy novels that fell by the wayside, in addition to publishing new novels by creators of all types.

[fringefilmfest]

FRINGE! POSTERS HAVE ARRIVED.

Go book your tickets for the festival at http://fringefilmfest.com/fringe-17/

[schlock-luster-video]

On March 25, 2004 The Haunting was screened at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

[denimbex1986]

'Sun 2 Jun 14.30

Marking the 40th anniversary of the Miner’s Strike, the 10th anniversary of the film’s release, and the beginning of Pride Month, Showroom Cinema is delighted to return Pride to the big screen for a very special screening.

Set in the summer of 1984 – Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on strike. At the Gay Pride March in London, a group of gay and lesbian activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners. But there is a problem. The Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.

But the activists are not deterred. They decide to ignore the Union and go direct to the miners. They identify a mining village in deepest Wales and set off in a mini bus to make their donation in person. And so begins the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.

This screening is followed by a Q&A with Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners, who is played by Joe Gilgun in Pride.'

[jerrylewis-thekid]

Homophobia in Hollywood: Why gay movie stars still can't come out of the closet

Forty years ago, the world was a very different place and there were virtually no publicly available gay men or lesbians in any walk of public life," notes Brian Robinson, senior programmer at London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, of the period in which Hudson was working. "Now, lots of things have changed. A whole generation has grown up with an idea of normalcy about gay identity."

Those who have worked in Hollywood talk about the elaborate culture of deception that still exists. In the heyday of the studio system, publicists and agents used to "arrange" marriages for gay and lesbian stars so as to reassure fans that they were heterosexual. There are still some marriages of convenience today. Forty years ago. Let alone 70 years ago. I am attaching the link to the entire article, if you like, read it, it is very interesting. And keep that in mind when it comes to Dean and Jerry. They must be considered in THAT period not with today's mentality. Homophobia in Hollywood: Why gay movie stars still can't come out of the closet

[holisticalecsecareanu]

An interview for Adevarul.ro with Alec from 2017 just ast God’s Own Country came out. 

I found this notable because after the initial questions about the film which have been asked before, the interview does delve into other areas that I haven’t read covered, like how Alec’s parent’s responded to him wanting to be an actor, and how Alec felt about what I assume is a family values group in Romania and their stance on LGBTQ people. He very plainly states his support for the community and how happy he is the film was well recieved and if it were possible for him to be more perfect, I don’t know how that could be. 

I just really find a different energy to the interviews Alec does in Romanian. Not only are they easily twice as long, but he just seems to answer with a lot more detail and ease. 

The Google translated version is below. Again, I have no way of checking for accuracy, so keep that in mind. :-)

Actor Alec Secăreanu (32 years old) spoke in an interview for "Adevărul" about how he was chosen to star in the multi-award-winning British film "Blessed Land / God's Own Country", how he prepared for this role, which is the message film, but also about what the acting profession involves. News on the same topic Alec Secăreanu plays the role of a Romanian gay day laborer in ... The British film "Blessed Land / God's Own Country", starring Alec Secăreanu, entered Romanian cinemas on November 17. The feature film presents the love story between the British farmer Johnny Saxby (played by Josh O'Connor) and the Romanian worker Gheorghe Ionescu (played by Alec Secăreanu). "God's Own Country", directed by Francis Lee, is one of the most discussed and awarded films of 2017, being compared in the international press with the famous "Brokeback Mountain" - winner of three Oscars, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhhall.

The film was released at the Sundance Film Festival (Utah / USA) at the beginning of the year, and then participated in an impressive number of festivals, winning numerous awards: Männer Jury Award at the Berlinale, Award for Best International Film Direction - drama at Sundance Film Festival, Best British Film at Edinburgh International Festival, Special Jury Prize at TIFF Cluj, Best Film at Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, Best Toronto Debut Award Inside Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival.

The casting for "God's Own Country" lasted six months in Romania, and the director Francis Lee saw over 40 Romanian actors for this role choosing Alec Secăreanu.

Alec Secăreanu graduated from UNATC in 2007. In Romania he starred in a series of short films ("Candy Crush", "Silks", "My Name Is ...", etc.), TV series ("Daria, my love", "One step ahead", "Bet with life") and feature films: "Love Bus: Five love stories from Bucharest", "Adalbert's dream".

"The Truth": How did you come to play in this British film?

Alec Secăreanu: I took the test, I sent a self-tape. Me and about 40 other actors. Francis Lee was looking for a Romanian for this character. He came to Bucharest, he wanted to meet some of these actors, and I was one of them. Then he sent me the script, I read it for the first time, I really liked it and I really wanted to be part of this project and this story. I met him, we worked together for almost an hour, after which I flew to London, me and three other Romanian actors, to do a chemistry test with Josh O’Connor, the other main actor. The test went very well and I took the test.

What did the director tell you? Why did he choose you?

He told me that I resonated the most with the character, that I was what he needed for the character Gheorghe. He liked that I understood some substrates of Gheorghe.

Tell us about Gheorghe Ionescu.

Gheorghe is a Romanian born and raised somewhere in the country, in the Timisoara area. He arrives in England to work, like many other Romanians. After a while, we find in the film Gheorghe who is hired on Johnny's farm for the beginning of spring, the season in which the lambs are born. He is a guy with his head on his shoulders, seated, for whom the quality of life of the animals he takes care of matters a lot, a sensitive guy who invests in people, but also very cerebral.

How did you prepare for this role?

We started working on the characters almost three months before filming. After taking the test, I did a skype with Francis who started asking me all kinds of questions about the character, about his biography, his parents, other relationships, school, how he got to England. I built his whole biography, from the moment he was born until the first time you see him appear on screen, I settled this whole life with Francis. After that, I arrived in Yorkshire and there were two weeks of character training, in which I worked every day on the farm, from morning, from first hour, to evening. In the two weeks we worked, we basically understood what life on the farm means, it gave us the quality of the characters, because we had to work a lot outside, and in Yorkshire spring is not like in Romania. There the weather is bipolar, as I told him, meaning you have four seasons in one day: it starts with snow, then hail, then storm, then the sun rises for five minutes and then it starts again. Working a lot outside, of course, that environment affected us too, because all the moisture and all the cold somehow got into our bones and changed our way of walking, our posture. All these things helped us to build the characters. I worked on two different farms. Me at Francis's father's farm, Josh at the farm where the movie was shot. Francis tried to keep us as far away from each other as possible, because he wanted the first meeting on the screen to be as authentic as possible, to be full of tension, clumsiness. It wasn't until a while since we started filming that Josh and I moved into the same house, and our friendship began to develop at the same time as the relationship on screen. We filmed chronologically and that helped us a lot.

How did you prepare for the role of a homosexual?

I don't think sexual orientation is the defining characteristic of my character. I tried to approach the three-dimensional character and see exactly what is behind the character. His sexual orientation exists, and he accepts it, he is comfortable with it.

So does the character know about his sexual orientation or does he discover it?

No, it's not a movie about coming out. It is a film in which both characters are comfortable with their sexual orientation and it is a film in which, in fact, these characters are emotionally closed and the film captures their struggle to open up emotionally and let themselves be loved and loved back.

How was your first contact with Josh?

We met at the casting, it was very nice. We worked very well since the test, we stayed I think an hour and a half together. At one point it was nice to take a break and go out with him to smoke, and Francis told us that he came out after us and hid to see if we were still talking or if we were sitting on the phone. Josh is a very cool guy, with whom I developed a beautiful friendship. It has nothing to do with the character on the screen, he is a super nice and open guy and we worked very well together.

Why do you think they chose a Romanian actor for this character? Did they want to emphasize that there are a lot of Romanian immigrants?

The character is somewhat inspired by an acquaintance that Francis had. He's known since he wrote the screenplay that he wants an outsider for this character. Before starting film, he worked in a junkyard and there he found a Romanian named Tavi. He was very impressed by his story, namely how much he had to endure all kinds of xenophobic attitudes on the part of employees, bosses, just to carry out his goal - to support his family, to be able to he also brings her to Britain. In time, he managed to bring his wife, buy an apartment and make a good living.

Given that homosexuality is still a taboo subject in Romania, have you thought about the reactions you will receive from here?

No, I was never interested in that. He's not the first gay character I play either. I have a pro-tolerant attitude and I don't care what people think about it. I know I grew up in a homophobic society, but I was lucky to have open-minded parents who taught me that there is absolutely no problem with a person's sexual orientation. They just saw the movie a few days ago and they loved it.

What did you learn from this role?

That you have to be authentic and true, with yourself as a person, first of all, and especially as an actor, if you practice this profession. I've been lucky enough to work with people who are very passionate about what they do and I've learned a lot from them about what it means to make a film, not to betray the process, to focus on the story you want to tell and be as authentic and organic as possible in this direction. It helped me a lot as an actor, but of course also as a person, because I won very good friends from this movie, which you don't meet very often.

Have you noticed a difference between the way the teams from outside work compared to the way the ones from Romania work?

Yes, there is a difference, but there is an imposed difference. Those people have regulated a lot of things, they are organized in unions that protect their rights. And of course you feel these things on the set because absolutely all the conditions are created for you to be able to deliver what is required of you. I felt this from the first day I got there. I'm talking about the days I spent on the farm, the things I needed on set. "God's Own Country" is compared in the international press to "Brokeback Mountain".

Did you expect such a positive reaction?

We are honored by this comparison, you know. "Brokeback Mountain" is a great movie, only there are two totally different movies, with different issues. If in "Brokeback Mountain" you have two characters who are not comfortable with their sexuality, they discover it, they are both married to women and they have problems about how they think the world will look at their relationship, here is never the question about it. . Both characters are comfortable with who they are, it's a story about letting yourself be loved and loved back, about vulnerability in the end.

What was the hardest thing about this role?

Working on the farm, altogether. I realized how hard it is to be a farmer. People who have a farm have absolutely no free time, no weekends, no days off, no vacations. And they are not only farmers, they are also masons, mechanics and all this physical work that I did there seemed to me the hardest part of all the training and the whole movie.

Did the fact that "God's Own Country" was appreciated by critics bring you bigger projects? Did you feel a change?

I have felt a change in the way my phone rings more often and I receive more emails. Yes, a lot has happened since this movie came out. It is a very important point in my career, this film helped me a lot in terms of visibility and to develop as an actor.

Why should Romanians go to see the film?

I think you should go see it because it's a film about hope, it's a very beautiful love story between two people who apparently come from two different worlds, but actually have so much in common. I hope it gives them hope in true love, that's what the movie is about.

Have you received any feedback so far, from here or from abroad, from the LGBT community?

Yes, I've been to a lot of LGBT festivals. I’ve been to Inside Out, Toronto, Outfest in L.A., NewFest in New York and so on. The community received the film very well and I think it is a very good year for queer films, as has never happened before. From the feedback I received, I think the community needed a movie like "God's own country" because it's a movie about hope, and most of the time, queer movies end in tragedy. We needed a happy ending movie.

What do you think about the Family Coalition?

I think they should deal with really important things for the family, such as dropping out of school, single-parent families, children who are abandoned by their parents to go and work abroad, by no means with this referendum which is totally useless and expensive. and which, in fact, instigates hatred and intolerance.

In the summer of this year, you also appeared in an American film, "The Saint", in which Roger Moore also plays. Is your goal to become a famous actor in Hollywood?

My goal, as an actor, is to create characters that are as authentic as possible and to tell stories. That's what I prepared for, that's what I do and that's what I know how to do. I try to take them moment by moment, because I might skip some steps if I start thinking about where I want to go. I want to work more in film, I also want to do theater, but I take them moment by moment and see where it takes me. A lot has happened to me this year. I now have an agent in London, I have one in L.A., I get screenplays, I read, I'm offered things. I want to take it slow and build my career

How do you see what's happening in Hollywood right now, in the context of a series of allegations of sexual harassment? Have you ever faced something like this?

I have heard of situations of sexual harassment in our country from some directors from my fellow actresses and I have witnessed moments of verbal and physical harassment at many rehearsals. I don't know if it's a practice, a habit, but these things happen and I don't think it's OK to be like that. I think things can happen in a civilized context. People have lately become more vocal as the world begins to aspire to a kind of normalcy. I encourage people to say when something goes wrong in an institution, in a team, because it is not OK and an attitude must be taken.

Have you ever considered a role you would like to play?

Yes, I really want to play Platonov in Chekhov's "Untitled Play." I had the opportunity in college to work a little on this character and he stayed there somewhere.

What is the most precious thing you learned in college?

Be true and honest with yourself and do not betray, because if you lie you will see immediately. As an actor, you do not learn to lie, but to tell the truth. And the more honest you are with yourself, the more you manage to overcome that barrier and people start to really believe you.

What pushed you to the theater?

I think I made up my mind in high school. I did a high school with a Mathematics-Computer Science profile like my parents and my older brother. And at one point, in the 10th grade, I discovered that there was a theater circle and I started going to it, after a while I realized that I could get out of class to go to the theater. and I kind of fell in love with this thing. I've been a performer since I was little. And in 12th grade, I said, "OK, that's exactly what I want to do." There followed a rather strange period with my parents, who did not agree to be an actor, we quarreled for a long time to a point where they saw that I was really determined and from that moment on they supported me. to the end and still support me and are very proud of what I do. I somehow understood that I was still a teenager and many teenagers are in a hurry and I understand why they had to be somehow sure that this is what I want and that I'm not kidding, it's not just a phase I'm going through. There is inconsistency in this job, there is always a risk of not having projects. You have periods when you are very crowded and periods when you do absolutely nothing. But in that period when you don't do anything and you wait for your phone to ring, you still have to try to be prepared, to be warm, to read, to repeat, to develop, to keep worrying.

Have you ever had a stalemate in the profession?

I could call them dead ends when I had to find another job to pay my bills and I started bringing used cars from Germany or working as a bartender or waiter and you realize that you are bitter, that you know you want to work, you know you're an actor and that's what you want to do. And at one point, every time I realized that my job was taking up too much of my time and I no longer focused on my job, I quit my job and went back to acting and tried to care more. I also worked in casting for almost five years and I learned a lot from this experience, as a process and what happens behind the cameras. As an actor you enter the casting room and you have emotions, sometimes you miss rehearsals because of emotions, because you have 5 minutes to give everything. But being on the other side of the room, I learned a lot from my fellow actors taking the rehearsals and I was thinking about what they did to get the rehearsal and I started to develop a behavior about how to present myself at the casting, and that helped me.

Is there a role that you really wanted and didn't take the casting?

The first thing an actor has to get used to is rejecting and trying not to take it personally, because you often go to rehearsals and maybe you are not suitable for that role or maybe the director has something else in mind. I learned to treat all the tests with professionalism, to go and give everything I can at that moment and then if it turns out - well, if not - well again. OK, I have a stake in every casting I go to, but I try not to be disappointed if I don't take the test, because otherwise I would fall into depression.

What's the hardest thing for an actor?

Let's "keep your sh * t together". (Laughs) It's delicate, because many times, especially when you work quite hard, you take your psyche and hit it with all the walls and you become very vulnerable. It is important to have a period of decompression after a project, in which to put all those things aside, to be able to breathe, to be able to be a man with normal preoccupations. I think that's the hardest part, holding your head on your shoulders. Many times things can happen that distract you from your path.

[winteringinrome]

I saw Portrait of a Lady on Fire at the London Film Festival today! It was glorious. The aesthetic is everything – the costumes and colours, all the lush scenery, Adèle Haenel’s face, it’s all *chef’s kiss*. And I know everyone’s saying this, but it really was so refreshing to watch such a woman-centric film  – female director, female leads, lesbian romance. I saw a few reviews saying there were no men in it at all, which isn’t true, but there are hardly any and they only appear right at the end and are generally of absolutely no consequence.

I went in completely unspoiled and there were a few aspects of the film that took me by surprise and I would have voted for more making-out, but overall it was the dreamy, luscious lesbian period-drama that my heart was craving 10/10.

Me coming out of the cinema all gay and breathless: