GLR January-February 2025

Exhibitions Love, Venezia (Steve Balderson) Drama set in Venice about a guy who’s adrift after a bad breakup but snaps out of it when the prom ise of love and self-discovery (and hot sex) comes along. A Nice Indian Boy (Roshan Sethi) Romcom finds Naveen bringing his bf home to meet his Indian family, which has accepted his gay ness, but now he wants to marry a “white-orphan-artist man”?! Queer (Luca Guadagnino) Drama based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella stars Daniel Craig as an American expat in Mexico City who pursues a young sailor with harrowing consequences. Sabbath Queen (Sandi Simcha Dubowski) Docu. follows a 39th generation Orthodox rabbi across 21 years as he embraces life as a drag queen and struggles with his ancestral legacy. The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodóvar) Drama stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as youthful friends who meet again years later and develop a very different kind of relationship. The World According to Allee Willis (Alexis Spraic) Docu. about a hit songwriter who began filming her life as a child and continued to document her struggle with gender expectations. Catching Fireflies: A New Queer Musical Folk musical centers on a transmasc writer and his fellow “Philly Queers” on their journeys of self-discovery. At the Players Theatre in NYC, Jan. 9–26. AintNoMo’ Comic vignettes about being Black and gay in Amer ica. At the Huntington in Boston, Jan. 10–Feb. 8. At the Wedding Comedy about a heterosexual wedding and the woman who’s still hoping to win back the bride. At the OutFront Theatre Co. in Atlanta, Jan. 30–Feb. 15. Francis Grey and the Case of His Dead Boyfriend Whodunnit stars playwright Nathan Tylutki as multiple family members, each a sus pect. At the NCTC in San Francisco, Feb. 6–Feb. 16. WeAreCon ti nuous Drama about a gay man and his mother, whose lifelong bond is threatened when a secret comes to light. At the Di versionary Theatre in San Diego, Feb. 13–March 9. Cabaret Broadway revival stars Eddie Redmayne in the gayest ver sion yet of the classic musical. Ongoing at the August Wilson Theatre. The Big Gay Jamboree Off-Broadway “comedy trapped inside a mu sical” is all about Stacey, who has in fact fallen into a musical and can’t get out! Ongoing at the Orpheum Theatre in NYC. Theater / Dance I’m a thousand di ff erent people—Everyone is real The story of Candy Darling as revealed by new photos of the ’60s trans icon. At the Leslie Lohman in NYC thru Jan. 12, 2025. Tamara de Lempicka Drawings and other art by the bisexual artist (1894–1980) who helped define Art Deco. At the Fine Arts Mu seum, San Francisco, thru Feb. 9, 2025. Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939 Neglected artists are on exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, thru Feb. 23, 2025. Beyond Borders Explores the impact of grassroots community building in the Black lesbian community. At the Stonewall Nat’l Museum in Ft. Lauderdale thru Feb. 28th. The ’70s Lens: Reimagining Documentary Photography Gay Lib and radical feminism are among the social upheavals on display. At the Nat’l Gallery of Art in DC thru April 6th. James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance At the Nat’l. Portrait Gallery in DC thru April 20th. Reviewed in this issue.

Cultural Calendar

Readers are invited to submit items at no charge. Must have rele vance for a North American readership. Allow six weeks’lead time for any listing. E-mail: stephen.hemrick@GLReview.org

Festivals and Events

F ILM F ESTIVALS Palm Springs, CA International Film Fest. Jan. 2–13. Los Angeles Queer Film Fest. Jan. 16–19. TampaBay International Gay & Lesbian Film Fest. Jan. 16–19. Park City, UT Sundance Film Fest. Jan 23–Feb 2. Phoenix, AZ Desperado LGBT Film Fest. Jan. 24–26. Aus ti n, TX OUTsider Film & Arts Fest. Feb. 19–23. Kingston, Ontario Canadian Film Fest. Feb. 26–March 2. E VENTS Crea ti ng Change 2025 Foremost political leadership and skill building conf. for LGBTQ activists. To be held in Las Vegas, Jan. 22– 26. Visit: thetaskforce.org/creating-change. First Event Conf. for transgender people and those who love them. In Boston, Jan. 29–Feb. 2. Register at firstevent.org. 2025 LGBTQ + Social Jus ti ce & Leadership Conf . Sponsored by the NEA Caucus, for educators, counselors, etc. In Las Vegas, April 11–13. Visit: nea-lgbtqc.org/conference.html. WorldPride International human rights conf. will take place in Washington, DC, June 4–6. Visit: worldpridedc.org. Feature Films Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (directed by Michael Mabbott & Lucah Rosenberg-Lee) Docu. about a pioneering Black trans singer who hit the heights, then mysteriously disappeared. Bird (Andrea Arnold) British drama centers on Bailey, a 12-year old tomboy, their rambunctious father, and a shaman-like stranger (Bird) who takes them under his wing. Reviewed in this issue. Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion Docu. about the veteran costume de signer who received a Lifetime Achievement Award and Tony nom ination for The Cher Show . Conclave (Edward Berger) Suspenseful drama starring Ralph Fiennes about a hotly contested papal succession is not a “gay film” in the usual sense, and yet… (spoiler alert). Feeling Randy (Dean Lent) Comedy set in the ’70s about a young man (Randy) who joins his randy bros on a trip to Vegas and dis covers that he’s not like them in one key respect. Lesvia (Tzeli Hadjidimitriou) Docu. chronicles four decades in a small farming village on the island of Lesbos, where lesbians from around the world have been gathering since the late 1970s. C ALL FOR S UBMISSIONS – T HE G&LR The Gay & Lesbian Review accepts unsolicited manuscripts and proposals on all LGBT-related topics. Especially sought are pro posals on the following themes for issues in development: • Origins: When did the LGBT movement really begin? • Anthropologies: Sexual variants in non-Western cultures • The State of LGBT Rights: What’s next for the movement? Please e-mail your proposal to: richard.schneider@GLReview.org

TheG & LR

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