OUT on DVD/VOD: Jesus Meets the Gay man

Jesus Meets the Gay Man held its world premiere at the Whistler Pride Festival, and went on to screen at the Montreal Views of the World Film & Music Film Festival, as well as Toronto Pride. The film features an ensemble cast including Fearless Fred, Carla Collins, Paul Bellini, Scott Thompson, and many more.

“I didn’t write this documentary for LGBT people, I didn’t write this documentary for Christian people, I wrote this for human people”, said director Jean-Claude Lafond. “This isn’t a film for just one group. It’s a film for everyone to enjoy.”

A story of reconciliation, forgiveness and renewal wrapped in Monty Python-like sketches and a jazzy dance number, Jesus Meets the Gay Man is a fun documentary that will have you see Jesus in a new light, while at the same time convincing you to work on your abs! Developed by looking at the questions of what Jesus would have said or done if He had met a gay person, the film aims to bridge the gap between Christians and the homosexual community, who have been at odds on this issue, with critical thinking and humor. In this age of so much information on the Bible and on the topic of homosexuality, can the LGBTQIA and the Christians find forgiveness?

“We love to find films that are unique and completely unexpected, and Jesus Meets the Gay Man qualifies for that distinction without a doubt”, said Richard Ross, Co-President of Breaking Glass. “Almost impossible to describe, the film is a documentary that is completely strange, somewhat demented, and absolutely hilarious.”

The film will be released on January 9th on DVD and VOD through iTunes, Amazon Instant, and through local cable and satellite providers.

OUT on DVD/VOD: The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin examines the life and work of one of the world’s most beloved story tellers, following his evolution from a conservative son of the Old South into a gay rights pioneer whose novels have inspired millions to claim their own truth.

Jennifer M. Kroot’s documentary about the creator of Tales of the City moves nimbly between playful and poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. With help from his friend, Maupin offers a disarmingly frank look at the journey that took him from the jungles of Vietnam to the bathhouses of 70s San Francisco to the front line of the American culture war. Featuring Laura Linney, Ian McKellen, Olympia Dukakis, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Cho, Jonathan Groff and Amy Tan.

Critics praised The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, with a 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “With candor, humor and poignancy, Kroot's entertaining documentary depicts an artist who continued to seek his bigoted father's approval even as he embraced a life as a proud gay man that his parents could never condone.” Andy Webster of The New York Times notes, “this fond documentary portrait... makes it clear that Mr. Maupin’s mastery of assorted perspectives is his gift.”

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin will be available on DVD December 5 in the United States and will have it’s broadcast premiere January 1, 2018 on PBS Independent Lens. The documentary can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com and WolfeVideo.com today.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Hidden Kisses

In Hidden Kisses, sixteen-year-old Nathan is the new kid in high school. One night, while attending a party, he falls in love with Louis, a boy in his class. Able to sneak away from the crowd, they find themselves out of sight, and eventually work up the courage to kiss each other…but someone takes notice. Soon, a picture is published on Facebook, and a storm of bullying and rejection overtakes their lives.

“We are very pleased to bring director Didier Bivel’s beautiful, yet cautionary, ode to young love to US audiences”, said Richard Ross, Co-President of Breaking Glass. “It sadly reminds us, though, that bullying and homophobia still play a hateful role in the fabric of contemporary life.”

OUT on DVD/VOD: All Male, All Nude

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to award-winning filmmaker Gerald McCullouch’s (“CSI”, Daddy, the BearCity films) first documentary All Male, All Nude. Breaking Glass acquired rights to the film in September in a deal negotiated between Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff and filmmaker McCullouch’s production company Hard G Productions. All Male, All Nude will have its DVD and digital release on December 5. The DVD will contain additional filmmaking by McCullouch utilizing the skin heavy outtakes as well as a dedication to one of the dancers who went missing shortly after filming wrapped.

Described by Michael Musto as a “fabulous”, “sexy”, and “illuminating” (OUT) film that will “change your mind about male strippers forever” (BearWorld Magazine), Gerald dives into the lives of men who work at America’s only all male, all nude, gay strip club located in the heart of the Bible Belt.

“Gerald has pulled back the curtain on Atlanta’s notorious and legendary gay strip club, Swinging Richards” said Richard Ross, Co-President of Breaking Glass. “He examines the mind and soul of the men who bare their bodies nightly for our enjoyment. If you ever wondered, who are these men, and why would they do this, you’ll walk away with an appreciation, and greater insight, of the whole club culture and camaraderie.”

Straight men, gay men, bi-sexual men, and those who are gay only when the money is right support themselves, and sometimes their families, by dancing nude for a diverse clientele of all shapes, sizes, and sexualities. Each relishes, defends, enjoys, and abhors their career choice and looks back on life's lessons that led them to where they are now. All Male, All Nude is a cutting-edge journey into the taboo world of male stripping. The men living this life can't be boxed in, nor can those who pay to watch them strip.

Celebrate National Coming Out Day with 'The Freedom to Marry'

The nail-biting, untold story of how same-sex marriage became law of the land. The Freedom to Marry follows Evan Wolfson, the architect the movement, civil rights attorney Mary Bonauto and their key colleagues on this decades long battle, culminating in a dramatic fight at the United States Supreme Court. More than the saga of one movement's history, this is an inspiring tale of how regular people can change the world.

Now available on iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo. Available on Netflix on November 1. 

OUT on DVD/VOD: A Very Sordid Wedding

Gravitas Ventures has announced the DVD and Blu-Ray release of GLAAD Award-winner Del Shore’s A Very Sordid Wedding, a continuation of Shores 2000 feature film Sordid Lives.  

17 years after family matriarch Peggy tripped over G.W.’s wooden legs in Sordid Lives, same-sex marriage equality has barreled into Winters, Texas and not everyone is ready to accept it. An anniversary memorial service is being planned in honor of Peggy at the bar while the Southside Baptist Church plans an "Anti-Equality" rally to protest the abomination of gay marriage and work to defend their religious freedom. The beloved cast of colorful characters are all on a collision course for shenanigans and fireworks on the big night. Along the way a bisexual serial killer shows up, a drag queen country medley is performed and a beauty-salon-versus-the-bigots battle turns getting your hair done into the front lines of the equality battle.  Friendships are tested and families are reunited as fear and bigotry are confronted with acceptance and understanding on the way to a surprise wedding with (almost) everyone in attendance.

Sordid Lives was a massive hit among LGBT audiences and spawned a 12-episode TV series in 2008 — stars such as Bedelia, Olivia Newton-John Delta Burke and Rue McClanahan appeared.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Woman on Fire

 

This October, FilmRise will release Julie Sokolow’s newest feature documentary “Woman on Fire,” a unique and intimate look at the first openly transgender firefighter in New York City. After seeing Brooke Guinan featured in the 2014 “So Trans, So What” campaign, Sokolow was inspired to celebrate the courage and beauty of Brooke as she transitioned from male to female while working in an overwhelmingly male-dominated profession. Thanks to Sokolow’s unparalleled access to Brooke’s transition, viewers are presented with an in-depth look at the polarized political and social forces in America today. “Woman on Fire” will be available for sale and rental on Amazon Video, iTunes, and Vudu, as well as DVD and Blu-ray beginning October 3, 2017.

In February 2015, The Village Voice heralded the arrival of “New York’s Bravest” – Brooke Guinan, the first openly transgender firefighter in New York City. Like many in the field, Brooke comes from a long lineage of firefighters. Her father is a respected lieutenant and 9/11 survivor with a 35-year legacy in the FDNY, and her grandfather also dedicated his life to the fire department. Brooke was destined to continue the family’s legacy. Being uncomfortable in her skin all her life, Brooke decides it’s time to transition, which poses not only a challenge to the male-dominated profession her career and life revolves around, but also to the customs of the people she cares about the most – her family.

Currently there are only 52 women firefighters in a workforce of over 10,000 FDNY firefighters. That is less than 1%. Brooke is the only transgender FDNY firefighter. In society at large, ninety percent of trans people report experiencing discrimination in the workplace. Their unemployment rate is double that of the general population.

Hailed “a moving portrait of a New Yorker who’s never been afraid to run where she needs to go, regardless of the dangers that might be waiting for her on the other side,” by Indiewire, and “just what a great social awareness doc should be – equal parts heartwarming and infuriating,” from The Village Voice, “Woman on Fire” won Best LGBT Film by Jury at Oxford Film Festival, and Best Documentary Feature by Audience Award at Bentonville Film Festival.

OUT on VOD: The Daydreamer's Notebook

 

Michael Saul Productions has opened The Daydreamer's Notebook after a lifetime of filming. This experimental selection of short films by award-winning gay filmmaker Michael J. Saul (The Surface, Crush, Adults Only), have been created and then set aside over his 40-year career in film. Some recent and others rediscovered, they are all spawned by the act of daydreaming as a method of meditation, allowing the mind to create and remember.
 
Prefaced by the filmmaker, the shorts in the anthology range from Nightcrawler (2011), the childhood nightmare of preparing for a fishing trip; Cons, Idol and Boat 14 (2006) which depict childhood relationships long gone; to Euphoria (2014), a music video collaboration with composer Derek Bayani Mabalot depicting love, deception and sex; and Subterrania (2017), Saul's memorial video to Steven M. Miller who's 30-year collaboration was cut short in 2015 with Miller's death.

The Daydreamer's Notebook is available now on Amazon Instant, on TLA as of August 29th and will debut on Dekkoo in the fall. 

OUT on DVD/VOD: Baby Steps

Baby Steps Trailer from Barney Cheng on Vimeo.

From the Oscar-winning producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Taiwanese-American LGBT film BABY STEPS will release on DVD, Blu-ray & VOD in the U.S. and Canada on August 15th via Gravitas Ventures. 

This engaging Taiwanese-U.S. dramedy is an homage to Ang Lee's cross-cultural classic The Wedding Banquet, including an Asian-Caucasian gay couple, the meddlesome mother and the never-ending quest for a grandchild. But this time around, director Barney Cheng (who also co-stars and writes) tells the story largely from the perspective of the mother (Taiwan actress Grace Guei, who was in The Wedding Banquet  and is widely considered the Meryl Streep of Asia) and adds a modern spin: surrogacy. It's an adventure that takes mother and son all over the world, including Taipei, Bangkok, Mumbai and Los Angeles. It's a touching coming-out story - not only of a gay man, but also a mother struggling to be part of her son's life.

After a successful festival run, BABY STEPS opened theatrically throughout Asia, and caused social waves. In Taiwan, the film opened on Mother's Day 2015, and was part of a national discussion on LGBT rights that helped propel Taiwan to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2017. Of worldwide significance, the U.S. State Department has hosted U.S. embassy screenings of BABY STEPS throughout Asia, including China, Mongolia, and Myanmar.

OUT on DVD/VOD: House of Z

 

HOUSE OF Z chronicles the meteoric rise of fashion designer Zac Posen at the age of 21 and then his brand's falling out of favor several years later and his challenge to rebuild his company and his reputation. It is both a portrait of an artist as a young man, and a look behind the glamorous curtain of one of the most distinguished brands in the world, revealing the tenuous dance between art and commerce that informs every move.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Kept Boy

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to writer/director George Bamber’s (The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, ‘Bloomers’) second feature film KEPT BOY. Breaking Glass acquired the rights to the film in January in a deal negotiated between Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff, and writer/director George Bamber and Kept Boy, LLC. The film is slated for a DVD/VOD release August 8, 2017.

Based on the novel of the same name by Robert Rodi, KEPT BOY is the second feature film directed by George Bamber, who is well-known for his successful AD career on films such as Pitch Perfect, The Lincoln Lawyer, Jeepers Creepers, and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. The film is proudly produced by Laura Reich, Haley Christensen, and Ben Simons.

KEPT BOY follows interior designer/reality show star Farleigh Knock, who has a knack for keeping beautiful things, like adonic Dennis, around his home. But when Fairleigh gives Dennis an unthinkable ultimatum for his 30th birthday, to get a job or get out, Dennis goes from Kept Boy to Lost Man. George Bamber directs this dark gay comedy that shows life with a sugar daddy is bittersweet and poses the question: what is love and what is the price to keep it?

OUT on DVD/VOD: Rift

Set in the bleak landscape of rural Iceland in the fall, and with a gay couple at its core, this Hitchcockian thriller Rift stars Björn Stefánsson, Sigurður Þór Óskarsson,
Guðmundur Ólafsson.

Rift follows Gunnar, who receives a strange phone call from his ex-boyfriend, Einar, months after they broke up. Einar sounds distraught, like he's about to do something terrible to himself, so Gunnar drives up to the secluded cabin where Einar is holed up and soon discovers that there's more going on than he imagined. As the two men come to terms with their broken relationship, some other person seems to be lurking outside the cabin, wanting to get in.

“I’m so proud of our gay horror drama, and I’m excited to see how an American audience responds to this little slice of Icelandic mystery”, said writer/director Erlingur Thoroddsen. “I am thrilled to be working with Breaking Glass Pictures to bring Rift to a large audience. I’ve been a fan of theirs for years, and I couldn’t be happier that Rift has found such a great home."

OUT on DVD/VOD: Tomcat

In Tomcat, Andreas and Stefan lead a happy and passionate life: together with their beloved kitty Moses, they live in a beautiful old house in Vienna’s vineyards. They work as a musician and as a scheduler in the same orchestra and they love their large circle of friends. 

But then an unexpected and inexplicable outburst of violence suddenly shakes up the relationship and calls everything into question.

OUT on DVD/VOD: The Freedom to Marry

The Freedom To Marry Trailer from Eyepop Productions on Vimeo.

The Freedom To Marry follows Evan Wolfson, the architect of the marriage movement, attorney Mary Bonauto, and their team through their decades long battle, culminating in a dramatic fight at the United States Supreme Court. More than the saga of one of the most importnant civil rights stories of our time, this is an inspiring tale of how a real change occurs, even against the biggest odds.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Bayard & Me

 

In Bayard & Me, award-winning filmmaker Matt Wolf shares the little-known story of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin and the lengths he went to legalize his relationship with his partner Walter Naegle.

The civil rights activist is best known for organizing the March on Washington and advising Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the 1980s, Bayard adopted his younger partner Walter Naegle for legal protections. In this intimate love story, Walter remembers Bayard, who died in 1987 at the age of 75, and a time when gay marriage was inconceivable. He also reflects on the phenomena of intergenerational gay adoption and its connection to the civil rights movement.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Finding Kim

Finding Kim - Official Trailer from Random Media on Vimeo.

Finding Kim, an honest, intimate and inspiring documentary that follows three years of a transgender man’s journey as he transitions from female to male, makes its highly-anticipated debut on digital platforms on June 6, 2017, from Random Media. The groundbreaking film showcases the incredible and honest story of a truly remarkable individual managing the beginnings of gender re-assignment. Documenting the entire process including top surgery, it navigates the delicate world of friendships and the torment of what to tell one’s family; finally offering the chance to share joy as Kim experiences life the way he always felt he should: as a happy, confident, human being.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Political Animals

 

Award-winning LGBT documentary POLITICAL ANIMALS will release on DVD and digitally on June 6th in the U.S. and Canada via Gravitas Ventures.

POLITICAL ANIMALS celebrates the legendary civil rights victories of the first four openly gay elected California state politicians - all women - who took the fight for equality from the streets and into the halls of government to create social justice and equality. Fierce and determined, these women had the courage to create lasting social change.

OUT on DVD/VOD: Handsome Devil

HANDSOME DEVIL follows Ned, the bullied outsider, and Conor, the new boy and star athlete, who are forced to room together at their boarding school. The boys take an instant dislike to each other, and seem destined to remain enemies until an English teacher, Mr. Sherry, begins to drill into them the value of finding one's own voice. This lesson, however, isn't appreciated by everyone, particularly rugby coach Pascal, who has his own agenda and harbors some deep suspicions about the boys' teacher.

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to John Butler’s jaunty, entertaining comedy/drama HANDSOME DEVIL starring Andrew Scott (Sherlock, SPECTRE). Breaking Glass acquired the North American rights to the film in March in a deal negotiated between Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff and Peter Van Steemberg of ICM Partners. Breaking Glass is planning a limited theatrical in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and other select cities on June 2; the film streets on DVD and all major North American TVOD platforms June 6, 2017.

OUT in Theaters: Do You Take This Man

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to Joshua Tunick’s heartfelt, socially-relevant drama Do You Take This Man starring Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Discovery, RENT, BWOY) and is planning a July limited theatrical followed by a VOD/DVD release.

Along with Rapp, Do You Take This Man also stars Jonathan Bennett (MEAN GIRLS), Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, AMERICAN WEDDING), Thomas Dekker (MY SISTER’S KEEPER, KABOOM!), and Mackenzie Astin (The Magicians). 

The movie focuses on an intimate group of friends and family as they gather at the home of two gay men (Anthony Rapp and Jonathan Bennett) to celebrate their nuptials. When the wedding hits a snag, this group helps the grooms to see that all marriages have their challenges, and love is just the beginning. 

“The Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality came down on the last day of filming “Do You Take This Man”, said Producer Eric Kops. “With the recent shift in the political climate, the story is as timely as ever.”

“Writer/ Director Joshua Tunick has crafted a beautiful, heartfelt romantic drama about the challenges surrounding the concept and commitment of marriage”, said Richard Ross, Co-President of Breaking Glass. “Anthony Rapp leads a talented cast in a film that will resonate with everyone who’s ever been in love.”

OUT on DVD/VOD: Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo

Shortbus meets Weekend in the critically acclaimed gay French romance Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo, to be released by Wolfe Video on DVD, Blu-Ray, and DVD on April 18th.

An erotic and dazzling real-time story of love and intimacy between two young Frenchmen who meet at an underground Paris sex club, Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo presents in detail their passionate sexual encounter, and ensuing courtship and budding romance over one night roaming the deserted streets of Paris.

Shifting from a lengthy explicit sequence to dialogue driven territory reminiscent of Richard Linklatter's Before Trilogy, Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo lyrically follows the main characters in real time as they wander Paris, discussing jobs, family, HIV test results and relationship history, and their possible future together. Featuring remarkably intuitive and natural performances from young film leads Geoffrey Couët and François Nambot.

Winner of the prestigious Teddy Award at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival, the film was written and directed by veteran filmmaking duo Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (Côte d'Azur).