Brilliant Doc JOBRIATH A.D. Has Its NYC Premiere At NewFest

This weekend, the NewFest screened my friend Kieran Turner's brilliant documentary JOBRIATH A.D. up at Lincoln Center.  The film takes a fascinating look at the legendary story of a singer/songwriter from the 1970s who was destined for fame as America's first out rock star.  Unfortunately, that never came to pass....

Jobriath Salisbury started out playing America's first out musical theatre star--Woof in the cast of an LA production of HAIR.  When he moved to NYC, he met famed musical manager Jerry Brandt who promised Jobriath he was going to be a huge star and set up a massive promo campaign w/Elektra Recods to make it happen. However, the public rejected Jobriath despite his talents as a singer/songwriter. It seems his extravagant ways as the "first true fairy of rock'n'roll" was a bit too ahead of the curve for the music biz in 1974. But there's a lot more to his story than this.

If you think the name Jobriath sounds a little odd, as I did watching the film, you're onto the truly interesting story behind the story.  Unlike the usual "Behind The Music" trajectory, this film takes some amazing twists and turns as it goes into who Jobriath was and who he became after his rock career fizzled in the mid-1970s. To say more would be to give away the surprises of this riveting and ultimately heartbreaking story about a talent that was lost way too soon. It is easily one of the best docs I've seen in a while and definitely worth checking out when it gets a general release next year. You can keep updated about all that by liking the film's Facebook page.

Finally, JOBRIATH A.D. got its start with a DIY Kickstarter campaign a couple years ago. So, with that in mind, I'd like to give my dear readers a gentle reminder that my own Kickstarter for BEST SUMMER EVER is in the final countdown phase....just 3 days left to reach our goal. And you can check out of FB page too.  Please help us make our goal so this movie can be at next year's NewFest. Thanks! :)

NewFest Is Moving On Up...To The West Side

NewFest, the New York LGBT film festival which has been running for 27 years, is getting a big makeover this year with a move upon to Lincoln Center.  The festival, which recently partnered with OutFest, announced their lineup this week with screenings taking place at the lovely Walter Reed Theater on the Lincoln Center campus.  I have had give films screen at NewFest, including AUGUST last summer, so I'm excited to see the festival move to this new venue.

The festival will be somewhat smaller in size/scope this year, running only five days. But the lineup looks great--and I have three friends who have films in the festival this year that I'm really looking forward to seeing: Josh Sanchez has his debut feature FOUR, based on Chris Shinn's play of the same name, Kieran Turner has a doc about the first out gay pop star from the 70s JOBRIATH A.D., and Adam Baran has a short film that I supported on Kickstarter called JACKPOT, set in the suburbs in the '80s. The festival takes place July 27-July 31st and tickets are on sale starting today!

AUGUST'S New York Premiere Perfectly Timed With Heatwave

I have talked about AUGUST on the blog a bit lately.  It's a film I co-wrote and helped produce that is about  love triangle set in LA during an intense summer heatwave.  Well, in a case of crazy timing, the movie has it's NYC premiere this afternoon during an intense summer heatwave.  I just checked on Weather.com and it's 104 degrees in Central Park.  Amazing.   That means it's gotta be at least 107 in my hood, where there are a few less tress than Central Park.

Anyway, despite the heat, the show will go on as the movie theatre is air conditioned.  The film plays today at 5PM at the SVA Theatre on 23rd Street, just west of 8th Avenue.  Tomorrow, it screens at 7PM at Cinema Village on 12th Street, just west of University Place.  Tickets are still available for both screenings at the NewFest website.  So come and cool down with our hot sexy film this weekend.  Hope to see you there!

AUGUST On The Radio & AUGUST Tickets On Sale

While I was in San Francisco for the Frameline premiere of AUGUST, Steve Pride of KPFK radio interviewed the director and me as well as our lead actors.  The interview, which is part of an Outfest LA preview show, aired last night on the West Coast.  But you can listen to it here online as a podcast.  I've been on Steve's show a number of times before, for my film and book projects, but this was special in that it was a sort of audio portrait of the main creative teamof the project  (minus our amazing cinematographer James Adolphus) as we discussed it's unusual journey from short to feature film.  The portion about AUGUST is about 10 minutes long and starts around the 40:10 mark.

Next up for AUGUST is the L.A. premiere, which happens next Sunday July 10th at Outfest with a screening at the Directors Guild of America theatre.  This is one of my favorite places to see a film....a beautiful auditorium with fantastic sound and a huge screen.  After that, the film will be in Philadelphia the weekend of July 16-17th, where I will be representing the film as the west coasters take a fest off.  Then, the week after that, the film plays here in New York City at The NewFest, July 22nd and 23rd.  Tickets for that screening just went on sale today so get them while you can at the NewFest website.

New Fest Opens Tonite in Chelsea

It took a little while but NewFest, New York's premier gay and lesbian film festival, has a homecoming of sorts tonite as the festival has its opening night (and the entire festival itself) in Chelsea. NewFest is taking over the gorgeous two-screen cinema on 23rd btw 8th and 9th that used to be Clearview Chelsea West until it was bought by the New School last year. Some notable films I'm going to try and check out are a documentary about Up With People, a thriller by directed by my friend Dave Kittredge called "Pornography", and a feature about Quentin Crisp's arrival in the East Village back in '81, "An Englishman in New York". For schedules and tix, you can go directly to the NewFest website. See you at the movies!