Boyband and Hollyoaks star Duncan James stars in the new film from up and coming filmmaker and trans activist Jake Graf.
The film will have its world premiere at the East End Film Festival in London as part of the New Queer Visions strand this Saturday, June 17 at the Rio, Dalston.
Jake Graf, cast and crew will be present for a Q&A after the screening.
DUSK is the new short drama written and directed by Jake Graf with a stunning cast including Duncan James, (Chicago, Legally Blonde, Hollyoaks), Victoria Emslie, (The Danish Girl, Downton Abbey, The Theory Of Everything), and US model and actor Elliott Sailors (Spectrum), and crew including award winning cinematographer Lorenzo Levrini and award winning composer Justine Barker.
It is the second in a trilogy following on from the internationally acclaimed DAWN(https://vimeo.com/153231890).
The short film is told through flashbacks over several decades of our protagonist ‘Chris’ lifetime, exploring how the choices we make can change our lives fundamentally.
Isle of Wight Pride have teamed up with redTIE theatre and the Apollo theatre to create an Isle of Wight Pride Arts Festival in the heart of Newport for four days leading up to the Pride event on the July 15.
The Apollo will throw open its doors to the community with a drop-in and information service available from 1pm every day from Tuesday July 11 until Friday, July 14.
This will allow people the chance to find out more about pride, talk to some amazing LGBT service providers on the Island including AgeUk, Breakout Youth and the Hampshire Police LAGLO service, or you can just drop by for a cup of tea and a conversation. Everyone is welcome.
Things heat up at 6pm each evening, with free live music and spoken word. This will be a mix of Island bands and talent performing for people. and local performers reading poetry and the written word.
The theatre bar will be open and anybody is welcome to come and enjoy this free event.
Each evening will end with a fantastic performance by the redTIE theatre company. On Tuesday and Wednesday you will be able to watch an explosive performance of The Queer Bash which was written and directed by members of redTIEtheatre and previewed to rave reviews in April.
On Thursday and Friday, redTIE are performingBeautiful Thing. Upliftingly optimistic, Jonathan Harvey’s play about two teenage boys falling in love refuses melodramatic clichés to offer a story bright with sensitivity, pathos and wit.
Helen Reading from redTIE theatre, said:“We are delighted to be able to work closely with IWPride in curating what will be an integral part of the Pride events. We want to encourage as many students as possible to come and engage in Art and Theatre and this is why we have kept costs for Students as low as we can. Theatre has an incredible way of expressing our thoughts and feelings and exploring really difficult subjects and these two productions definitely help people to explore the subject in an accessible way for everyone.”
Sue Burgin from Team Pride, added:“We have been overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm shown by redTIE and Apollo Theatre. This ARTS week is exactly what Pride envisaged and it will be a great build up to the main event on Saturday 15th July. We really encourage everybody to come along, whatever your sexuality or Gender Identity. This is an event for the whole community to come together, learn and most importantly enjoy.”
Samaritans marked Volunteers’ Week last week by highlighting the difference emotional support can make in the face of disadvantage.
During volunteers’ week (1-7 June) Samaritans in Brighton and Hove joined volunteer organisations across the UK to show how giving your time makes a huge difference to the lives of others.
Echoing the findings of its Dying from Inequality report released earlier this year, Samaritans is highlighting the particular need for emotional support for those who are disadvantaged, as they are more at risk of suicide.
Samaritans Chair Jenni McCartney, who has been a volunteer for more than thirty years, said:“I would say that in many of the calls I take, deprivation is a factor. It could be anything from debt to housing issues, job insecurity to relationship breakdown or bereavement. There is often some level of disadvantage, which can aggravate those challenges and make people more vulnerable to suicidal thoughts.
Jenni is one of more than twenty thousand Samaritans volunteers who offer support to anyone who may be feeling overwhelmed, by phone, email, text, letter or face to face.
Samaritans volunteers in Brighton & Hove can also be found everywhere from schools, workplaces, communities, charity shops, festivals and events to prisons and Approved Premises.
Since September 2015, Samaritans has offered calls to its 116 123 number for free, removing any financial barrier to calling, with support from telecoms companies and the Big Lottery Fund. Last year, its volunteers made a difference by responding to more than 5.7 million calls for help, an increase of 300,000 on the previous year.
Volunteer Alison Pratt who is also Director of Samaritans, Brighton Hove & District has been a volunteer for eight years, said:“Samaritans volunteers can make the difference between someone getting through tough times, or not. But we’re just one part of the equation. Suicide is an inequality issue. For example, if you are male, middle-aged and from the poorest background you are ten more times at risk of suicide than if you’re from the richest. We want to see everyone from politicians and policy makers to employers and educators working together to reduce inequality and ensure that resources are targeted at those who are most at risk.”
For more information on Volunteers’ Week, click here:
Thousands of Sussex schoolchildren will learn about the Jewish way of life following the launch of the Jewish Living Experience exhibition in Hove this week.
The launch, which was held at the Ralli Hall in Hove, was organised by the newly formed Sussex Outreach group, led by Deputy Nick Beck from Brighton and Hove Reform Jewish community.
The Mayor Of Brighton and Hove, Cllr Mo Marsh attended as did Board of Deputies of British Jews Vice President Sheila Gewolb and Education Development Manager Sara Perlmutter.
The exhibition, developed by the Board of Deputies, is aimed primarily at school groups and enables visitors to gain an insight into Judaism as a living faith. Designed by education experts, the exhibition supports the teaching of Judaism in line with all agreed religious education and citizenship curriculums. It will be seen by children from more than 500 schools from around the county.
Cllr Marsh spoke about how delighted she was to see this exciting educational project coming to the Brighton and Hove area.
She observed a group of local children from a visiting Hebrew school (cheder) visiting the exhibition for the first time, and enjoyed the kosher reception.
She said: “It’s an excellent way of informing and educating our children about Judaism in these challenging times”.
To learn more about the Sussex exhibition, click here:
Lord Cashman and Lord Black of Brentwood become new patrons of Terrence Higgins Trust (THT).
As Patrons of the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, they will take on the challenge of working towards ending HIV transmission and supporting people to live well with HIV in the UK.
The new patrons will join an eclectic group of current THT Patrons including Stephen Fry, Tracey Emin and Dame Judi Dench.
Ian Green
Ian Green, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said:“We are honoured to welcome Lord Cashman and Lord Black as Patrons of Terrence Higgins Trust.
“We are excited and very grateful for the unique contributions that each will bring to the charity, and their commitment and passion in helping stop HIV stigma and end HIV transmission.”
Lord Black is the first openly gay Conservative peer, and is a passionate HIV campaigner, championing the need for HIV prevention treatment, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), to be available to people at risk of the virus.
Lord Black
Lord Black, who became a life peer in the House of Lords in 2010, said:“I first became aware of the vital work of Terrence Higgins Trust back in the 1990s.The charity’s campaigning on HIV was crucial in the decade where huge advances were made in treatment. , I was inspired by the wonderful care it provided – and still provides – to people living with HIV.
“Today, Terrence Higgins Trust’s work remains as vital as ever, though the challenges have evolved. The HIV story is far from over. Despite the incredible medical progress that’s been made, the biggest challenge we still face is stigma, which undoubtedly has an impact on rates of testing.
“Last September, I led a debate in Parliament on the elimination of the virus, and I will continue to support Terrence Higgins Trust and its work in Parliament, where we need to continue to keep the pressure up.”
Lord Cashman
Lord Cashman, a founder of Stonewall, is a strong advocate of LGBT+ rights, using his political roles to tackle homophobia and to increase awareness of HIV. He is also well-known for his role as Colin Russell in EastEnders.
Lord Cashman, who has been a life peer in the House of Lords since 2014, said:“I started actively supporting Terrence Higgins Trust in the early days of the AIDS crisis, back in the 1980s. It was a dark and depressing time but the awareness-raising, fundraising and the sheer determination to inform, protect and save lives, and to comfort those living with HIV, was both remarkable and exemplary.
“We still face many challenges when it comes to HIV, including encouraging more people to test early, increasing access to PrEP, and supporting people living with HIV as they grow older. And one of our biggest dangers is complacency and the assumption that HIV is a thing of the past.
“Now as a Patron, as well as aparliamentarian, gay man, LGBT activist, and campaigner, I will continue supporting Terrence Higgins Trust in its vital work.”
Ian Green added,“We look forward working with Michael and Guy towards a world where people with HIV can live healthy lives, free from prejudice and discrimination.”
50 Queers for 50 Years pop-up workshop launches in Hull, the UK’s City of Culture in 2017, in build up to city’s LGBT 50 celebrations.
Acclaimed arts organisation Duckie are calling on the people of Hull to help them create giant figures of LGBT+ icons for a parade which will kick-start LGBT 50, a week-long celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of sexual freedom in the UK.
Renowned for award-winning work that ranges from cabaret to performance art to clubbing, Duckie have taken up residency in the city, which this year welcomes the first ever UK Pride.
Now they are inviting members of the LGBT+ community in Hull, East Riding and beyond to help create sculptures of key figures in LGBT history.
Duckie artist Robin Whitmore will work alongside Patrick Bullock and Hull costume designer Terry Herfield to lead drop-in workshops at the pop-up shop on Jameson Street to create 50 Queers for 50 Years that will feature in the Pride in Hull parade on Saturday, July 22.
The parade will kick-start Hull’s 2017 LGBT 50, a celebration of LGBT+ culture across the arts to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.
Presented in association with Sewell Group, LGBT 50 will take place from July 22 – 29.
In consultation with local and national LGBT+ groups and individuals, Duckie have come up with a diverse list of icons to reproduce from an eight foot Gok Wan to a 3D replica of Hull gay pub Frankies Vauxhall Tavern.
Simon Casson
Duckie producer Simon Casson said:“50 Queers for 50 Years is not only a celebration of the huge steps forward in society but also a chance to reflect on how recent these strides are and how fragile the foundations they are built on are. So in addition to a fag butt in a giant cabinet that will be paraded by four Dusty Springfield lookalikes, we’ll also play homage to footballer Justin Fashanu, who made reference in his suicide note to being treated unfairly because of his sexuality.”
Heath Marsh-McLeod Trustee at Pride in Hull, said:“We’re absolutely delighted that Duckie are heading back to Hull following their show at Fruit last year – it’s clear that people are enthusiastically throwing themselves into everything 2017 has to offer right across the arts, which is fantastic. We’re hoping for a similar response to the pop-up shop which will give people the opportunity to not only take part in the parade, but create something spectacular that will make Pride in Hull stand out and be remembered for years to come.”
Martin Green, Director of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, added:“It’s a special year for the city: not only is it UK City of Culture, but we’re hosting the first ever UK Pride. We’ll have the eyes of the LGBT+ community across the country and beyond firmly focused on us, which is why it’s really important that the Hull LGBT+ community are at the heart of our celebrations.
“The shop is the latest in a series of community engagement activity following the Yorkshire Dance workshops for Into the Light, Pride in Hull’s call-out for photographs for their A Moment in Time exhibition and our call-out for writers to take part in Lost Property, a series of writing workshops with award-winning playwright Tom Wells.”
Marc Almond
The opening event on Saturday July 22 will culminate with a concert headlined by the legendary Marc Almond. The week-long festival will close on Saturday, July 29 with A Duckie Summer Tea Party featuring Into the Light, a new work by award-winning choreographer Gary Clarke and Yorkshire Dance, followed by a concert broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 presented by Scissor Sisters’ front woman Ana Matronic and BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills.
Into the Lightdescribed as ‘a fast-forward version through LGBT history’ invites everyone to dance through the decades from 1967. Gary Clarke has created a moving dance celebration of our lives and loves, our challenges and our triumphs.
Follow the LGBT community’s emergence from a secret world, in which homosexuality was illegal, and join us for a riotous, family-friendly performance in the bright, open air. Anyone can become part of its cast, to register interest contact Kirsty at kirstyredhead@yorkshiredance.com
Throughout the week there will also be exhibitions, socials and debates, offering an opportunity celebrate Hull’s LGBT+ community and heroes past and present, freedoms gained, and to show solidarity with continuing struggles for LGBT equality in the UK and around the world.
Humber Street Gallery will host The House of Kings and Queens (July 27 – September 24), a specially commissioned exhibition of photography by Lee Price. Captured in Sierra Leone, where homosexuality remains illegal, Price’s powerful images offer a glimpse into The House where inhabitants can live without oppression, exposing what it means to be gay in Hull’s sister city Freetown.
The Hull LGBT+ community have also been getting involved in an exhibition of their own during the week-long celebrations. Titled A Moment in Time, the exhibition will reflect 50 years of change in attitudes and lifestyle told through the eyes of the LGBT+ community.
The shop at 95 Jameson Street will be open Thursdays and Fridays 4 – 7pm and Saturdays and Sundays 2 – 5pm until Pride in Hull on Saturday, July 22.
What happens to the love of your life if you’ve lived most of your life without her?
Pages for Her is the story of two women, Flannery and Anne, each at a personal turning point, and the circumstances that lead to their reunion. Twenty years after their passionate affair, chronicled in Brownrigg’s earlier novel Pages for You, Flannery has the chance once again to meet Anne, who opened young Flannery up to the possibility of love—then left her heartbroken.
Having long ago put their love behind them, they live now on opposite coasts. When the two women meet at a conference, they find that the passion and understanding between them has endured, though it has been hidden. In rediscovering each other, they are able to rediscover themselves. This beautiful book is a soft, pure and very gentle exercise on the nature of love and how time can erode the reasons we give ourselves for not allowing it to blossom and remove the barriers of status, experience and comprehension by sharing them out equally.
Pages for Her is an exhilarating, passionate work that explores marriage, sexuality, and the transformative power of love over time and the way two women face the slow burning truth of their lives, their relationships and the utter delight of honest ownership of powerful experiences and truth, it’s also Brownrigg’s sequel to her 2001 novel, Pages for You – taking the same two people, but this time looking at things from a different persons perspective and though the honest lens of time.
This book left me touched and aching to read its predecessor, it shows the development of love and understanding as life moves on and how women learn to accept, empower and inspire the people around them. Pure summer delight!
Thousands descend on Canterbury for the annual Gay Pride Parade and Festival led and opened by the Lord Mayor of Canterbury.
On Saturday, June 10, thousands of LGBT+ festival-goers, along with family and friends, attended the much expanded annual Gay Pride event in Canterbury City Centre.
A Samba band entertained people as they assembled at The Marlowe Theatre forecourt from 11am. At 11.30am the Lord Mayor of Canterbury Cllr Rosemary Doyle, along with event organisers, led the Parade out into the High Street proceeding through the City Centre, via Whitefriars, to the Dane John Gardens where there were considerably more community stalls, as well as people, than last year.
Speeches from the organisers and the Lord Mayor who officially opened the event took place from the bandstand followed by a series of music performers and other entertainers throughout the afternoon.
In the evening many people attend a late night after party at the Canterbury Christchurch Uni students centre organised by Glitterbomb and headlined by Courtney Act and William.
Other Gay Pride events being organised in Kent, include:
MARGATE Pride: Saturday, August 12. (Includes an Arts Festival from August 7-13)
Parade starts from The Lido, Cliftonville at 2pm to the Clocktower on the seafront and Cockles and Muscles Afterparty at Dreamland.
Pelican is one of the best sketch-comedies I’ve seen at the Fringe in years. Created and performed by ex-Footlights Jordan, Sam and Guy, the trio has charisma, likability and wit all rolled into one.
With a cheeky spin on 1970s neo-noir film, Pelican follows a narrative that surrounds oblivious actor Charles Heron and his search to find the truth behind an old Hollywood curse…before it kills him. Sprinkled throughout are hilarious tangents of over-the-top TV clips, absurd physical comedy and audience participation (just the right amount of audience participation), which don’t seem relevant to the main story at first, but as the play unfolds it becomes more and more clear how intelligently crafted Pelican is.
My absolute favourite moments of the show were when something technical malfunctioned (like the fog machine not being plugged in at the start of the show) and the three performers had to improvise through gritted teeth; you could see the genuine bond between the three young men onstage and I felt like I was among friends.
Pelican is quick and punchy – reminiscent of The Play That Goes Wrong – and if you’re at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, you better grab tickets ASAP…before they sell out!
By far, one of the best shows I’ve seen in this year’s Fringe is Bourgeois & Maurice: How to Save the World Without Really Trying.
Politically charged, tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek and incredibly catchy, the music from intergalactic dynamic duo Bourgeois & Maurice had me grinning like an idiot throughout the entire 70-minute performance. Personal favourites include the merciless anthems Goodbye Europe and British Values (an apropos serving of irony in our silly post-Brexit world) and the outrageous Chemsex Party (a perfect harmony of sentimental melody and biting lyrics).
Besides their topical tunes, I loved the banter between each number; it felt like stand-up comedy, cabaret and circus all rolled into one show. I was also impressed with how tight the lighting and video was – which is usually a shortcoming for many Fringe shows. At one point, Bourgeois & Maurice have a Skype conversation with Bourgeois & Maurice on-screen and the exchange was so smooth it emphasised the duo’s sheer talent and attention to detail.
My only criticism is that I wanted more. This should be a full-length show.
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