Sunday 24 June 2012

The GLAAD Wrap: Vicci's New Album, Comic Takei, and Two Spirit Hits the Road

Every week, The GLAAD Wrap brings you LGBT-related entertainment news highlights, fresh stuff to watch out for, and fun diversions to help you kick off the weekend.


1) Documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick has a great deal of experience tackling hypocrisy in American institutions, including closeted politicians in Outrage and the MPAA in This Film is Not Yet Rated.  His latest film came out of Sundance with tremendous buzz for its uncompromising look at the epidemic of unacknowledged sexual assaults of female (and some male) soldiers in the US military.  The Invisible War opens in select theaters today, and check out the trailer below.


2) Harold and Maude  gets an update in the new film Nate & Margaret, which follows the friendship between a young gay film student and a 50 something woman pursuing a new career as a standup comedian.  Roseanne fans will recognize actress Natalie West (Margaret) from her role as Crystal on the long running sitcom, and the film also stars Tyler Ross and Gaby Hoffman.  The film opens in New York today and the trailer is below. 


3) Chris Colfer’s debut film Struck By Lightning has been picked up by Tribeca Film for a late 2012 theatrical release and will be available same day through on-demand platforms including iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly and more. Colfer plays Carson Phillips, a high school senior meant for bigger things than his small town can offer, who is killed when he is struck by lightning and recounts the last months of his life via flashback. In addition to starring in the film, Colfer also wrote the screenplay for the highly anticipated dark comedy which was directed by out producer Brian Dannelly (Saved!). Check out the trailer below.


4) Vicci Martinez, out singer/songwriter and finalist on the first season of The Voice, released her new full-length album Vicci this Tuesday, June 19 on Universal Republic Records. The album has 11 tracks including the single “Come Along” which features her coach from The Voice, Cee Lo Green. Check out Vicci on iTunes and watch her perform “Come Along” and talk about the song’s story below.


5) Riverdale will welcome a special guest in the pages of Kevin Keller next year, when out actor George Takei (or at least his likeness) will make an appearance.  Creator Dan Parent apparently met Takei at a comic convention and ran the idea by him at the time, which Takei loved.  The pages of Archie comics have had their share of famous pop culture faces stop by over the years, but it’s entirely appropriate that LGBT advocate Takei should appear alongside one of the most famous gay characters in comics.  The real life George Takei can be seen marching with GLAAD and boy scouts mom Jennifer Tyrrell in this weekend’s NYC Pride Parade.


6) A Missionary Position is a multimedia solo work made for the stage by Ugandan American artist Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine as an intense response to the anti-LGBT movement in Uganda. The piece will run at the Roy and Edna Disney/CALARTS Theater from June 28 to July 1. Mwine combines raw video footage and still imagery gathered from his time in Uganda with his portrayal of figures he has come to know through emotional in-person interviews. A Missionary Position follows the artists’ acclaimed show Biro and he has also contributed to the documentary Call Me Kuchu.


7) Filmmaker Lydia Nibley took to indiegogo in hopes to raise funds to send copies of her GLAAD Media Awards nominated documentary Two Spirits to libraries, colleges and universities across the country. Two Spirits explores the life of F.C. Martinez who was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature. F.C. became one of this country’s youngest hate-crime victims when he was murdered at age 16 in Cortez, Colorado. The film mourns the young life of F.C. Martinez, but uses the story of his death to explore the Two Spirit tradition among Native American people.  Since airing on PBS, the documentary has been screened at the White House and by several branches of the government and was recognized by the American Library Association as "making a significant contribution."  Watch the trailer below and head to the project’s indiegogo page to learn more.



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