TOM's Blog

A Series
July – October
Saturday Nights 2018

21st July – Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) 8 – 11p
Adapted from the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theater hit, Hedwig and the Angry Inch tells the story of the “internationally ignored” rock singer, Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell), and her search for stardom and love as a German emigrant living in a trailer in Kansas who was the victim of a botched sex-change operation.

4th August – Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997) 8 – 11p
This big-screen adaptation of playwright Terrence McNally’s Broadway hit revolves around the tender bonding of eight gay Manhattanites. Over time, the men meet at a picturesque lakeside country getaway to share stories, reminiscences and their fears about commitment, the omnipresent specter of AIDS and life in general. Jason Alexander (George from TV’s “Seinfeld”) stars.

18th August – Before Night Falls (2000) 8 – 11p
A richly imagined journey into the life and writings of brilliant Cuban author and exile Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem). Before Night Falls spans the whole of Arenas’ life, from his rural childhood and his early embrace of the Revolution to the persecution he would later experience as a writer and Homosexual in Castro’s Cuba; from his departure from Cuba in the Mariel Harbor exodus of 1980 to his exile and death in the United States.

1st September – My Own Private Idaho (1991) 8 – 11p
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Mike Waters (River Phoenix) is a Gay hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike’s estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

SPECIAL GUEST: Writer and Director, Gus Van Sant (Schedule permitting).

 

15th September – Torch Song Trilogy (1988) 7 – 10p
Arnold Beckoff (Harvey Fierstein) is looking for love and acceptance, but as a Gay man working as a female impersonator in 1970s New York City, neither come easily. After a series of heartaches, Arnold believes he has found the love of his life in Alan (Matthew Broderick), and the couple make plans to adopt. But when tragedy strikes, Arnold’s life is shaken to its very core, leading to a confrontation with his overbearing mother (Anne Bancroft), who has never approved of her son’s lifestyle.

29th September – Born to Raise Hell (1974) 7 – 10p
The standard that all Gay SM films are judged by around the world. The SM is authentic: whipping, pissing, beating, shaving, fisting, dildos, clothes pins, bondage, groveling, verbal abuse, defiled asses. The men are very masculine, very real. Sidney Charles of Drummer magazine wrote, “What can you say about a movie that’s so hot it needs to be handled with asbestos gloves… The movie to see with someone you love to beat, or be beaten by.” Legendary filmmaker Fred Halsted said, “The best SM film I’ve ever seen”.

 

6th October – Tom of Finland (2017) 7-10p (During Art and Culture Festival)
Tom of Finland is the artist name of Finnish Touko Laaksonen (1920, Kaarina – 1991, Helsinki). He signed his erotic work “Tom” and when his drawings were first published in 1957, now world-famous “Tom of Finland” was born. “Touko Laaksonen” was kept for family and colleagues; both friends and fans have always simply called him “Tom”.

Tom shaped the fantasies of a generation of Gay men, influencing art and fashion before crossing over into the wider cultural consciousness. Dome Karukoski’s stirring biopic follows his life from the trenches of WWII and repressive Finnish society of the 1950s through his struggle to get his work published in California, where he and his art were finally embraced amid the sexual revolution of the 1970s.

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Start time above is when doors open.
Movie begins ½ hour after doors open.

FREE for ToFF Members
$10 for non-members. [You can join when you arrive!]

Light refreshments offered.