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Saturday 30 August 2014

NEW ONLINE WEB SERIES “GRRL’S GUIDE TO FILMMAKING”

AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER ROLLA SELBAK 
DEBUTS BRAND NEW ONLINE WEB SERIES “GRRL’S GUIDE TO FILMMAKING”

LOS ANGELES, CA - Award-winning out filmmaker Rolla Selbak is releasing a new online “interview” series called "Grrl's Guide To Filmmaking”, in which she shares her personal Hollywood vlogs as she visits some of the most prominent lesbian filmmakers making it happen today. 

Grrl's Guide To Filmmaking offers an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes, showing the magic, behind the magic. 



Selbak sneaks us into the Paramount writers room with Faith Soloway, writer on the breakthrough Amazon series Transparent; stumbles into Cathy DeBuono's backyard; gets the juicy details from Guinevere Turner and how she came up with the title "The L Word", and much....much more.

Season One kicks off on August 10th with episode one featuring an up close and personal interview with Faith Soloway, which will stream on  www.tellofilms.com

Selbak is an award winning filmmaker who is part of the San Francisco Women's Film Institute Leadership council, and is responsible for creating and producing the S.F International Women's On-line Film Festival. She's queer, an Arab-American and a woman.
But that hasn’t stopped the self-taught auteur from writing, directing and producing films that matter to her. 

We all know her as the mastermind behind the web series sensation “Kiss Her I’m Famous” starring Tracy Ryerson and Ilea Matthews which satirizes the booming business of the sex tape madness, and how celebrity wannabes utilizes their home movies as a ticket to greater stardom and a major payday. But Selbak carries a filmmaking dossier that may very well rival some of the most prominent out female filmmakers in the industry.

Selbak's impressive credits include writing and directing the internationally acclaimed feature film "Three Veils”, starring Sheetal Sheth (Looking for Comedy in a Muslim World, I Can’t Think Straight), Mercedes Masohn (666 Park Ave), and featuring Eric Avari (Heros, The Mummy).  The film confronts delicate subject matters such as arranged marriage, homosexuality, and love within the Muslim-American subculture, and portrays the leading female characters as human beings first, women second, and their cultural surroundings as veils that dictate how much of their inner-selves are revealed. 

With "Three Veils", Rolla Selbak,  who grew up in the Middle East and chafed under the strict social structure of a Muslim family, delivered a snapshot of her feelings about how women's rights are trampled under in her otherwise rich and vibrant culture. The feature film won Best Screenplay at San Diego LGBT International 2012; Best LGBT Film at the New York City International Film Festival 2011; Jury Award Best Film at S.F Women's International 2011; Jury Award Best Female Feature at the Long Island LGBT Film Fest 2011; and the Rainbow Award at the Honolulu LGBT Film Fest 2011, among other.

Her previous feature, “Making Maya”, has found a successful niche within the independent film world, and has been screened at film festivals and universities nation-wide.  She was announced a Winner of the LinkTV’s One Nation Many Voices film competition in 2008 for her documentary “Green Blue Sea”, profiling a young, Palestinian scuba diver, and his profound respect for the ocean.

She is known to delve into subject matters that bear distinctively bold, thought-provoking and compelling qualities. It’s no surprise this established filmmaker/Palestinian native has been invited to speak at multiple panels on independent filmmaking and women in the arts, and was a grant panelist for the 2008 Regional Arts & Culture Council of Oregon.  Her other notable achievements include scoring and writing music for her films, and being a recipient of the inaugural Women’s Vision Film grant for her screenwriting, awarded by the Faerie Godmother Fund.


EPISODE GUIDE

EP1 - Faith Soloway - 8/10
EP2 - Cathy DeBuono - 8/17
EP3 - Cathryn Hayes - 8/24
EP4 - Heather de Michele & Gretchen Michelfeld - 8/31 
EP5 - Guinevere Turner - 9/7 

Thursday 28 August 2014

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK'S BIG BOO In New Web Series!

Lea DeLaria of “Orange is the New Black” is the first guest on BK Beats!

Dedalus Moving Pictures (www.DedalusMP.com) premiered its newest web series Brooklyn Beats & Eats on Wednesday August 6th, 2014! In true BK fashion, Brooklyn Beats & Eats is an irreverent and hilarious take on art, food, talk shows and music.  

Deep in the heart of Bushwick, host Sheena Alexis Suarez invites fellow creatives to put on an apron and exchange recipes, stories and perhaps a few too many drinks in her kitchen. Local bars, restaurants and venues are also featured, introducing the faces behind some of Brooklyn’s most creative and successful concepts. Each episode features some of Sheena’s favorite musical acts taking a seat on her couch for a live performance in The Green Room. 

The premiere episode features Lea DeLaria (Orange Is The New Black’s “Big Boo”) and Brooklyn-based band Darling Din. Brooklyn Beats & Eats is our love letter to the crazy, complicated and creative borough we call our home. By sharing these ideas and stories we hope to inspire people to make their own crazy passions a reality no matter where they live. Stay tuned for our next episode featuring the one, the only, Yo! MTV Raps legend Ed Lover.



Tuesday 26 August 2014

New Lesbian Short Film: "Clean Hands"

AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER 
CARYN K. HAYES 
RELEASES LESBIAN-THEMED SHORT FILM 
“CLEAN HANDS” ONLINE

LOS ANGELES, CA -  Award-winning writer/filmmaker, Caryn K. Hayes is joining a host of other indie directors taking a stab at online distribution.
On August 22, Hayes will be releasing her acclaimed narrative short entitled “Clean Hands” as a digital download & streaming rental making the film directly available to her fans and lesbian cinephiles alike at  https://www.reelhouse.org/hardlyworkingtv/clean-hands as well as on her official website: hardlyworkingent.com.

The New Orleans native (now Los Angeles resident) world premiered the short earlier this year at the 2014 Pan African Film Festival before taking it through the film festival circuit with screenings at The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the Women’s International Film & Arts Festival.


“Clean Hands" follows Anna and Kirsten, a married couple who are caring for Anna's terminally ill father, Paul. Anna is a woman who is always stuck in the middle- between her homophobic father and her wife, her Christian beliefs and her sexuality - and she is constantly under pressure from all sides. After Paul dies, Anna goes through a tailspin of grief and pain, and Kirsten's attempts to help are rebuffed. When Anna emerges from her spiral, will her rock in the storm be washed away?

Written & Directed by Caryn Hayes and starring Grasie Mercedes, Dawn Noel, Kurt Sinclair, and Ava Gaudet (voice), “Clean Hands" is a story about grief, faith, and love - (Link to trailer:  http://youtu.be/AQIkFXR5jfI)


A graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, Caryn Hayes has been writing fiction since grade school and is a published author. 
The renaissance woman is also a two-time winner of the TV Pilot Award in the original script competition presented by the Organization of Black Screenwriters for “The Ridge” in 2007, and “Dirty Thirties” in 2009. 

In the spring of 2008, Hayes began producing her own work under her multimedia production company, Hardly Working Entertainment (http://HardlyWorkingEnt.com). Her first comedic digital series, “The World of Cory & Sid,” was nominated for Best Television or Web Series in 2009 by the Urban Mediamakers Film Festival.  

She received an Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series award for her second series, “Breaking Point,” from the 2011 Los Angeles Web Series Festival.  To date, "Breaking Point" has been nominated/awarded over 20 times - including nods for Best Drama and Best Directing from the 2012 International Television Festival.  Her most recent web series, a relationship dramedy dubbed “Entangled With You”, has already been the recipient of five awards.

Be it her signature of sorts, Hayes clearly has a natural propensity for drama - particularly the kind gravitating towards relationship.
Whatever hat she is wearing, the filmmaker, writer and producer has certainly carved for herself a successful career, cementing her status as a voice to be reckoned with in the lesbian film community.


“Clean Hands” will be available starting August 22 as a $2.49 streaming rental and/or a $9.99 download at https://www.reelhouse.org/hardlyworkingtv/clean-hands; and hardlyworkingent.com

Sunday 24 August 2014

Kingston Fine Jewelry to Launch Rony Tennenbaum LGBT Collection

Kingston, NY - Kingston Fine Jewelry in Kingston, NY has announced the introduction of a new line of designer wedding jewelry to reach out to the ever increasing LGBT market. The family owned business is to carry the Rony Tennenbaum LGBT wedding line, joining the new generation of jewelry pioneers that are taking an accepting stance and showing support for the LGBT community. 

Kingston Fine Jewelry has been a staple in the Hudson Valley Region since 1985.  Founded by Gale Knull and Ray Bleser, Kingston Fine Jewelry has for the past four decades grown in reputation to become the premier wedding jewelry and engagement diamond destination in the region. 



The family owned jewelry store believes that adding the Rony Tennenbaum collection will allow them a wider outreach and enable them to include same-sex couples as part of their all-inclusive accepted family of customers.

To date, 19 states plus Washington, D.C. have passed marriage equality laws and judges in an additional 12 states have issued rulings in favor of marriage equality. As we continue to celebrate the unbroken string of victories in the legalization of gay marriage, more mainstream & local stores such as Kingston Fine Jewelry, are seeking Tennenbaum’s expert understanding in the culture, tastes and needs of the LGBT community, in order to break into the fast growing LGBT wedding market.

Tennenbaum’s ongoing contribution to the LGBT community (of which he is part) and his commitment to forging LGBT wedding business one local store at a time, has now positioned himself as a recognized and sought-after authority on LGBT wedding jewelry fashion and protocol. 

His outreach to the LGBT community includes a lecture series - “Rony Talks” - which are designed to address and familiarize same sex couples with the fast growing new etiquettes and traditions developing across the country as marriage becomes legal in their states.

Tennenbaum has seen a fast growth in demand for his niche collections.  Last June, Seattle-based Ben Bridge Jeweler, owned by Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., began carrying jewelry by Rony Tennenbaum.  This past April, Rogers & Hollands - one of the largest family owned jewelry chains in the country - added Tennenbaum’s same-sex bridal jewelry to its Chicago-area stores.

Already enjoying a strong local presence and loyal following, Kingston Fine Jewelry’s believes welcoming the LGBT community will only strengthen their foothold as a bridal destination.


www.RonyTennenbaum


Other store carrying Rony Tennenbaum LGBT Collection include:

Ben Bridge Jeweler (Tacoma & Spokane, WA)

Rogers & Holland (Chicago, IL)

Sparkle (Chicago, IL)

Christensen & Rafferty (San Francisco, CA)

Adolf Jewelers (Richmond, VA)

Blue River Diamonds (Gloucester, MA)

Maurice’s Jewelers (Miami, FL)


Cellini Design Jewelers (Orange, CT)

Friday 22 August 2014

Lesbian Film Gets WORLDWIDE RELEASE!

MARINA RICE BADER'S FILM “ANATOMY OF A LOVE SEEN” 
GETS WORLDWIDE RELEASE ONLINE FOLLOWING 

THE 2014 OUTFEST FILM FESTIVAL PREMIERE


Subtitled Versions For a Number of Foreign Languages To Be Made Available 
Including Spanish, Portuguese, French and German


LOS ANGELES, CA –Writer/director Marina Rice Bader (Executive Producer of Elena UndoneA Perfect Ending) is releasing her feature length directorial debut Anatomy of a Love Seen as a $5 digital rental on Vimeo via the film’s website http://www.anatomyofaloveseen.com 

Following the July 18th premiere of the lesbian-themed drama at the 32nd Annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival, Bader will immediately give the film its worldwide release as a streaming rental, breaking outside of and bypassing the traditional Hollywood distribution channels.

In the age of YouTube and viral marketing campaigns, it’s becoming less uncommon for a feature to eschew theatrical platforms completely for a digital release; yet it’s quite unusual for a movie to be made available online immediately after a festival premiere. Typically films would travel the film festival circuit long enough for media and word-of-mouth to build.

But in keeping with the "do-it-her-way-ethos”, Bader was set on the idea of exploring alternative distribution options in order to engage and connect directly with her fans, and get the film out to as many people as possible.

Her new project Anatomy of a Love Seen is available easily and affordably for fans to view around the world on any Internet-capable device. In addition, subtitled versions for a number of foreign languages will also be made available including Spanish, Portuguese, French and German. 



Following in the footsteps of filmmakers the likes of Louis CK and Joss Whedon who have taken on distribution themselves, Bader isn’t the first filmmaker to the direct-distribution game; but she is one of the first ever out filmmakers to offer LGBT audiences around the world and cinephiles alike a lesbian themed feature film as a low-cost digital release immediately after its first festival premiere.

As the driving force behind Soul Kiss Films, her independent film company, Bader’s artistic direction is focused on one goal:  to create evocative, entertaining, and compelling movies by women, for women and about women. She’s successfully planting the seeds to do just that with Anatomy of a Love Seen, the forthcoming Raven’s Touch, and a new film set to shoot in December.

Anatomy of a Love Seen stars Hollywood newcomers Sharon Hinnendael, Jill Evyn and Constance Brenneman.  This film within a film explores love in all its painful and messy glory.  Six months ago, Zoe and Mal fell for each other while filming a love scene, which led to an intense, whirlwind affair, followed by a devastating breakup. Soon after their split, things get complicated when the two have to meet on set once more to re-shoot that fateful sequence.

Filmed in five days, this improvised movie based on Bader’s story, characters and outline fulfilled her desire to create a very organic and visceral experience.  Anatomy of a Love Seen was made on a micro-budget, but that hasn't stopped a huge online buzz. Released just a few weeks ago, the trailer for the film is making a lot of noise having already garnered 350,000 views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWqQregDD_A

For more information:
Twitter:  @SoulKissFilms

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Up & Coming LGBTQ Music: Leila Abigail

Who doesn't love a Canadian lesbian who can play an instrument? That's right, no one!

Leila Abigal has a cool, unique sound that you cannot miss!


Check out her single "Mabel & the Girls" right here on All Things Lesbian!