Queer Lounge hosts Amercian Primitive
January 19, 2009
Mary Beth Fielder, Gwen Wynne and Danielle Savre joined GLAAD Director of Entertainment Damon Romine to discuss their feature American Primitive. The film just won the coveted Best of Fest award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Congratulations, all!
Showing Tuesday in Palm Springs
January 12, 2009
The LGBT films screening at the 20th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival kick into high gear on Tuesday. How many will you be able to fit into one day? Check here to see if tickets are still available.
Tuesday, January 13
Prodigal Sons
10:00 AM Camelot Theatres
American Primitive
1:30 PM Camelot Theatres
Clapham Junction
3:30 PM Palm Springs Regal 9
Of Time and the City
4:00 PM Palm Canyon Theatre
Baby Love
7:30 PM Camelot Theatres
For a snapshot of the festival’s LGBT playlist, check out our glaadBLOG post.
American Primitive: My Two Dads
January 10, 2009
Park City’s loss is Palm Springs’ gain. Passed over by Sundance, American Primitive will have its world premiere Saturday at the 20th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. Simple and artfully done, this is one of the must-see films of the fest.
Set in 1973 Cape Cod, Harry Goodhart (Tate Donovan, Damages, Good Night, and Good Luck), a British widower, relocates with his two teen daughters to start a new business building American Primitive furniture.
As daughters Madeline and Daisy adjust to life in a new high school, Harry struggles to withhold a secret: His new business partner, Theodore Gibbs (Adam Pascal, Rent), is more than just that.
When the girls try to fit in with the cool kids in school, they sneak into Provincetown’s Atlantic House gay dance club. There, Madeline is hit with the realization that her widower dad may be over his mourning period. The secrets that each keep slowly threaten to tear the family apart—especially when word gets out in the small town.
Set during a time when American society was redefining its national identity as well as its personal views, the film captures the look and the language of the period, using “homosexual” (which has since been replaced by “gay”), and “queer,” used then as an insult before being reclaimed by us during the last decade.
As someone who experienced my own father’s coming out during the ’70s, the gossip in school and around a small town, I found myself identifying with the journey of Madeline. But even if American Primitive isn’t your story, the issues of what makes a family and who can raise children are amazingly as relevant today to all of us as they were 36 years ago.
UPDATE: At tonight’s sold-out opening, out Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, himself a father of toddler twins, will present the American Primitive filmmakers a proclamation for their efforts on behalf of family equality rights. The film screens again Tuesday.
Official Website: AmericanPrimitiveMovie.com
Screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival
Saturday, January 10, 7:00 PM
Annenberg Auditorium
Tuesday, January 13, 1:30 PM
Camelot Theatres
Playing This Weekend in Palm Springs
January 9, 2009
The 20th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival is underway featuring 18 LGBT films screening that you’re going to want to see. Here’s what’s gay and transgender playing this weekend — and if you’re lucky, you can still snag tickets here.
Friday, January 09
Eugene
7:00 PM Camelot Theatres
Patrik, Age 1.5
7:00 PM Annenberg Auditorium
Saturday, January 10
Eugene
10:00 AM Camelot Theatres
Patrik, Age 1.5
10:00 AM Annenberg Auditorium
Suddenly, Last Winter
6:30 PM Palm Springs Regal 9
American Primitive
7:00 PM Annenberg Auditorium
Sunday, January 11
Suddenly, Last Winter
12:30 PM Palm Springs Regal 9
Prodigal Sons
7:30 PM Camelot Theatres
For a comprehensive guide to the festival’s LGBT playlist, check out our glaadBLOG post.
American Primitive
December 28, 2008
LGBT Content: Gay
Genre: Drama, 93 min.
Rating: NR
Director: Gwen Wynne
Writer: Gwen Wynne, Mary Beth Fielder
Starring: Tate Donovan,Danielle Savre, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Adam Pascal, Anne Ramsey
Distributor: TBA
Release Date: USA, 2009
Synopsis: Alternately funny and heartbreaking, American Primitive tells the story of the havoc that surrounds a teenaged girl’s life when she discovers her widowed father is gay. Inspired by true events, the film is set in small-town America against the backdrop of suspicion, traditional family values, and the rapidly changing sexual identity of the ’70s.
Official Website: AmericanPrimitiveMovie.com
Screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival
Saturday, January 10, 7:00 PM
Annenberg Auditorium
Tuesday, January 13, 1:30 PM
Camelot Theatres
