#Jarman award

[jcbbby]

one of my first fics, Glowing and Growing, was a request where reader is pregnant with her and Jamie's first child and insecure about her pregnancy weight gain/body. someone mentioned back then that there should be another part where she goes into labor. so…here’s that I guess, kind of lol. really no mention of body issues, just a sweet piece about a growing family. :')

***also!! I've never gone through labor myself, but I do know for a first time mom, it definitely doesn't usually go this quick! this fast as fuck early labor to birth pipeline is just for dramatic effect lol.

Warnings: pregnancy obviously, description of labor and delivery, a few swears.

-

Walking the red carpet for an award show at 9 months pregnant sounded a lot easier from the comfort of your own couch when the invitation came in. Jamie was nominated for best villain after being in Stranger Things, and you insisted that you both attend in person. Not only could it possibly be your last event as just a couple, rather than parents, you were also just so proud of him. You wanted to see him win that award in real time with him.

You both stood in front of the step-and-repeat, bulbs flashing in your face, people calling your names. Jamie had his arm around you, draped around your waist. Your right hand rested gently on your belly.

“You doing alright, love?” Jamie asked, looking to you.

You nodded. “So far so good…I really need to pee though.” You both laughed.

Carrying on down the carpet, you happily stood next to Jamie as he did quick interviews for various outlets. They asked about if he think he’ll win, what he has coming up for roles, his music. And of course, mention was made of you and the baby, asking how excited you both were.

The ceremony went on smoothly. Billie Eilish performed, which you were looking forward to. About halfway through the show, you started to feel slightly uncomfortable. Nothing hurt, but you just kept needing to shift in your seat, stretching your back a little. Jamie was quick to pick up on your discomfort, leaning over to you while the host started speaking on stage again.

“Everything okay, love?” He spoke quietly in your ear.

“Yeah, yeah…I think I’m fine. My back just hurts a little is all.” You stretched your stomach forward, arching your back and placing your hands behind you in an attempt to relieve some pressure.

“Do you want to leave? Should we head home?” He asked, placing a hand on your knee.

You shook your head no quickly, putting your hand on his. “No, no I promise I’m fine! This night is all about you, baby.” You smiled.

He smiled back. “Okay…just, if you want to go back home at any point, please tell me. We can leave if you need to.”

You nodded before you both turned your heads back to the stage up front. Towards the end of the ceremony, Jamie’s category came up. They ran through the nominees and their respective roles, pulling a camera up on him as they said his name.

“And the winner is…” the presenter unfolded the envelope in his hands. “Jamie Campbell Bower!”

The crowd erupted in applause. You turned to Jamie, your jaw agape, your hormones making the happy tears come much easier than they maybe would have before. You both stood up, and he immediately wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug. Your hand rested on the back of his head as you whispered repeatedly that you loved him and were so proud of him. With a quick kiss, he turned to head down to the stage.

“Uh, wow. Okay. You know…this award isn’t just for me. I really think this was a colossal effort between the whole cast and crew- Matt and Ross Duffer, Barry Gower, Duncan Jarman, the special effects team, and the whole cast. I mean, they really created Vecna. I just showed up.” Laughs peppered the crowd. “But really, thank you so, so much to all the fans who watched the show and welcomed me to this community. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. I can’t be up here or do what I do without you and your support, so thank you. All of you. Thank you.” He held up his arm in a wave as the crowd cheered as he left the stage with the presenters.

After some time, Jamie made his way back to his seat next to you. You hugged and kissed again before he sat down, gushing about how proud you were of him.

When the night finally came to a close, he helped you out of your chair, and you walked arm and arm toward the exit. He held the door for you as you got into your hired car to take you home. Throughout the ride, you found yourself growing more uncomfortable, now a pressure enveloping your lower abdomen. Each bump during the ride caused an involuntary wince from you.

“Is your back still hurting, love?” Jamie asked, caressing your thigh.

“It’s getting worse, I think. It feels like there's just pressure wrapping around from my back to my stomach.” You adjusted yourself in your seat.

“Oh, darling…do you think we should maybe call the doctor?” He asked, putting his hand on your belly, rubbing it softly.

“No, no. I wouldn’t want to bother him if it’s nothing. I think when we get home, I want to just get in the bath for a bit and then go to bed.”

After arriving home, Jamie helped you out of your shoes and gown, going to draw a bath for you as you took your makeup off in your bedroom. You waddled into the bathroom as Jamie turned off the water and dunked a hand in to test the temperature. You removed your bra and panties, Jamie helping you step into the tub before you sank down into the water.

“This is already helping, thank you baby.” You smiled; your eyes closed as the rested against the porcelain.

Jamie sat with you as you relaxed in the bath. He held your hand, lovingly caressing it with his thumb. You didn’t necessarily want the bath to clean yourself, as you had showered before the awards. It was just the only think you could think of that may help your discomfort. You stayed in the bath for maybe 45 minutes until the water started to get too cold. Jamie helped you up and out of the tub, wrapping your robe around you for you to head into the bedroom to get in some comfy pajamas. You both got into bed, with it now being well past midnight. You were exhausted, and while you still weren’t feeling 100%, you were able to fall asleep relatively quickly.

-

A sharp, tight pain that engulfed your lower abdomen pulled you out of your slumber. You curled up on your side as your body tensed, breathing deeply, trying to focus on anything but the pain. After a moment, it began to subside. You quickly sat up and turned over to Jamie, still asleep, shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

“Jamie…Jamie, baby, wake up.”

He slowly opened his eyes, confusion briefly taking over his sleep filled eyes before seeing your face.

“Jamie…I...think I’m in labor.” You couldn’t help but let a small laugh out involuntarily, in shock the time had finally come.

“W-what? You…Okay, okay…shit. Okay.” He shot up, now fully alert, looking all around trying to make sense of this to himself.

“Honey.” You placed a hand on his chest. “We have time. He’s not coming right this second. But I just had a full-on contraction. I think we need to get ready. Is the bag packed?” You asked glancing over to a small diaper bag on the corner chair.

-

“Hmmm....mmmph….hmmm…” You hummed softly to yourself in monotone, rocking back and forth on your yoga ball, with your legs wide and head down and eyes closed; your hands planted firmly on your knees, pushing your shoulders up to your ears.

Jamie kneeled behind you, his hands lightly on your hips helping you rock, quietly shh-ing as you focused on getting through this one. His heart ached; he hated seeing you in pain. He knew this would all end with your son coming into the world, but he just wished he could take the pain from you. It had now been a couple hours of worsening on and off contractions, waiting until they were close enough to head to the hospital.

“You’re doing great, my love. You should be almost out of this one.” He glanced at his phone, checking the contraction timing app he had downloaded.

You exhaled harshly through a rounded mouth as you finally felt the relief of the contraction ending. You fell back slightly into Jamie’s body, rolling your head back on his shoulder.

“How many minutes apart are we at?” You asked, getting your breathing back to normal.

“Six minutes now.” Jamie kissed your temple. “You’re doing so well baby, you’re amazing.”

“Oooh, I hate this.” You chuckle, bringing your hand up to hang around his bicep. “This boy is already grounded forever for putting me through this.”

Jamie laughed with you. “Well, we’ll see how you feel when you’re holding him soon.” He kissed your cheek.

You went to stand up, just wanting to stretch your legs and walk for a minute. As you took a step toward the kitchen, a splashing sound came from the wooden floor under you. Looking down, a small pool of fluid gathered at your feet, running down your legs. Your biker shorts were soaked. You knew your water had just broke. Stunned, you whipped around to Jamie, equally as stunned, staring down at the puddle.

“Oh fuck.” You gasped, looking back down.

“Was that…” Jamie started to say.

“Yep, yes it was.” You replied, knowing he was about to ask if that was your water breaking too.

“Shit, okay. Okay. Uh…” He stood up, frazzled once again. “I uh…keys…fuck, fuck-” He looked around frantically, a hand running through his hair in an attempt to self-soothe.

“Babe. Babe. Look at me.” You approached him, taking his face in your hands. “I need you to be cool, okay? I need you here for me. I can’t do this without you. You’ve been so good so far. Take a breath with me.” You and him both inhaled deeply before exhaling together. “We got this.” You smiled as he nodded.

“Why don’t I go put the baby bag in the car, and text your mum to see if she can come meet us at the hospital. I’ll take care of the clean up, too.” He gestured his head toward your puddle on the floor.

“Thank you, baby. I’m just going to throw on some new pants.” You chuckled, carefully waddling towards the bedroom.

Once you had changed into some dry sweatpants, you headed back out to the living room. Walking down the hall, the most intense contraction yet came on strong and suddenly. You exclaimed in pain as you stopped and fell into the wall, your legs giving out in shock. Jamie came running when he heard you cry out. Sliding his arm around you, he led you over to the yoga ball again, helping you lower yourself, as you leaned back into him. You squeezed both his hands that rested on your thighs. His chin was perched on your shoulder, as he cooed and breathed with you through your contraction.

“Mmmph...hmmmph...Jamie, it... mmmph, it huuuurts...” You whimpered, tears stinging your eyes. You moaned in pain, squeezing his hands tighter, squirming and rocking your hips in a futile attempt to just feel some sort of relief.

“I know, my love, I know. You’re okay, breathe, darling.” He whispered, his gut wrenching at the sight of you in so much pain.

Once the contraction began to taper off, you breathed heavily against Jamie as he gently peppered kissed on your neck, whispering encouraging words.

“Hospital." You panted

Jamie helped you stand up and assisted you out the door with his arm around you. In the car on the way to the hospital, contractions were coming rapidly. You asked to roll the window down out of fear that you may be sick from the pain. Jamie tried his best to speed without causing an accident, luckily it was still in the wee hours and there wasn't much company on the road. His free hand never released yours, not even noticing how brutal your grip was on his with each new wave.

-

The nurses got you into a gown and into a bed, hooking you up to the necessary machines and an IV. Jamie came rushing in from parking the car, panting, with a bead of sweat on his forehead from running as fast as he could to be there for you. The doctor came in to check you, surprised to see that you were already dilated ten centimeters and 100% effaced. The good news, baby would be here soon! The bad news…there likely wasn’t enough time for an epidural to take effect before he came. Your birth plan had started with the idea to do it without medication, but with the option that if the pain got to be too much, you wouldn’t deny yourself the relief, that's what it was there for after all. But now you had no choice.

“Nonononono, I-I-I don’t think I can do this. Jamie- ah!“ You began to say, being cut through by another contraction. You thrashed to one side, facing Jamie, sounds you didn’t even think you were capable of making escaping your mouth as it sank into the pillow.

Jamie stroked your dampened hair, caressing the back of your tense hand with his thumb as you fought through it. “You can do this, love. I’m here with you, shhh.”

After a few more brutal contractions, you began to feel the overwhelming urge to push. You alerted your nurses and doctors of this feeling, and the doctor came to check you.

“Okay, my dear, I think it’s show time. Let’s have ourselves a baby!” Your doctor smiled up at you and Jamie.

You were so exhausted and weak, you heard the words but they didn’t register with you. All you could think about was the burning pressure in your pelvis, and doing whatever they told you to bring it to an end. As the nurses swelled around the room, the doctor instructed you to push downward, hard, from your core as soon as you felt the next contraction come. You nodded, taking deep breaths. Jamie placed an anxious kiss to the top of your head.

You felt the tightening, all consuming ache coming on, whimpering as you dreaded the next part. The doctor instructed you to push with encouragement. You took a deep breath in, squeezing your eyes tight and gritting your teeth as you pushed down with all your might as the doctor counted down from 10. The burning and pressure were brutal, you grunted and yelled as you pushed. You sat forward slightly, bearing down into the bed. Jamie held your hand and cradled his other arm around your upper back, helping you sit forward. As the doctor reached the number one, you released the breath you were holding with force, falling back against the upright hospital bed, gasping and whimpering.

“Another push, sweetheart. Stay in it. Push push push push.” The doctor called out.

You took a few preparation breaths before repeating the same action. Jamie was so attentive. He was in absolute awe of you, of your strength.

“You’re doing so good, darling. I love you so much. I’m so proud of you.” He kissed your clammy temple.

After a few more contractions worth of pushing, the doctor said he thought this next one would be the last, you were so close. You lay against the pillow, whimpering, sweaty, exhausted. You looked to Jamie, he was near tears himself, absolutely terrified but so in love with you. He held up a cup of water with a straw for you to take a sip from.

“One more, darling. One more push and he’s here.” He smiled, pulling the straw away, placing the cup on the table next to him. “You can do this.”

You squeezed your eyes shut, as another one came on. Everyone around you chanted for you to push and cheered you on. Jamie squeezed your hand back as you gripped his. In a wave of energy, you let out a wail as you pushed your hardest. Suddenly, the burning stopped, and time stood still for just a moment. It felt like everything went silent until you heard the beautiful, angelic cry of your son. The world slowly filled in around you as the doctor lifted your baby up, placing him on your bare chest. Your arms instinctively flew up to cradle him against you, as you started crying into his soft, damp skin.

“Oh my god, oh my god…” You repeated, not believing you had just done that. "H-hi little one. Hello baby." You cried softly.

Jamie immediately bent over you, taking his now bigger family in his arms. He kissed you repeatedly, you feeling the tears falling off his face. The three of you cried together.

“I love you so much, darling. I love you.” Jamie said, muffled against your neck.

-

After the doctor walked Jamie through cutting the umbilical cord, the nurses whisked your son off to get cleaned up and his vitals taken. Jamie stood over watching them, enamored with his child. You looked over, your heart so full.

Once everyone was all cleaned up and you were now recovering, you found yourself desperately in need to sleep. You made Jamie promise to wake you up in an hour, but he was going to let you get as much rest as you could after that. When you finally woke a few hours later, it was dark, and the room was empty aside from you, Jamie, and the baby. You opened your eyes to see Jamie sitting in the chair across from you, staring lovingly at your child swaddled in his arms. He heard you stir as you sat up and looked over to you.

“Hey.” He whispered with a smile.

“Hi.” You whispered back, beaming at the sight of Jamie holding your son.

“I’m a dad.” He chuckled, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.

You snorted. “You are. And I have a feeling you’re going to be an amazing one.” You smiled.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

[sunisalee2020]

My Thoughts on Paris 2024 Artistic Gymnastics

I've been waiting 3 years to watch these Games since Tokyo 2020. Some things worked out for my favourites and some things were disappointing. There were some crazy surprises but overall I genuinely liked how gymnastics unfolded.

My absolute favourite thing was Carlos Yulo of the Philippines winning 2 gold medals on FX and VT. It was a true fairy tale coming to life. Now whenever I think about Carlos I'm always gonna think about his joyous wins. Makes me smiley :) A heartwarming feeling. I don't think any gymnast at these games got me feeling like this. HUGE congratulations to Carlos.

I'm happy for Shinnosuke Oka of Japan. He won 3 unexpected gold medals and a bronze medal. Well maybe the team gold was expected but they had some issues in the finals but won gold in the end. He also won the coveted GOLD in AA. I'm so ecstatic for him.

Of course I can't go without talking about Sunisa. My heart was with her through out the games and I think even the judges were with her. I am so happy the judges awarded her 3rd place AA. I loved loved her stuck DLO 1/1. The genuine joy on her face made me happy. I'm very proud of her for winning bronze in UB finals as well. It was a fierce competition that even she knew 3rd was a realistic accomplishment. I'm sad she didn't do great in BB finals but then again that finals overall was disappointing. I'm so proud of Suni and she will also bring home a well deserved team GOLD! Team USA no doubt earned that medal and was a highlight for me.

Gotta talk about Simone Biles. Even if some are tired or overwhelmed by talking about how great she is, her gymnastics is legendary and will be remembered forever. She's just so amazing! Should never take her for granted. She's a treasure.

Was so happy for Zou Jingyuan and Liu Yang defending their GOLD titles on PB and SR. They are true masters on their events.

Was happy for Rhys McClenaghan, Nariman Kurbanov and Stephen Nedoroscik on pommel horse finals. A first for Ireland and Kazakhstan.

I am happy for Rebeca Andrade coming out as the 2nd most decorated female gymnast of these games. She really deserved it. At times I felt her Cheng vt could of gotten better escore since she is the master at that vault. It's a thing of beauty. It was fitting she won floor GOLD after winning all silver this games. She really deserved it. I know her fans are super happy and over the moon their favourite finally won a GOLD medal.

I really liked Flavia Saraiva throughout these games too. She was so badass with a black eye in team finals. I loved her beam in AA finals.

I'm happy QIu Qiyuan won silver on bars. Her bars is beautiful and I like it a lot.

I'm happy for Kaylia Nemour on bars GOLD. After everything she's been through she got the GOLD medal. Her bar routine is amazing with everything connected, it's crazy. Her Nemour (inbar Nabieva) is amazing. This routine is going to be watched over and over again.

I'm happy for Jade Carey on VT 3rd place. She's actually good and doesn't get enough praise.

I'm happy for Jordan Chiles FX and it sucks what happened to the Romanians but I'm happy for Jordan Chiles. I just really like her.

I'm happy Alice D'Amato got gold on beam after so close to almost being 3rd in AA. Everything worked out in the end. It was like the universe said fuck it you will get that GOLD.

I'm happy Zhou Yaqin won silver. I truly feel she is the best even if she grabbed the beam. She was rewarded rightfully. She should be proud of herself.

I'm happy Jake Jarman got 3rd on FX

I'm happy Xiao Ruoteng got 3rd AA

I'm happy Tang Chia-Hung got 3rd on HB because his bars is unique and cool. It's sad he fell but yeah

I was disappointed that Daiki Hashimoto didn't have the best competition but he will go home with a team GOLD so that's good

I wished Zhang Boheng could have been better but he will leave with some medals so I'm happy for him.

Update: will update this when there are more information regarding WAG floor finals

[viir-tanadhal]

New details about the updated release of Pet Shop Boys Catalogue (2006) are now available on the Thames & Hudson website. At the moment, it seems like this new version is tentatively coming out April 9th, 2024. It will include Catalogue's information in addition to all the visual material since 2006 up to 2024. It is titled Pet Shop Boys Volume.

It will be 560 pages with a new foreword and introduction alongside Philip Hoare's essay from Catalogue.

Description of the book from the website:

The Pet Shop Boys—Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe—are arguably the most successful duo in the history of pop music. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Published to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the release of “West End Girls”—the single that reached number one in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Israel, New Zealand, and Norway— Pet Shop Boys Volume is the definitive catalog of the group's visual output to date.

Newly reconfigured into a literary format, this revised and expanded edition now chronicles the entire visual output of Pet Shop Boys from 1984 to 2024. It includes the sleeve artworks and packaging; stills from every video, film, and performance; stage sets and costumes; photoshoots; publications; and merchandise. Photographs, designs, and productions by celebrated collaborators, including Mark Farrow, Wolfgang Tillmans, Martin Parr, Bruce Weber, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Zaha Hadid, and Derek Jarman, among others, are accompanied by short commentaries and captions by music writer Chris Heath. Accompanying the essay by Philip Hoare on Pet Shop Boys' practice, is a new introduction by Libby Sellers discussing the importance of Pet Shop Boys to the history of design, and a foreword by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller reflecting on the enduring impact of the music and image of Tennant and Lowe.

[denimbex1986]

'“Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan is being accorded a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute.

“The fellowship recognizes Nolan’s extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema as one of the world’s most successful and influential film directors, constantly pushing the limits of what large-scale filmmaking can be whilst retaining a reverence for the history of the medium and the primacy of cinema-going,” the BFI said in a statement.

The fellowship will be presented to Nolan at the BFI chair’s dinner in London on Feb. 14, 2024, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards. This will be followed on Feb. 15, 2024, by an In Conversation event at BFI Southbank and an introduction to “Tenet” at BFI Imax. During his visit, Nolan will also visit the BFI National Archive’s Conservation Centre.

Nolan’s films, which also include “Memento,” “Batman Begins,” “Inception” and “Dunkirk,” have won 11 Oscars and grossed some $6.1 million globally. “Oppenheimer” opened in July and grossed some $950 million, including £58.7 million ($74.6 million) at the U.K. and Ireland box office, Nolan’s highest earner in the territory. The film had a second run in November at Imax cinemas in the U.S., making it the fourth highest grossing worldwide release in the format of all time. “Oppenheimer” will be showing at BFI Imax again in January 2024.

Nolan said, “I am thrilled and honored to be accepting a BFI Fellowship from an organization so dedicated to preserving both cinema’s history as well as its future.”

Richards added: “I’m delighted to be honouring and recognizing Christopher Nolan with a BFI Fellowship. Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest filmmakers of the 21st century, creating hugely popular movies that have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. His movies are all made for the big screen to challenge and entertain audiences around the world. Christopher’s commitment and support of the cinema industry is legendary. He has also been at the forefront of preserving celluloid through his involvement with The Film Foundation and his own support via the Morf Foundation for the BFI’s photochemical work. All done to ensure that current and future audiences will be able to continue to enjoy and learn from our incredibly rich history of cinema for many years to come.”

Nolan received the CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), one of the U.K.’s highest honors, in 2019. He has had five Oscar nominations, five BAFTA nominations and six Golden Globe nominations. This year he won the NATO Spirit of the Industry award and the Sundance Institute’s first ever Trailblazer Award.

BFI Fellows include David Lean, Bette Davis, Akira Kurosawa, Ousmane Sembène, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Orson Welles, Thelma Schoonmaker, Derek Jarman, Martin Scorsese, Satyajit Ray, Yasujirō Ozu and, most recently, Tilda Swinton, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson and Spike Lee.'

[qudachuk]

The shortlist for the prestigious prize includes boundary-pushing stories about migration, capitalism … and technicolour cocktail barsFrom Nigerian Guinness factories to the British countryside via small German towns and distant galaxies, this year’s Film London Jarman award...

[etraudvenus]

Initially, I was trying to pursue the topic of transhumanism. From the recommendations Paul gave me, he put an important emphasis on Derek Jarman. Upon researching his work I found the genre he fits into New Queer Cinema. I was overwhelmed by choice and didn’t know where to start, so I asked a friend, and she told me about Cheryl Dunye and her most famous work ‘The Watermelon Woman’ (1996). While watching this movie I started to make a lot of connections with some  personal research I was doing into love, specifically ‘All About Love’ (2000) by Bell Hooks, and it inspired me to change my topic to Love.

Cheryl Dunye

Cheryl Dunye is an American filmmaker who began her career during the rise of New Queer Cinema, a movement characterized by independent film-making centered around the realism of raw queer stories and intersectionalism that differed from the commonly sanitized characters of the mainstream featuring white cis gay men. Dunye’s first work ‘Wild Thing’ (1989) was a montage with footage of the poet Sapphire reciting her own poem by the same name. In her second tape ‘Janine’ (1990), she made a montage with her own likeness this time, sitting down and filming herself talking about her crush named Janine, and how the implications of their queer and racial identities affected them. With this approach, she wishes to empower her own experiences, and by using the personal as theoretical, making the audience question their own intricacies in their identities, even if they're not the same as hers. Dunye later gained her popularity with her movie ‘The Watermelon Woman’, it premiered at Berlinale in 1996, granting her the Teddy Award for Best Feature, an important landmark for queer history, as it was the first feature film where both the creator and the main character was a black lesbian woman, and, deservedly so, the movie has been acclaimed as a queer classic ever since. Her storytelling never shies away from queer and racial experiences of the working class or forcibly tries to make it palatable for a straight white audience. Dunye’s style often combines different types of video production, like when we see the character Cheryl film herself, the footage is intentionally in lower definition, grainy and shaky. Deliberately choosing to play a character as herself, speaking directly to the camera and recognizing the production at play speaks to her distinct approach of combining different mediums, like personal artwork, documentary and fiction. 

In the movie ‘The Watermelon Woman’, the main character Cheryl is an aspiring filmmaker who gets sucked into the mystery of the real identity behind an actress in the 1920s who always played the role of the mammy, and is only ever credited as the Watermelon Woman. Throughout the film, she finds out her name, Fae Richards, she was also a lesbian and had an off-screen romance with a queer white woman who was the director of the movies she was in, Martha Page. During the incessant search for more information on Fae’s history, Cheryl also falls in love with a white woman, Diana, and they share genuinely beautiful romantic scenes. Yet, when all the puzzle pieces come together at the end of the movie, the thought of both those relationships leaves a sour taste in your mouth that is hard to explain if you haven’t felt it yourself. Like Cheryl’s best friend Tamara points out, Diana was lost in her life and seemed to be using Cheryl's purpose and other people’s struggles to find her own happiness, as seen by her actions; she had dated several black people before Cheryl, she didn’t need to have a job so she moved to a black neighbourhood to “find herself” and volunteered helping poor black children. 

In the essay ‘Clarity: Give Love Words’ in ‘All About Love’, Hooks points to a quote by psychiatrist Scott Peck where, in his book ‘The Road Less Travelled’ (1978), he defines love as the following: 

“Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… Love is as love does. Love is an act of will — namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.” (p.4)

As Bell Hooks also puts it, love is not just a feeling, it is an action and a verb: “The word "love" is most often defined as a noun, [...] we would all love better if we used it as a verb”. We can find ourselves confused after a break-up trying to figure out when the feeling changed, but more often than not the answer was always there in plain sight, hidden behind misconceptions, a lover’s actions will tell more about their love than their words.

Perhaps Tamara’s view was a bit cynical, or Diane’s actions of love towards others, indulging in the relationship with Cheryl and even helping her with her film project, were more so coming out of her own self-interest. However, besides everything, Cheryl finds peace with her heartbreak and even her passion project which does go at all the way that she intended it. In the ending monologue, she shares the realization that the struggle of both their lives does not take away from all the victories and ‘precious moments’, that Fae’s story might’ve been far from a fairy tale, but she followed her heart and her passions despite the push back from the world, and that gave her hope, courage and confidence to do the same. No matter what, she showed herself she is able to be a young black lesbian filmmaker, and this movie, all the love and recognition it received in the queer community, is proof of that.

Hooks, B. (2000) All About Love. New York: HarperCollins. 

[gracedenton]

Oreet Ashery Selfish Road 2022, 30m

“Film London Jarman Award winner Oreet Ashery is the latest artist selected for the KW Production Series, an annual artists’ moving image commissioning programme. Ashery’s film Selfish Road sees the artist return to her homeland in a journey through contested areas in and around Jerusalem. Drawing upon autobiographical memories, the film reflects on the relationship between senses of belonging and political questions of nation-building, infrastructure and land use. Following its premiere at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the film screens online until 30 January.” Text taken from the FLAMIN Newsletter

[usagirotten]

Gorillaz launch limited edition vodka bottle with Smirnoff

Damon Albarn's Gorillaz have teamed up with Smirnoff to launch a their own bottle of limited-edition vodka Gorillaz have teamed up with award-winning alcohol brand Smirnoff to launch a new bottle of limited-edition vodka. Damon Albarn’s virtual band, who have sold over 27 million records worldwide, helped design the exclusive Smirnoff x Gorillaz bottle that's available from today. The colourful print on the custom bottle features Gorillaz band members Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel, who can be seen raising a glass to the collaboration.  

The 'True Originals' project also sees the group’s characters create their own cocktail recipes including Murdoc's Vodka Murdini - a spin on the classic vodka martini - and Russel's Smirnoff Brooklyn, which pays homage to the vodka Manhattan and Russel’s love of chilli. Speaking of the collaboration, Murdoc said: “Nothing to see here folks — just the OG vodka brand teaming up with the OG virtual band. Cheers Smirnoff — pleasure doing business with you! I'm not usually one for labels, but this is a beauty!” Mark Jarman, Head of Smirnoff GB, added: “Smirnoff is built on the spirit of originality and individuality in all forms; Gorillaz are true originals who dare to push the boundaries in everything they do. We are thrilled to be working with the band to continue creating originality and disrupting the creativity of cocktails.” Read the full article

[tcm]

Child’s Play: The Juvenile Academy Award By Jessica Pickens

It can feel a little awkward when a child is told they did a better job at work than an adult. That was the case with the Academy Awards at least. At 9 years old, Jackie Cooper was the first child nominated for a Best Actor at the 4th Annual Academy Awards. Nominated for SKIPPY (’31), Cooper was competing against Richard Dix, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou and Lionel Barrymore. It was Barrymore who took home the award that night for his performance in A FREE SOUL (‘31).

Three years later, 6-year-old Shirley Temple looked like a serious contender for a Best Actress nomination at the 7th Academy Awards. This same year, there was heartburn that Bette Davis hadn’t received an official nomination for OF HUMAN BONDAGE (’34). As a compromise, Temple’s autobiography notes that a special Juvenile Academy Award was created, “In grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934.” Claudette Colbert took home the Best Actress award that year for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.

The juvenile statue awarded to the young actors was half the size of the regular Academy Award; standing about seven inches tall. Temple was the first to receive an award that was presented 10 times to 12 honorees over the next 26 years. The juveniles ranged in ages 6 to 18.

Shirley Temple, 1934 at the 7th Annual Academy Awards

As Temple sat bored at the Academy Awards, she was surprised to hear her name announced during the ceremony. Host and humorist Irvin S. Cobb called her “one giant among the troupers.” As she grabbed her miniature-sized award, she asked, “Mommy may we go home now?” according to her autobiography. “You all aren’t old enough to know what all this is about,” Cobb told Temple. Shirley’s mother told her that she received the award for “quantity, not quality,” because Temple starred in seven films in 1934.

In 1985, Temple received a full-sized award, as she felt the juvenile actors deserved a regulation-sized award like everyone else, according to Claude Jarman, Jr.’s autobiography.

Mickey Rooney and Deanna Durbin, 1938 at the 11th Annual Academy Awards:

The second time the special award was presented was to two juvenile actors: Mickey Rooney, 18, and Deanna Durbin, 17. They received the award for “their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement.”

“Whatever that meant,” Rooney commented in his autobiography on the award.

This was Durbin’s only recognition from the Academy. The following year, Rooney received his first adult nomination for BABES IN ARMS (’39). In total, he received four other competitive awards as an adult, and received one Honorary Award in 1983 in recognition of “50 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances.”

Judy Garland, 1939 at the 12th Annual Academy Awards:

Judy Garland, 17, was presented her Juvenile Academy Award by her frequent co-star Mickey Rooney. Garland received her award for “her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year” for her performances in BABES IN ARMS (’39) and THE WIZARD OF OZ (’39). Garland wouldn’t be recognized with a nomination by the Academy again until her 1954 performance in A STAR IS BORN. Garland reported losing the Juvenile Award in 1958, and it was replaced by the Academy at her own expense.

Margaret O’Brien, 1944 at the 17th Annual Academy Awards

Margaret O’Brien, 7, received the Juvenile Academy Award “for outstanding child actress of 1944” for the film MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (’44). When Margaret O’Brien received her Oscar, she said she wasn’t really that interested in it at the time. “I was more excited about seeing Bob Hope. I was more interested in meeting him than the Oscar that night,” she said, quoted by her biographer.

In 1958, O’Brien’s award was lost. Her housekeeper, Gladys, took the Juvenile Academy Award home to polish and didn’t return. A short time after, Gladys was put in the hospital for a heart condition and the award was forgotten. When Margaret reached out later about the award, the maid had moved, according to her biographer.

Nearly 40 years later, two baseball memorabilia collectors — Steve Meimand and Mark Nash— returned the award to O’Brien in 1995. The men had bought it at a swap meet in Pasadena, according to a Feb. 9, 1995, news brief in the Lodi New-Sentinel. “I never thought it would be returned,” she said in 1995. “I had looked for it for so many years in the same type of places where it was found.” In 2001, O’Brien donated her Oscar to the Sacramento AIDS Foundation.

Peggy Ann Garner, 1945 at the 18th Annual Academy Awards

After appearing in films since 1938, Peggy Ann Garner’s breakout role was in the film adaptation of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (’45). That year at the Academy Awards, 14-year-old Garner was recognized with the Juvenile Award “for the outstanding child actress of 1945.” It was an unexpected honor for Garner, who was confused why she was asked to sit in an aisle seat. She thought it was a mistake when her name was announced, according to Dickie Moore’s book on child actors.

Claude Jarman Jr., 1946 at the 19th Annual Academy Awards

Claude Jarman Jr. was plucked from his home in Knoxville, Tenn. and thrust into stardom when director Clarence Brown selected him for the lead role in THE YEARLING (’46). Jarman wrote in his autobiography that he gave a brief speech saying it was a thrilling moment and “This is about the most exciting thing that can happen to anybody.” However, later admitted that at age 12 the significance of the award escaped him. Following Shirley Temple’s example, Jarman also later received a full-sized Academy Award.

Ivan Jandl, 1948 at the 21st Annual Academy Awards

Ivan Jandl received the Juvenile Academy Award in his only American film, making him the first Czech actor to receive an Academy Award. At age 12, Jandl was recognized for his “outstanding juvenile performance of 1948 in THE SEARCH (’48).” The film was one of only five films Jandl starred in. Jandl was not permitted by the Czechoslovakia government to travel to the United States to accept his award, which was accepted on his behalf by Fred Zinnemann, who directed THE SEARCH.

Bobby Driscoll, 1949 at the 22nd Annual Academy Awards

Bobby Driscoll received the award for “the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949” after appearing in the film-noir THE WINDOW (’49), as well as his performance in the Disney film SO DEAR TO MY HEART (’48). “I’ve never been so thrilled in my life,” 13-year-old Driscoll said when he accepted the award.

Jon Whiteley and Vincent Winter, 1954 at the 27th Annual Academy Awards

Scottish actors Jon Whiteley, 10, and Vincent Winter, 7, co-starred as brothers in THE LITTLE KIDNAPPERS (’53). The co-stars were awarded for their “outstanding juvenile performances in The Little Kidnappers.” Whiteley’s parents wouldn’t let him attend the award’s ceremony, so it was mailed to him. "I remember when it arrived, hearing it was supposed to be something special, I opened the box and I was very disappointed. I thought it was an ugly statue," Whiteley said in a 2014 interview.

Vincent Winter was also not present for the award, so Tommy Rettig accepted the award on behalf of both actors.

Hayley Mills, 1960 at the 33rd Annual Academy Awards

The last Juvenile Academy Award was award to Hayley Mills, 14, in 1960 for her role in POLLYANNA (’60). The award was presented by the first winner of the Juvenile Award, Shirley Temple. Mills was unable to attend, and it was accepted on her behalf by fellow Disney star Annette Funicello.

In a 2018 interview, Mills said she didn’t know she had received it until it arrived at her home. Mills was in boarding school in England at the time of the ceremony. “I didn’t know anything about it until it turned up. Like, ‘Oh, that’s sweet. What’s that?’ I was told, ‘Well, this is a very special award,’ but it was quite a few years before I began to appreciate what I had,” she said in a 2018 interview.

The Aftermath

Throughout the tenure of the honorary Juvenile Academy Award, other children were still occasionally nominated, including Bonita Granville, 14, for THESE THREE (’36); Brandon de Wilde, 11, for SHANE (’53); Sal Mineo, 17, for REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (’55) and Patty McCormack, 11, for THE BAD SEED (’56).

Once Patty Duke, 16, won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1963 for THE MIRACLE WORKER (’62), the honor was discontinued. Following Duke, Tatum O’Neal, 11, received the award for Best Supporting Actress for PAPER MOON (’73).

In recent years, there has been discussion about bringing the award back. In a 2017 Hollywood Reporter article, the argument was made that after the discontinuation of the award, fewer children have been recognized by the Academy. The performance of Sunny Pawar in LION (2016) wasn’t nominated, which was viewed as a snub, according to a 2017 Hollywood Reporter article. Other children haven been nominated in major categories, like Quvenzhane Wallis for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012), which to date makes her the youngest nominee for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Jacob Tremblay in ROOM (2015). But the last time a child has won a competitive award was Anna Paquin for THE PIANO (1993).

[redaynia]

ANOTHER COUNTRY: THE 1980s AND GAY CINEMA

by Alex Davidson

My Beautiful Laundrette, with its positive representation of a gay relationship, came at a radical time for LGBT rights in the UK and stands in the tradition of queer cinema flourishing in times of homophobic oppression. Victim (1961), Basil Dearden's drama about a lawyer (Dirk Bogarde) who realises his own homosexuality while investigating blackmail attempts against gay men, was made when homosexuality was still completely illegal in the UK. The sympathetic portrayal may have helped pave the way for a partial decriminalisation following the Sexual Offences act in 1967.

Gay Liberation flourished in the late 1970s and gay men on British cinema screens, who conventionally ended up miserable or dead by the end credits, started having fun. While Derek Jarman's Sebastiane (1967), an erotically charged take on the life and execution of St Sebastian, ended in tragedy, there was no doubting the film's gleeful celebration of gay sex. Nighthawks (1978) took British audiences into the gay clubs of Lindon and divided gay audiences, some of whom felt the main character -- sensitively played by Ken Robertson -- was an unappealing and downbeat figure. The film remains, however, an invaluable time capsule of 1970s gay nightlife. Television was more problematic, with TV schedules plagued by tired stereotypes typified by John Inman in Are You Being Served? (1973-1985) and Larry Grayson -- both, however, familiar, beloved faces on the small screen. The Naked Civil Servant (1975) was more provocative, with a Bafta-winning performance by John Hurt as the unashamedly flamboyant Quentin Crisp making a genuinely subversive statement.

With Margaret Thatcher's ascent to power in 1979 came a lurch to the right and a darkening of attitudes towards LGBT people in the 1980s. As the Aids epidemic spread, tabloids became bolder in their homophobia, with The Sun under the editorship of Kelvin MacKenzie calling Aids a 'gay plague'. Groups such as OutRage! and Act Up protested at the government's slow response to tackling the virus, noting how homophobia informed political decision-making. However, some progress was made. During the 1970s, Labour MP Maureen Colquhoun had been deselected after being as outed as gay by the press, and when Peter Tatchell stood as a Labour candidate for Bermondsey in 1983 he face a notoriously homophobic campaign from his Liberal opponents (the seat was won by the Liberals' Simon Hughes, who later came out as bisexual). Yet in 1984, Labour MP Chris Smith was the first minister to come out while in office. More LGBT people became politically active, such as Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), who inspired the award-winning film Pride (2014).

The most famous instance of the Thatcher administration's homophobic policy-making arrived in 1988, when Section 28 of the Local Government Act was passed. This legislation banned local authorities from publishing 'material with the intention of promoting homosexuality' as well as 'the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.' The law directly affected The Two of Us (1988), a mild BBC drama about two gay boys who must decide whether to leave their homophobic home town or stay and resort to conformity. The original had the boys continue their relationship but the broadcast version was changed: one headed back to heterosexuality, while the other is left alone. British filmmakers were quick to react to the wave of hostility that dominated the decade. Derek Jarman made unashamedly celebratory films about gay male lives in The Angelic Conversation (1985) -- a queer reading of Shakespeare sonnets addressed to a young man -- and Caravaggio (1986), a queered portrait of the renaissance painter. His 1989 experimental film The Last of England (1989) is a dark, poetic vision of a country in crisis and one of his most explicitly anti-Thatcherite films.

Production company Merchant Ivory has a (misleading) reputation for safe period dramas but its adaptation of EM Forster's Maurice (1987) was daring -- not because it was politically confrontational but because it had that rarest thing in 1980s gay cinema: a happy ending for its lovers. A further key British feature of the era is Another Country (1984), based on the early life of Cambridge spy Guy Burgess and starring Rupert Everett as a gay public schoolboy disgusted by his repressive environment. In both Maurice and Another Country, the protagnists are rich, white and male -- acceptable traits for audiences who had already embraced homoeroticism in the BBC's 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. All three works were comfortably set in the past, as was Stephen Frears' follow-up to My Beautiful Laundrette, his admirably bawdy Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears (1987). This fondness for telling gay stories through the distancing lens of period drama makes the contemporary love story of My Beautiful Laundrette all the more urgent.

Gay British films with interracial relationships were scant. A heavy hint of homosexual attraction followed the titular black and white characters in Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969), while the silly but lovable Girl Stroke Boy (1971) gave audiences a couple, played by Clive Francis and Peter Straker, where the gender of one half of the relation was supposedly ambiguous, but gay love stories featuring black and Asian characters appeared less frequently in the early 1980s. The political significance of an interracial gay relationship in a London blighted by the National Front adds fire to My Beautiful Laundrette and, despite the mildness of the scenes of passion, the film sparked controversy; when it was shown in New York, the Pakistan Action Committee demonstrated against it as 'the product of a vile and perverted mind'. Kureishi explored race and homosexuality again in his TV adaptation of his own novel The Buddha of Suburbia (1993) and interracial love informed some of the most interesting queer stories of the 1990s, in Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels (1991) and Neil Jordan's The Crying Game (1992).

While Queer as Folk (1999) may be the most famous LGBT British TV series of past years, a handful of gay non-fiction series from the 1980s paved the way for its success. Gay Life (1980-1981) explored queerness in various contexts, while the delightfully right-on Six of Hearts (1986) offered docudrama profiles of gay men and women, most notable Andy the Furniture Maker, an unlikely star of the art underworld. Channel 4's magazine show Out on Tuesday (1989) gave voices to marginalised queer people -- a highlight was Khush (1991), which celebrated South Asian lesbians and gay men living in Britain, North America and India, and was directed by Pratibha Parmar.

Plenty of documentaries about lesbian lives were made in the 1980s but British fiction films about gay women were few. A rare example is Mai Zetterling's Scrubbers (1982), set in a female borstal, while towards the end of the Thatcher era Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (1990), based on Jeanette Winterson's novel, was a huge hit. More elusive still in 1980s British cinema are depictions of trans lives. While the US has led in interesting depictions of trans people, gentle sitcom Boy Meets Girl (2015-2016) is a rare example of a British take on a transgender protagonist. Throughout British cinema and TV history, lesbian and trans viewers have had to be content with one-off episodes of TV anthology series or supporting roles in heterosexual-focused stories.

The activism of the 1980s, supported by British filmmakers, paved the way for the repeal of Section 28 in 2003 and the passing of the Civil Partnership Act a year later. Same-sex marriage followed in 2013 but writing today the situation for LGBT people is murkier. Following the referendum on Britain's EU membership in 2016, the most divisive recent political event, homophobic attacks rose by 147 per cent, while the 2017 general election resulted in the sitting government opting to rely on an openly homophobic party to achieve a Parliamentary majority and remain in power. At the time of this release, how an uncertain political climate will affect LGBT people remains to be seen but, with equipment and online platforms widely accessible, filmmakers have more opportunity than ever to confront homophobia through their art.

Alex Davidson is the film programmer at JW3 and a former curator at the BFI National Archive. He regularly writes for Sight & Sound and the BFI website. His specialty is LGBT cinema and television.

Article sourced from the booklet included in the BFI's dual format edition of My Beautiful Laundrette (2017).

[magicofthepen]

New Gallifrey drops in July!

Gallifrey's moral compass is lost, Rassilon rules, and Romana is gone. But it’s not the end, it’s just the beginning...

Gallifrey is at war. At the heart of the Capitol, the War Room co-ordinates the fight against the Daleks.

Leela has been forced into service, alongside the General and his soldiers, taking orders from Cardinals Rasmus and Ollistra.

But this being Gallifrey, politics are never forgotten. Some serve Rassilon, some serve themselves, and some have their own cause. The Time War will test them all.

Louise Jameson (Leela)

Ken Bones (The General)

Nicholas Briggs (Daleks)

Beth Chalmers (Veklin)

Chris Jarman (Rasmus)

Carolyn Pickles (Ollistra)

[citizenscreen]

(Caption) Claude Jarman Jr. (right) accepted the Academy Juvenile Award Oscar for "The Yearling" from past winner Shirley Temple at the Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1947. At left is Best Supporting Actor winner Harold Russell ("The Best Years of Our Lives").

[gianarosegoestothemovies]

New Queer Cinema

Starting from the late 1980s through early 1990s, a “new wave” of queer films became critically acclaimed in the film industry, allowing the freedom of sexuality to be featured in films without the burden of approval from the audience. This raw and honest film genre displays the truth, secrets, and vulnerability of the LGBTQ+ community and the representation that is deserved. The New Queer Cinema movement was started by scholar Ruby Rich who wrote “This movement in film and video was intensely political and aesthetically innovative, made possible by the debut of the camcorder, and driven initially by outrage over the unchecked spread of AIDS. The genre has grown to include an entire generation of queer artists, filmmakers, and activists.” (Rich) This movement started from Rich’s writing piece, not the filmmakers themselves. An article by Sam Moore discusses Rich’s start of the movement. He states, “Rich acknowledges that the films and filmmakers she considers under the umbrella of New Queer Cinema (including Todd Haynes, Cheryl Dunye, Isaac Julien, Gus Van Sant and Gregg Araki), don’t share a single aesthetic vocabulary or strategy or concern.” Instead, they’re unified by the ways that they queer existing narratives, subvert expectations and foreground queerness in material where it had been only implicit” (Moore). The journey through the New Queer Movement started with Ruby Rich defining the movement through her writing and inspiring filmmakers to continue producing movies with the correct representation.

           Actress from Gone with the Wind Susan Hayward claimed that Queer cinema existed “decades” before an official title was given to the genre. French filmmaker Jean Cocteau created Le sang d'un poète in 1934 which is documented as one of the earliest Queer films. This avant-garde style of film is associated with Queer cinema filmmakers such as and is displayed in many upcoming films such as Ulrike Ottinger, Chantal Akerman and Pratibha Parmar. The influence of Queer theory that emerged from the late 1980s helped guide the movement with the creators. The theory states "Challenge and push further debates on gender and sexuality.” Another closely related statement by feminist theory states,"Confuse binary essentialisms around gender and sexual identity, expose their limitations.” Queer cinema filmmakers were sometimes known to depict their films in a “mainstream” way that is agreeable to the audience. There was no exposure to the truths and horrors that the LGBTQ+ community experience and had a lack of representation of historical elements or themes. The concept of “straightwashing” was described to filmmaker Derek Jarman’s 1991 historical film Edward II. This film received backlash from the LGBTQ+ community due to the film’s queer representation catering to heterosexuality and heteronormativity.  

           The truth of the movement was for Queer films to stop romanticizing or bringing positive images of gay men and lesbian woman. The push for authenticity and liberation for the community needed to be represented in films. New Queer films were more radical and sought to challenge social norms of “identity, gender, class, family and society.” (Wikiwand.com).

           To quote the amazing drag queen of all time RuPaul “Everyone is born naked, and the rest is drag” the idea of gender identity and representation in the community is unlimited, why do you need to follow the norms of society when anything is possible? The late 90s documentary Paris is Burning introduced the audience to drag culture in New York City and the people of color who were involved in the community. The term “aesthetic” was repetitive in the research of New Queer Cinema which suggests the significance involved with the style of the films. The documentary includes the aesthetic of the drag world involving the makeup, fashion, and politics. AIDS activism was involved heavily in New Queer films and ridiculed the failure of Ronald Reagans acknowledgment of epidemic and the social stigma experienced by the gay community. Conservative politics occurred during this movement resulting in lack of media coverage and government assistance for the LGTBQ+ community. This political struggle did not discourage the community and the fight is still continuing today.

           Beginning in the 2010s LGBT filmmakers Rose Troche and Travis Mathews created a “newer trend” in queer filmmaking that evolved toward more universal audience appeal. In an article from Wikiwand.com states,

           “Rich, the originator of the phrase New Queer Cinema, has identified the emergence in the late 2000s of LGBT-themed mainstream films such as Brokeback Mountain, Milk, and The Kids Are All Right as a key moment in the evolution of the genre.[20] Both Troche and Mathews singled out Stacie Passon’s 2013 Concussion, a film about marital infidelity in which the central characters' lesbianism is a relatively minor aspect of a story and the primary theme is how a long-term relationship can become troubled and unfulfilling regardless of its gender configuration, as a prominent example of the trend” (Wikiwand).

           The film Watermelon Woman was one of the first queer films I watched for a film class, and this film allowed me to dive deeper into the subject I care a lot about which is the representation of queer narratives about woman of color. Queer woman and men deal with the most discrimination. It is unfair and cruel to see the difference of racial treatment in the LGBTQ+ community because the backbone motto is full exclusion and equal rights. The film Watermelon Woman shined light on LGBTQ+ black woman and interrogated the “Mammy” stereotype that most films depict about black actresses. Minority narratives were pushed into the circuit of the movement with developed into the later academy-award winning film Moonlight that displays those representations makes film history!

           Films to recognize in the height of the New Queer film movement are

Mala Noche (1986), Gus Van Sant, was an exploration of desire through the eyes of a young white store clerk named Walt and his obsession with a young undocumented immigrant named Johnny. The film is shot in black and white on 16mm film, contains many of the early Van Sant fixations that viewers would later see get refined in My Own Private Idaho, including male hustlers, illegality, and class.

Chinese Characters (1986), Richard Fung, this early film asks still-pressing questions about the nature of gay desire when it’s mediated via pornographic images of white men. The video defies genre, mixing documentary with performance art and archival footage to explore the tensions of being a gay Asian man looking at porn.

Looking for Langston (1989), Isaac Julien, this short film, a tribute to the life and work of Langston Hughes, is a beautiful and vibrant elegy. Julien creates a lineage of queer black ancestors for himself. The film moves like the poetry it recites, playing with the gaze and how various eyes look upon the black male body.

Tongues Untied (1989), Marlon Riggs, guided by the writer Joseph Beam’s statement, “Black men loving black men is the revolutionary act,” Riggs goes through his own complicated journey of homophobia from other black people, and then racism in the gay community, to find a community of queer black people.

Poison (1991), Todd Haynes, the three parts of the film tell a story about ostracism, violence, and marginality: the bullied child who allegedly flies away after shooting his father in order to save his mother (“Hero”), a brilliant scientist who accidentally ingests his own serum to become the “leper sex killer” (“Horror”), and a sexual relationship between two men in a prison (“Homo”). Exploits radical work that Haynes later uses in his other films.

The Living End (1992), Gregg Araki, the film follows Luke, a sexy homicidal drifter who has a distaste for T-shirts, and Jon, an uptight film critic in Los Angeles. Both are HIV-positive, and as their relationship unfolds, they fight about being respectful or lustrous.  

Swoon (1992), Tom Kalin, a black and white film that romanticizes wealthy Chicago lovers kill a 14-year-old boy named Bobby Franks because they want to see if they are smart enough to do it. The murder is more a play of power between them, with Loeb weaponizing sex as a way to control Leopold.

Rock Hudson’s Home Movies (1992), Mark Rappaport, Rock Hudson’s Home Movies is a documentary made up of glances and innuendos from Rock Hudson’s persona, displaying how this dashing, leading man of the Hollywood Golden Age was a closeted gay man.

MURDER and Murder (1996), Yvonne Rainer, is known for her experimental filmmaking and choreography, this film represents a late-in-life lesbian named Doris who suffers from neuroses and breast cancer. Her partner, Mildred, a queer academic, tells the story of their romance as older women. Rainer also makes appearances throughout the film in a tux, going on rants about smug homophobic parents while showing her bare chest with a mastectomy scar.

           1992 was the year of the highest amount of New Queer films being produced and exceeding box office expectations. Upcoming 2000s films such as “Booksmart”, “Call me by your Name”, “The Prom”, and “Rocketman” all represent the truths and authenticity of the LGBTQ+ community and creates pathways for more films to include these cinematic themes. The movement continues to grow and succeed in the film industry with new creators and actors being more honest about the LGBTQ+ community.

[jshoulson]

Today’s Poem

Unholy Sonnet 1 --Mark Jarman

Dear God, Our Heavenly Father, Gracious Lord, Mother Love and Maker, Light Divine, Atomic Fingertip, Cosmic Design, First Letter of the Alphabet, Last Word, Mutual Satisfaction, Cash Award, Auditor Who Approves Our Bottom Line, Examiner Who Says That We Are Fine, Oasis That All Sands Are Running Toward.

I can say almost anything about you, O Big Idea, and with each epithet, Create new reasons to believe or doubt you, Black Hole, White Hole, Presidential Jet. But what’s the anything I must leave out? You Solve nothing but the problems that I set.

[andrewbadblood]

PROJECT ART WORKS SHORTLISTED FOR THE TURNER PRIZE 2021

Project Art Works are so pleased to have been given this major opportunity to celebrate the contribution people with complex support needs and care givers make to arts and culture, and to show work made by neurodivergent artists.

Project Art Works has been nominated for the Turner Prize in recognition of our practice which celebrates and raises awareness of the dynamic and extraordinary contribution neurominorities make to society, art and culture.

The jury praised our continuing work through the pandemic, both online and in a residency at Hastings Contemporary where passers-by could still encounter work by the collective through the windows of the closed gallery. Through many collaborations over the past decade and during EXPLORERS 2017 – 2020 supported by ACE, and the Film London Jarman Award 2020 a change has taken place. We are so grateful for many of the partnerships and our supporters that have trusted us and enabled people who have complex support needs to represent themselves in art and culture. They are the change makers.

The Project Art Works Collective will be part of the Turner Prize exhibition which will open at the The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry in September 2021 with the winner announced on the 1st December 2021.

https://projectartworks.org/shortlisted-for-the-turner-prize-2021/

[notquitedailyamy]

Black and Yellow

Since visiting Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage in Dungeness last month, I’ve sat down on several occasions intending to share the experience with you. But distilling my thoughts wasn’t easy! The place left my head so full of thoughts and stirred a lot of emotion in me, and transcribing the singular magic of it into words felt beyond me. Each time I’d lose the tousle with my brain, and clap the laptop shut again.

Then I found the following starting point; a quote from Howard Sooley, photographer and friend of Derek Jarman, that described the setting I found myself in, on arrival to the cottage, perfectly.

“Pulling up on Dungeness Road, I stared out of the car window on to a post-apocalyptic nuclear vision: a long, snaking road strung with a line of black fishermen’s cottages like tar-covered fairy lights; a beach strewn in a mess of seemingly abandoned fishing boats and huts, which looked like they’d just tumbled from the sky and landed randomly among the sea kale that inhabited the beach.

   — Howard Sooley for Gardens Illustrated

And now, I think, with that striking scene set, I can continue...

Discovering Derek Jarman 

On one particular stay at my aunt and uncle’s house in Cheltenham years ago, there was an addition to the mantelpiece in my bedroom: a dried sprig of sea kale in a narrow white vase. My aunt recounted how she and my uncle had lately travelled to Dungeness, a headland on the coast of Kent, and how she had found the pretty bit of plant blowing across the shingle there. They had been to see the cottage and garden of a man whose name I did not then recognise, Derek Jarman; “a very special place”. And, I was told that in the front room there was a book entitled Derek Jarman’s Garden, from which I could learn more. 

From my aunt’s introductory account, to each article and interview I have since read or watched regarding Derek Jarman since, I have found him only to be described in the fondest, most admiring manner. Those who are aware of his story, or who were lucky enough to have had their lives directly touched by him, laud his generous spirit and remain in awe of his remarkable array of talents, from film-maker to set designer, from optimist to activist, from gardener to diarist and author. He is remembered not only as being one of the most influential figures of 20th century culture, but also for his breathtaking humility, prolific activism for gay rights (via protest as well as his artistic output - much of which served as a manifesto for open homosexuality), inspiration and support for young and aspiring film makers and creatives. Award-winning costume designer and friend of Jarman’s Sandy Powell sums up his inherent warmth of character and contagious passion for whatever he turned his hand to in a recent interview with Phillips Auction House: 

“Derek said to me that there was absolutely no point in going to work every day unless you went with the same excitement as if you were going to a party. With him, I’d get to work every morning and I would be so excited about going to work. 

[...] He just immediately made you feel comfortable, and you were never ever made to feel inferior. Even on a film set, he’d be sat there, waiting for the next setup, and I remember there were times when he would ask the person who was sweeping the floor of the set what he thought. He’d talk aloud about his ideas. He’d set something up and say, "What do you think about that? Should we do this?" and he’d actually listen to what that person had to say. Anybody. He’d listen to what any of us had to say, and I think we were all treated completely equally"

   — Sandy Powell, interviewed by Phillips

My aunt located her copy of Derek Jarman’s Garden for me later that day - a smallish, unassuming publication, on the verge of being swallowed up by the heaving art library that surrounded it (my uncle and aunt are both artists themselves). I was enthralled by it, poring the pages for the rest of my stay. 

^ Derek Jarman at Prospect Cottage. © Howard Sooley

Having spotted a ‘for sale’ sign whilst filming close by, Derek Jarman sought refuge in his Dungeness fisherman’s cottage after being diagnosed as HIV positive in 1986. He dedicated himself to creating a paradisiacal and sustaining garden in the salty, exposed shingle which skirted his new home. 

“Dungeness was England through the looking glass, not William Blake’s bucolic vision of a Jerusalem in this ‘green and pleasant land’. Stark, barren, the sun searing down or rain whipping across the landscape – everything seemed to be dying. Bleached by the sun, ripped by the wind, eaten by salt, laid bare and exposed by the enormity of the sky. A world stripped to its bones, abandoned and motionless except for the dried seedheads of sea kale blowing like tumbleweed in the shadow of the power station. The images are etched in my memory.”  

   — Howard Sooley for Gardens Illustrated

...a pretty tall task then . But that’s what he did. Choosing a spectrum of plants that could stand up to the testing climes of his “Ness”, largely low-lying to endure high winds, others that were already indigenous of the area, Derek Jarman transformed Prospect Cottage into a defiant monument of imagination and hope. 

An unforgettable day in Dungeness

Gradually the landscape flattened, the villages became fewer and further between, then villages became hamlets, and then there was nobody, save the odd remote farmhouse - we wondered how far they must have to travel for groceries!  Then human presence came almost to a standstill, and it felt like we had gatecrashed a sci-fi movie set. Fencing lined the road, periodic signs warning people away from the military firing range, still not a soul to be seen. We weren’t tempted to trespass - it was all pretty spooky! 

And then, on the horizon, a giant appeared. The jagged grey silhouette of Dungeness A and Dungeness B - not one, but two massive nuclear power stations. We popped Boards of Canada on the stereo. I challenge you for a better accompaniment to such a sight.

“The nuclear power station is a wonderment. At night it looks like a great liner or a small Manhattan ablaze with a thousand lights of different colour.” 

   — Derek Jarman, from Derek Jarman’s Garden

We continued along the silent road a while longer, and then suddenly it was there. Years of wondering about the garden, and then there it was, right there, just by the side of the road... no fence, no gate, no borders or barriers of any kind. No separation from the outside at all.

I was relieved to see a handful of people around, though it still felt astonishingly desolate. We pulled up right outside the cottage, amazed it was that easy. 

A jewel in the string of tiny rustic dwellings, and a David to the looming Goliath backdrop of the two nuclear plants, Prospect Cottage bursts with vitality and  vibrance. Emanating a kind of otherworldly, magical quality, it flourishes where all else is bleak, tangerine coloured Californian poppies and sunshine yellow window frames laughing proudly. 

“At first, people thought I was building a garden for magical purposes – a white witch out to get the nuclear power station. It did have magic – the magic of surprise, the treasure hunt.” 

   — Derek Jarman, from Derek Jarman’s Garden

Just as there are no borders, there are no strict lines or flower beds to speak of. Santolina, valerian and the odd red hot poker rise straight from the sea-worn shingle floor, while sea kale sprawls in patches. Hemispheres of gorse and vertically pegged driftwood add degrees of height, while talismanic stone circles and flotsam sculptures ensure the eye is never short of interest. Jarman would comb the beach every morning for new metal treasures, rocks and interesting things washed up by the sea. He’d always reap the biggest rewards following a storm.

“The stones, especially the circles, remind me of dolmens, standing stones. They have the same mysterious power to attract.”

   — Derek Jarman, from Derek Jarman’s Garden

“The sticks and sculptures [...] also had the unexpected gift of providing much-welcomed perches for the migratory birds that navigate over the ness every year. Rare warblers from Russia would stand and catch their breath, staring in at the kitchen window. Then, without warning, they’d lift into the air, catch the wind and be off again to some far and distant land.”

 — Howard Sooley for Gardens Illustrated

 ^ Derek Jarman also scoured the land around the nuclear power plant for bits and pieces to use in the garden, some of it detritus from the Second World War

Already I had felt the enchantment of Derek Jarman’s living legacy exuding from those pages of my aunt’s book, but experiencing it in the flesh was on a different level. It’s as though he left a message there, everlastingly poised and waiting to be received by anyone who visits. 

Standing amidst such a unique and spectacular achievement, by a man who had been dealt such a cruel fate, made me feel incredibly appreciative for all that I have, all that is so easy for me. His life was cut too short, but undoubtedly lived more fully than many who have reached a much older age. 

It also gave me new confidence that in my own creativity I am doing something worthwhile, and that by staying true to myself and not allowing conformity to stifle my output, I can add my own dose of originality and something truly unique to the world.  

 ^ Poppy seed heads

“He was just really encouraging to all young people, and I think that’s what this house could be. It’s this really open house to encourage people to come and be creative and get as much as they can out of it, and I think he would have wanted that.” 

  — Sandy Powell, interviewed by Phillips

 ^ Indigenous sea kale

Long live the legacy

The future of Prospect Cottage was recently left up in the air following the passing of Keith Collins, Derek’s companion during his years in Dungeness, and in whose hands he left the cottage following his death in 1994. 

The Art Fund launched a campaign to save the property from being sold off and falling into private ownership. The £3.5 million required was raised in just ten weeks.

“Securing the future of Prospect Cottage may seem a minor thing by comparison with the global epidemic crisis which has recently enveloped all our lives. But Derek Jarman’s final years at the Cottage were an inspiring example of human optimism, creativity and courage battling against the ravages of illness. In that context, the success of this campaign seems all the more apposite and right for its time.” 

— Stephen Deuchar, Director of Art Fund

“Prospect Cottage will become not a memorial encased in amber, but an active memory. Not an ossified monument, but a breathing testament to a life still awaiting future collaborators”

 — Douglas Fogle for Art Forum 

 ^ The frontward outlook of Prospect Cottage

The whole place is jaw-droppingly unique, the garden itself a post-modern feat of ingenuity. Eerie, exciting, bleak, inspiring... only describable to a point. I implore you not to trust my interpretation and instead go and marvel at it for yourself! And prepare to have it stay with you long after...

Suitable Song -

Annie Lennox’s performance of “Every Time We Say Goodbye” from the AIDS fundraising album Red Hot & Blue. The video features footage of Derek Jarman as a child.

Sources -

https://www.gardensillustrated.com/gardens/country/howard-sooley-prospect-cottage-derek-jarman/?image=1&type=gallery&gallery=2&embedded_slideshow=2

https://www.artforum.com/slant/douglas-fogle-on-derek-jarman-s-imperiled-prospect-cottage-82157

https://wildabouthere.com/derek-jarmans-garden/

https://www.artlyst.com/news/derek-jarmans-prospect-cottage-saved-nation/

https://www.phillips.com/article/54833655/sandy-powell-derek-jarman-charity-auction-prospect-cottage