Bafta Nominated American filmmaker Stephen Kijak has carved out quite a niche making some critically acclaimed documentaries about musicians such as Scott Walker, The Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Backstreet Boys, and more recently The Smiths. For his latest film, however, he has captured the narrative of the life of one of Hollywood’s golden matinee idols ROCK HUDSON. The star of such great movies as Giant, Hudson enjoyed a career that lasted more than three decades.
Although discreet regarding his sexual orientation, it was known among Hudson’s colleagues in the film industry that he was gay. This didn’t become public knowledge until 1984 when Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS. The following year, he became one of the first celebrities to disclose his AIDS diagnosis. Hudson was the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness, on October 2, 1985, at age 59
Hijak’s film is a wonderful celebration of a great actor who even in the closet enjoyed a rather fabulous life, and how his death unwittingly propelled the AIDS Pandemic finally into public conversations that were so long overdue.
This affectionate profile of a real star will be unmissable to those of us who remember him BUT it should also be compulsory viewing for young gay men who haven’t, so they can appreciate such an important era in our community’s history
Queerguru ‘zoomed’ with the TEDDY AWARD winning director Thom Fitzgerald to talk about Stage Mother The Movie his feel good queer film starring the fab two-time #Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver that is wowing crowds on the Film Fest circuit and is now about to be the Opening Night Gala at OUTshine Film Festival Virtual Film Festival.
When queer filmmaker Tristan Aitchison first left his home in the remote Scottish Highlands to visit his sister in Kenya almost 7000 miles away he had no intention of working, BUT he took his camera along just in case. Very soon after arriving he met Sidney a very shy intersex youth who’s family nit content enough with beating him up, actually threatened to kill him.
Through Sidney he met a small group that included trans and intersex youth facing daily struggles to stay alive . With no budget and no crew Aitchison set about filming interviews and fast forward three years and a lot of heartache., the documentary SIDNEY & FRIENDS was complete,
It’s a powerful heart-wrenching film that touches your very core when you realise exactly how impossible life for these LGBTQ youth, and how they can still find joy in the most unexpected ways.
Aitchison’s film has been remarkably successful picking up 11 awards already and on the eve of the film now being available to stream on AMAZON PRIME , he talks with QUEERGURU about his journey making Sidney & Friends
Following on from his award-winning No Ordinary Man (that Queerguru raved about….) Canadian trans filmmaker Chase Joynt the director and co-writer of Framing Agnes sits down with co-writer #MorganMPage to talk with QUEERGURU about their excellent new film, one of the best queer movies at Sundance Film Festival where it just picked up two prestigious awards.
30 year Brit Freddy McConnell always wanted to be a parent and the fact that he is a transman was never going to stop him. He entrusted his friend Filmmaker Jeanie Finlay with the task of filming his journey in such a non-sensationalised way so that he could share all the trials and tribulations of him giving birth.
On the eve of this excellent heart-touching documentary Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth getting a VOD/DVD release in the US on 6/16, Queerguru tracked down Freddy to where he and baby Jack are in lockdown in their small hometown on the British coast. https://seahorsefilm.com/
P.S. You can read Queerguru’s full review of the documentary HERE