Chocolate Babies

Last updated
Chocolate Babies
Directed by Stephen Winter
Produced by Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente
Starring
  • Sean Barr
  • Suzanne Gregg Ferguson
  • Dudley Findlay Jr.
  • Jon Kit Lee
  • Michael Lynch
  • Claude E. Sloan
  • Bryan Webster
CinematographyChris Shaw
Edited byFrancisco Macias
Production
company
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Chocolate Babies is a 1996 American film directed by Stephen Winter. [1] The film follows a group of queer activists of color in New York City that implemented actions against conservative politicians in response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s within African American communities.

Contents

Cast

Release

Director Stephen Winter presenting the film in 2023 Stephen Winter 3.jpg
Director Stephen Winter presenting the film in 2023

The film premiered on 21 July 1996 at Outfest in Los Angeles. [2] The film's world premiere at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival in the section Panorama. [3] [4] Despite receiving praise and critical acclaim at festivals, the film didn't receive a wide distribution. Winters commented on this: "Unless some company gave it some kind of credence and distribution and allowed it to be seen by people, beyond here and there, it wasn’t going to be seen." [5]

In September 2021, the film was taken up as a Criterion Classic by the Criterion Channel. [6] [5]

Critical reception

The film received the Honorable Mention for Narrative Feature in 1997 at the SXSW Film Festival as well as the award for best feature at New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival 1997. [2] The film also received a Honorable Mention at Urbanworld Film Festival. [4]

Film historian Elizabeth Purchell included the film in a selection of "underseen (or just plain forgotten)" queer films. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Access Hollywood</i> American entertainment news program

Access Hollywood, formerly known as Access from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently executive produced by Maureen FitzPatrick and directed by Richard Plotkin. In previous years, Doug Dougherty, Christopher A. Berry and Kim Anastasia directed the program. Access Hollywood primarily focuses on news in the music, television, and film industries.

<i>Tarnation</i> (2003 film) 2004 American film

Tarnation is a 2003 American documentary film by Jonathan Caouette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborra-Lee Furness</span> Australian actress and producer (born 1955)

Deborra-Lee Furness Jackman is an Australian actress and producer. She is married to actor Hugh Jackman.

<i>Close-Up</i> (1990 film) 1990 film by Abbas Kiarostami

Close-Up is a 1990 Iranian docufiction written, directed and edited by Abbas Kiarostami. The film tells the story of the real-life trial of a man who impersonated film-maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, conning a family into believing they would star in his new film. It features the people involved, acting as themselves. A film about human identity, it helped to increase recognition of Kiarostami internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Schamus</span> American filmmaker (born 1959)

James Allan Schamus is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York-based production company Symbolic Exchange, and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989.

<i>Little Red Riding Hood</i> (1997 film) American film

Little Red Riding Hood is a 1997 black and white short film based on the traditional children's fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. Written and directed by David Kaplan, it features Christina Ricci in the title role and Quentin Crisp as the narrator. The short film has influences from "The Story of the Grandmother".

The Dollar Baby is an arrangement in which American author Stephen King grants permission to students and aspiring filmmakers or theater producers to adapt one of his short stories for $1. King retains the rights to his work, but as he began to experience commercial success, he decided to use the Dollar Baby to help the next generation of creatives. The term may be used to refer to both the adaptation itself and the person adapting it; for example, "The Sun Dog" was made as a Dollar Baby and filmmaker Matt Flesher became a Dollar Baby upon adapting it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of South Korea</span> Filmmaking industry in South Korea

The cinema of South Korea refers to the film industry of South Korea from 1945 to present. South Korean films have been heavily influenced by such events and forces as the Japanese occupation of Korea, the Korean War, government censorship, the business sector, globalization, and the democratization of South Korea.

<i>The Living End</i> (film) 1992 film by Gregg Araki

The Living End is a 1992 American comedy-drama film by Gregg Araki. Described by some critics as a "gay Thelma and Louise," the film is an early entry in the New Queer Cinema genre. The Living End was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992.

Andrew Nyman is an English actor, director, writer and magician.

<i>Endgame</i> (2009 film) 2009 British film

Endgame is a 2009 British film directed by Pete Travis from a script by Paula Milne, based upon the book The Fall of Apartheid by Robert Harvey. The film is produced by Daybreak Pictures and reunites Travis with Vantage Point actor William Hurt. It also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jonny Lee Miller and Mark Strong. The film dramatises the final days of apartheid in South Africa. It was filmed at locations in Reading in England and Cape Town, South Africa in the first half of 2008 and was completed in December that year.

<i>Green Porno</i> 2008 film

Green Porno is a series of short films on animal sexual behaviour. The series, which began in 2008 and aired on The Sundance Channel, is conceived, written, and directed by its star, Isabella Rossellini.

The House of LeMay is a drag performance team founded in the early 1990s by Bob Bolyard and Michael Hayes. The other regular member of the team is Johnnie McLaughlin. The House of LeMay is based in Burlington, Vermont, but in their act they say they are from "The Hot Dam Trailer Park in Beaver Pond, Vermont". House of LeMay co-founder Margaurite LeMay died in March of 2023 after more than 25 years performing with the troupe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Elvebakk</span> Norwegian documentary film director

Kenneth Elvebakk is a Norwegian documentary film director. He has won several international awards for his documentary films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhiannon Giddens</span> American musician

Rhiannon Giddens is an American musician known for her eclectic folk music. She is a founding member of the country, blues, and old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she was the lead singer, fiddle player, and banjo player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fright Night Film Fest</span> Horror film festival

Fright Night Film Fest, also known as Louisville Fright Night Film Fest, is an annual horror film festival in Louisville, Kentucky. The festival was first founded in 2005 by Ken Daniels and is typically held in July at the Galt House, which is famous for housing guests for the Kentucky Derby. The focus of the Fright Night Film Fest focuses on genre films such as horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, and cult from around the world including new films from Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Europe and North America.

<i>XXXY</i> (film) 2000 American film

XXXY is a short documentary directed by Porter Gale and Laleh Soomekh.

Stephen Cone is an American filmmaker who has received early career retrospectives on the Criterion Channel, MUBI and at the Museum of the Moving Image, Berlin's Unknown Pleasures Festival and Manchester's Bigger Than Life..

<i>The Quiet Room</i> (2018 film) 2018 American short horror film

The Quiet Room is a 2018 American short horror film written and directed by Sam Wineman. It stars Jamal Douglas as Michael, a man who, after a suicide attempt, wakes up in a hospital and starts to believe that he has awakened a demon. Alongside Douglas, the film stars Alaska Thunderfuck, Kit Williamson, and Lisa Wilcox.

<i>Shiva Baby</i> 2020 film directed by Emma Seligman

Shiva Baby is a 2020 comedy film written and directed by Emma Seligman, in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a shiva with her parents, Joel and Debbie. Other attendees include her successful ex-girlfriend Maya, and her sugar daddy Max with his wife Kim and their screaming baby. It also features Jackie Hoffman, Deborah Offner, Rita Gardner and Sondra James in supporting roles.

References

  1. Chocolate Babies (1996) - IMDb , retrieved 2021-08-14
  2. 1 2 Chocolate Babies , retrieved 2021-08-14
  3. "Chocolate Babies". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  4. 1 2 "Chocolate Babies". Stephen Winter. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  5. 1 2 "Stephen Winter's audacious 'Chocolate Babies' and 'Jason and Shirley' join Criterion's classics". Metro Weekly. 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  6. "The Criterion Channel's September 2021 Lineup". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  7. "A Most Unusual Film List: 50 Years of Radical Queer Cinema". Talk Film Society. 12 June 2018. Retrieved 2021-10-11.