Kyle Schickner | |
|---|---|
 Kyle Schickner at work | |
| Born | New Jersey, United States |
| Website | www |
Kyle Schickner is an American film producer, writer, director, actor and a bisexual civil rights activist. He is the founder of FenceSitter Films, a production company devoted to entertainment for women, and sexual and ethnic minorities. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, where he directs films, music videos, a Web series and commercials for his production company FenceSitterFilms.
Schickner attended Harvard from 1993 to 1995 before dropping out to start Off-Off-Broadway theater company, Fencesitter Productions. [1] Based out of the Stanford Meisner Theater, the company produced four successful plays, three of which were written and directed by Schickner himself.
While in college, inspired by hearing a talk given by bisexual rights activist Lani Ka'ahumanu, he formed BIAS (Bisexuals Achieving Solidarity) the first college bisexual rights group in the United States. After seeking out the campus' gay and lesbian organization, Schickner recalls, "I knew I was bisexual, but those who ran the club didn't believe it." [2] He later went on to appear on CNN, Montel Williams, Jane Pratt and several other national television shows, helping to give visibility to what was at that time a largely invisible community.
After writing and producing three successful plays, Schickner moved to cinema in hope of reaching a wider audience. In 1995, FenceSitter Films (the former Fencesitter Productions) started production on Rose by Any Other Name... , a film based on Schickner's most successful play. [3] [4] According to the official website, FenceSitter Films was "founded on the belief that films don't need straight white men as heroes in order to be successful and entertaining." [5] He says, "I wanted to make films [that] a person of color, a woman, or a bisexual person would enjoy watching." [2] Schickner has written and directed five feature films, several commercials and music videos and is now currently producing a Web series of Rose by Any Other Name... .
His features include romantic comedy Rose by Any Other Name... , mockumentary Full Frontal , and the critically acclaimed thriller Strange Fruit . [6] His most current feature film, Steam , stars Oscar-nominated actress Ruby Dee, 1980s and indie icon Ally Sheedy as well as up-and-coming young actress Kate Siegel. [7] [8]
In late 2008 into 2009 Schickner began working with an American Cable TV Network to spin-off his original work Rose by Any Other Name... into a weekly TV series. However, according to Schickner "at the 11th hour as they were setting up to shoot the pilot the network expressed concern over how the cutting-edge social theme might play with some of their core viewership and decided to look at more data to see what kind of response the show might get". So with the assistance of American Institute of Bisexuality, FenceSitter Films turned it into a Web series with each Webisode being posted on their YouTube channel.
"New queer cinema" is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in Sight & Sound magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s.
Angela Robinson is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival awarded Robinson with the Fusion Achievement Award in 2013 for her contribution to LGBTQ+ media visibility.
Sheela Lambert (1956-2024), a native and lifelong resident of New York City, was an American bisexual activist and writer.
Rose Troche is an American film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter.
Bisexual pornography is a genre of pornography that most typically depicts men and at least one woman who all perform sex acts on each other. A sex scene involving women and one man who all perform sex acts on each other is generally not identified or labeled as bisexual.
Milk is a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Sean Penn as Milk, Josh Brolin as Dan White, a city supervisor, and Victor Garber as San Francisco Mayor George Moscone.
City Without Baseball is a 2008 Hong Kong drama film starring Ron Heung and other members of the Hong Kong National Baseball Team. It is directed by South African-born Hong Kong filmmaker Lawrence Ah Mon, about a city where baseball is almost unknown, and where the team plays to empty stadia.
Strange Fruit is a 2004 film written and directed by Kyle Schickner and starring Kent Faulcon as William Boyals and Berlinda Tolbert as Emma Ayers. It was produced by FenceSitter Films. The title comes from the 1939 Billie Holiday song.
Steam is a 2007 film written and directed by Kyle Schickner, produced by FenceSitter Films, and starring Ruby Dee, Ally Sheedy and Kate Siegel.
Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; which at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornography directed toward heterosexual female, homosexual male, and bisexual audiences of any gender.
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon is a 2008 American documentary film about the life of Jack Wrangler, produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz of Automat Pictures. It had its premiere at the 2008 New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival (Newfest) and is distributed by TLA Releasing.
J. T. Tepnapa is an American writer, producer, actor, and director. Tepnapa has made several short films since 2000 with his company, Blue Seraph Productions, but he is best known for his role as the first openly gay character, Lieutenant Commander Corey Aster, on the fan series Star Trek: Hidden Frontier created by Rob Caves.
FenceSitter Films is a film production and television production company founded by Kyle Schickner an American film producer, writer, director, actor and a bisexual civil rights activist.
Rose By Any Other Name... is a 1997 American satirical romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by and starring Kyle Schickner. The plot and title are loosely based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the film is set in the US around the turn of the 21st century, gently poking fun at life, manners, morals as well as the tensions within the modern LGBT and liberal communities.
In Mexican culture, it is now relatively common to see gay characters represented on Mexican sitcoms and soap operas (telenovelas) and being discussed on talk shows. However, representations of male homosexuals vary widely. They often include stereotypical versions of male effeminacy meant to provide comic relief as well as representations meant to increase social awareness and generate greater acceptance of homosexuality. However, efforts to represent lesbians have remained nearly non-existent, which might be related to the more general invisibility of lesbian subcultures in Mexico.
The first English-language use of the word "bisexual" to refer to sexual orientation occurred in 1892.
The portrayals of bisexuality in the media reflect societal attitudes towards bisexuality in the existing media portrayals. Throughout history, numerous bisexual characters have appeared in television series, including cartoons, anime, video games and web series, along with literature, comics, radio, and other mediums.
Straightwashing is portraying LGB or otherwise queer characters in fiction as heterosexual (straight), making LGB people appear heterosexual, or altering information about historical figures to make their representation comply with heteronormativity.
LGBT culture in Baltimore, Maryland is an important part of the culture of Baltimore, as well as being a focal point for the wider LGBT community in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Mount Vernon, known as Baltimore's gay village, is the central hub of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.
In his "Rose by Any Other Name," due in October, New Jersey filmmaker Kyle Schickner stars as a straight man baffled by the idea of dating a lesbian.
Saturday's double bill begins with a world premiere, Kyle Schickner's often hilarious indie Rose by Any Other Name ... (1997).
Most recently, former Highland Park resident and Rutgers alumnus Kyle Schickner returned from California to film his independent movie, "Steamroom." Selesky said Schickner filmed at various sites in New Brunswick, including Passion Puddle.