"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. The term developed from use of the word queer in academic writing in the 1980s and 1990s as an inclusive way of describing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identity and experience, and also defining a form of sexuality that was fluid and subversive of traditional understandings of sexuality. The major film studio to discuss these issues was aptly named New Line Cinema with its Fine Line Features division. Since 1992, the phenomenon has also been described by various other academics and has been used to describe several other films released since the 1990s. Films of the New Queer Cinema movement typically share certain themes, such as the rejection of heteronormativity and the lives of LGBT protagonists living on the fringe of society.
Pacific Drive is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow in association with New World International for the Nine Network which screened for 390 episodes from 29 January 1996 to December 1997, when it concluded it was show in reruns being in a late night timeslot for years. It was also repeated for a daytime slot on Nine while they lobbied (unsuccessfully) to the Australian Broadcasting Authority for a daytime drama to count towards their local drama quota points.
Mark Finch was an English promoter of LGBT cinema. Having founded and expanded several international film festivals he created the first LGBT film market for distributors, sales agents, and independent film producers.
Malcolm Ingram is a Canadian independent film director and podcaster. He was born in 1968 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Alejandro "Alec" Mapa is an American actor, comedian and writer. He got his first professional break when he was cast to replace B. D. Wong for the role of Song Liling in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly. He gained recognition for roles such as Adam Benet on Half & Half, Suzuki St. Pierre on Ugly Betty and Vern on Desperate Housewives. Mapa recurred as Renzo on Switched at Birth.
It's in the Water is a 1997 independent film. Written and directed by Kelli Herd, the film touches on themes of homosexuality, AIDS, coming out and small-town prejudice. The film stars Keri Jo Chapman as Alex, Teresa Garrett as Grace, Derrick Sanders as Mark, Timothy Vahle as Tomas, Nancy Chartier as Sloan and John Hallum as Spencer.
Charles William Wikle is an American actor and reality television personality best known for his appearance in the fifth American season of Big Brother. He was an openly gay contestant in the reality series.
Unaccompanied Minors is a 2006 Christmas comedy film directed by Paul Feig and starring Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama, Tyler James Williams, Dyllan Christopher, Brett Kelly, Gia Mantegna, and Quinn Shephard. It is based on a true story by Susan Burton first told on the public radio show This American Life, under the title "In the Event of an Emergency, Put Your Sister in an Upright Position," in 2001. The film was released on December 8, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $21 million against a $25 million budget.
Small Town Gay Bar is a 2006 documentary film directed by Malcolm Ingram that focuses on two gay bars in the rural deep Southeast United States, one in Shannon, Mississippi, and one in Meridian, Mississippi. The documentary was produced by View Askew Productions with Kevin Smith serving as executive producer.
D.E.B.S. is a 2003 American action comedy short film written and directed by Angela Robinson. D.E.B.S. made the film festival circuit including the Sundance Film Festival, L.A. Outfest and New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, receiving a total of seven film festival awards.
Quenton Allan Brocka is an American television and film director based in West Hollywood, California. He has directed and written a number of feature films while creating an animated television series for the Logo cable network. He also writes a column for The Advocate.
Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World is an American-Canadian stop motion animated sitcom created by Q. Allan Brocka, who also acts as director. It is a spin-off from Brocka's 1999 short film of the same name, and debuted on the LGBT focused Logo network in July 2007 and on the Canadian Teletoon's late-night programming block "The Detour" that October.
The Notre Dame Queer Film Festival was founded in 2004 and ran in 2005 under the same moniker. In 2006, under pressure from a new administration led by University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, the name of the festival was changed to Gay and Lesbian Film: Filmmakers, Narratives, Spectatorships. The 2007 incarnation of the festival again changed names to Qlassics: Reimagining Sexuality and the Self in Recent American Cinema. More recently, the series has been titled the GlobaLGBTQ+ Film Festival, with a primary focus on films produced outside of the United States.
Richard Fung is a video artist, writer, public intellectual and theorist who currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and is openly gay.
Richard James Newman is a writer, broadcaster, and reality TV contestant, best known for participating in the seventh series of the British reality television programme Big Brother.
Michael D. Akers is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. In 2000, he founded "United Gay Network" (UGN) with his longtime partner, Sandon Berg. Most of his films are LGBT-related.
Morgan is a 2012 gay film directed by Michael Akers, produced by Michael D. Akers, Sandon Berg and Israel Ehrisman, and starring Leo Minaya as Morgan Oliver and Jack Kesy as Dean Kagen.
Phoenix is a 2006 film by American director Michael Akers, his third feature film after Gone, But Not Forgotten (2003) and Matrimonium (2005). The film was produced by Sandon Berg with Israel Ehrisman as co-producer and starred Chad Edward Bartley as Dylan, Gaetano Jones as Kenneth Sparks and Jeff Castle as Demetrius Stone. The film was distributed by United Gay Network. This film was inspired by Michaelangelo Antonioni's film L'Avventura and adds a gay twist.
Sandon Berg is an American film producer and screenwriter, and actor with past roles in both film and television. He co-founded United Gay Network, a film production company, with his longtime partner, Michael D. Akers.
The Gymnast is a 2006 film directed by Ned Farr and starring Dreya Weber, Addie Yungmee, and David De Simone.
