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Michael Akers | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael D. Ackers Jr. September 5, 1970 |
| Occupation(s) | filmmaker, film director, screenwriter, film editor |
| Website | United Gay Network |
Michael D. Akers (born September 5, 1970 in Ephrata, Pennsylvania) 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. [1]
Michael D. Akers studied at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before moving to Los Angeles to begin a career in the entertainment industry as production assistant and assistant director to work on the cable movie Jurassic Women (1996). [2] [ better source needed ] For three years, he worked with Turner Feature Animation on Cats Don't Dance helping to research and develop animated features. [2] Then he moved to Grand Productions, and later produced at least two episodes of the Lifetime series Intimate Portraits. [2] These included the "Intimate Portraits" of Heather Locklear and Jane Seymour. [3] He became executive assistant to Martin Short on The Martin Short Show [3] and a story and research assistant to Ryan Seacrest's NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies and Anne Robinson's The Weakest Link . [2]
Establishing United Gay Network, he moved to independent film making. In March 2002, Michael D. Akers directing his short B&W w/Splash of Clown in partnership with Sandon Berg. His debut long feature film Gone But Not Forgotten , a script he had begun writing back in 1995 while working for another film production company, [4] premiered at the 9th Annual Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. It was followed by Matrimonium, an improv film about a reality show trying to marry two men for ratings. Phoenix is a symbolic and lyrical film examining why relationships end the way that they do. It focuses on a young man who goes to Phoenix, Arizona to surprise his lover, only to discover his lover's secret other life. Morgan is about a paraplegic man putting his life back together after a bicycle racing accident leaves his paralyzed. [5]
In Gone, But Not Forgotten he was credited as Michael D. Akers. But in all later movies, he used Michael Akers (dropping the middle "D").
United Gay Network is a production house founded by Michael D. Akers and Sandon Berg. Akers has released his films through the company. [2]
In forming United Gay Network ten years ago, Michael Akers and Sandon Berg aspired not only to promote the genre of "gay films" but also tried to bring gay cinema closer to mainstream cinema. As Berg stated in a radio interview, he and Akers were striving to create stories that would crossover to a broader audience. [6] [ unreliable source? ]
Nowhere is this more apparent than in their latest production Morgan . Berg said: "I think Morgan is a very universal story. I don't think it is gay-specific at all." [7] Morgan is the story of a gay and paralyzed young athlete that defies stereotypes and pushes through boundaries. The lead character, a young athlete, named Morgan Oliver, is first seen wallowing in a state of depression, drowning his sorrows in beer as he watches bicycle racing (the sport that at once defined his sense of purpose and drove him to his catalytic accident) on television.
UGN's first long feature film, Gone, But Not Forgotten ,was considered ground breaking and to have set the pace for normalizing the portrayal of gay people in cinema. [4] Each successive film produced by UGN has increasingly pushed limits and expanded the range of Akers and Berg as filmmakers. With each film, Akers and Berg shook things up.[ fact or opinion? ]Matrimonium was a foray into comedy that played to reality show hype, while addressing homosexual stereotypes, and Phoenix was yet another step, into the suspenseful and mysterious journey of two jilted lovers following the trail of their mutual betrayer.
Akers is openly gay. His long-term partner is Sandon Berg. They have been together since the late 1990s. [2] [ relevant? ]
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UGN may refer to:
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Gone, But Not Forgotten is a 2003 film directed by Michael D. Akers. The critically acclaimed film showed at more than 30 film festivals. It is among the films featured in Gary Kramer's book, Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews. The cover of the book displays the poster for the film; the director, Michael Akers, and the star, Matthew Montgomery, are both interviewed in Chapter Five.
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.
Matrimonium is a 2005 comedy film directed by Michael Akers, his second feature film after the successful Gone, But Not Forgotten. Co-written and co-produced by him and Sandon Berg, the latter appears in a lead role in the film as Spencer who is having a sham same-sex marriage with the straight character Rick Federman in the role of Malcolm to enable the latter to win the 1-million dollar prize on the nationally broadcast reality television show Matrimonium.
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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.
Since the transition into the modern-day gay rights movement, homosexuality has appeared more frequently in American film and cinema.