The long-awaited Allen Ginsberg biopic, Howl, is set to premiere for Toronto audiences this week. The film had a single screening in the city back in May as the opening gala presentation of the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival.
At the time, Inside Out programming director Jason St-Laurent told me what a coup it was for Inside Out to get to show the film, but because it had not yet been released, the distributors didn’t want to do any publicity for it. Luckily, Xtra writer Peter Knegt had already seen it – at Sundance, no less – and had spoken to the dishy and sexually ambiguous star, James Franco.
Check out his report here…
The film as historical drama was a bit of a departure for award-winning gay documentary duo Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. They’re the guys behind The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Celluloid Closet and Paragraph 175.
Earlier this year, fab magazine associate editor Matt Thomas spoke with Friedman. Watch:
Howl is running for two weeks. I couldn’t confirm an end date, and I had a bit of a tough time nailing down the show times. Hopefully the good people at TIFF will have that all sorted out in time for you to get your tickets – growing pains, no doubt.
Howl
From Thurs, Oct 7 at 12:45pm, 3:15pm, 6:30pm, and 9pm, with 11am screenings Friday and Saturday.
TIFF Bell Lightbox
Reitman Square
350 King St W
$9-12 at door, tiff.net or 416-968-3456
While you’re scoping out the fancy new Lightbox, check out Tamra Davis’s Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.
Basquiat was only a little bit gay, but he was a fascinating art-world figure who burned brightly and died young. Davis’s doc includes video of the dude not seen before. It’s a must-see companion documentary to the 1996 Julian Schnabel drama Basquiat. It’s a keeper.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
From Thurs, Oct 7 at 1 pm, 3:30pm, 6pm, and 8:30pm with 11:15am screenings Friday and Saturday.
TIFF Bell Lightbox
Reitman Square
350 King St W
$9-12 at door, tiff.net or 416-968-3456
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