Issue 42, AUTUMN 2020
AFRICA
MAGAZ I N E
CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2020 SPECIAL
SWEDEN’S
FREE
THERÉSE NEAIMÉ Live at Pride
INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES
2 Editor’s Comment 4 Roses & Raspberries 6 The Buzz 8 FEATURE: The Reinvention of Silly Slaptsilli 18 FEATURE: Meet Swedish Diva - Therése Neaime 21 Message from DA Metro LGBTQI Chairman 22 Who Designed the Rainbow Flag 24 YOUR GUIDE TO CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2020 32 Win Tickets To Cape Town Pride 2020 33 MUSIC MOVES: Pet Shop Boys 34 FEATURE: Pain and Glory 36 LGBTI+ Win at The Golden Globe Awards 38 Exercises to get you in the Mood 40 MENS HEALTH: Going Down 42 FITNESS: Great Arms
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18 21
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FASHION 12 - 15 Check Out what’s Trending on the Cat-Walk
SCENE OUT
16 MCQP 28 Babylon The Joburg Bar 29 Buddies Night Out Cape Town
34 46
REVIEWS
44 OUT ON FILM: With Daniel Dercksen 46 OUT ON DVD: With Daniel Dercksen
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”--Harvey Fierstein
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FROM THE EDITOR Welcome all readers This is the Cape Town Pride 2020 issue of OUT Africa Magazine and to this end there is a special section devoted to all the Pride events. (see pages 24-28). This year’s Pride is set to be the biggest ever with more events leading up to the Pride Mardi Gras on the 29th February, and the biggest line-up of artists on the Pride stage than ever before. The Embassy of Sweden have sponsored Therése Neaime, a world-renowned singer/actor/motivational speaker and songwriter. Read all about this truly talented performer on page 18. Cape Town Pride also have a number of items for sale, like T-shirts and Golf shirts. Turn to page 32 and find out how you can get your hands on your Cape Town Pride souvenirs. You can also win tickets to Pride on page 32 so get your entry in soon to avoid disappointment. Most Capetonians will be familiar with Lilly Slaptsilli, find out more about her new show and where life is taking her on page 8. With more companies and individuals being supportive of the LGBT+ community it comes as a shock when some are unwilling to give us their support especially when our community supports them. Find out who gets this issue’s Raspberry Award on page 4. There are also those who go the extra mile in support of the LGBT+ community and one of those people is Cape Town City Councillor Rob Quintas - he gets the Rose Award for his support. Well done Rob, its greatly appreciated. All over the world the Rainbow Flag is waved at any LGBTI+ event and placed in shop windows to indicate a businesses support of the LGBTI+ people. Have you ever wondered where the Rainbow Flag came from? Turn to page 22 to find out more. We have our regular features including what the best gay & Lesbian movies for your DVD collection are, as well as fitness and Men’s Health features. Enjoy the read, have a blast at Pride 2020, but remember do not drink and drive, always have safe sex and be responsible, but most of all have lots of fun - with the great line-up of events and entertainment this will not be difficult! Happy Pride!!! Regards
IM NO POR PR TE TH TANT I CR DE SH E NEW ISI S N ELTE UM R N 072 ICOLE BER 287 631 0
Cover Photo: Therése Neaime Mag 2
MANAGING EDITOR: Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358 ISSN 2304-859X Published by: PATTERSON PUBLICATIONS P.O. Box 397, Sea Point 8060 Cell: 082 562 3358 E-mail: outmagafrica@telkomsa.net outmagazine@mweb.co.za outlet@telkomsa.net ADVERTISING SALES: Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358
CONTRIBUTORS: Daniel Dercksen, Evan Tsouroulis PHOTOGRAPHY: SDR Photo Reno Horn Printed by ABC Press, Cape Town
Copyright: All articles, stories, interviews and other materials in OUT Africa Magazine are the copyright of the publication or are reproduced with permission from other copyright owners. All rights are reserved. No materials may be copied, modified, published or otherwise distributed without the prior written permission of OUT Africa Magazine. The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by those providing comments in this publication are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of OUT Africa Magazine or any employee thereof. OUT Africa Magazine and Patterson Publications cc., will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in any information contained in the publication.
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Has someone you know done something worthwhile for our LGBTI+ community ... or maybe not worthwhile ... Send them a Rose or a Raspberry and let the community know who supports us and who doesn’t ...
THE RASPBERRY GOES TO ....
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nternationally, H & M are world leaders when it comes to supporting LGBTI community events and indeed Prides around the Globe…..not so in South Africa…. quite the opposite in fact and very deserving of our TOP raspberry award for Cape Town Pride 2020. Mag 4
Despite several months of trying to get a meeting with the “decision makers” at H & M Cape Town and a total rejection of endless emails we finally decided to pay a visit on foot, face to face…not a very pleasant experience.. We were made to stand at reception and were not invited into the inner sanctum and a rather abrupt lady advised us that no budget was available for this type of event here, and with a ‘don’t call us we’ll call you attitude” When confronted with the accusation that they had not supported the LGBTI community in Cape Town since they opened their doors more than 5 years ago….instead of correcting the statement she barked “how do YOU know” – the fact that we represented CT Pride which includes 23 LGBTI+ NGO’s, OUTREACH Africa and OUT Africa Magazine was of no consequence. When I left (or was ushered out) I felt like I had just experienced true homophobia – She could really benefit from some sensitivity training, and was told as much. In no way am I knocking the great work that H & M is doing internationally for the community …but with regards to H & M Cape Town you are the well deserving recipient of Pride’s Raspberry award for 2020
ROSES GO TO COUNCILLOR ROB QUINTAS
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lr Rob Quintas took on the task of persuading the powers that be to light up the Legislature Building in the City of Cape Town. Rob has worked tirelessly in over-coming all objections to facilitate this immense achievement - we owe him our deepest thanks and gratitude for persuading the powers that be to show the City of Cape Town’s support for our community.
PEOPLE WITH A TASTE FOR LIFE.
Over the years Rob has been instrumental in helping the LGBTI+ community in Cape Town ... he is OUR man in the City!
www.spur.co.za
Customer Care: 0860007787
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THE BUZZ MUSLIM BRIDE?
YET ANOTHER SENSELESS MURDER
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ocal media in Uganda recently reported that Sheikh Mohammed Mutumba, an imam at Kyampisi Masjid Noor mosque in Kayunga District, Uganda, has been suspended from his clerical work after unknowingly wedding a fellow man in an Islamic ceremony and marriage contract (nikah). Apparently, Sheikh Mutumba unknowingly married a man with the feminine name “Swabullah Nabukeera” and spent two weeks with his new “wife” unaware of the latter’s true gender. The truth came out after police arrested “Nabukeera” on charges of theft. A neighbour alleged that Mutumba’s newly wed “wife” jumped over a wall and stole clothes and a television set. During a body search by a female police officer before being taken to the cells, it was discovered that the suspect was actually a man. He revealed to police that his real name is Richard Tumushabe. “We have charged him with impersonation, theft and obtaining goods by false pretence,” the CID boss said. Amisi Kibunga, a leader at the Kyampisi mosque, said he saw Sheikh Mutumba’s “wife” on two occasions at Juma prayers but did not realize that he was a man. The regional Islamic magistrate (or qadi/kadhi), Sheikh Abdul Noor Kakande, under whose jurisdiction Sheikh Mutumba served, told local media that Sheikh Mutumba, 27, was under investigation over the “unfortunate” incident and had been suspended .... Sheikh Mutumba, “is too devastated by the incident and needs counselling,” a source said. Same-sex marriages are condemned by Ugandan laws. Mag 6
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n January this year the LGBTQ+ community found themselves mourning the death of another transgender person. The victim this time was transgender-activist Nare Mphela. As a high school learner in Limpopo Province she faced multiple forms of discrimination from her school principal due to her gender identity. She accused the principal of encouraging other students to harass and humiliate her over her gender identity. In 2017, the Equality Court ruled in Nare’s favour, finding the principal and Limpopo Department of Education to have breached the Equality Act. This was an historic victory for queer South Africans nationwide! Friends and fellow advocates described her as being a selfless, determined and outspoken advocate for transgender rights. Most people believe her murder to be a hate crime, and the SAP are still investigating. Transgender people are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and many face a future of ridicule, violence and as in Nare’s case violent murder. Nare is the latest in a string of violent crimes against the transgender community and we all should take a stand, particularly during Pride month in Cape Town, against gender violence.
OUR PROGRESSIVE CONSTITUTION FAILING GAY ASYLUM SEEKERS
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imes Live recently reported that despite South Africa’s progressive constitution, in reality for LGBTQIA+ refugees it is as bad here as the rest of the continent. Ishmael and his partner Omar, who have come from Somalia to seek refuge live in fear, sharing a tiny room with a friend of theirs. “I came to this country full of hope, but now…” he trailed off. They came to South Africa to seek asylum after being persecuted in Somalia because of their sexual orientation. When Ishmael’s father discovered that he was gay, he wanted to kill him. In his father’s eyes, Ishmael brought dishonour to the family and the only way to restore it would be to kill him. He was forced to flee, but the spectre of his father’s desire to kill him hangs over him – from his small home town south of Mogadishu, he made his way to Kenya and down to South Africa to seek safety. But, his father managed to track him down and enlisted mobs of Somali immigrants to attack him. Ishmael estimates that other Somalis have beaten him up more than 20 times since he left Somalia, with each beating increasingly violent and sadistic. In one of the most vicious attacks Ishmael has experienced, a mob of Somali immigrants in Cape Town attacked him and stomped on his testicles. He needed surgery to repair the damage. Are there any high-powered human rights lawyers out there who can assist these desperate people?
THE REINVENTIO LILLY SLAPTSILL Clive Allardyce became a drag queen by accident. In 1995 he was commissioned by David Kramer to direct a drag show to fill a Sunday night gap during a two-month festive season at the Pump House at the V&A Waterfront. When one of the performers dropped out just before opening night, there was no time to find a suitable replacement. Clive jumped in to replace her and Lilly Slaptsilli in her size 11 heels, was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. The show was called Mince, and the rest is history, or in this case, Herstory!
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tarring leggy Kieron Legacy and sassy Lilly Slaptsilli, Mince was an instant hit. The show ran to capacity houses for two years until the Pump House closed. Mince then moved to the newly opened On Broadway Supper Theatre in 1997. For the next 16 years Mince was the theatre’s resident act. The double-act performed throughout South Africa and overseas. Mince was a game-changer and essentially revolutionised the way drag was presented in South Africa. But all good things must come to an end. When On Broadway closed, Mince split up. While Kieron was content to pursue new avenues, which did not include being one of the nation’s most fabulous drag artistes, Lilly had other ideas. One of the country’s funniest, sexiest, campiest drag performers with the most superlative lip-synching skills, had simply become too big and famous to squeeze back into the closet. Lilli embarked on a solo career and her show Shenanigans has been touring nationally and in Namibian. In December 2018, Lilly fulfilled a lifetime dream of becoming a stand-up comic with the launch of her show I’m Gagging. A year later, Lilly has embarked on a new residency at Beefcakes Cape Town with this side-splitting bordering on slapstick show, which is what you should expect from someone called Lilly Slaptsilli. We recently caught up with Lilly to find out what’s new. OUT: How the hell are you? LS: No, No how you? I’m Fine!! (Said with a Sea Point Kugel Twang) OUT: The last time I interviewed you early last decade Mince was the hottest drag act in town. What happened and what have you been up to since?
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ON OF LI
Words: Evan Tsouroulis Photos: Reno Horn
LS: After 18 years at On Broadway their lease was up and Mince moved to The Cape Town Comedy Club for a season and doing corporate events and functions for the pre-menstrually insane. After that we never ever found a venue quite suitable for our show. I started a solo show called Shenanigans that ran for 3 extended seasons. OUT: Where’s you ex-partner-in- crime Kieron Legacy? I heard she entered a convent. LS: A convent? That sounds like a bad habit. Kieron has hung up her heels for a career in communications. OUT: What was the secret of Mince’s longevity? LS: Consistency!! Mince was high on entertainment with slick production values, focussing more on theatre than drag. I think the yin and yang of us as a duo, we being polar opposites, with Kieron delivering torch songs and Lilly serving comedy, kept the show fresh and magical. True story, no one else was really doing it professionally then. OUT: When we chatted as you were about to launch I’m Gagging, your Stand-Up Comedy show just over a year ago, you seemed to be quite apprehensive. I always thought that Lilly was a natural comedienne, so why were you so nervous? LS: Having performed for so long as a lip synch queen meant I really never had to worry about the spoken word. Stand-up is so personal and immediate - audiences are no fools. I was fearful that my stand-up would not live up to my lip synch characters folk have become accustomed to. OUT: What made you change track? Are you glad you did? LS: I feel that stand-up will have more longevity - with the wave of RuPaul, death drop drag inspired fabulousness, who wants to watch an old queen dragging her knuckles across the stage trying to be relevant to a current pop star. I am so glad I made this move. It is by far the bravest journey I’ve taken. OUT: Tell us more about I’m Gagging? LS: I am making conscious effort to make Lilly very approachable and relatable to the mainstream audience. I am telling true stories and sharing hysterical moments of my life on the road as a drag performer. Having my tits confiscated at customs, hungry bums, darkrooms and traffic stops. It’s an hour of unrelenting ass-flapping entertainment - sitting somewhere between comedy, theatre, and performance art. I have always loved observational comedy, everyday characters and human reaction. A camp comical romp with a few songs chucked in for good measure. OUT: The show has been running for over a year now, and you have just begun a fabulous new residency at Beefcakes. Obviously the public love it. You must be happy. LS: I am so, so happy and mainly grateful. Stand-up is hard enough as it is and so is drag, combining the two is either insane or genius. I am writing new material every day and learning more and more at each show. Getting my first standing ovation caught me so off guard… I bawled my lashes off.
OUT: Apart from your stand up show, you are still touring your one woman show Shenanigans. LS: Shenanigans is my first ever solo show. I have just had two very successful performances at the beginning of February at Beefcakes in Illovo, Johannesburg. This is a hilarious lip-synch fest of all the favourite numbers I’ve done over the years plus some new ones. OUT: Who are you when you are not Lilly Slaptsilli.? LS: I partnered with Debi Welman-Minter over 20 years ago and established a company called Parallel Worlds Productions - we produce and choreograph Fashion Shows and Events. Three years ago I launched Showlab Production House and I specialise in lifestyle events, launches and entertainment. OUT: When did you discover your inner drag? LS: I watched a documentary on the Australian drag artists who inspired the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and thought... oh... I can do that. OUT: Who is your inspiration or role model? LS: Jinkx Monsoon, she’s a hard working, talented all rounder. I LOVE HER!! MagMag 9 9
OUT: Tell us something unexpected about yourself LS: I have a HUGE...HUGE...passion for Builders Warehouse. OUT: Tell us what not to wear this summer LS: A strapless evening gown with Crocs OUT: What item in your closet can you not live without? LS: A black corset belt. Check out my Instagram (@thelillyslaptsilli) or Facebook. I think it’s in 95% of the pictures – it’s embarrassing. I literally can’t live without it. OUT: In your Mince show’s there was always a segment when you snooped into some unfortunate lady’s handbag. Now I want to know what’s in yours. LS: Carmex lip balm, hand written notes saying “I’ve never done this before, please don’t tell anyone, you’d be smart to call me xxx” with number on it as though I’ve just written it especially for them. And my Taser! (How ambitious). OUT: Which famous person, dead or alive, would you like to have dinner with and why? LS: Dawn French (from Vicar of Dibley and French and Saunders fame) I find her the funniest, most watchable women on the planet. I have literally dreamt about having dinner with her and just as I am about to take a selfie, my phone dies. OUT: What is the most attractive feature of a man? LS: Eeewww shallow...6-8 pack abs. OUT: What’s the most attractive feature of a drag queen? LS: Her eyes OUT: What’s your best quality? LS: Loyalty OUT: How do you keep those long lallies of yours in shape? LS: Walking my dog Fawn…in heels OUT: Love or money? LS: Money OUT: Who’s your secret crush? LS: Elijah Wood OUT: Who really makes you laugh? LS: Still, forever and always Dawn French (shhh and Amy Schumer) OUT: What was the last movie you cried in? LS: I recently re watched Beaches and sobbed for days OUT: What are you reading? LS: These questions….. OUT: What are you listening to? LS: Bruno Mars OUT: Is drag a political statement? LS: Not for me. OUT: How would you respond to the accusation from some feminists that drag is misogynistic and that it demeans women? LS: Come and watch my show. If anything, I celebrate, marvel and worship women - I always keep a close eye on never disrespecting the very creatures who have inspired the career I have built. (Gosh so deep…that touched a nerve) Mag 10 Mag 10
OUT: These days you can’t wield your handbag at the mall without knocking over a drag queen. Is RuPaul to blame? LS: I think everyone should pop on a frock and make-up on at least once in their lives. RuPaul has opened up drag to a global audience to enjoy, but also to judge. Drag is more than a contouring, lace fronts and death- drops. You have to back it up with performing skills. However, through the madness there are a few queens who truly do have a gift to share with us all. If RuPaul has done that for new queens and rebooted the careers of old ones... then yay...I tip my wig to you sir. OUT: With the recent visits of some of stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race to South Africa last year, how do our local divas compare? LS: We have some great talent in this country. The imports can only inspire the locals to up their game and polish. I can gage who will have their 15 minutes and who will stay in the race with ‘uniqueness, nerve and talent’. OUT: Who was your favourite Drag Race star to visit and who would you like to see? LS: loved Detox (I missed Alaska…weep) and I would love to see Jinkx Monsoon OUT: Apart from Lilly, who’s the hottest drag act in town? LS: The stand outs for me, in my humble opinion are Samantha Knight, Manila von Teez and Vida Fantabisher OUT: How has the drag scene in Cape Town changed since you started? LS: It has become more of an accepted staple and culture on the theatre scene (not just gay clubs and bars). The girls are also able to charge proper rates for their skills. OUT: If you were ever to work as a double act again, which South Africa drag artiste would you like to pair up with? LS: To be truly honest I would only want to work with Kieron Legacy... that chemistry I feel only comes round once in a lifetime. OUT: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? LS: My nose...I’m sure it’s getting bigger with age. Is that a thing? OUT: When you started, did you ever think you would still be doing it in 2020? LS: Oh hell no. I started in 1995 with a 3 month contract... 18yrs later Mince performed well over 1800 shows just at On Broadway - I’m sure we were the longest running show in South Africa to date. Now Lilly Slaptsilli is in her 5th year as a solo artist OUT: What’s next for Lilly? LS: I am currently performing my stand-up comedy show, I’m Gagging, at Beefcakes in Cape Town every Wednesday. I am writing my new stand-up show which I am thinking of calling “What’s so Funny?” I am producing my second solo lip-synch show entitled Suck My Frock which will open at the Rhumbelow Theatre, Durban in April. My dream is to be South Africa’s first Drag stand-up comic - I would love to do one night only shows through-out South Africa - playing all the small dorps as well as the major cities and have a film crew follow me (hint hint) I’m Gagging is showing at Beefcakes, Somerset Rd in Cape Town every Wednesday. Booking essential at www.beefcakes.co.za Tel: 021425 9019 Follow Lilly Slatpsilli on: Instagram - @thelillyslaptsilli Facebook – Lilly Slaptsilli
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Designer: NICHOLAS COUTTS featured comforta the cold winter w Mag 12
able, warm colourful jerseys and scarves to keep weather at bay. Photographer / SDR Photo.
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Designer: Twenty Twenty collection include brighten and warm up tho
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ed sumptuous knitware in bold colours to ose cold winter days
Photographer / SDR Photo.
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SCENE OUT MCQP 2019
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Pictures courtesy mambaonline
Pictures courtesy mambaonline
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After performing her latest single Been and Gone in front of an audience of 20,000 at Copenhagen Pride in August 2019, Therése Neaimé travelled to Paris to film the music video of the song with hunky, French movie star Tom Schacht. She said, ”It was an amazing week. It’s an incredible feeling to see your music spread internationally and at the same time perform in front of an audience that sing and dance along. The same weekend we also filmed the music video to my latest song Been and Gone in Paris. The commitment I felt from the film team and also from my fellow actor Tom Schacht was amazing”. She began her singing career at the age of 15 with the Stockholm East Gospel Choir and later toured the world as a backing singer and dancer with several international artists. Over recent years Therése has built a loyal audience in her homeland and the region surrounding her father’s ancestral country of Lebanon. Growing up in Sweden as the daughter of a Swedish mother and a Lebanese father, the singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, and motivational speaker decided early on to take charge of her own destiny. When Therese was asked whether she believe that anything is possible and whether one can live life to the fullest, here and now, taking risks and seizing opportunities. Therése Neaimé’s answered a passionate ‘Yes’. Despite being bullied in school, Therése became a successful track and field athlete. “Being an athlete taught me that with hard work and focus you can achieve a lot,” says Therése. “It also improved my confidence and my sense of who I am.” She has applied this mindset to her life ever since. “I believe life is about becoming the best version of ourselves. Following a path of excellence can be difficult, but not doing it scares me even more.” This is why Therése never limited herself to being ‘just’ a singer, an actress or a speaker. Whenever she feels called to try something new, she commits to the challenge wholeheartedly. “Obviously, talent is important,” Therése explained, “but work ethic, belief in oneself, and a positive attitude are even better predictors of a person’s success in life.” Mag 18
Swedish Diva, Therése Neaimé Headlines the Pride Stage ” Ask and you might receive! Dare and you will gain!” Therése says. “I truly believe that if you really want to inspire others, you must have been through the journey yourself.” In her talk, From Dream to Reality, she tells her personal story. The story of a little girl who thought she couldn’t sing who became a respected artist, making a living doing what she always wanted to do. Therése’s goal is to inspire people, be it through artistic expression or motivational speaking.
ships. Therése has been the Brand Ambassador for Volkswagen Middle East and an Ambassador for the Swedish Foundation for Children with Cancer.
The singer-songwriter’s music combines Therése’s Swedish and Lebanese heritage into a Scandipop/Arabic Pop hybrid that has charted worldwide.
Therése also balances her career with being a single mother of three children. Once again, she shows that it is possible to reach your goals no matter how challenging it may seem. “Being a single mom never slowed me down,” says Therése. “I bring my kids along to work-related events whenever possible. I truly believe it´s a great experience for them.”
She has played concerts in the US, Europe and the Middle East with her own band, Neaimé. She has performed for NATO troops in Afghanistan and opened for Simply Red on their European tour. She was selected by the Swedish Government as a notable personality for the cause of Swedish-Arab relation-
She has performed for the King and Crown Princess of Sweden and at numerous VIP events. As an actress, she has had lead roles in both film and theatre. Therése is also an author who recently published her book, From dream to Reality.
The Swedish-Lebanese singer-songwriter has enjoyed great success in the US, Europe and the Middle East. Her latest hit single Picture with hunky Tom Schacht
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her international success, on June 1st Therése released yet another single, Today Is A Holiday, which also created worldwide attention entering the official pop Top 30 chart in the UK. Therése is currently working on her fourth album. Therése Neaimé toured the world from Los Angeles to Singapore, Europe and the Middle East. She performed for the troops in Afghanistan and has opened with her own band Neaimé for Simply Red on their European Tour. Therése shares her time between Sweden and Dubai. She was selected by the Swedish Government as a notable personality for the cause of Swedish-Arab relations and represented them performing her own concerts in Cairo, Egypt. Adding to her talents, Therése is the Brand Ambassador for Volkswagen Middle East and an Ambassador for the Swedish Foundation for Children with Cancer. Because of Therése’s versatility she also had appearances in various episodes with Ben Affleck in the TV-series Push Nevada for Touchstone Television, Hollywood. She is currently performing in a West End musical in Sweden Spring Awakening where she has landed one of the lead roles.
Today is a Holiday, an upbeat party song with an Arabic flavour, as well as Sold to Perfection, a song that combines Therése’s Swedish and Lebanese heritage and forms a Scandipop/Arabic pop hybrid, have gained great success over the world. Her debut album Livin was released in 2006 on Theresé´s own label Future Records in collaboration with Universal Music Sweden and included the hit singles, The Future (#13 in the US) and Not Easy (#1 in Sweden). Therése’s single Color Of Love from the same album became one of the most played songs on radio in Sweden, which created an even bigger breakthrough. Her initial success in Sweden triggered various performances and live concerts as well as appearances on Swedish radio and TV. In October 2011 she released her second album Stronger, a mix of soulful ballads and dance hits. It included the prereleased singles, How Could I, All I Think About Is You and Lovers Lullaby that all made it to radio hits. Her song, Today Is A Holiday, a dedication to the 40th anniversary of the UAE also became a hit playing on all major radio stations in the UAE. In February 2013 Therése released her third album Sandstorm in Europe and received great attention. After her return to Dubai, Therése enjoyed much media attention. Dubbed by DubaiEye as the talk of town she´s been a regular on TV and radio shows, lifestyle magazines and tabloids. In October 2015, Therése released her first material in Swedish. The singles, Framme Snart and Djupet Av Min Själ were the first ones to be released from her EP and soon became popular across the Scandinavian radio stations. In summer 2017 Therése released yet another single, Att Få Låna Dig En Stund. This time through Universal Music Sweden where she recently signed a record deal. In May 2018, Therése single, Sold To Perfection from her previous album Sandstorm was re-released and went straight to #6 on the US TOP 20 radio chart. On May 25th Therése also released a new single in Swedish, Ännu Ett År (Yet another year), this time through Yellow Rhinestone Records. Due to Mag 20
This incredibly talented and versatile performer will be headling the Cape Town Pride 2020 stage thanks to the support and participation of the Swedish Embassy, and she is guaranteed to entertain the Cape Town LGBTI+ community like never before. Therése took Copenhagen Pride by storm
Welcome to The City of Cape Town's annual
Message from the DA Metro LGBTQI Chairman The Democratic Alliance would like to wish all locals and visitors a warm welcome to the City of Cape Town’s annual Pride Festival. The DA has a proud and long association spanning more than a decade with this event and historically have been the only political party to take part in a meaningful and committed manner. Pride speaks to many of our party’s core values, and this expression of freedom, equality, inclusivity and diversity resonates deeply with who we are and what we stand for in the DA. We are the first to admit that society still has a very long way to go in the real and lived acknowledgement of LGBTQIA+ rights and fair treatment, and we are committed to walking that walk together with all queer communities. Gay rights are human rights, and we as the DA will stand by those rights for you and with you. In the City of Cape Town and Western Cape where we govern, health and law enforcement agencies are sensitized to LGBTQIA+ issues and health services provide free PREP to M2M and sex workers at our clinics and hospitals. Research also shows that LGBTQI residents of our City and Province feel safer here with our governments than in other parts of the country. This speaks to our commitment to a safer, more caring society where we govern. The festival which this year takes place over two weeks will cover many of the more poignant and burning aspects of queer life in Cape Town, and will culminate in the well loved and supported Pride Parade and Festival. The festival is an opportunity to celebrate how far we as LGBTQIA+ persons from across many societies, cultures and racial groups have come, and gives us the opportunity to be present along with our straight allies without fear. The DA Metro Region of Cape Town wishes you all a fun, safe and meaningful Pride 2020.
Councillor Roberto Quintas
Chairman: DA Metro LGBTQIA+ Committee Mag 21
WHO DESIGNED THE LGBTQ RAINBOW FLAG?
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t’s Pride Month in Cape Town, baby!! Chances are you’ll be gallivanting around town in multicolour tight t’s and waving that iconic LGBTQ Pride Flag.
Yes, that beautiful iridescent banner to which everyone east of center on the Kinsey Scale pledges allegiance. Sometimes it feels like we take this flag granted, as if it has always been around. But every flag has to be designed by someone, so which queer vexillographer do we have to thank for this iconic piece of stitching? And what if I told you the flag didn’t always look the way it did? The story begins in San Francisco, 1974, when the highly influential gay activist and leader Harvey Milk challenged another activist named Gilbert Baker to come up with a symbol for gay rights. Baker, a skilled seamstress and designer, got to work. Some say his original design was inspired by OG queericon Judy Garland’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Regardless, what he ended up with was an eight-striped flag with unique colors, representing Sex, Life, Healing, Sunlight, Nature, Magic/ Art, Serenity and Spirit. But the flag we all fly today is not exactly how Baker originally designed it. Any good flag is simple, elegant and easily reproduced, and not every flag meets this standard. The LGBTQ pride flag has stood the test of time because its essentially a well-designed flag. But, as it turns out, the eight stripe design proved to be little bit too much for pragmatic mass production. And after the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978, the demand for the rainbow flag skyrocketed. Everyone needed one to show their pride and commitment towards equality. In order to accommodate this insane amount of demand, the hot pink stripe was removed (apparently hot pink fabric was the most difficult to get). And then around 1979 the flag was redesigned once more to feature only six stripes--this time indigo and turquoise were combined into royal blue. And thus, the pride flag as we know it today was born. Since then, innumerable variations have been fashioned. Rainbow itself has practically become a symbol of the LGBTQ community. And therein lies the genius of this flag. It’s meant not only to represent gay men, but the entire spectrum of human diversity. The six stripes of the flag and the implied hues in between stand for everyone of every non-cis, non-hetero gender and sexuality. And that’s what we love it so much. Recently, some activists, do-gooders, the politically correct - call them what you want, have tried to incorporate a brown stripe or a black stipe and some have even tried to reintroduce the pink stripe - these are to represent people of colour but, none of the original stripes represented skin colour ... they haven’t worked the iconic six-striped flag is the only true ”Pride Flag”. Baker died at home in his sleep on March 31, 2017 at age 65, in New York City. The New York City medical examiner’s office Mag 22
determined cause of death was hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Upon Baker’s death, California state senator Scott Wiener said Baker “helped define the modern LGBT movement”. So next time you see a pride flag, know that it stands for much more than just gay pride. The flag is a love letter to how colourful and unique people can be. The flag shows us that all of them are equal, all the way from red to purple. Wave or wear it (Lola!!) with Pride!
cape town pride mardi gras & parade 29 feb 2020 cape town
PRIDE www.capetownpride.org
purchase your tickets by visiting quicket online
tion of m r e Info at tim s ect res pe r p r o a co ng t k C ei c o e g ch e Fac e s y a ple n Prid for an Tow page o the t k boo anges ar ch alend c
FRIDAY 14 FEB
THE ANNUAL PINK PARTY Participating venues are: Crew, Social Bar and Zer021 ... The idea behind the PINK PARTY is that apart from wearing pink you pay at the first venue and all others are then free. Entrance: R30
WED 19 FEB
PRIDE INTERFAITH SERVICE
Everyone is welcome at the Interfaith service regardless of your religion , beliefs or faith Venue: Pride Shelter, 1 Molteno Rd, Oranjezicht Time: 6:00pm Entrance: FREE
YOUR G CAPE TOW 20 SAT 15 FEB
PRIDE LIFESTYLE CONFERENCE Meet for a workshops on what it is to be gay Venue: Radisson - Park Inn Time: 11:00am - 16:00pm Entrance: FREE
THURS 20 FEB PRIDE ART NIGHT
A gallery night showing off some of the most popular art by talented local LGBT+ artists Venue: Nel, 117 Long Street, Cape Town Time: 6:00pm Entrance: FREE
SATURDAY 22 FEB SATURDAY 22 FEB PRIDE MEN’S NIGHT “THE VAULT” Party the night away at Pre-Pride Party night for Men ONLY! Venue: Social Bar Time: 8:00pm Entrance: R
WED 26 FEB
PRIDE POETRY NIGHT One again Pride hosts the popular evening of poetry
MR & MISS CAPE TOWN PRIDE PAGEANT
SUNDAY 16 FEB DRAG BRUNCH
Join some of Cape Town’s most famous Drag Performers for a brunch of fun and laughter Venue: TBC Time: 11:00am Entrance: FREE
THURS 20 FEB
MR & MISS CAPE TOWN PRIDE TALENT NIGHT
The Mr & Miss Cape Town Pride Talent night showcases some of the best talent in the city. Happening at Zer021 it’s an evening of glamour and glitz, sequins and satin. A not-to-be-missed night as the fabulous Diva’s strut their stuff... Venue: Zero21 Time: 7:30pm Entrance: R30
Probably the most popular event in the week leading up to PRIDE is the MR & MISS GAY PRIDE PAGEANT. The show is staged by the master of pageants, Barry, Mark and their team - they promise a glittering, glamorous night of superb entertainment culminating in the crowning of a new Mr & Miss Gay Pride. Venue: Joseph Stone Auditorium, Time: 7pm to 11pm. Entrance: R120 and you can buy your ticket at at COMPUTICKET
Venue: Social Bar Time: 6:30pm Tickets: Available from www.quicket.co.za
Mag 24
“TRUE TO YOU -
MONDAY
PRIDE KA
Come a try out your who knows you cou
Venue: LOU LOU’S Quarter Shopping C Time: 7:30pm Entrance: R20
THURS
THURS
Thursgays party n Venue: Zero21 Time: 9:30pm Entrance: R50
SUNDAY
PRIDE DRAG
Join some of Cape T famous Drag Perfor of fun and laughter Venue: TBC Time: 11:00am Entrance: FREE
GUIDE TO WN PRIDE 020
Y 17 FEB
ARAOKE
r vocal talents uld be our next star!
S Bar in the Cape Complex
20 FEB
SGAYS
night
Y 23 FEB
G BRUNCH 2
Town’s most rmers for a brunch
MONDAY 17 FEB PRIDE BOOKCASE 1
Interviewer/Host : CARLA BERNADO BECOMING HIM by Landa Mabenge ALWAYS ANASTACIA by Anastacia Tomson
TUESDAY 18 FEB PRIDE MOVIE NIGHT 1
Please refer to Cape Town Pride 2020 Facebook Page for details of this popular event...
• Both titles are autobiographical and each one deals with a period of transition in their lives. • An ideal narrative for persons who relate their identities as trans-gender.
SATURDAY 22 FEB
Venue: Zero21 Time: 6:30pm Entrance: FREE
COZI POOL PARTY
Cape Town’s famous Pool party - Pride Edition is waiting for you. Get in to the mood for Pride with beautiful PRIDE MOSQUE people, fabulous sunshine, hot Dj Sole Join the local Muslim community for Elos and uplifting house tunes. Enjoy a time of reflection, discussion and poolside cocktails, snacks and much, prayer much more at one of Cape Town’s best outdoor Pool Party locations. Venue: Al Fitrah Time: 12:00 NOON Venue: Radisson Red, Waterfront Entrance: FREE Time: 12:00 (noon) - 7:00pm Cover charge: R190 The first 50 get a glass of ice-cold bubbly ... so get there early!
FRIDAY 21 FEB
MONDAY 24 FEB PRIDE BOOKCASE 2
INNIE SHADOWS by Oliva Coetzee BECAUSE I COULDN’T KILL YOU by Kelly-Eve Koopman THEY CALLED ME QUEER by Kim Windvogel & Kelly-Eve Koopman (Compilation) Author Appearance at Bookcase 2. • Kelly-Eve Koopman - confirmed • Chase Rhys -tbc • Craig Lucas - tbc Venue: Berta’s (Woodstock) Time: 6:30pm Entrance: FREE
Tickets available: Frank Kosi 0711196622 and from Quicket
TUESDAY 25 FEB
PRIDE COMEDY NIGHT 2 THE RELAUNCH OF GINA EUGENE MATTHEWS COMEDY SHOW Another night of laughter as you join Eugene Matthews in a night of great comedy Venue: Baxter Studio Time: 7:30pm - 8:20pm Tickets: Available from www.webtickets.co.za
BE YOURSELF”
TUESDAY 18 FEB
PRIDE COMEDY NIGHT 1 CHANTAL JAX “OH MY GAD” ONE WOMAN COMEDY SHOW
If you love stand-up, don’t miss the talented Chantal “JAX” Venter at ... Venue: Baxter Studio Time: 7:30pm - 8:20pm Tickets: Available from www.webtickets.co.za
SATURDAY 22 FEB KASI PRE-PRIDE PARTY Happening at Le GudLife in Gugulethu, the annual PRE-PRIDE PARTY Entrance is FREE and always draws a great crowd. The event starts at 8pm and goes on till 2:00am. Get in to the mood, Get in to the groove and party on down in Gugs...
TUESDAY 25 FEB PRIDE ROCKY HORROR INTERACTIVE Dress up as your favourite Rocky Horror character and join in the fun of being a part of the show in this first-for-Pride Rocky Horror interactive night of fun, laughter and great times. Venue: Lou Lou’s Bar (Cape Quarter) Time: 7:00pm for 8:00pm Tickets: R60 with script / R80 with props - Available from www.quicket.co.za Mag 25
YOUR GUIDE TO PRIDE THURS 27 FEB PRIDE DIVA’S EXTRAVAGANZA
If you loved the first show or maybe you missed it! This is your opportunity to see the cream of Cape Town’s drag performers again ... Venue: Zero21 Time: 7:30pm Entrance: R50
FRIDAY 28 FEB PRIDE SHABBAT
After a very well supported PRIDE SHABBAT last year, join the local Jewish community Shabbat Venue: Temple Israel (Sea Point) Time: 6.00pm Entrance: FREE
THURS 27 FEB
THURS 27 FEB
PRIDE SWEDISH MOVIE NIGHT
THURSGAYS
Join us for the second Thursgays party night ... Venue: Zero21 Time: 9:30pm Entrance: R50
FRIDAY 28 FEB
PRIDE VISA NETWORKING EVENT
The gay business men and women are welcome to attend an evening networking with like minded people ... Venue: Radisson Park Inn Time: 6:00pm Entrance: FREE Booking on Quicket essential
Brought to you by the Embassy of Sweden ... Please check the Cape Town Pride 2020 Facebook page for further information Venue: TBC Time: TBC Entrance:
FRIDAY 28 FEB
PRIDE LADIES NIGHT “LOVE PROUD” Hosted by THE CLOSET” A party night especially for our Lesbian sisters .... Women ONLY Venue: The Social Bar Time: 8:00pm Entrance: R30
HAPPY PRIDE 2020 Mag 26
“TRUE TO YOU -
SATURDAY
29th FEB
REDDAM FIELD
Alfred Str
This year’s Pride March will form up at Prestwich Street School and Alfred Street in De Waterkant. At 12:00 (noon) the parade will leave, and will proceed along Prestwich Street, Right into Chiapini Street and right into Somerset Road .... it will then proceed along the Somerset Road “fan walk” through Green Point to York Road where it will turn right to the circle. Left into Helen Suzman Boulevard, right in to Peter’s Road finally ending at Reddam Field car park ...
PRESTWICH STREET PRIMARY SCHOOL
PARADE ROUTE PARADE ROUTE 29 FEBRUARY 29 FEBRUARY2020 2020 PRIDE FESTIVAL DAY PRIDE MARCH & MARDI GRAS
Cape Town Pride's 17 days of events culminates in the Pride Festival Day where we march with PRIDE through the streets of Cape Town, followed by the biggest celebration on the African continent ... Today we will celebrate our diversity, and our togetherness. We will celebrate the strides that have been made towards achieving equality and the struggles that we have been through in the past, and still experiencing now. We will stand against homophobia. We will remember those people who have been harmed, murdered by bullies, bigots and homophobes. We will also shout out for our LGBTI+ brothers and sisters who live on this continent where intolerance thrives.
THE BUZZ AT CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2020 ON THE PRIDE STAGE The line-up on the Pride stage is bigger and better than ever before ... The headliner is Swedish diva Therese Neaime, brought to Pride by the Embassy of Sweden. We also have Craig Lucas, Jarrad Ricketts, Miloh Ramai, Iconic Drag Diva’s, 3D, Latheem Gabriel, 3 Tons of Fun, Lu Chase, Manila von Teez, Zoe Zana, DJ’s - Spinsister Mitzi, Groovy Q and the Zero21 resident Dj’s. Comperes are Chantal “JAX” Venter & Eugene Matthews ... WHAT A DAY THIS WILL BE!!!!
GET YOUR TICKETS TO ALL THE PRIDE EVENTS FROM... www.quicket.co.za
BE YOURSELF”
BEAUTIFUL TICKETING MADE SIMPLE Mag 27
SCENE OUT
BABYLON THE JOBURG BAR
Mag 28
BUDDIES NIGHT OUT CAPE TOWN
Mag 29
#pride A proud supporter the LGBTQ Community
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Mag 31
WIN TICKETS TO CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2020
OUT AFRICA MAGAZINE & CAPE TOWN PRIDE ARE GIVING AWAY 20 TICKETS TO THE COUNTRY’S BEST PRIDE EVENT
“TRUE TO YOU BE YOURSELF” FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A TICKET TO THE BIGGEST PRIDE PARTY OF THE YEAR ... JUST ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION AND EMAIL YOUR REPLY WITH PRIDE TICKET GIVE-AWAY IN THE SUBJECT LINE, TOGETHER WITH YOUR NAME AND CONTACT NUMBER TO: OUTMAGAZINE@MWEB.CO.ZA
QUESTION: WHAT IS THE THEME OF PRIDE? Mag 32
PRIDE MERCHANDISE
Go to www.capetownpride.org and get your souvenir with your ticket to Cape Town Pride 2020 or book with Quicket and get your souvenir for the special ticket price. You can also visit our stall at Pride Mardi Gras 2020 on the 28th February and buy you souvenir on the day!! PRIDE CAP Available in black only and printed with the Cape Town Pride Logo R80 if purchased online with your Pride ticket R100 normal price without the ticket special
PRIDE T - SHIRT Available in all colours indicated and printed with the Cape Town Pride Logo. Sizes: S, M, L, XL & XXXL R90 if purchased online with your Pride ticket R110 normal price without the ticket special
PRIDE GOLF SHIRT Available in black and embroidered with the Cape Town Pride Logo Sizes: S, M, L , XL & XXL R230 if purchased online with your Pride ticket R250 normal price without the ticket special
PRIDE TOTE BAG Printed with the Cape Town Pride Logo on one side R80 if purchased online with your Pride ticket R100 normal price without the ticket special
PRIDE COFFEE MUG Printed with the Cape Town Pride Logo on both sides R70 if purchased online with your Pride ticket R90 normal price without the ticket special
MUSIC MOVES Source: The Quietus (www.thequietus.com)
Y
ES! YES! YES! ... it good to have gay music icons, the Pet Shop Boys back with the release on the 24th January of their 14th studio album Hotspot. It’s the last in a trilogy of albums produced by Stuart Price, and it is so infectious, and if electronic anthems are your thing, soak it up! Hotspot is supported by the singles Dreamland featuring Years & Years, which was released on 11 September 2019, and Burning the Heather, which was released alongside the album announcement on 14 November 2019. On opening track Will O The Wisp, with its synth-heavy, oscillating opening redolent of Madonna’s Hung Up – itself a Price production directly inspired by Lowe’s vacillating, jumped-up take on early disco – Tennant observes a “free spirit” in a “battered leather cap” who must be “getting bored” climbing off of a train in clubland “in search of love and laughter.” The will-o’-the-wisp in question could be seen as an embodied desire, on the part of Tennant and Lowe, to return to the state of grace afforded by the dance floor. Indeed, Dreamland, the record’s almost criminally poppy lead single featuring British synth-pop act Years & Years, eulogizes the “free land” of the unconscious, where “you don’t need a visa / you can come and go and stay right here.” “I’m so tired of my homeland,” sings Tennant, dancing around the Brexit issue in a veiled manner less ironic, as is his lyrical propensity, than it is underdeveloped. Running away to Germany or drifting off to sleep are temporary measures in the face of a dismal political situation that has endured since their self-diagnosed “imperial phase” of the late eighties. Happy People, the third track, deepens the theme of disconnect between the personal and the political. “Happy people living in a sad world” loops over rave keyboards punctuated by spoken verses celebrating moments that boost the spirit when “the world gets in the way” – the triumphant feeling at the end of a summer’s day, falling in love in the suburbs, the thrill of the hi-hat, you know the clichés as well as I. ‘I Don’t Wanna’ narrates the story of a forlorn and isolated man, “a guy so shy he doesn’t feel that he has any sex appeal” – an incel? – who overcomes his reluctance, “summons up the energy,” and goes out dancing. Mark Fisher, writing in 2013 about the secret sadness behind contemporary dance music, echoes my scepticism: “It’s hard not to hear these records’ demands that we enjoy ourselves as thin attempts to distract from a depression that
they can only mask, never dissipate.” Monkey Business, a song featuring a digitised vocal that would sound at home on Daft Punk’s One More Time, whose throbbing bassline and string section punctuation Price seemingly airlifted from a Chic composition, is Hotspot’s danciest number as well as its weakest conceptually, with none of the Boys’ trademark ambivalence. Instead, Tennant reaffirms what he has already admitted: “I’m not dealing with the real world any more.” One is reminded of the 2018 New York Times story about Erik Hagerman, The Man Who Knew Too Little, who swore off of reading the news after the election of Donald Trump. But even the compromised Times admits that “living a liberal fantasy is complicated,” a sentiment all but absent from Hotspot. Lest we take them too literally, the slowed-down, acoustic guitar number Burning the Heather attempts a classic Pet Shop Boys narrative inversion, opening with the lines: “You’ve got me all wrong / I’m not that guy / I’m just the singer of the song in my mind’s eye.” Tennant can hide behind the author function as much as he likes, but I sim-
ply don’t believe him. Nearly every song on Hotspot communicates a desire central to the duo’s oeuvre: to get away from contemporary life by hitting the club. Much well-deserved ink has been spilled over the Pet Shop Boys’ nineties embrace of pre-AIDS gay culture in the face of the epidemic; intelligent critics read 1994’s Very as a celebration of “the club scene as an almost utopian domain of consensual choice and pleasure,” to cite Simon Watney. Hotspot concludes with Wedding in Berlin, an assimilationist anthem set to fouron-the-floor hi-hats and a repeated snippet of Wagner’s Bridal Chorus: “We’re getting married / a lot of people do it / doesn’t matter if you’re straight or gay.” While Very contained a remake of the Village People’s gay classic Go West, Hotspot is content with an uninspired reimagining of a heterosexual standard. Lowe and Tennant have always been romantics, ironic or otherwise. Hotspot retreats further into the domain of dreams – the worlds mutually created and sustained by couples both straight and gay – and in so doing backs away from the harsh reality Tenant and Lowe share with their countrymen. Mag 33
PAIN AND GLORY
Words: Daniel Dercksen
A PERSONAL ODYSSEY FOR PEDRO ALMODÓVAR
Q
uite unintentionally, Pain and Glory is the third part of a spontaneously created trilogy that has taken Spanish filmmaker and auteur Pedro Almodóvar thirty-two years to complete.
70-year-old Almodóvar is a filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer, and former actor who came to prominence as a director and screenwriter during La Movida Madrileña, a cultural renaissance that followed after the end of Francoist Spain. His first few films characterised the sense of sexual and political freedom of the period. In 1986, he established his own film production company, El Deseo, with his younger brother Agustín Almodóvar, responsible for producing all of his films since Law of Desire (1987). Acclaimed as one of the most internationally successful Spanish filmmakers, Almodóvar and his films have gained worldwide interest and developed a cult following. He has won two Academy Awards, five British Academy Film Awards, six European Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, nine Goya Awards and four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1997, Almodóvar received the French Legion of Honour, followed by the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1999. In January 2017 he was named as President of the Jury for the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, he is going to be Mag 34
awarded with a Honorary Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. A tale of memory regret and making peace with his past – Pain and Glory isn’t just his most personal, it is also one of his greatest, and blurs the line between art and life and mixes autobiography with fiction to powerful effect. As the title suggests, the result is a swirl of heartbreak and joy. The film drew more than 45,000 moviegoers in Spain on the Friday of release and is Spain’s official entry for the Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards. It has also won two Cannes Film Festival Awards – Best Actor (Antonio Banderas) and Best Composer (Alberto Iglesias) The first two parts of Almodóvar’s ‘Pain and Glory’ Trilogy are Law of Desire and Bad Education. Almodóvar’s Law of Desire was released in 1987 and focuses on a complex love triangle between two men and a trans woman. Pablo Quintero , a successful gay film director, his transsexual sister, Tina and Antonio, an uptight young man, falls possessively in love with the director and in his passion would stop at nothing to obtain the object of his desire. The relationship between Pablo and Antonio is at the core of the film, however,
the story and own drama of Pablo’s sister, Tina, plays a strong role in the plot. Law of Desire does not follow the conventions of genre, his intention was to make a film about desire and passion: “What interested me most is passion for its own sake. It is a force you cannot control, which is stronger than you and which is as much a source of pain as of pleasure. In any case, it is so strong that it makes you do things which are truly monstrous or absolutely extraordinary” In Bad Education (2004) an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded (Fele Martínez) a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer (Gael García Bernal) who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation. Pain and Glory tells of a series of re encounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the 60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the 80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense, writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable, the early discovery of cinema, and the void, the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. Pain and Glory talks about creation, about the difficulty of separating it from one’s own life and about the passions that give it meaning and hope. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it, and in that need he also finds his salvation.
We tried to make Antonio’s image, especially his hair, look like mine. The shoes and many of the clothes also belong to me, and the colours of his clothing. I remember that during rehearsals I said to Antonio: If you think that in any sequence it’ll help if you imitate me, you can do it. Antonio said no, that it wasn’t necessary. And he was right, his character wasn’t me, but it was inside me. Over the course of the story we see the veteran director Salvador Mallo in three periods of his life: his childhood in the 1960s; his adulthood in the 80s in Madrid (Salvador is a character shaped in the Madrid explosion of that decade); and we also see Salvador at present, isolated, depressed, victim of various maladies, cut off from the world and from the cinema. “I identify with all those eras, I know the places and the feelings the character goes through, but I never lived in a cave and I never fell in love with a labourer when I was a child, for example, although both things could have happened,” says Almodovar. “At first, I took myself as a reference but, once you start writing, fiction lays down its rules and makes itself independent of the origin, as has always happened to me when I’ve dealt with other themes with real references. Reality provides me with the first lines, but I have to invent the rest. At least that’s the game I like to play.” Pain and Glory is available on DVD
In the three films, the protagonists are male characters who are film directors, and in the three desire and cinematic fiction are the pillars of the story, but the way in which fiction is glimpsed alongside reality differs in each one of them. For Almodóvar fiction and life are two sides of the one coin, and life always includes pain and desire. Pain and Glory reveals, among other themes, two love stories that have left their mark on the protagonist, two stories determined by time and fate and which are resolved in the fiction. The story of The Addiction alludes to the passion lived by Salvador and Federico when they were young in the ‘80s. It also explains the reason they separated, even though they still loved each other. The theatre, words performed in front of a bare screen, acts as a messenger between the former lovers, thirty years later. If you write about a director (and your work consists of directing films), it’s impossible not to think of yourself and not take your experience as a reference. It was the most practical. My house is the house where Antonio Banderas’ character lives, the furniture in the kitchen –and the rest of the furnishings- are mine or have been reproduced for the occasion and the paintings that hang on its walls.
Mag 35
LGBTI+ WIN AT THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS T
he queerest moment at this year’s Golden Globes took place when Kate McKinnon presented Ellen DeGeneres with the second annual Carol Burnett Excellence in Television Award.
“In 1997, when Ellen’s sitcom was in the height of its popularity, I was in my mother’s basement lifting weights in front of the mirror and thinking, ‘Am I gay?’ And I was, and I still am,” Kate said. “But that’s a very scary thing to suddenly know about yourself. It’s sort of like doing 23 and Me, and discovering that you have alien DNA. And the only thing that made it less scary was seeing Ellen on TV.” She added, “She risked her entire life and her entire career in order to tell the truth, and she suffered greatly for it. Of course, attitudes change, but only because brave people like Ellen jump into the fire to make them change. And if I hadn’t seen her on TV, I would have thought, ‘I could never be on TV. They don’t let LGBT people on TV.’ And more than that, I would have gone on thinking that I was an alien and that I maybe didn’t even have a right to be here. So thank you, Ellen, for giving me a shot. A shot at a good life, and thank you also for the sweater with a picture of the baby goat on it.” In her acceptance speech, Ellen paid homage to Carol Burnett and the impact that the acting legend had on her, saying, “I feel like we all think we know someone— there’s a connection when we watch them on TV for as long as we are on TV, and that’s what it was like for me with Carol Burnett. I felt like I knew her. I felt like she showed us who she was every week. She was larger than life. We counted on her to make us feel good and she delivered every single week, she never let us down, she was hilarious in all the sketches that she did, and when she did the Q&A with the audience she was just genuine and personal, and I always felt like she was speaking to me. At the end of the show, every time she pulled her ear, I knew she was saying ‘It’s okay, I’m gay too.’”
Elton John won alongside his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, for Best Original Song - Motion Picture for I’m Gonna Love Me (Again) from Rocketman, the biopic about his own life. Elton pointed out that it was the first time the two had won an award together. “It’s the first time I’ve ever won an award with him, ever,” he explained. “We never won a Grammy. We never did anything together [awards-wise] except for this.” “This is not just about a song we wrote for a movie,” Taupin added. “It’s about a song we wrote for a movie that deals with our relationship. And it’s a relationship that doesn’t happen very often in this town. It’s a 52-year-old marriage.” Later in the night, LGBTQ-ally Taran Egerton won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for playing Elton in Rocketman. Amongst others, he thanked David Furnish, “for allowing me to be the man who could play your husband.” Renée Zellweger won for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for playing gay icon Judy Garland. Lastly, out director Chris Butler was a surprising winner for Best Motion Picture - Animated, for The Missing Link. The film upset favourites Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4. Butler was a GLAAD Media Award nominee in 2013 for ParaNorman. GLAAD is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization founded by LGBT people in the media. Before March 2013, the name “GLAAD” had been an acronym for “Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation” Lastly, GLAAD also honoured acting legend Glenn Close this year on the Globes red carpet and spoke with her about her legacy as an ally to the LGBTQ community.
Ellen receives her award at Golden Globes 2020
Mag 36
Sir Elton John & collaborator Bernie Taupin on the stage at The Golden Globes 2020
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7 SEXY EXERCISES TO GET YOU IN THE MOOD By Andrew Christian In 1981, Olivia Newton-John encouraged everyone to “get physical” with her innuendo-laden pop hit. About three minutes and 25 seconds into the music video for that song, two sculpted, brief-wearing beefcakes exit Newton-John’s gym clearly ready to do the nasty. Clearly, exercise is great for working up a sweat in the bedroom. Or check out Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta bump, thrust and grind in Perfect! Phew!!!
those crazy sex positions you’ve been intimidated by. The more you can twist, flex and contort, the more likely you are to have mind-blowing sex. Moreover, yoga is great for mental health. It builds confidence and forces you to stay in the present moment. That means less rumination, less nervousness, and fewer chances of the wind being taken out of your erectile sales.
Even men with the highest of libidos can get into an erectile funk from time to time (getting high, stress and vodka). But you don’t need to let difficulty getting in the mood dry up your sex life. Check out the following exercises to bone up on in order to get you in the mood.
3. WEIGHTLIFTING Whether you’re a top or bottom, having the strength to pick something up, hang on to something for dear life or simply last more than 15 minutes is critical to getting you in — and staying in — the mood. Enter weightlifting.
1. SQUAT THRUSTS It should be a given that anything involving a thrusting motion will help you get in the mood to...well...thrust. Squat thrusts build strength in the lower body, i.e., below the belt. This is a strength-building exercise, but due to the fast, repetitive motion of a squat thrust, it is also great for your cardiovascular health and endurance. And when it comes (cums?) to a good evening sex session, morning bang, or afternoon delight, endurance is key.
2. YOGA Flexibility, anyone? Along with its bevy of health benefits, yoga is probably the only exercise that will ever give you a fighting chance at sucking your own dick. Practicing yoga regularly can help you contort your body at seemingly impossible angles. This means you can finally try all Mag 38
Resistance training exercises like lifting weights naturally increase testosterone, the male sex hormone that can get you in the mood for some good old-fashioned boning. If you belong to a gym, going to a weight room to do some resistance training is actually better than doing so at home. Why? There is usually at least that ONE fit, hot guy in the weight room at most points during the day. This provides some extra eye candy to help you get hot and bothered.
endorphins, which are feel-good hormones that naturally boost mood. Given the issues that can come with alcohol and sex (vodka- dick), it’s nice that this natural high exists and can act as a precursor to feeling frisky. Research also shows that vigorous walking can prevent erectile dysfunction, so you can enjoy getting horizontal (or vertical, or diagonal, or — really, any angle you prefer) without E.D. rearing its ugly (and soft) head.
6 WRESTLING The 42-year-old drop-dead hottie wrestler, John Cena answering a fan’s questions if the WWE star had ever had an “accidental boner” during a match. “It’s something the body does, you just ignore it,” Cena explained. Well you don’t need to ignore it!
4. KEGELS Kegel exercises are extremely easy to do and you can perform Kegel exercises any time and any place (I’m doing them right now as I type this!). Many people think Kegels are reserved only for ladies trying to tighten up their hoo-has, but this type of clenching exercise is great for male sexual health as well.
Getting into a clinch with a gym buddy, straight bro, or even the hottie next door will burn off some of that excess body-fat ... and after writhing around for a few minutes, rubbing your bodies and building up a sweat, you are sure to get in to the mood for lurv ... try it, you wont be disappointed For a little variation add some oil to the sport and it, well, ....
If you’ve never done Kegels before, try the first few times lying down. Identify your pelvic floor muscles by clenching in a way that you would if you couldn’t locate a bathroom and were trying to avoid pissing your pants (we’ve all been there). Hold for a few seconds, release and repeat.
5. POWER WALKING You don’t need to go on marathon runs or work out to the point of exhaustion to experience the benefits of exercise. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to go hulk when it comes to getting active. I mean, how amped are you gonna be for sex when your muscles are aching and you’ve been sweating buckets? Taking a vigorous walk for about 30 minutes per day is all you need to get in the mood. Power walking helps the brain release
7. MASTURBATION Based on my completely unprofessional opinion, masturbation burns calories and will give you a six-pack. OK, I completely made the six-pack part up, but you could certainly place masturbation under the “vigorous activity” category when it comes to an active lifestyle. If you’re having trouble getting in the mood, when in doubt, grab your dick (Girls, grab your vibrator). A good old-fashioned stroke and pull may be all you need to get in the mood. The best part? It won’t cost you more than a bottle of lotion.
Mag 39
MENS HEALTH
GOING DOWN ‘Going down’, ‘giving head’, ‘blow jobs’ … there are many different names for oral sex. But what is oral sex? And does it come with any risks?
Source: www.avert.org/ Mag 40
Whether you are thinking about having oral sex for the first time or just want some more information – read on for tips on how to have oral sex safely and pleasurably, and answers to some of the most common questions.
WHAT IS ORAL SEX?
You can begin by gently kissing and fondling the area around the anus including the perineum (the area of skin between the genitals and the anus). You can then work your way in to the anus by circling your tongue around the outer area and finally inserting your tongue.
Oral sex means using your mouth and tongue to stimulate your partners’ genital or anal area.
You can try licking, sucking, probing and nibbling gently – taking cues from your partner about what feels good to them.
Oral sex can be a good way to discover new pleasures with your partner, but deciding whether you want to do it is a very personal choice – not everyone likes it and not everyone tries it!
If you are performing it on a woman, don’t go from the anus to the vagina as this may transfer bacteria and cause infection.
As with any type of sex, it’s important that both people are enthusiastic about doing it. A lot has been written about how to give the best oral sex. But the truth is that different things work for different people. There’s a whole variety of ways to lick, suck and stimulate different people may like to give and receive oral sex in different ways. Remember that it can take a while to work out what makes someone feel good. You may feel nervous before having oral sex – whether you’re giving it or receiving it. The best thing to do is to carry on communicating with your partner. Ask them to tell you what feels nice and let them know when you are enjoying something. If you’re happy and comfortable with the person you’re with then oral sex can be a great way to get physically closer and learn what turns each other on. But remember that you can pause or stop at any point you want, and the same is true for your partner. Just because you have started something doesn’t mean you need to continue – stopping is actually very normal.
GIVING A MAN ORAL SEX? You can start oral sex on a man whether his penis is erect or not. It’s a good idea to use your hand to touch him before you start to help work up to the sensation of oral sex. If you’re unsure how far you want him to penetrate your mouth, use your thumb and forefinger to make a ring around his penis, stopping it as far as you want to go. You can keep moving your fingers down slowly until you reach the point where it feels deep enough inside your mouth. Many men find oral sex (also known as ‘blow jobs’) highly sensitive, so start gently and slowly and work up to a faster pace. You can experiment with different tongue, mouth and head movements to see what works best (but never use your teeth unless asked!). Even if you decide to give a man oral sex, it doesn’t mean that you have to let him ejaculate (or cum) in your mouth – the choice is yours. Of course, if he’s wearing a condom this won’t be such an issue, and it means you will both be protected against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It’s also entirely up to you how long you continue for.
CAN I GET HIV AND STIS FROM ORAL SEX? The risk of HIV transmission from oral sex is very low. The main risks arise if the person receiving oral sex has an STI or sores on their genital area, or if the person giving oral sex has sores in their mouth or bleeding gums. However other STIs such as herpes, gonorrhoea and syphilis can still be passed on through oral sex. And some infections caused by bacteria or viruses can be passed on through oral– anal sex, such as hepatitis A or E.coli. Infections can be passed on through oral sex even if there are no obvious signs or symptoms of the infection (such as sores). You should definitely avoid having oral sex if either of you has sores around your mouth, penis or anus. These could be a sign of an infection, so get them checked out by a healthcare professional. Using a condom or dental dam (a thin, soft plastic that covers the vagina or anus) will protect you from most sexually transmitted infections. If you don’t have a dental dam you can also make an effective barrier by cutting a condom lengthways from bottom to top forming one piece of material that can be used like a dental dam. Knowing you have the extra protection a condom provides can help make you feel more liberated and less inhibited during oral sex. Talking to your partner about protection before you start having oral sex will help things go more smoothly. This can be embarrassing, but it’s an important part of having sex – and if you find it too difficult to discuss then it could be a sign that you aren’t ready to start having oral sex just yet.
SHOULD I HAVE ORAL SEX? It’s a big decision to start having oral sex, and it’s important that you and your partner are ready to start exploring in this way. Whether it’s giving or receiving oral sex, no one should do it because they feel forced to.
Performing oral sex on your partner’s anus (also known as analingus or rimming) can be part of any sexual relationship, whether gay, bisexual or straight.
Lines like “it doesn’t mean we’ve had real sex – you’ll still be a virgin”, or “if you don’t want sex then you should at least go down on me”, or “it’s not as risky as having intercourse”, all suggest pressure and coercion. Remember that oral sex should be fun for both of you. If one person is doing it because they feel pressured, it can make the whole experience most uncomfortable and unenjoyable - no one should be pressured to have sex of any kind.
If you are concerned about hygiene, ask your partner to wash first - water and a gentle washcloth should do the trick. You could also bathe together as part of foreplay.
Deciding whether to have oral sex is a very personal thing. The main things to consider are whether it feels right, and whether you and your partner are both sure.
ORAL-ANAL SEX (RIMMING)?
Mag 41
FITNESS
GREAT ARMS
Here are a few easy arm exercises which will tone, develop and shape great arms ...
PUSHUPS
The basic position of a pushup begins by placing your palms on the ground shoulder-width apart, with your toes touching the ground and your heels positioned toward the ceiling. This is also known as a high plank. Draw your shoulders down your back, avoid the hunching, and keep your elbows close to the body. Lower the body while keeping your gaze a few inches in front of you. Once your chest grazes the ground, push yourself back up; keep your core tight to keep your back from sagging.
Inhale as you lower yourself and exhale as you push yourself back up. ‘Going down’, ‘giving head’, ‘blow You can perform a pushup the traditional way or challenge yourself by lifting one leg in the air while you lower, by jobs’ … there are many different placing an arm on a medicine ball while performing the names for oral sex. But what is oral pushup, or even by adding a clap as you push back up. The movement doesn’t require any equipment and can be sex? And does it come with any risks? performed anywhere.
TRICEP DIPS
The tricep dip can be performed by sitting on the ground with your palms on the ground and fingers facing you, or you could prop yourself off of an elevated surface such as a bench or a chair. Position your hands shoulder-width apart wherever you decide to prop yourself. If you’re propping yourself on a bench or chair, shift your bottom forward, but keep it close to the surface to reduce shoulder strain. Extend your legs or place your feet flat on the ground.
Keep your elbows close to your body. Bend your elbows slightly and simply raise and lower your body. A tricep dip is challenging in its original form. But for a more advanced version, you could add 10 pulses after doing 10 proper dips. Similar to the pushup, tricep dips are an excellent way to build strength by using your body weight.
BICEP CURL
A bicep curl can be performed standing up or seated. The move is performed with a weight that is appropriate to your training regimen. Stand with feet hip-width apart, and choose the appropriate weight for your training regimen. Keep your elbows close to your torso. Rotate your palms to face upwards. Take a deep breath and exhale as you curl your forearm towards your upper body. Relax arms back down to your sides. A bicep curl not only works a variety of arm muscles, it also challenges your core; it’s important to breathe and maintain a neutral position especially while standing. Challenge yourself by adding a forward lunge as you curl, by adding a squat, or by raising a leg. If you don’t have dumbbells, find anything that will add weight to curl with. Mag 42
PROUD IN AFRICA 6, Sixth Street, New Doornfontein, Johannesburg · Phone 0114025258 · 083-9652227 Email: hlabanga@me.com · Open at 12 noon every day of the year · Closing times: Mon-Wed 3am Thur-Sun 6am · GPS lat: 26.1989 long: 28.0629 FEBRUARY diary Friday 7th Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Sunday 9th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 14th Long Schlong Valentine’s Day - Come be everyone's Valentine-free entrance for 20cm+ · Friday 21st Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 28th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · MARCH diary Friday 6th Leather Night - Free entrance with leather gear · Monday 9th Full Moon Party Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 13th Long Schlong Night - Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 20th Fetish Night - Indulge your fantasies · Friday 27th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund APRIL diary Friday 3rd Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Wednesday 8th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Thursday 9th Bad Thursday Party - Cum be as bad as you wanna be · Friday 10th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm+ · Friday 17th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 24th Public Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Sunday 26th Freedom Day Party - Cum feel free · Thursday 30th Workers Day Party - Cum work it MAY diary Friday 1st Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Thursday 7th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 8th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm+ · Friday 15th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 22nd Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Friday 29th Fire Crotch Night – Free Entrance with Red Pubes Mondays: R50 entrance for Daddies & Toy Boys between 6 & 9 Every Tuesday is Buddy Night. Bring a friend for free! Thursdays: Student Night. R50 with student card, all day
OUT ON FILM RECOMMENDED FILMS NOW SHOWING - WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN
S
am Mendes’ 1917 is a breathtaking, beautiful and unforgettable story well told and masterfully realised. It’s a soulful story relevant to the world we live in today, one that will live in your heart long after watching it; based on the real scandal, Bombshell is a revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it. In the satirical World War II satire Jojo Rabbit a Hitler Youth questions his beliefs, while dealing with the intervention of his imaginary friend, an idiotic version of Adolf Hitler; the sumptous coming-of-age period drama Little Women explores the lives of the March sisters in 1860s New England; the live-action CGI-animated adventure The Call Of The Wild is based on the Jack London’s 1903 novel and tells the poignant story of a man and his dog.
1917
MARCH HIGHLIGHTS Jane Austen’s beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending is re-imagined in the delicious new adaptation of Emma (6/3); a woman desperately tries to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see in the remake of The Invisible Man (13/3); Vin Diesel is resurrected by a secret team of scientists and becomes a superhuman, biotech killing machine in Bloodshot (13/3), Matthew McConaughey plays a crime lord who has to protect his highly profitable marijuana empire in the action-packed The Gentlemen (13/3) ; a security guard discovers the plot that resulted in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Richard Jewell (13/3); with their partners away serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir to unite the community in Military Wives (20/3); the Abbott family and a mysterious stranger fight for survival against otherworldly creatures that hunt by sound in A Quiet Place 2 (20/3); acclaimed filmmaker Niki Caro brings the epic tale of China’s legendary warrior to life in Disney’s Mulan (27/3); a family navigate love, forgiveness and coming together in the aftermath of a loss in Waves (27/3).
APRIL HIGHLIGHTS Daniel Craig is back his fifth outing as the MI6 agent James Bond in No Time To Die (3/4); an alcoholic and drug addict fights for a better life in A Million Pieces (3/4); five young mutants fight to escape their past sins and save themselves in The New Mutants (3/4); a married couple must get their son and themselves to safety when a massive object from space threatens to destroy the world in Greenland (17/4) ; The Secret: The Dare To Dream tells a story crafted around the core principles of the Law of Attraction (17/4); a brother and sister uncover a dangerous secret with frightening consequences in the supernatural horror Antlers (17/4); Mrs Lowry & Son (24/4) chronicles the life of the renowned British artist L. S. Lowry; four kids befriend a magical, sandy, grumpy creature in Four Kids and It (24/4); a successful author finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality and must uncover the mindbending mystery before it’s too late in Antebellum (24/4); on the very brink of breaking up, a couple gets unintentionally embroiled in a bizarre (and hilarious) murder mystery in The Lovebirds (24/4)
MAY HIGHLIGHTS Scarlett Johansson kicks ass as Black Widow (1/5); a young Mag 44
woman fulfils her late mother’s dream of opening a bakery in Love Sarah (8/5); Tom Hanks play a career officer must battle his own self-doubts and personal demons to prove he belongs alongside the conflict with the enemy in the war drama Greyhound (8/5) and portrays Mister Rogers, a popular kid’s TV show host in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (15/5), a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism; The Organ Donor (15/5) is a re-imagining of the horror film ‘Saw’; an agoraphobic child psychologist witnesses a crime in the thriller The Woman In The Window (15/5) ; Vin Diesel returns in Fast & Furious 9 (22/5); Dev Patel takes the lead in The Personal History Of David Copperfield (29/5) ; Dakota Johnson plays an aspiring music producer who endures an exhausting job as the assistant to a legendary singer in Covers (29/5)
LOCAL IS LEKKER Moffie (13/3) tells the story of a conscript who embarks on his military service in 1981 South Africa; questioning issues of race, class and gender, Griekwastad (27/3) tells the true story of the search to find the truth behind the murders that shocked and divided a community; Flatland (10/4) is a portrait of femininity set against the backdrop of a hostile frontier land, that interrogates what it means to be a woman today – in South Africa and the world at large; Seriously Single (1/5) is a romantic comedy about a serial monogamist who falls in love; the magical realist period drama Toorbos (1/5) explores the Afrikaner feminine, through her fragility and power; the Xhosa-film Letters Of Hope (29/5) is set in 1976 apartheid South Africa and deals with a 16-year-old who really wants to be a policeman and can’t understand why his father won’t let him. Follow Let’s Go To The Movies on Facebook or visit: www.writingstudio.co.za
The best decision I ever made for myself was getting on PrEP because it has made me realize the importance of taking care of your sexual health like you would your mental and physical health - Phumlani Kango Read the full story on www.wethebrave.co.za
Mag 45
OUT ON DVD IN CELEBRATION OF PRIDE, LET’S LOOK AT QUEER CLASSICS THAT SHAPED BEING OUT AND PROUD. In our previous edition I looked at films released from the 30s to the 70s that you can add to your DVD collection. Now it’s time to add classics from the 80s, a vitally significant decade in the history of Queer cinema.
T
he 80s kicked off with drama when LGBT activists publicly protested Cruising for its homophobic political message, and portraying gay men as being attracted to violence, which could in turn justify homophobic hate crimes. In this cult classic from William Friedkin (who also gave us Boys In The Band) Al Pacino goes undercover into the dark underbelly of New York’s gay S&M scene to track a serial killer preying on gay men. Shot on location with many characters appearing as themselves, Frank Ripploh’ groundbreaking autobiographical Taxi zum Klo (1981) documents gay culture in West Berlin in post gay liberation and before the onset of AIDS. The title refers to casual sexual encounters in toilets. The film is a dark comedy of manners and wryly explores the life of a schoolteacher and was not passed uncut by the British Board of Film Classification until 2011.
Al Pacino in Cruising Desert Hearts
In 1982 Mariel Hemingway played a young bisexual pentathlete vying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team but opts for a relationship with her lesbian coach—played by Olympic hurdler Patrice Donnelly in Personal Best, while Károly Makk’s Hungarian film Another Way dealt with a serious affair between two women. Donna Deitch’ quintessential ‘80s lesbian romantic drama The Desert Hearts (1985) is regarded as one of the first widerelease films to present a positive portrayal of lesbian sexuality and sets its romance in a warm, affirming environment and lets its leads enjoy their relationship without angst or fear of death. It tells the story of a university professor awaiting a divorce who finds her true self when she meets a free-spirited younger woman self-confident in her romantic and sexual attraction. Another cult classic that was unleashed in 1982 was Blake Edwards’ Victor/Victoria, starring his wife Julie Andrews as a woman pretending to be a man impersonating a woman and Robert Preston as her flaming gay buddy, comically exploring transvestism and sexual identity as central themes and was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The first wide-release mainstream Hollywood drama with a homosexual relationship at its core was Arthur Hiller’s Making Love (1982), with Michael Ontkean as a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality and the love triangle that develops between him, his wife and another man. Who can ever forget Brad Davis in Querelle (1982), Jean Genet tale of an incredibly sexy and depraved young French sailor’s descent into Hell who murders another sailor and ‘’execution’’ for his crime by allowing himself to be brutally sodomised. He also has a masochistic affair with a police inspector who wears Hell’s Angels drag, and is worshipped by a naval officer on Querelle’s ship. It marked Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s final film as a writer/director and was posthumously released just months Mag 46
Franco Nero and Brad Davis in Querelle
after the director died of a drug overdose in June 1982. The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983) is a trio of interlinked shorts, three portraits of the artist as a young, middle-aged and old man. The films ‘Children’ (1976), ‘Madonna and the Child’ (1980) and ‘Death and Transfiguration’ (1983 trace the life of Robert Tucker, the director’s alter ego, from childhood to the grave, exploring heart-breaking struggles with religion and sexuality.
The Times of Harvey Milk
Rob Epstein’s documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) traces the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Francisco’s first openly gay supervisor and explores his rise from a neighbourhood activist to a symbol of gay political achievement, through to his assassination in November 1978 at San Francisco’s city hall, and the Dan White trial and aftermath. This doccie was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2012 . The doccie Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (1984) investigated LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots and won Emmy Awards in 1987 for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. In 2019 was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” . The first made for television film to deal with the topic of AIDS was John Erman’s An Early Frost (1985) with Aidan Quinn as a Chicago attorney who goes home to break the news that he is gay and has AIDS to his parents. While the three major networks generally shied away from airing programming with similar themes until 1988, in the weeks following the broadcast of An Early Frost, episodes of St. Elsewhere, Mr. Belvedere, and Hotel dealt with AIDS issues, and in July 1986, Showtime broadcast the AIDS film As Is. The film paved the way for later TV and feature films dealing with the topic of AIDS, including Go Toward the Light (1988); The Littlest Victims and The Ryan White Story (both 1989); Longtime Companion (1990); And the Band Played On; and Philadelphia (both 1993).
Longtime Companion
Buddies (1985) also explored the AIDS pandemic, following a New York City gay man in a monogamous relationship becoming a “buddy” or a volunteer friend to another gay man dying of AIDS and the friendship that develops. It was directed by Arthur J. Bressan Jr., who died of complications from AIDS two years after the film was released. Derek Jarman’s The Angelic Conversation (1985) arthouse drama consists primarily of homoerotic images and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their own desires. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow-moving photographic images and Shakespeare’s sonnets read by Judi Dench. Rupert Everett rose to stardom after Another Country (1984), which follows classmates and fellow outcasts Guy Bennett (Everett) and Tommy Judd (Colin Firth) finding comfort in friendship during the 1930s, at an elite British public school where conformity is the norm. Openly gay Bennett must deal with bullying and homophobia, while Judd struggles to reconcile the expectations of the establishment with his own Marxist beliefs when he is given the opportunity to become head boy.
Rupert Everett - Another Country Whoopi Goldberg - The Color Purple
Spielberg’s magnificent The Color Purple (1985) is an adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel, with Whoopi Goldberg delivering a powerful performance as Celie, an African-American woman in the early 20th century, who fights her way through oppression and abuse from her husband and finds unexpected love in the arms of another woman. Wieland Speck’s Westler ( 1985) was originally produced for Mag 47
West Germany television and later released in cinema. It tells the story of Felix (Sigurd Rachman) who is visited in West Berlin by an American friend from Los Angeles (Andy Lucas). The two make a day trip to East Berlin where they meet Thomas (played by Rainer Strecker). Thomas and Felix fall in love but are divided by the Wall, much like all of Germany at the time. Felix tries to keep their relationship strong by making regular visits to Thomas in the East, but this raises the suspicions of the East German authorities. Eventually, Thomas seeks to flee to West Germany. Sexuality is only one element in a storm of conflicting values and behaviours in Stephen Frear’s My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), where about Omar a young British-Pakistani man (Gordon Warnecke), is caught between the entrepreneurial, Thatcherite dreams of his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey) and the more romantic, intellectual ambitions of his alcoholic father (Roshan Seth). Omar’s unlikely attraction to Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), an old friend turned neo-fascist hooligan, results in a sex scene in the back of Omar’s refurbished laundrette.
A must for any collection of Gay classics is Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy (1988) with Fierstein in top form and armed with sharp wit as a gay man working as a female impersonator in 1970s New York City, looking for love and acceptance. After a series of heartaches, Arnold believes he has found the love of his life in Alan (Matthew Broderick), and the couple make plans to adopt. But when tragedy strikes, Arnold’s life is shaken to its very core, leading to a confrontation with his overbearing mother (Anne Bancroft), who has never approved of her son’s lifestyle. Harvey Fierstein - Torch Song Trilogy
It took producer Ray Aghayan ten years to get the televisiondrama Consenting Adult (1985) made, with Marlo Thomas and Martin Sheen as parents who must come to terms with their teenage son’s coming out. Héctor Babenco alluring Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) was adapted by Leonard Schrader from the Manuel Puig novel and earned an Oscar for William Hurt playing an effeminate homosexual in prison for having sex with an underage boy. Bill Sherwood’s Parting Glances (1986) was completed before his death from an Aids-related illness aged just 37 and was one of the first films to deal directly with the disease. Set over just 24 hours, it’s pegged to the relationship between Robert (John Bolger) and Michael (Richard Ganoung), though the latter’s ailing ex Nick (an early lead role for Steve Buscemi) is also central. Although it burns with injustice, it gives a vivid sense of the humour and partying vital to the spirit of defiance that marked the New York downtown scene of the day. Merchant-Ivory’s sumptuous Maurice (1987) was based on an EM Forster novel published in 1971, a year after the author’s death, but written over five decades earlier and assumed unpublishable by the writer. It tells of a love affair between two Cambridge students, Maurice (James Wilby) and Clive (Hugh Grant), which becomes more complicated once each of them leaves university. While Clive marries and seeks political office, an increasingly troubled Maurice refuses to discard his feelings, leading to a dangerous (considering the legal and social binds of the time) affair with a gamekeeper (Rupert Graves). The story is heart-breaking but also radical for offering an ending which suggests happiness – however isolated – in a same-sex relationship that crosses the class divide. The life and tragic death of British playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) is chronicled Prick Up Your Ears (1987). When the young, attractive Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina) at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage. Pedro Almodóvar’s rousing Law of Desire (1987) focuses on a complex love triangle between two men and a trans woman and was his first work centred in homosexual relationships. It follows the more serious tone set by Almodóvar’s previous film, Matador (1986) exploring the unrestrained force of desire, looking at love, loss, gender, family, sexuality and the close link between life and art. Mag 48
Michael Thornhill’ Australian film The Everlasting Secret Family (1988) deals with a fictional group of middle-aged homosexual men (including a senator) hold influence and power over young schoolboys from the fictional Saint Michael’s Private School for Boys. By the end of the 1980s, mainstream Hollywood was just about ready to confront the Aids crisis, and leading the way was Norman René’s Longtime Companion (1989) which opened a window onto the realities of Aids-related illness. Taking its name from the New York Times obituary page’s euphemism for the partners of the dead, it covers the whole decade, structured around well-heeled couple Sean (Mark Lamos) and David (Bruce Davison) and their friends and family Marlon Riggs’ experimental documentary Tongues Untied (1989) seeks to “shatter the nation’s brutalizing silence on matters of sexual and racial difference.” The film blends documentary footage with personal account and poetry depicting the specificity of black gay identity. The “silence” referred to throughout the film is that of black gay men, who are unable to express themselves because of the prejudices of white and black heterosexual society, as well as the white gay society. Artistically envisioned and lovingly done, the doccie Looking For Langston (1989) has become a favourite within the gay community for its willingness to examine the viewpoint including sexuality and the black experience. It explores the life and consequences of late African American poet Langston Hughes who represented the unabashed energy of the Cotton Club and the emerging tone of beat poetry. Filmmaker Isaac Julien fuses together a multitude of images to create a patchwork of impressions about the changing gay culture. East German filmmaker Heiner Carow’s Coming Out (1989) premiered in Berlin on 9 November 1989, the night that the Berlin Wall was opened, and deals with a high school teacher, “coming out” and accepting himself as gay. It won a number of awards including a Silver Bear and Teddy Award at 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
Though I grew up overweight, I chose to not be defined by it, and though I was coming to terms with my own body, stretch marks and all, I didn’t realising that I played a negative role in the way others felt about themselves, and that I was part of the problem - Martin Headger Read the full story on www.wethebrave.co.za
