Category: Arts & Culture
Ahead of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s performance of Three by Ekman, express contributor Ashna Sholehpak, managed to pull aside 25-year-old Shaun James, RNZB dancer, and get the low-down on what he enjoys about being with the company, what excites him about performing Ekman’s pieces, and all about his life of dance, travel, passion and the value […]
The 2017 Auckland Writers Festival kicks off on 16 May with the theme, “Love Story”. While most writers’ festivals are programmed for the literate masses, with a little investigation there are usually some Rainbow connections to be found and enjoyed. We asked Carole Beu, Festival Trustee and Women’s Bookshop owner, to point us in the […]
Tristan Reginato, a queer New York filmmaker, has debut his short-film, The Cost of Change. In the film, he touches on the familiar concept that many LGBT+ people have thought about throughout their coming out process – if you could change your sexuality, would you? The fictional film follows Yuri as he comes to terms […]
Few others could rival the 6 April opening night in Auckland of the three year old African Film Festival. In the roomy foyer of the Newmarket Rialto, hand drums beat irresistibly while high pings of the Nigerian m’bira (thumb organ) fluttered and resonant bass notes boomed happily from a shakr’a (gourd bass). Weaving through all […]
Christian Rock musician Trey Pearson’s new video features two men kissing in a church. Trey Pearson came out to fans in an emotional letter last May, causing him to be dropped by Joshua Fest, which he says would have made him the first openly gay artist ever to play a major Christian music festival. He says […]
Sir Ian McKellen has opened up about growing up gay in Britain before the partial-decriminalisation of homosexuality. The short film, part of a series called Random Acts, sees the legendary actor explaining that life as a gay person in the 40s and 50s was “a terrible oppression.” The four-minute film was directed by filmmaker Joe Stephenson […]
BOYS, adapted from Greg McGee’s Foreskin’s Lament, is our state of the nation play about masculinity. Using contemporary material ranging from the Chiefs ‘stripper scandal’ to Wellington College’s recent online incident, award-winning theatre-makers Eleanor Bishop and Julia Croft and a group of sixteen young people from Auckland take New Zealand’s iconic locker room play and ask “what […]
A work-in-progress edit of the documentary PRIDE? screened at the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival in March to great reception, but in order to get it finished and reach a wider audience, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched. The UK film is an exploration of what Pride means in a world of increased visibility and acceptance […]