Rod 2.0:Beta #gay #news #lgbt #gaynews

Strong Opening for "Pariah"

More excellent news about Pariah, the coming-of-age drama about a Black lesbian teen in New York City. The critically acclaimed drama opened to very strong box office—over $20,000 per screen—in very limited engagement. The film opened in limited engagement in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on December 28.

 "Pariah did extremely well in its very limited platform release this weekend, making almost $81,500 in only 4 theaters nationwide," reports IndieWire.The film expands to more theaters on January 6th, and strong word of mouth and solid reviews should help it pull in some solid numbers."

Pariah's success is indebted to a series of "often overlooked but no less important documentaries and coming-out films released during the height of black lesbian filmmaking from 1991 to 1996," notes The Root.

Pariah was originally created as a short film by writer/director Dee Rees, who said that writing it encouraged her own coming out. The project was developed into a feature film and made its debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Pariah features Adepero Oduye as the teen "butch" lesbian Alike discovering her sexual identity. One of the standout characters was Kim Wayans  as the disapproving, gay-bashing "Christian" mother.

Oduye and Wayans discuss their roles to TheGrio. Watch the video AFTER THE JUMP ...

"Pariah" Director Talks to "Black Enterprise" About Coming Out

R20 readers may recall our January 2011 report about Pariah, the coming-of-age drama about a Black lesbian teen in New York City. Pariah was originally created as a short film by writer/director Dee Rees. The project was developed into a feature film and made its debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

BlackEnterprise.com interviewed filmmaker Dee Rees last week for National Coming Out Day. Rees discussed the film and how the character's "coming out" process encouraged her own journey.

When she began writing the script six years ago, Rees was going through her own coming-out process. "As I was coming into my sexuality, I started to become comfortable with who I was. But I didn’t know how to express that," says the 34-year-old filmmaker. "Some of the awe and anxiety the lead character feels were things I experienced when I was coming out, coming into this world."

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Rees was amazed to see teenage girls totally out and proud when she came to New York. "Even if I had figured out my sexuality at that age, I don’t know that I would have had the courage to be that person, and that is how the idea for the film came about," she says. ...

Rees admits the principal conflicts in the film are similar to her own. "Parental conflict is something I really went through," she says. "When I came out, my parents weren’t accepting ... For a few months, they sent emails, cards, letters and Bible verses to make me change," she says. She cut off communication, alienating herself, but eventually started talking to them again. "Things are better now."

Pariah is about 17-year-old "butch" lesbian Alike discovering her sexual identity with which contrasts with the feminine, obedient Christian girl desired by her family. One of the standout characters was Kim Wayans  as the disapproving, gay-bashing "Christian" mother.

Focus acquired the film for "less than $1 million" last January, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The studio has a good track record of financing critically- and commercially-successful independent LGBT features, such as Brokeback Mountain, Milk, and The Kids Are All Right, currently nominated for four Academy Awards.

Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence and Jet have profiled LGBT issues in recent months. The cover of Black Enterprise's July 2011 issue was "Black and Gay in Corporate America." Our report on Black same-sex couples raising children was featured in the October 2011 EBONY.

The film opens in limited engagement in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on December 28. The nationwide premiere is January 2012. Watch the trailer AFTER THE JUMP ...

Focus Features Buys Black Lesbian Drama "Pariah" at Sundance

 

Focus Features has acquired Pariah, the coming-of-age drama about a Black lesbian teen in New York City, after its feature debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Pariah was created by writer/director Dee Rees.

The deal closed early Friday morning after Focus CEO James Schamus viewed the film and it was screened for Focus execs in Los Angeles. Other suitors for the film incuded the Weinstein Co. and Sony Pictures Classics. But the NBC Universal specialty division, which had also made a strong bid to acquire the romantic drama Like Crazy earlier in the week, liked Pariah so much it also hired Rees to write another undetermined project.

The film, executive produced by Spike Lee and produced by Nekisa Cooper, stars Adepero Oduye, Charles Parnell, Pernell Walker and Kim Wayans. It's a no-star inner-city drama, indicating that despite the recent takeover by Comcast of NBC Universal, Focus is still being allowed to pursue and release indie-minded, tough-sell films from new filmmaking voices.

The film is about 17-year-old "butch" lesbian Alike discovering her sexual identity with which contrasts with the feminine, obedient Christian girl desired by her family. Focus acquired the film for "less than $1 million", adds the Reporter. The studio has a good track record of financing critically- and commercially-successful independent LGBT features, such as Brokeback Mountain, Milk, and The Kids Are All Right, currently nominated for four Academy Awards. 

Kyle Smith at the New York Post enjoyed the film: "Its portrayal of a black middle-class family—in which both parents have good jobs and eat dinner every night with their two school-age daughters—is refreshingly free of cliche and in the title role Adepero Oduye is totally convincing, without being maudlin, as a 17-year-old girl who doesn't feel free to dress the way she wants to (in baggy, oversized clothes) or to date whom she wants to or even to be friends with whom she likes."

I've seen some early screeners of Pariah and it is very moving. Kim Wayans' character as the disapproving, gay-bashing "Christian" mother should generate a much-needed conversation in Black LGBT community.  Writer/director Dee Rees and producer Nekisa Cooper discuss the film AFTER THE JUMP ...