Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
L-R Hannah Einbinder, Jean Smart of ‘Hacks’ (image via Instagram)GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, now comprised of 385 professional critics and journalists covering film and television, has announced its 14th Dorian TV Awards nominations for the best in all of TV, mainstream to LGBTQIA+ content. Continue reading “LGBTQ Critics Announce Nominations For 14th Dorian TV Awards”
“Power of the Dog” and “Flee” were big winners at 13th annual Dorian AwardsNetflix’s period western The Power of the Dog was named Best Film of 2021 as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay honors going to Jane Campion by the 13th annual Dorian Awards presented by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. Continue reading “‘Power Of The Dog,’ ‘Flee’ Big Winners At GALECA’s Dorian Awards”
Benedict Cumberbatch in THE POWER OF THE DOG. (photo: Kiristy Griffin/NETFLIX)Adding some zest to the film awards season, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced its 2021 Dorian Award nominations for the best in movies, mainstream to LGBTQ. Continue reading “GALECA LGBTQ Critics’ 2021 Dorian Award Film Nominations Announced”
Tune in on Sunday, August 29, for the Dorians TV Toast 2021 – a hybrid of award and magazine shows. Presented by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, the event celebrates the past TV season’s best performances and shows, mainstream to queer+. Continue reading “What To Watch Tonight: Dorians TV Toast 2021”
Scenes from POSE and WandaVision (Eric Liebowitz/FX; Marvel Studios)Take pride, Hollywood: GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, comprised of over 300 entertainment journalists in the U.S. and abroad, has announced its 2021 Dorian TV Award nominations.
“And I’m so proud,” says the Society’s newly-elected president, Monika Estrella Negra. “Our group’s nominations are diverse and fresh, signaling the overhaul of invisibility of marginalized communities and the heralding of a new generation of entertainment journalists.”
Disclaimer: I am a proud voting member of GALECA.
The final season of Pose, FX’s dazzling and powerful found-family drama, holds sway with six nods, starting with Best TV Drama. Disney+’s amusing (and TV-spoofing) Marvel fantasy WandaVision keeps an eye out with five nominations. And following closely with four nominations each: HBO’s grim Kate Winslet-lead murder mystery Mare of Easttown and vividly frank trauma tale I May Destroy You, as well as the heartrending AIDS crisis drama It’s a Sin on spinoff network HBO Max.
Spurred by passionate pleas in trade publication editorials by non-binary activists, as well as non-binary journalists and others in GALECA’s own ranks, the group’s membership recently voted to make all Dorian performance categories gender-neutral (as they were in the group’s first three years of existence, beginning in 2009).
Aiming to alleviate concerns that the elimination of gendered acting categories would cut the number of nomination-worthy roles by half—and leave out artists that might otherwise be recognized—the Society moved to note 10 nominees, rather than the usual five, for Best TV Performance and Best Supporting TV Performance.
In the chief performance category, venerable stars like Winslett (for Easttown), Jean Smart (Hacks) and past Dorian Award winner Billy Porter (Pose) are up against rising talents like I May Destroy You’s creator Michaela Coel and Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad). In the supporting race, Dorian final-ballot voters will choose from the likes of The Crown’s Gillian Anderson, John Boyega of auteur director Steve McQueen’s anthology drama Small Axe, Saturday Night Live’s latest breakout Bowen Yang and Easttown standout Julianne Nicholson.
Showing the medium is still thriving amid a pandemic, GALECA’s short-list picks include lots of first-season shows, including the electric dramas Bridgerton, Lovecraft Country and P-Valley, the over-the-top showbiz satires Girls5eva (produced by Tina Fey) and Hacks, and Best Current Affairs Show contenders Ziwe and The Amber Ruffin Show.
And holding court in the group’s trademark Campiest TV Show arena: The annual flashy and drama-filled live music performance battle Eurovision Song Contest, the nasty nurse rehash that was Ratched, the ultra-irreverent WandaVision, and more.
Dorian TV Award winners will be revealed Sunday, August 29. Last fall’s Dorians TV Toast 2020 special, a mix of comedy, original music and meaningful tributes to winners, featured appearances by Janelle Monáe, Regina King, Hugh Jackman, Dan Levy, Josh Thomas, Laverne Cox, John Oliver, Damon Lindelof, Margaret Cho, Chad Michaels and the exuberant Porter. The program, hosted by groundbreaking gay activist and broadcasting veteran Karel, can be viewed for free on demand on Revry.TV.
Viewers who missed GALECA’s more recent special, Dorians Film Toast 2021 can tune to Free Speech TV (FSTV) on June 27, 4pm EST, 1pm PST. The three-hour show, also hosted by Karel, will be repeated on the channel over July 4 weekend as well.
COMPLETE LIST OF DORIAN TV AWARD NOMINEES:
BEST TV DRAMA
(scene from Nomadland)Nomadland, the spare and fact-based drama of a group of struggling Americans living off the grid; the vivid blues woman biopic Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; the family-happy fish-out-of-water fable Minari; writer-director-actress Radha Blank and her biting showbiz satire The Forty-Year-Old Version; the death-to-misogyny revenge thriller Promising Young Woman; and the urgent human-rights documentaries Disclosure and Welcome to Chechnya all scored more than one Dorian Award from GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics via a televised special.
GALECA’s Dorian Awards honor the best in all of film and TV, from mainstream to LGBTQ fare, on separate occasions.
As revealed during the three-hour Dorians Film Toast 2021, shown on LGBTQ+ streaming platform Revry and hosted by famed entertainer and human rights hero Karel, Nomadland earned 3 Dorians: Best Film, Best Director for Chloé Zhao, and Most Visually Striking Film.
Minari earned Best Non-English Language Film plus a supporting actress nod for Yuh-Jung Youn.
Ma Rainey’s was deemed Best LGBTQ Film by GALECA, and the musical drama’s male lead, the late Chadwick Boseman, earned Best Film Performance—Actor.
Promising Young Woman star Carey Mulligan, fascinatingly mischievous as a woman out to avenge the death of a female friend, and the mystery’s witty screenwriter, Emerald Fennell, both delighted with their humble acceptance videos for Best Film Performance—Actress and Best Screenplay, respectively.
In homage to Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, GALECA’s Dorian “trophies” are actually small pop-art portraits of the winner (sometimes in character) or a rendering of a memorable scene from the champion title (the pieces, fashioned from an existing photo, come with an easel).
COMPLETE LIST OF DORIAN FILM AWARD WINNERS (noted in bold)
Best Film
FIRST COW
MINARI
NOMADLAND
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
SOUND OF METAL
Best LGBTQ Film
AMMONITE
THE BOYS IN THE BAND
I CARRY YOU WITH ME
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
SUPERNOVA
UNCLE FRANK
Best Non-English Language Film
ANOTHER ROUND
BACURAU
I CARRY YOU WITH ME
LA LLORONA
MINARI
TWO OF US
Best Director
CHLOÉ ZHAO, NOMADLAND
EMERALD FENNELL, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
KELLY REICHARDT, FIRST COW
LEE ISAAC CHUNG, MINARI
REGINA KING, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Best Screenplay (original or adapted)
CHLOÉ ZHAO, NOMADLAND
ELIZA HITTMAN, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
EMERALD FENNELL, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
LEE ISAAC CHUNG, MINARI
RADHA BLANK, THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
Best Unsung Film – Presented by Stoli®
DRIVEWAYS
FIRST COW
THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
MISS JUNETEENTH
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
SHIRLEY
THE ASSISTANT
Best Documentary (tie)
COLLECTIVE
CRIP CAMP
DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD
DISCLOSURE
TIME
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
Best LGBTQ Documentary (tie)
A SECRET LOVE
BORN TO BE
DISCLOSURE
MUCHO MUCHO AMOR: THE LEGEND OF WALTER MERCADO
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
Best Film Performance — Actress
CAREY MULLIGAN, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
FRANCES MCDORMAND, NOMADLAND
NICOLE BEHARIE, MISS JUNETEENTH
SIDNEY FLANIGAN, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
VIOLA DAVIS, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Best Film Performance — Actor
ANTHONY HOPKINS, THE FATHER
CHADWICK BOSEMAN, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
DELROY LINDO, DA 5 BLOODS
RIZ AHMED, SOUND OF METAL
STEVEN YEUN, MINARI
Best Film Performance — SUPPORTING Actress
AMANDA SEYFRIED, MANK
CANDICE BERGEN, LET THEM ALL TALK
MARIA BAKALOVA, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
OLIVIA COLMAN, THE FATHER
YUH-JUNG YOUN, MINARI
Best Film Performance — SUPPORTING Actor
CHADWICK BOSEMAN, DA 5 BLOODS
DANIEL KALUUYA, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
LESLIE ODOM JR., ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
PAUL RACI, SOUND OF METAL
SACHA BARON COHEN, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Most Visually Striking Film
BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)
MANK
NOMADLAND
SOUL
WOLFWALKERS
Campiest Flick
BAD HAIR
BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA
THE PROM
WONDER WOMAN 1984
“We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award
ALAN S. KIM
KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR
MARIA BAKALOVA
RADHA BLANK
SIDNEY FLANIGAN
Wilde Artist Award (to a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment)
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
CHLOÉ ZHAO
DOLLY PARTON
ELLIOT PAGE
REGINA KING
GALECA Trailblazer Award (Special Board-picked accolade)
For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
ISABEL SANDOVAL
Timeless Star
Honoring an actor or performer whose exemplary career has been marked by character, wisdom and wit
LESLIE JORDAN
(via press release)
In this week’s episode of The Randy Report podcast:
• President Biden appoints an out police chief to head up Customs and Border Protections
• A new vaccine shows enormous promise against HIV
• Polling shows Americans overwhelmingly oppose anti-transgender legislation
• Colton Underwood, star of ‘The Bachelor,’ comes out as gay and gets some backlash
• The third and final season of the ground-breaking FX series POSE will premiere in May – click here for trailer
• And LGBTQ entertainment critics will have their say on the best in cinema from the past year at the Dorians Film Toast 2021
All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has its Golden Globe Awards, the Screen Actors Guild has the SAG Awards, but now its time to find out what the queer entertainment critics thought represented the best in cinema this past year.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics will present its first-ever Dorians Film Toast 2021 awards special Sunday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the free LGBTQ+ streaming service Revry at revry.tv.
Hosted by gay entertainment and broadcasting veteran Karel, the Dorians Toast offers a queer-centric twist on the standard awards show combining tributes, interview segments, music, and comedy. Plus, members of GALECA take part in lively round-table discussions on nominees in several categories.
Those categories include Best Film, Best LGBTQ film, Best Documentary, Best LGBTQ Documentary, Best Unsung Film, Campiest Flick, ‘We’re Just Wilde About You!’ Rising Star Award, Wilde Artist Award (To a Truly Groundbreaking Force in Entertainment), as well as honors for best actor and actress in leading and featured roles.
Best Film nominees this year include First Cow, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, and Sound of Metal.
Among those nominated for Best Director are rising Hollywood firebrand Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman and actress Regina King for her feature film directorial debut in One Night in Miami.
Emmy Award winner Leslie Jordan (“Will & Grace”) will receive the Society’s Timeless Star career achievement honor, and transgender writer-director-actress Isabel Sandoval accepts the inaugural GALECA Trailblazer Award.
For a full list of nominees, click here.
Presenters for the virtual event include director Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), Cheyenne Jackson (Call Me Kat), Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious, Antebellum), Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight, Concrete Cowboy), Rafael Silva (Fluidity, 9-1-1 Lone Star), Harmony Valle-Ramirez (Room To Grow), comedian Margaret Cho, the legendary Charo, and more.
Dorians Film Toast 2021 is coproduced by Brandon Riley Miller (Life in Segments, High) and John Griffiths for GALECA. In order to be eligible for the Dorians Film Toast 2021, films were required to have a theatrical or digital theatrical release from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021.
Don’t miss this year’s Dorians Film Toast 2021 on Sunday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the free LGBTQ+ streaming service Revry at revry.tv.
Founded in 2009, GALECA (formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) boasts a membership of nearly 290 professional LGBTQ journalists covering film and television.
GALECA hosts two Dorian Awards events during the year – one honoring the best in film and another acknowledging the finest in TV – from mainstream to LGBTQ fare. Last September, the organization celebrated their Dorians TV Toast 2020 with appearances by Billy Porter, Dan Levy, Hugh Jackman, Shangela, Thomas Roberts, Bruce Vilanch and many more.
Note: I’m a proud voting member of GALECA.
L-R Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth in Supernova (image via The Bureau)While the Golden Globe and SAG Awards have served up their choices for ‘Best of 2020,’ what did queer entertainment writers think about the past year’s films?
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, comprised of 250+ active professional journalists covering film and television, has announced the nominations for its 2021 Dorian Film Awards.
Due to the pandemic’s affect on the industry, GALECA extended the consideration period for full-length theatrical releases and digital theatrical releases to January 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021.
The highly-acclaimed Minari leads the list of nominations with six nods including Best Film and Best Foreign-Language Film.
YAY! Dorian Film Awards: ‘Minari’ Tops Nominations From LGBTQ Entertainment Critics https://t.co/AwMqZspslS via @thr
— GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (@DorianAwards) February 11, 2021
Nomadland scored five nominations including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Chloé Zhao), Best Actress (Frances McDormand), and Most Visually Striking Film.
Rounding out the Best Film category are Promising Young Woman (4 nominations), First Cow (3 nominations), and Sound of Metal (3 nominations).
Emerald Fennell, another double-nominee, garnered nods for both writing and directing Promising Young Woman.
In the Best LGBTQ Film category, the queer critics nominated the romantic period film Ammonite, Spanish-language love story I Carry You with Me, the intimate Stanley Tucci-Colin Firth helmed Supernova, writer-director Alan Ball’s comedy Uncle Frank, the all-star screen adaptation of The Boys in the Band, and the acclaimed bio-pic Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
A scene from Ammonite (courtesy of See Saw Films)The folks at GALECA also like to have fun with their awards, so other featured categories include Campiest Flick and the “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award.
Additionally, the Wilde Artist Award honors “groundbreaking” artists in the world of entertainment. This year’s nominees include the late Chadwick Boseman, Chloé Zhao, Regina King, Elliot Page, and international superstar Dolly Parton.
Last September, queer streaming platform Revry presented the star-studded Dorians TV Toast of 2020 which featured appearances by Hollywood heavy-hitters including Hugh Jackman, Regina King, Janelle Monáe, Billy Porter, Dan Levy, Laverne Cox, Shangela, Thomas Roberts, Bruce Vilanch, Stephanie Miller, Dave Koz, Rafael Casal and more.
The winners will be announced on April 18 in a special event, the Dorians Film Toast 2021, set to air on queer streaming platform Revry.
Launched in 2009, the nonprofit GALECA celebrates both mainstream and LGBTQ-centered content.
View the complete list of nominations below. (Disclaimer: I am a voting member of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics)
BEST FILM
First Cow
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
BEST LGBTQ FILM
Ammonite
The Boys in the Band
I Carry You With Me
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Supernova
Uncle Frank
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Another Round
Bacurau
I Carry You With Me
La Llorona
Minari
Two of Us
BEST DIRECTOR
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Kelly Reichardt, First Cow
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Regina King, One Night in Miami
BEST SCREENPLAY (original or adapted)
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Radha Blank, The Forty-Year Version
BEST UNSUNG FILM
Driveways
First Cow
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Miss Juneteenth
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Shirley
The Assistant
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Collective
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Disclosure
Time
Welcome To Chechnya
BEST LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY
A Secret Love
Born To Be
Disclosure: Trans Lives On Screen
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
Welcome To Chechnya
BEST FILM PERFORMANCE — ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Nicole Beharie, Miss Juneteenth
Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
BEST FILM PERFORMANCE — ACTOR
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Steven Yeun, Minari
BEST FILM PERFORMANCE — SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Candice Bergen, Let Them All Talk
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Movie Film
Olivia Colman, The Father
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
BEST FILM PERFORMANCE — SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night In Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
MOST VISUALLY STRIKING FILM
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Mank
Nomadland
Soul
Wolfwalkers
CAMPIEST FLICK
Bad Hair
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
The Prom
Wonder Woman 1984
“We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award
Alan S. Kim
Kingsley Ben-Adir
Maria Bakalova
Radha Blank
Sidney Flanigan
Wilde Artist Award (to a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment)
Chadwick Boseman
Chloé Zhao
Dolly Parton
Elliot Page
Regina King
In this week’s podcast:
• Remembering the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a fierce champion for LGBTQ rights, who died this week at the age of 87
• A Navy veteran sues the Veteran’s Administration claiming he tested positive for HIV over 20 years ago and his doctors never informed him of the diagnosis
• A sportscaster suspended for using a gay slur on-air says he’s ‘never said the word’ before that moment
• A woman denied Social Security survivor benefits after a 27-year relationship wins in federal court
• New data shows the number of same-sex households rising in the US
• Burger King lays a whopper on Ronald McDonald for LGBTQ Pride
• Academy Award winner Jane Fonda reminds us what an awesome ally she is
• And GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics announces the best in 2020 TV entertainment. Click here to watch the glitzy honors special on Revry TV (free).
All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report