From South Of The Border to the Emerald Isle

The LGBT community goes globe trotting more than ever these days with often some very surprising results.  Last week 27 year old Emmie Reek a Brazilian drag performer caused quite a sensation when she performed her version of Adele's One and Only on RTE's The Voice of Ireland TV Show in Dublin earlier this week. Emmie (aka student Emery Modesta) should have been preparing to go back home to marry his Polish fiance but when he got the call from the Producers he delayed the wedding in the hope of becoming Ireland’s next singing sensation.   We think he has a good chance of making it judging by this performance.

Recently two Irish filmmakers made a movie set in Havana, Cuba about a young gay man who really only discovered his purpose in life when he donned a dress to become a rather sensational drag performer.  This rather exhilarating movie called "Viva" was filmed completely in Spanish even though director Paddy Breathnach barely spoke a word of it, and was chosen as Ireland's Official Submission for Best Foreign Film Oscar. Viva  is due to be released in the US in April 2016.

Will The Danish Girl give Eddie Redmayne another Oscar?

Focus Features have just released the first trailer of 'The Danish Girl' and if this clip is anything to go by then it is obvious that its star Eddie Redmayne is heading for his second Best Actor Oscar this year.   This true story is set in Copenhagen in the early 1920s , and the illustrator and artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband, Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) to stand in for a female model. The popularity of the portraits leads to Gerda painting her husband in further pictures as a woman. Einar develops an attraction for a female physical appearance and begins living as a woman named Lili Elbe. Ultimately Elbe becomes the first ever recipient of male to female sex reassignment surgery, and Gerda supports her decision, although their marriage becomes strained when Gerda comes to the realization that Lili is no longer the person she married. A childhood friend of Einar, Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), shows up and forms a complex love triangle with the couple.

Directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech," "Les Misérables") the movie will be premiered at Venice Film Festival this week, and then released in US movie theaters on November 27th.   We cannot wait!