Arts & Entertainment
From Larry Kramer to the ruby slippers
AFI DOCS festival continues through weekend
Larry Kramer speaking at a Boston Gay Town Meeting 6.9.87 at historic Faneuil Hall in Boston MA sponsored by the Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance.
Openly gay film curator Michael Lumpkin is now also openly bi-coastal.
Since he was named executive director of AFI DOCS last December, Lumpkin has been splitting his time between the two coasts. After spending more than three decades in California, he’s enjoying life in the nation’s capital.
Every year, AFI DOCS brings the nest new documentaries from around the globe to Washington with dozens of screenings at AFI Silver in Silver Spring and other theaters throughout the District. Now in its 13th year, the festival runs through Sunday. The full schedule is at afidocs.org.
Lumpkin is thrilled with the slate of films that will be shown this year, but says that the selection process is very difficult.
“It takes several months,” he says. “We had close to 2,000 entries. Most of those are feature length films, but we also show short documentaries. We have a number of experienced screeners who send their evaluations to us. A screening committee goes through all the films that are rising to the top and then we make the final selections.”
Turning away talented filmmakers and exciting films is the worst part of the process.
“There are way more film that we would like to show than we can. There are so many great documentaries. That’s the hard part of the job — deciding what you’re not going to show. Deciding what you want to show is easy. Having to say, ‘Sorry we can’t include you’ to way too many great documentaries is the hard part.”
Looking over this year’s films, Lumpkin says he is excited by the latest film by Malcolm Ingram, director of “Bear Nation.”
“One that I’m really, really happy about is ‘Out To Win,’ a documentary about LGBT people in sports,“ he says. “Malcolm is one of my favorite filmmakers. I became aware of him with his film ‘Small Town Gay Bar.’ He’s a great filmmaker and a great guy.”
Lumpkin is also intrigued by “Larry Kramer In Love And Anger,” the new HBO documentary by Jean Carlomusto about the fiery author and AIDS activist.
“It’s interesting to look back at Larry and see his role in our community. He’s a volatile, very outspoken guy. It was so great to look back at these moments in LGBT history and activism. It’s a great bio-documentary that gives you the full picture of Larry.”
He adds, “There are a lot of great bio-documentaries in his year’s festival. I kinda go towards those a lot. I’m really into learning about people and their lives. We have documentaries about Steve Jobs and Nina Simone. We have a movie about the great arts patron Peggy Guggenheim. Closing night we’re featuring a movie about Mavis Staples, the great gospel singer.”
Two other films of special interest to the LGBT community are “Code: Debugging the Gender Gap” by Robin Hauser Reynolds, which looks at the absence of women in the coding industry, and “From This Day Forward,” a stunning film by Sharon Shattuck that explores her father’s gender identity struggles and how her parents have remained married through it all.
There’s also “Who Stole the Ruby Slippers?” a delightful short documentary that investigates the disappearance of one of the iconic pairs of ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” from the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minn. There are four programs of short documentaries throughout the festival.
Michael Lumpkin (Photo courtesy AFI DOCS)
Some other notable films that will be screened as part of AFI DOCS include “The Armor of Light,” a film by Abigail Disney about an evangelical leader who is forced to reconsider his views about gun control; “Very Semi-Serious” about Bob Mankoff, the quirky cartoon editor of “The New Yorker”; and “Welcome to Leith” which looks at how the resident of a small North Dakota reacted to the arrival of notorious white supremacist.
The love of documentaries has run through Lumpkin’s notable career, from when he ran the Frameline LGBT film festival for 25 years starting in the early ‘80s to today.
“Year after year, film after film, I would see people connecting with documentaries in a very different way than with fiction film. There’s something about it being truth and reality. I saw the special connection audiences have with documentaries.”
He also adds that AFI DOCS will include several opportunities for audience members to interact with the filmmakers and their subjects. Throughout the festival, there will be several Q&A sessions and panel discussions.
“For a fiction film, it’s great to have the director there, or a cast member who has just given a great performance. But to see a great documentary and then for the artist and the real person to be there, to be on stage, it’s a whole different reaction from audiences. I think it just goes much deeper.”
Lumpkin took several years off from his job at Frameline to produce the groundbreaking documentary “The Celluloid Closet” with Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Based on the pioneering film criticism of Vito Russo, the fascinating documentary examines Hollywood representations of gay men and lesbians. Working on the film gave Lumpkin a renewed appreciation for the genre. For several years he ran the Documentary Association, an organization in Los Angeles that supports documentary filmmakers around the world. When the opportunity to get back into the festival business with AFI DOCS came along, he “jumped at the opportunity.”
Celebrity News
Sam Asghari talks allyship and his new MISTR partnership
Reality star breaks down new role as healthcare service’s newest ambassador
When people think of Sam Asghari, they often think about his TV career, his long history as a model, or even his love life — but not enough know just how much of an advocate this professional really is.
Many first met Asghari through his time on reality TV; the man earned acclaim for his hilariously soft-spoken tenure on season three of “The Traitors.” This came after many years as a model — as well as former husband to a certain pop star — with the reality series showing that he could stun as much onscreen as he could on a runway. Yet even though recent years have seen thousands of fans fall in love with Asghari’s quiet charm, far too many of these new supporters still don’t realize how important LGBTQ advocacy is to Sam today.
Asghari has spent recent years speaking out against queer discrimination in both the United States and his home country of Iran. Yet while he’s never been shy about his support, there hasn’t yet been an opportunity to really use his platform to fight for this community on a larger level. Well, luckily for us all, Asghari’s newest (and possibly sexiest) project will give him the chance to do just that, as Sam was just announced as the newest ambassador for the United States’ largest provider of free online PrEP, MISTR.
“It’s an honor and a pleasure to kick off this allyship with such a great company making such a huge impact!” raved Asghari, as he sat down with the Los Angeles Blade to discuss this new partnership. The interview took place in West Hollywood’s The Abbey, a club that’s become a second home to Sam in recent years; the model was seen at almost every one of the many events that MISTR hosted at the club in 2025. “My best friends, my mentors, and everybody that I adore that make me who I am — [they all] just happen to be [LGBTQ]! [But] where I come from … people within this community don’t get to say it outright.”
Sam spoke about witnessing queer discrimination early on in his life through the treatment of these communities in Iran, describing, “They have to hide away … they [get punished] just for being themselves.” It’s a prejudice that he has unfortunately seen grow across the U.S. in recent years, which is what made him realize that he needed to do more for these groups who’ve helped him become who he is today. “I feel a huge responsibility on my shoulders to not only represent [them], but be the voice of [those facing discrimination] when I can.”
This is why he was thrilled to be the newest addition to the MISTR family, a brand that queer Angelinos will know well; plastered around the city — but especially in West Hollywood — are ads for the service, each ad featuring muscular men in speedos preaching about the importance of PrEP and long-term HIV care. The company has perfected this versatile form of marketing, not only catching people’s attention with the fun on display but underlying it with a serious mission of revolutionizing queer healthcare. It’s proven itself as both a serious provider of health services and a constant stream of scintillating fun — meaning it was just the right opportunity for Sam Asghari.
“MISTR does such a great job as creating not only awareness, but providing the tools for everybody to have PrEP … they’re trying to raise awareness in the biggest ways possible,” Asghari explained, when discussing what drew him to the company in the first place. “I needed it more than they needed me,” he joked. “Not only do I [get] to have a good time, [but] I also get to make this world a better place.”
It’s a collaboration that fans are already loving; the first images of Sam donning MISTR’s iconic blue Speedo were met with acclaim from thousands of LGBTQ users online earlier this week. While definitely entertaining on a superficial level, the deeper aspects of these initial photos speak to the style of advocacy that Sam Asghari has spent his entire life building. He is willing to literally bare it all to raise awareness of important issues affecting queer folks around the globe. And while the collaboration does focus around him, he’s pursuing it knowing that his role as an ally means that unaware portions of his usual audience will suddenly get to learn about the vital resources MISTR offers today. “This campaign is going to be something extremely sexy, and it’s going to open a lot of eyes in a good way. So be ready.”
This is the perfect time for Sam Asghari to use the massive amount of thirst his fans have for him to educate them on the importance of queer healthcare. It’s why he was so honored and thrilled to be named MISTR’s newest ambassador. And it’s why, through his new campaign, Sam Asghari may just help this company uplift more people in need than it ever has before.
The DC Black Pride Opening Reception was held at the Westin DC Downtown on Friday, May 22. Grammy Award-winning artist Durand Bernarr was the headline performer. Comedian Anthony Oakes was the host. Speakers included Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson and Center For Black Equity President Kenya Hutton, as well as speakers from health organizations and sponsors. The event featured performances from Billy the Goat, Jay Columbus, Akeem Woods, Rue Pratt, Be Steadwell and Bennu Byrd.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Photos
PHOTOS: Black Pride Pageant and Unity Ball
Back-to-back events held on first night of D.C. Black Pride
The Mr. and Miss DC Black Pride Pageant was held at the Westin DC Downtown on Thursday, May 21. Following the pageant, Black Pride events continued with the 10th annual DC Black Pride Unity Ball.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
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