Arts & Entertainment
LGBT representation strong at 90th annual Academy Awards
Screenwriter James Ivory accepts ‘Call Me By Your Name’ award; ‘Fantastic Woman’ wins foreign language prize
DANIELA VEGA at the Academy Awards Sunday night. (screen capture courtesy ABC)
Despite a bloated presentation that clocked in at almost four hours, the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards had some spectacular moments, especially for LGBT movie fans.
The big moment came when “A Fantastic Woman” won the award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first Oscar win for he country of Chile. Directed by Sebastián Leilo, the movie centers on Marina Vidal (Daniela Vega), a trans woman who is kicked out of her apartment when her boyfriend suddenly dies. Vega’s moving performance marked a cinematic milestone—a trans woman being payed by a trans actress in a mainstream movie.
The award was presented by veteran actress and LGBT icon Rita Moreno (now appearing in the Netflix reboot of the classic sitcom “One Day at a Time” which now features a lesbian character and is set in a Cuban-American household). In the most fabulous entrance of the evening, Moreno strutted to the microphone wearing the same dress she wore to accept her Academy Award for “West Side Story.”
Vega made even more cinematic history when she became the first openly trans person to be a presenter on the Oscar stage (appropriately enough, she introduced Sufjan Steven’s performance of his song “The Mystery of Love” from “Call Me By Your Name”). She acknowledged the importance of her appearance on the Oscar stage, saying, “Thank you so much for this moment.” She also encouraged the audience to “open your heart to love.”
Sadly, the trans director Yance Ford did not win for his documentary “Strong Island.”
Openly gay screenwriter James Ivory (“Maurice”) also made Oscar history when he accepted the prize for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name,” the only award for the film. The 89-year old Ivory became the oldest person to win an Academy Award. In a touching speech he mentioned his late collaborators Ismail Merchant (who was also his life partner) and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
In another noteworthy development, after Disney’s “Coco” won the award for Best Animated Feature, no one commented when two members of the creative team (producer Darla K. Anderson and co-writer and co-director Adrian Molina) thanked their same-sex spouses. In the past, such declarations of LGBT love would have made headlines.
In addition, “Coco” director Lee Unkrich underscored a major theme of the evening when he said, “Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters!”
Perhaps this means Tio Oscar and Tio Felipe were a gay couple after all.
“Coco’s” lovely ballad “Remember Me” took home the Oscar for Best Original Song, beating out the power ballad “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman” written by the gay-straight duo of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. During the ceremony, “This Is Me” (which will undoubtedly be performed at every Pride celebration this summer) was given a powerhouse performance by cast member Keala Settle. Settle also appeared in a commercial for Walmart that was actually part of the ceremony.
“The Shape of Water,” a queer celebration of community and resistance, was nominated for 13 Oscars (the most nominations this year) and won four: Best Picture, Best Director (Guillermo del Toro), Best Score for Alexandre Desplat and Best Production Design. Richard Jenkins, who played the heroine’s next-door neighbor and gay best friend did not win, nor did his co-stars Octavia Spencer and Sally Hawkins.
While the creative team behind “The Shape of Water” gathered the most statues, no movie dominated the evening. “Dunkirk,” “The Darkest Hour” and “Blade Runner 2049” won several of the design awards (and Gary Oldman won Best Actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “The Darkest Hour”). Not surprisingly, Mark Bridges won Best Costume Design for his sumptuous couture designs in “Phantom Thread.”
And in an unexpected moment, a very surprised Jordan Peele won Best Original Screenplay for his powerful horror film, “Get Out.”
ARMIE HAMMER and TIMOTHEE CHALAMET at the Academy Awards Sunday night. (screen capture courtesy ABC)
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” won acting honors for Frances McDormand (Best Actress) and Sam Rockwell (Best Supporting Actor). McDormand’s acceptance speech was a call to action. She asked all the women in the audience to stand and be recognized and she called on everyone to demand “inclusion riders” in their contracts. (Inclusion riders are clauses that require that film crews meet minimum diversity standards to retain the services of the artist.)
Several major movies surprisingly went home empty-handed, including: “Lady Bird,” “The Post” and “Mudbound,” which was directed by the ground-breaking Dee Rees, an out black lesbian.
In what may have been the funniest moment of the very long telecast filled with lame jokes, Mark Bridges (Best Costume Design) won the Jet Ski that host Jimmy Kimmel promised to the winner who gave the shortest acceptance speech, Bridges cam in at 38 seconds.
A full list of winners is here.
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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