The mindbender film\u00a0follows an avant-garde painter (Patricia Velasquez, \u201cThe Mummy,\u201d) whose sanity dissipates when she\u2019s abandoned by her handsome lothario husband (Alexander Dreymon, \u201cThe Last Kingdom\u201d) for his stunningly beautiful mistress (Lydia Hearst, \u201cSouth of Hell\u201d). In a feature debut performance, Luke Judy plays the resourceful child who creatively uses poetry to survive when his disturbed mother locks him in a puppet box, then transforms the child\u2019s makeshift prison into an art installation. The supporting cast includes Rex Lee (\u201cEntourage\u201d and \u201cYoung and Hungry\u201d) and Christos Vasilopoulos (\u201cBanshee\u201d). The seven “poetry guys” in the film are: Blake Sheldon, Jerod Meagher, Justin Schwan, Gopal Divan, Vincent Montuel as well as the film’s director Hunter Lee Hughes and its producer Jason Fracaro. Rounding out the cast are Daniel Berilla, Megan Sousa, Alastair Bayardo and Christopher Crema.<\/p>\n
The film features 32 poems as a framing device for this narrative about this artistic but damaged family, including poetry from West Hollywood poet laureate Steven Reigns, as well as classic pieces from LGBT poets Walt Whitman, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Thomas Gray, among others.\u00a0According to Hughes, the film is \u201cdesigned as a dream with the dreamer slowly waking up\u201d and is largely based on public domain poetry he discovered in his late grandmother\u2019s collection. He says, \u201cMy grandmother marked up her poetry books, underlining some phrases, making notes in the margin. Each poem I found became a little hint about her and I became fascinated with the idea that poems could be psychological clues to the inner life of a protagonist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys Reading Poems\u201d world premiered at the 21st annual Palm Beach International Film Festival and went on to screen at Dances With Films, qFLIX Philadelphia (Centerpiece Selection), D.C. Independent Film Festival and was awarded the \u201cAudience Award for Best Feature\/Drama\u201d at the 25th annual Woods Hole Film Festival, the \u201cCreativity in Drama\u201d award at the 36th annual Breckenridge Film Festival and won \u201cBest in Fest\u201d at the South Texas Underground Film Festival. Early praise for the film includes a rave review from the GayEssential, where Alexander Ryll called it, \u201ca gripping mindbender that compels the viewer to gasp both in terror and awe\u201d while Ernest Owens of Philadelphia Magazine describes the film as, \u201ca visual poetic experience and jaw-dropping black-and-white thriller.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys Reading Poems\u201d is the Hughes’ feature directorial debut. He\u00a0previously wrote and directed the LGBT internet television series \u201cDumbass Filmmakers!\u201d and authored two queer plays, \u201cFate of the Monarchs\u201d (Critic\u2019s Pick, \u201cBackstage West\u201d) and \u201cThe Sermons of John Bradley\u201d as well as the gay dark short film \u201cWinner Takes All.\u201d Michael Marius Pessah served as the film\u2019s cinematographer, after earning the prestigious \u201cFive in Focus\u201d award for his work on \u201cJoshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean.\u201d Nathaly Lopez is the production designer for the film, Shpetim Zero created haute couture designs for the film, Patrick Kennelly edited the picture and Joachim Horsley composed the original score. \u00a0The film will debut on Friday, April 28th at Arena Cinelounge (arenascreen.com<\/a>) and screen for one week, with exact screening times TBD.<\/p>\n As part of National Poetry Month, \u201cGuys Reading Poems\u201d will also host its monthly open mic night at Shaky Alibi (8401 Beverly Boulevard) on Thursday, April 6th at 7:00 p.m. Readers may secure a spot in the lineup by texting \u201cRSVP\u201d to 424.34.POEMS.<\/p>\n To check out the trailer, please visit: https:\/\/vimeo.com\/167839352<\/a>.<\/p>\n The film is repped\u00a0domestically by Daniel Bort of Omni Media Arts and internationally by Patrick Holzen at Bodhi Tree Media Group.<\/p>\n
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