Notizie

Betty Dodson has made a career out of teaching women to masturbate, but she’s only one woman. “You first have to be self-sexual, and then you can have sex with other people,” Dodson said recently, summarizing a life philosophy that has crowned her the grand dame of radical sex positivity. “The love affair — the sex affair — that we have with ourselves is the primary one. It should be ongoing throughout our life, and we should honor it.”

Dodson’s ideas reached a wider audience last fall, when “Broad City” sent Ilana to a sex therapist named Betty in search of her lost orgasm. (The culprit: Donald Trump.) Titled “Witches,” the episode spawned countless think pieces and was a standout in a series that has promoted sex positivity from the beginning. But “Broad City” is a comedy, and while its impact is vast, it is largely felt by a self-selecting...

As we gear up for an awards season ripe with many quality queer films, it’s important to remember smaller successes who may get lost in the shuffle. Lgbt-themed film festivals Outfest and Frameline kicked off the summer, while New York’s own NewFest wrapped up last week. It’s always thrilling to see a gay film get awards attention, like the kind lavished on Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” and foreign language contender “Bpm (Beats Per Minute).” But it’s been a banner year for nuanced queer films across the board, and especially ones from queer-identified filmmakers.

From up-and-comers making splashy debuts, to longtime favorites who have stepped up their game, the filmmakers on this list represent a varied swath of not only the Lgbt spectrum, but vastly different artistic styles. That means they have the potential to reach different audiences — and open up perspectives across demographics.

Too often, the nuances of female desire and exploration are painted with broad strokes by filmmakers of all stripes, but especially male ones. Which is why Stephen Cone’s beautifully rendered portrait of one teen’s innocent romantic experiments comes as such a delightful surprise. But there is more at play in “Princess Cyd,” which also explores a middle-aged woman’s relationship to her sexuality in equally delicate measures. The relationship between the two women is the film’s major driving force, which is apparent in the first trailer for the engaging and understated film.

“Princess Cyd” follows 16-year-old athlete Cyd Loughlin (Jessie Pinnick) over a summer visit to her novelist aunt (Rebecca Spence) in Chicago. Estranged since the death of Cyd’s mother, Miranda and Cyd gently dance around each other as they re-establish an adult relationship. Meanwhile, Cyd seeks guidance during her dalliance with cute neighborhood barista Katie...

"It is not a handicap to have one thing, but not another..." Wolfe Releasing has debuted the first official trailer for Stephen Cone's latest film Princess Cyd, a light coming-of-age comedy set mostly in Chicago. The story follows a young 16-year-old woman who goes to spend the summer with her novelist aunt at her home in Chicago's suburbs, discovering her sexual attraction to another girl in the neighborhood. Newcomer Jessie Pinnick stars as Cyd, and the cast includes Rebecca Spence, Malic White, James Vincent Meredith, Tyler Ross, and Matthew Quattrocki. I caught this just recently at the London Film Festival, and while it is solid overall, none of it really impressed me and it doesn't have anything unique to say at the end. There's so many other better films exactly like this, but it's also not that bad either. Take a look below. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster...

There are few directors working today that love their characters more than Stephen Cone. After reaching a wider audience with one of 2015’s best films, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, he’s returning this year with Princess Cyd. Following a 16-year-old’s summer in Chicago, where she clashes and connects with her aunt and learns more about her own sexuality and faith, the first trailer has landed. Also, if you’re in NYC and have yet to see Cone’s film, a retrospective will be held at the Museum of Moving Image from November 3-12.

In a rare A-grade review for Princess Cyd, we said, “Watching his films, one gets a sense that he doesn’t use the medium simply to tell stories but to exercise his curiosity and discover the things that make us human. In the hands of another filmmaker, Princess Cyd‘s two leads would’ve been...

It takes an incredible amount of restraint not to tie your film up with a neat little bow, but nothing could be more fitting for a filmmaker as committed to truth-telling as Stephen Cone is. In his latest film, “Princess Cyd,” the Chicago-based writer-director renders his deeply human characters so precisely, it’s as if they stepped right off the screen and into your living room. The two central women are equal parts charming, awkward, yearning and lost. In short, they’re real. Their complexity is all the more impressive coming from a male filmmaker — Cone proves it’s possible for men to write sexually liberated, empowered, autonomous women.

Though billed as a coming-of-age story, “Princess Cyd” is much more about relationships between women, across generations and through layers of grief. Specifically, it’s the story of sixteen-year-old Cyd (Jessie Pinnick) and her Aunt, a well-known novelist named Miranda Ruth (Rebecca Spence). Cyd’s mother died when she was young, and she’s been living with her father in South Carolina. When Miranda agrees to host the rambunctious teen for the summer, the two relatives find themselves thrust into familial intimacy despite not knowing much about each other.

Read More: ‘Paris Can Wait’ Review: Eleanor Coppola and Diane Lane Bring Mature Charm to a Road Trip Romantic Comedy

Cyd, for instance, is about the only person in Chicago (certain circles, anyhow) who doesn’t know her Aunt’s work. When Miranda offers her a book, she casually replies: “I don’t really read.” Cyd would rather sunbathe on Miranda’s manicured lawn than talk about “books ‘n stuff,” and Miranda bravely digs up her old swimsuit to join. She’s a cool Aunt, offering Cyd beer and encouraging her various summer flings, but she’s less prepared for Cyd’s prying about her own romantic life. “Do you ever have sex?” Cyd asks bluntly, and Miranda sheepishly admits it’s been a while.

Exchanges like that give the film its restrained friction, while avoiding the predictable traps. Miranda doesn’t balk, but she’s clearly taken aback. Cyd might be an obnoxious snoop, but she’s also genuinely curious. It’s a keen illustration of Miranda’s discomfort with her newfound maternal role. Earlier, she hesitates awkwardly before spreading sunscreen on Cyd’s back. It’s one of those masterfully subtle moments that calls up every other time Cyd has not had a mother to rub her back or brush her hair. Miranda has invested in her work over her family, and we see what that sacrifice entails through her interactions with Cyd.

Cyd’s casual sexual exploration is a breath of fresh air. She is as interested in the cute gardener neighbor as she is in the cute barista, Katie (Malic White). Katie sports a throwback mullet/mohawk combination, and when Cyd tells Miranda that she kind of looks like a boy, she replies, “Maybe she is a boy.” “Yeah, maybe so,” Cyd says, shrugging. It’s a casual handling of gender and sexuality that more movies should emulate. The same goes for the understated sex scenes; the most explicit shot is of Cyd masturbating. (Masturbation scenes should be required in any coming-of-age about female sexuality).

Miranda’s sexuality, or lack thereof, is also something of a revelation. With a premise that begs for lessons learned, and a film landscape that loves to make everything about sex, Miranda’s self-satisfied celibacy is nothing short of radical. “It is not a handicap to be one way and not the other,” Miranda tells Cyd in an inspired monologue. Standing over a kitchen full of dirty dishes, finally dishing it back to the saucy teenager she is trying desperately to love, Miranda is the very picture of modern motherhood.

Read More: 20 New Movies That Will Define This Year in Indie Cinema, From ‘The Big Sick’ to ‘A Ghost Story’

Spence is entirely captivating as Miranda — resolute and warm at the same time. A seasoned Chicago actress, she commands the screen with a graceful strength like a cross between Diane Lane and Amy Brenneman. If show business made any sense, her star would be on the rise.

Cone packs a lot into 90 minutes, and as such there are a few loose ends. Cyd and Miranda rarely discuss the deep void between them, their shared loss. Cyd’s questions about heaven seem a little childish compared to her refreshing sexual maturity, and Miranda’s religious beliefs seem unnecessarily shoehorned into a story with plenty to explore. Miranda’s artist salon is a spirited group scene in the film’s second half, but reads like a play for literary references and a missed opportunity for Cone to poke fun at Miranda (and maybe himself). Cyd’s gossip session with two older lesbians is a highlight, however.

Loose ends are to be expected in a film more interested in life as it is than some over-stimulating fantasy. “Princess Cyd” is a triumphant little film — little in the detailed moments it creates, not the content of its character. Anchored by complicated, smart, funny women, “Princess Cyd” is a rare delight of a film and a model for others to follow.

Grade: A-

“Princess Cyd” premiered at the Maryland Film Festival in May. It is being distributed by Wolfe Releasing.

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Princess CydNow in its ninth season, BAMcinemaFest has become New York’s premiere festival for gems of American indie cinema, expertly culled from the best of the fests thus far this year. While hosting works from numerous local Brooklynites like Alex Ross Perry, whose Golden Exits will close the event, the intimate festival also boasts an exceptional assortment of films from across the country, this year no short on mysteries, overt and clandestine. The selection’s varying styles are all a testament to the diversity of independent filmmaking that is alive and well in America today.Director Aaron Katz returns with Gemini, a lo-fi L.A.-set noir circling around a movie starlet Heather (Zoe Kravitz) and her devoted assistant Jill (Lola Kirke). Always the expert examiner of relationships in miniature, Katz plumbs beyond the quandary of the employer-employee transactional one here to capture the fragile peculiarities and tender idiosyncrasies of a female friendship.