Philly Abe
1949 - 2018Metropolitan Monologues
George Kuchar
George Kuchar, Stella Kuchar
The New York City summer is fueled by the sultry emanations of hot air that tumble off the tongues of potential thespians as they attempt to decipher the gastric guesswork embedded in the prose of the pre-production process. The video camera flits across the boroughs of NYC in a splash-dash sojourn of sumptuous banquets and bohemian bombast, while the down-to-earth wisdom of the seeing impaired helps to guide the protagonist into detours of wisdom befitting his putrid project. A theatrical play incubates in the balding head of the videomaker and as its presence makes itself felt among the various victims of his vision, we share with them the horror of advancing age and the descriptive diatribes toward the destiny of the decrepit damned.
Metropolitan Monologues
Fire Island '79
Todd Verow, Patrick McGuinn
Philly Abe, Alexis Arquette
Filmmaker Chase Hook committed suicide on December 31st, 1979. His conservative family destroyed all of his films. Recently Super 8 home movies of his last summer on Fire Island were found. Also recovered was the tape from his answering machine.
Fire Island '79
Burnout
George Kuchar
George Kuchar, Philly Abe
A metropolis awash in electrical overdrive crashes in the heat of summer and sends a Bronxite into the clutches of a waterworld further north. It is there that we witness the cooling fogs and diving mammals of maritime yore and sail free in winds of a nautical nature. A nature that fills the summer sky with twinkling tidbits and the tummy with protein rich denizens of Neptune’s soup. A tour of the towering turrets of tomorrow land and the spatial splendor of yesterday’s yearnings captured on both chemical and electrical media.
Burnout
Venus Boyz
Gabrielle Baur
Diane Torr, Dréd Gerestant
A film journey through a universe of female masculinity. A legendary Drag King Night in New York is the point of departure for an odyssey to transgendered worlds, where women become men - some for a night, others for their whole lives. What motivates them? What changes take place? What do they dream of? The drag kings of New York meet in clubs and change lustfully into their male alter egos, parodying them and exploring male eroticism and power strategies. In London we see women experiment with hormones to become new men and 'cyborgs'. Masculinity and transformation as performance, subversion or existential necessity.
Venus Boyz
Fucking Different New York
Kristian Petersen, Hedia Maron
Leslie Lowe, Lui Antonius
What do construction workers do in their well-earned breaks? How might Angelina Jolie's and Brad Pitt's relationship have ended? And what really happened between Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford during the summer of 1959? The answers to these and many other interesting questions are provided by twelve queer New York filmmakers. Their films also scrutinize such topics as the difference between the way men and women dream, and how erotic tying a necktie or having a manicure can be.
Fucking Different New York
Once & Future Queen
Todd Verow
Philly Abe
This film follows the life of a mentally ill street itinerant whose name is not worthy of mention. When not sleeping in the gutters of Manhattan's Lower East Side, our protagonist keeps busy juggling her schedule of drug abuse, trips to her shrink, and stealing from those misguided souls who, after taking pity on her, allow her temporary shelter in their homes.
Once & Future Queen
A Sudden Loss of Gravity
Todd Verow
Philly Abe, Craig Bowden
Three generations of small town rebel-rebels crash into each other and burn in Todd Verow's new film, A Sudden Loss of Gravity. The small town of Bangor Maine is finally entering the 80's with a pile-up of new wave proportions. Based on true stories of the Northeastern town.
A Sudden Loss of Gravity
The Endless Possibility of Sky
Todd Verow
Theodore Bouloukos, Brad Hallowell
Sex and drugs-getting hooked and getting off –can be addicting. For Drew (Brad Hallowell), eking out a mundane life in Waterville, Maine, it is resisting the illicit pleasure in New York; for Mistress Datina (Philly), it means operating a sex and drug den to cope with her life. In his visually and sexually stimulating film, director Verow introduces multiple characters and overlapping narratives that portray the physical and emotional faces of addiction. For Rob (newcomer Rob Ordonez), drugs and sex are means of finding a bed to sleep in every night – while they provide Christian (Michael Vaccaro) a means of dealing with his helplessness and loss. A writer records these characters and their unforgettable stories. The themes are universal, but the possibilities are endless.
The Endless Possibility of Sky
Xx
Todd Verow
Philly Abe, Michael Burke
Todd Verow's experimental narrative feature heralding the end time. Split up into 20 short films, the film explores the fear and longing of several characters as they wait for some unspecified apocalyptic event. Some try to escape physically, emotionally or sexually while others welcome the end with open arms. A woman (PHILLY) is busy dragging her own corpse, trying to find a resting place for it, when she encounters an old lover (MICHAEL BURKE) who used to be a she but has transitioned to a man. He wants to get out of town but she wants to stay it's the end of time when nothing is a crime. Several gay men engage in more and more extreme sexual activity, they want to experience it all before the big collapse. Two gay ex-lovers try to reconnect and feel something, anything but total emptiness. Porn actors and producers make more unsafe films as fantasies grow darker and more violent. Will the world end with a whimper or a bang? Or worse will it not end at all.
Xx: Where Your Heart Should Be
Available Light
Todd Verow
Todd Verow, Matt Sizemore
An experimental feature film about people in different cities who are trying to escape their loneliness through love, lust or a combination of both. The film was shot in real locations using only available light. The viewer is both a voyeur - watching the characters in intimate situations that are not meant to be seen - and an active participant - imagining what the characters are going through and making connections between them that may or may not be real.
Available Light
