Feature & Review: Stud Life - sexy, butch, real

For a chance to win one of 3 copies of the DVD, see the bottom of the article for competition details!

The winner of Screen Nation's Independent Spirit Film Production Award, STUD LIFE is the debut feature written and directed by multi-award winning filmmaker Campbell X. The film received its UK premiere at the BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

STUD LIFE is a rare look at a slice of British urban life, which pays homage to Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It and the self-documenting style of Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies and Videotape and tells a tale of a multi-cultural LGBT London. 

It is down to earth, funny and genuinely reflective of London urban butch and lesbian life. It portrays a part of the London scene that can often be invisible with respect and sensitivity, humour and grit. It's not all roses but lesbians are resilient and overcome adversity every day. The happy ending shows how far lesbians have come as fictionalised portrayals - we no longer have to end a film with a dramatic death or loss and Stud Life offers us a triumphant, beautiful, brave, yet 'everyman' hero.

STUD LIFE is available from Peccadillo Pictures now on VOD and DVD on 8^th July and can be ordered from Amazon and iTunes. RRP £12.99

Set in East London, STUD LIFE is a sexy, young and cool gay romance revealing a unique a slice of British urban life and also boasts a memorable sound track combining Jamaican dancehall and underground British hip hop, rap and pop.

Producer, Stella Nwimo comments: “This is a heart-warming feel good urban romance, showing the lives and loves of people not often seen in British cinema.”

View the trailer:
 

What director Campbell X has to say...

We caught up with Campbell to get the low down. Campbell  said that the core of the film is a story about strong female characters. This means women of all sexual orientations, genders and ethnicities. 

"Stud Life is one which as at it's center a Masculine of Center woman, a stud, a butch lesbian. There has been a trend recently in mainstream movies and LGBT movies to use feminine presented lesbian characters as the main protagonists. This assumes all viewers have the same idea of what is "attractive" "desireable" or "marketable" in a woman is a particular kind of femininity. 

"Stud Life shows that you can have someone who is dark-skinned, African descent and masculine and get pulses raising from people of all genders and sexual orientations."

Stud Life uses real members of the lesbian scene to convey its realism. Campbell says
"There are very few films made in the UK period, and even less films made with an LGBT story. So people who were available at the time of shooting were very supportive to be in the movie. I always use real LGBT people in my films as it is my way of making sure that we and future generations know that we were here - out and proud, particularly for Queer People of Color. 

"In the polyamorous wedding Julie McNamara who has the transman lover is a playwright and the transman is played by performance artist Lazlo Pearlman. Also in this wedding scene is Stella Duffy who is an amazing writer. David McAlmont is one of our finest musicians is also present in this wedding.  Nikki Lucas who is a DJ in one of the club scenes runs Liberte and Habibi.  Mzz Kimberley is a transwoman who is in the first wedding scene, she is an amazing performer."

"DJ Misty B is a regular DJ in the legendary gay club Heaven is the other DJ in the club.  Kathleen Bryson who plays the drunken Leila, is a filmmaker and writer. Del La Grace Volcano who has documented queer life since the 1980's,  is also in some of the wedding scenes, and he also shot the wedding photos that we see."

Finally, the portrayal of a real London, the London underneath the polish and glamour was key to the film, the story and the purpose of Campbell.

"Stud Life was inspired by London. Every time I see films about London I crave to see the crazy multicultural and diverse images that feast my eyes every day. Inner city London is not a drab place for me. It is vibrant and full of colour and noise. "

Campbell is currently developing another feature film - a road trip that goes horribly wrong. Watch this space... 

Competition - win one of 3 copies

TO win a copy, all you have to do is email mail@planet-london.com with the answer to the following question:

What nights does Stud Life extra DJ Nikki Lucas run?

Closing date: Sunday 7 July, 11.59pm

Feature by: Katie

Fringe! is back and better than ever

http://fringefilmfest.com/2013-programme

Fringe! Film Festival, East London: Thursday 11th April – Sunday 14th April 2013

East London’s annual alternative queer film and arts festival is proud to reveal its exciting 2013 programme.
 
Four days of enhanced screenings, world premieres, queer classics and cult rarities, Fringe! continues to mix great gay film with high-energy creative events, art happenings, oddball performance, discussion and debate – and upbeat after parties – with many events free!

OPENING AND CLOSING FILMS

European Premiere: FIVE DANCES
World Premiere: AND YOU BELONG

Fringe! is proud to present the European Premiere of writer-director Alan Brown’s Five Dances as its opening night screening at Hackney Picturehouse. A special collaboration with renowned choreographer Jonah Bokaer, Brown builds a tight-toned narrative around five gifted New York dancers in a classic tale of finding success and love in the big city. Fringe! is also proud to present the World Premiere of Julia Ostertag’s And You Belong as its closing night screening, a documentary that uncovers the queer music underground via two-girl electro hip hop band Scream Club – screened at Arcola Tent.

“I'm honoured that Five Dances has been chosen as the Opening Night film of London's Fringe! Film Fest 2013. It's a fantastic venue and audience for our European Premiere, and our whole team is grateful to be part of such a young, cutting-edge festival. On a personal note, I'm really looking forward to flying over and experiencing the festival in person.”
Alan Brown, director, Five Dances

“I am really glad to have the world premiere for And You Belong, my feature doc about  two-girl electro hip hop band Scream Club and the queer music underground, at this year’s Fringe!. The festival is driven by the same spirit that lets me make films – or that lets the people in my film make music: a fresh, queer DIY attitude seeking new forms of expression with a positive but rebellious energy that crosses boundaries and connects people in creative networks – just like the two girls of Scream Club.”
Julia Ostertag, director, And You Belong

LIMITED VISIBILITY

Limited Visibility is a focus on marginalised groups in the LGBT community via two special strands on senior LGBT individuals and those living with HIV (2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the isolation of the HIV virus) and is supported by Film London’s Community Pilot Fund. New documentaries Gen Silent and deepsouth contrast with classic works from the archive, including Barbara Hammer’s Nitrate Kisses, Rosa von Praunheim’s Silence=Death, and a specially curated screening of Derek Jarman’s The Garden.

CELEBRATING QUEER CINEMA

Fringe! also presents a series of new or ultra-rare queer films including:

• World premiere of One Zero One: The Story of Cybersissy and BayBJane
• UK Premiere of Satan’s Angel, the story of the legendary lesbian burlesque artist
• Hide & Seek about four extraordinary LGBT people in Pakistan
• World premiere of Travis Mathews’ saucy In Their Room London

·         Exclusive collaborations with Bruce LaBruce, Straight To Hell magazine, Jonny Woo, The Most Cake and Little Joe magazine

REVAMPED CLASSICS
 

·         Mean Girls – an anarchic screening of this pop culture classic hosted by Holestar, as voted for by the Fringe! audience at the Dalston Rio, with a ‘Mean Girls’ themed after party at Dalston Superstore.

• Lesbian classics Itty Bitty Titty Committee and But I’m a Cheerleader
• Rosa von Praunheim’s It’s Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse But the Society He Lives In which caused a scandal in Germany when released in 1973

·         Gays on TV programme showing rarely seen TV documentaries from the 1970s and 1980s

 
FRINGE! ART
 
Fringe! presents four art exhibitions including:

• Bob Mizer: a special focus on the seminal photographer, filmmaker and pornographer with an exhibition of wrestling videos and two film programmes

·         Freya Najade: If You’re Lucky You Get Old. An exhibition of photographs by the London-based photographer chronicling the lives of gay seniors in retirement homes in the US

ICONIC VENUES
For 2013, Fringe! presents its strapping programme of film, creative events, art happenings, performance, discussion and debate across major venues in east London, including Hackney Picturehouse, The Rio in Dalston, the Aubin Cinema, the Arcola Tent and an old Catholic girls’ school that will house screenings, events, a pop-up genderqueer barber shop, sex workshops and the Little Joe Classroom.

Alex Karotsch, Film Festival Producer, said:
“We are thrilled to bring back Fringe! for the third year running, building on the success of the festival in 2012 which saw a record number of attendees and events over a long weekend in April. This year we will again be working with brilliant directors, artists and performers to bring you an exciting programme of international films, great art and events – from the weird to the wonderful.”