Next month we’re co-hosting a Salon with the NYC-based salon series Queer Memoir. A great line-up of queer and LGBT Philly theatre artists, activists, writers and storytellers (including Slam faves R. Eric Thomas and Rae Drew) will tell stories from their lives around the theme ‘’sticks and stones.”
Who’s to say if such an event would be possible had the Stonewall riots of 1969 never took place? Look back at this epic event when the new doc Stonewall Uprising hits the Ritz at the Bourse this weekend for an exclusive engagement. Watch the trailer here.

Maybe I’m the only one who sings in their opera voice in the shower (TMI?) but today’s doc pick is for the opera singer in all of us. More than anything the documentary is about having a dream and going for it.
Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright took a dramatic turn in his career as a pop icon when he realized a lifelong fascination by penning his very first opera, Prima Donna, between 2008 and 2009. We follow Wainwright on his creative journey, from his obsessions with opera as a child through the initial staging of Prima Donna at the Manchester International Festival in early July 2009. The film also creates a fascinating portrait of Rufus through comprehensive and revealing interviews, an impressive overview of his musical history, and a host of insights into his youth and his career. And it was just released on DVD this week!

-Tiffany Thwaites

Celebrities hate them. We secretly love the pictures they take. Magazines like People and shows like The Insider need them. The paparazzi get pictures of nearly every aspect of celebrities lives and photographer Ron Galella is undoubtedly the godfather of the paparazzi industry. Smash His Camera chronicles Galella’s 40-plus-year career as well as the balance between privacy for public figures and freedom of the press.

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival winner premieres on HBO Monday, June 7th at 9:00 p.m. If you’re like me, you might not know who Galella is by name. He famously suffered a broken jaw and five missing teeth in 1973 after actor Marlon Brando punched him outside a restaurant. His prints have been exhibited at museums and galleries from New York to Berlin.

Here’s a glimpse of the 90-minute documentary by Academy Award winning filmmaker Leon Gast.

Trivia question: What film is credited with creating the term for these unabashedly aggressive celebrity photographers, the paparazzi? Put your answer in the comments section.

-Tiffany Thwaites

There’s no better time to be a Philadelphia sports fan. The Flyers are back in the Stanley Cup, the Phillies are favorites to win the National League (again) and the Eagles are gearing up for a future with Kevin Kolb at the helm. Let’s not forget our Sixers though, they hold the #2 pick in this year’s draft. They haven’t been in the news as heavily recently, but there’s one person who could always sell seats… our beloved Allen Iverson.


Iverson Highlights



Today’s documentary pick is No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson. It’s aNetflix new release and part of ESPN’S “30 for 30″ series of athlete biographies.


The documentary takes us back to a high school Iverson destined for greatness and details how the first pick of the 1996 NBA draft nearly had his future derailed by a bowling alley brawl. Hoop Dreams director Steve James reveals the incident’s impact on Iverson’s career and hometown. He returns to Hampton, Va. to take a personal look at this still disputed incident, even after A.I’s eventual absolution. Check out the trailer.





-Tiffany Thwaites

‘”Documentaries are much more exciting than most fiction films,” says Alex Gibney. “I think most documentary filmmakers are loosening themselves up, they’re doing stuff that’s much more interesting in stylistic terms.”‘ (Philadelphia City Paper, 5/20/2009)


See Academy Award winner Gibney’s theory in action in his new film Casino Jack & the United States of Money, opening today at Ritz at the Bourse. The “Jack” in question is Washington bad guy, lobbyist Jack Abramoff. And the United States of Money refers to the greedy web of politicians, lobbyists and businessmen contributing to a super corrupt political system where cash is king (and the occasional golf trip is prince). Throw in Native American tribes, African freedom fighters, and the mob and you have a sense of Abramoff’s bizarro world. Unfortunately, it’s a world we’re all living in. Fortunately, Abramoff didn’t get away with it, and is in the middle of a four year prison sentence. Gibney moved, angered and illuminated with his earlier films Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. I’m expecting a lot of that middle emotion when listening to transcripts of Abramoff’s emails and other backdoor dealings. Hell, the trailer riled me up. Check it out below.

The legacy and lives of the modern-day cowboy are at the heart of the documentary, Sweetgrass. (Though these men are in fact herding thousands of sheep through Montana, but sheepboy isn’t nearly as sexy.) It opens today at Ritz at the Bourse. Check out what The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis had to say about this “wonderful documentary.”

Last week we had Banksy’s stealth street art. What Banksy lacks in adorable, this week’s new documentary will make up for times four… BABIES!





Now playing at the Ritz 5! Share in the comments if you go see it!


And for a completely different feel-good video, and because now the song is in my head, and it seems like a great way to kick off the weekend, some Salt n’ Pepa.