GALECA :: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics



	*2017-2018* *DORIAN AWARDS TIMELINE* Screening/screeners deadline Friday, December 29 Nomination ballots sent Monday, January 1 Nominations due Friday, January 5 Nominees announced Wednesday, January 10 Final ballots sent Thursday, January 18 Final ballots due Sunday, January 28 Winners Announced Wednesday, January 31 GALECA 7th Annual Winners Toast Saturday, February 24 *ADDITIONAL KEY DATES* Emmys Sunday, September 17 Globe Nominations Monday, December 11 SAG Nominations Wednesday, December 13 Globes Sunday, January 7 Sundance Thursday, January 18 (to the 28th) PGAs Saturday, January 20 SAGs Sunday, January 21 Oscar Nominations Tuesday, January 23 WGAs Sunday, February 11 BAFTAs Sunday, February 18 Spirit Awards Saturday, March 3 Oscars Sunday, March 4 TBA: Critics Choice, DGAs *RECENT GALECA NEWS* Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association's Starry Winners Toast HOLLYWOOD, CA, February 21, 2017 — The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, hosted their 6th annual Dorian Awards Winners Toast on Saturday in Los Angeles, with members such as E! Online’s Evan Burke, The Advocate’s Tracy Gilchrist, Jeremy Kinser (Sundance . org), BBC Radio’s Rich Cline, Dan Allen (NBCOut), Us Weekly’s John Griffiths, The Hollywood Reporter’s Jonathan Handel, and Gay Star News’ Greg Hernandez tributing some of the group’s recently announced picks for 2016’s finest in film and TV. Moonlight star Trevante Rhodes and the film's Oscar-nominated®composer Nicholas Britell took a few questions before the crowd about their participation in the landmark coming-of-age drama, before accepting GALECA’s Film of the Year award (as well as its four Dorian honors) on behalf of the producers and director/screenplay writer Barry Jenkins. Rhodes himself accepted GALECA’s “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award, having been singled out for his own beautiful and lasting performance as the lost, grown-up version of Chiron, the melancholy film’s projects-raised protagonist. Rhodes teased about his role in Terrence Malick’s imminent yet long-awaited Song to Song, and explained the jagged “scar" on his forehead was for his part in the coming reboot of The Predator. In accepting for and on behalf of La La Land’s Visually Striking Film of the Year honor — which the group notes honors "a production of stunning beauty, from art direction to cinematography” — the Summit release's Oscar-nominated cinematographer Linus Sandgren spoke to his excitement in working with the film’s production designers in capturing L.A.’s "gritty moodiness.” Sandgren, a Swede who has lived in L.A. ten years, said he was inspired by such wistful musicals as Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (“not to mention A Star is Born — the one with Judy Garland!”) — and lamented the looming “extinction” of the city’s famously cinematic neon signage. Amy Landecker, who stars as divorced bisexual sibling Sarah Pfefferman on Amazon’s edgy, gender-bending family opus Transparent, enjoyed a toast to that show’s third win in a row for: TV Comedy of the Year, LGBTQ Show of the Year, and TV Performance of the Year — Actor (Jeffrey Tambor). Asked light questions about her own family history, Landecker, accompanied by boyfriend Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), charmed the crowd with stories about her father (a Chicago radio personality) and great-grandfather Joseh N. Welch, a renowned attorney. Whitford was proud to inform attendees that during the Army-McCarthy Hearings of the mid 1950s, Landecker’s ancestor helped derail fanatical U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy with the immortal question: “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Landecker, who costars with Salma Hayek in the touted upcoming relationship drama Beatriz at Dinner, followed with comments about how programs like Transparent are more important than ever in the Trump era. Then, she lightened the discourse with her own immortal quip: “See! I don’t just have big boobs.” The Real O’Neals’ showrunner David Windsor and fellow executive producers Stacy Traub and Dan McDermott also touched on the country’s current reactionary social climate in accepting GALECA’s Unsung TV Show to the Year award. The ABC family comedy, now in its second season, is the first TV show to center on an openly gay teen (played by Noah Galvin). Galvin shared how he was compelled to come out to his own family at age 14, while costar Mary Hollis Inboden (Aunt Jodi), who survived a campus mass shooting as an elementary school student in Arkansas, expressed hope along with O’Neals' producers that their show may help ease divides and open hearts with relatable humor. GALECA's award for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, TV Current Affairs Show of the Year, was presented to Ashley Golden, TBS’s Director of Originals. Golden, who revealed to the group that she was pregnant with her second child (“That’s why I’m not having any champagne”), said she was thrilled that The Daily Show’s Bee has brought her rebel wit to her network. “Last week’s episode was its highest-rated yet!” cheered Golden, a Texas native who, like Bee, has participated in recent marches for women’s rights. The messages of defiance and acceptance were underscored by Michelle Visage, a former pop singer turned LGBTQ community ally and judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, GALECA’s Dorian Award winner for Campy TV Show of the Year. Expressing affinity for the crowd and appreciation on behalf of the Drag Race team, RuPaul’s “lifelong "friend offered, “When I was 16, I was in a Madonna lookalike contest!” Other guests included awards consultants Christy Grosz of LTLA and Shari Mesulam of The Mesulam Group, VH1 publicist Chris Delhomme and New York magazine’s Hollywood Editor, Stacy Wilson Hunt. GALECA’s Winners Toast, an intimate afternoon party with a “champagne and pommes frites” theme, was held for the fourth time in the Maharaja Room at the Pikey Cafe and Bar in Hollywood. The event allows members, friends and associates to treat some of their Dorian Award winners to light-hearted and meaningful questions, some adoration and a sparkly toast. • • • • • 2016 Film and TV Dorian Award Winners Revealed! Moonlight Scores Film of the Year, Director, Actor and More Viola Davis Takes Film Actress La La Land is Visually Striking Film of the Year Carrie Fisher, Samantha Bee, Kate McKinnon Prove Wit Triumphs *TV’s The People v. O.J., Transparent, The Real O’Neals* All Impress ‘Timeless Star’ Honoree John Waters Thanks GALECA HOLLYWOOD, CA, January 26, 2017** — The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, comprised of over 170 film/TV critics and entertainment journalists across the U.S., Canada and the U.K., today announced its Dorian Award winners for the finest in film and television of 2016. GALECA members awarded Moonlight, the melancholy drama from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play about three phases of a man’s life, won five Dorian Awards, including Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, director and screenplay nods for Barry Jenkins and best actor (Mahershala Ali). Trevante Rhodes, nominated for actor alongside Ali, was given the “We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award (named for the group’s patron saint Oscar Wilde). Viola Davis, recently named by GALECA as one of the 10 Best Actress of All Time, earned film actress honors for her work in the Denzel Washington-directed screen version of the late playwright August Wilson’s Fences. La La Land, the musical romance starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and set against some of Los Angeles’ most iconic vistas, was named Visually Striking Film of the Year. Movies also notching wins: Christine, the devastating docudrama starring Rebecca Hall as ill-fated ‘70s newswoman Christine Chubbuck; the lesbian-tinged spectacle The Handmaiden; and the Kate Winslet romp The Dressmaker (Campy Flick of the Year). In TV categories, FX’s The People v. O.J. snagged GALECA’s Drama of the Year and its costar Sarah Paulson took TV actress honors for her turn as prosecutor Marcia Clark. For the third year in a row, Amazon’s darkly comic family drama Transparent won for comedy of the year, LGBTQ comedy and TV actor (Jeffrey Tambor). In a year rampant with voices demanding to be heard, former The Daily Show cast member Samantha Bee’s new TBS hit Full Frontal, a satirical and/or pointed take on current affairs, cut through the static and merited a Dorian Award. GALECA members also saw fit to reward Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the increasingly relevant Broadway hit Hamilton, as well as Saturday Night Live star/political satirist Kate McKinnon (twice). The late Carrie Fisher — Star Wars icon, author, HBO raconteur and recovery advocate — was named Wilde Wit of the Year posthumously. Speaking of wits, John Waters — recently announced GALECA’s latest “Timeless Star,” the group’s affectionate career-achievement honor that in the past has gone to performers — offered this statement: “A ‘Timeless Star’? Wow! Does that mean good-old or crazy-new? Either way, I’m thrilled and honored to be called a star no matter which side of the camera I choose to be on.” The thin-mustacheod multihyphenate — a writer/director/actor/Divine muse/Baltimore prodigal son who has given the world such crazy pro-sanity tales as Hairspray, Serial Mom, Polyester and Pink Flamingos, joins past honorees Jane Fonda, Sir Ian McKellen, George Takei, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Cloris Leachman. GALECA exists to bolster LGBTQ entertainment journalists as well as remind the world, and our at-risk youth, that “the gays” have a distinct cultural history of helping put great movies and TV shows on everyone’s radar. Since its inception in 2009, GALECA has bestowed Film of the Year honors alone to Carol, Boyhood, 12 Years a Slave, Argo, Weekend, I Am Love and A Single Man. The group’s annual Winners Toast, honoring a select group of 2016-17 winners, is set for Saturday afternoon, February 18. Past GALECA toasts have welcomed such winners or project ambassadors as Oscar-nominated Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, Orange is the New Black star Lea DeLaria, Transparent actresses Melora Hardin and Alexandra Billings, and revered marriage rights activists Jeff Carrillo and Paul Katami. This year, the event returns to the Maharaja Room at the The Pikey Cafe and Bar in Hollywood, Ca. • • • • • Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Name Ten Best Actresses of All Time Group’s members give thanks for an array of impressive women and unforgettable performances HOLLYWOOD, CA, Wednesday, November 23, 2016 – The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association today announced its members’ collective picks for the organization’s latest “Ten Best” list: GALECA’s Ten Best Actresses of All Time. The 160-plus members of GALECA, a nonprofit group comprised of professional film and TV critics and entertainment journalists in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., were each asked to name their 10 choices for the finest female actors throughout the history of film and television, without ranking the stars. The actresses with the most mentions are noted below. Note: Actresses who did not make the top 10 here but came closest among the 100 or so listed by members include Joan Crawford, Judi Dench, Sally Field, Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Lange, Helen Mirren, Elizabeth Taylor and Kate Winslet. The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association’s Ten Best Actresses of All Time (again, in alphabetical order) are: Ingrid Bergman: The Swedish star is best known to your average Joe as misty-eyed Ilsa in Casablanca, but Bergman devotees know that she starred in many more, including a trio of Hitchcock films and George Cukor’s stellar thriller Gaslight. Bergman is also responsible for another gift to cinema: her daughter, actress Isabella Rossellini. Cate Blanchett: Whether she’s playing a tortured 16th-century monarch or having clandestine glove lunches in 1952, Cate Blanchett radiates. She’s the kind of actress that demands your attention, and you gratefully give it. She’s picked up a host of Oscar and/or Golden Globe nominations (and a few wins) for her stunning performances in such modern classics as Elizabeth, Blue Jasmine and Carol (the latter two also earned her GALECA Dorian Awards). Bette Davis: The grande dame of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Bette Davis commanded attention with her striking visage and powerful performances in films like All About Eve, The Little Foxesand What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Davis’ off-camera battles with costar Joan Crawford in the latter fuel the upcoming TV series Feud). But from the get-go, she was blazing trails as one of filmdom’s most distinct, eye-expressive actresses. Viola Davis: Bette’s not the only Ms. Davis to stand out on the screen (big or small). This Juilliard-trained powerhouse has shown there’s no role she can’t conquer, winning two Tonys, two Oscar nominations (for Doubt and The Help) and, finally, like Stanwyck, an Emmy. That parade of awards will only keep growing as she lends her trademark thoughtfulness to more juicy roles like her current one as Annalise Keating in TV’s How to Get Away With Murder. Jane Fonda: Fonda (a GALECA Timeless Star career-achievement honoree) may have come from Hollywood royalty, but she’s been paving her own way with intelligence and subversive wit since the sixties. Be it in the daring crime thriller Klute, feminist office comedy 9 to 5 to or gray-haired sitcom Grace and Frankie, Fonda is a nervy, magnetic presence. And few actresses have such a knack for shedding light on important issues with her brave performances. Witness her Oscar-winning turn in Coming Home. Katharine Hepburn: Few actresses, or actors, have the sort of self-possessed presence that came so naturally to Kate Hepburn. Even after her early success in was deemed a flash in the pan by the 1940s, she showed that talent and a hell of a lot of moxie can’t be quashed. Hepburn picked up three of her four Oscars later in life (see On Golden Pond), working until the age of 87. Her dedication to her art and her iconoclastic personal style translate to indelible. Isabelle Huppert: The French-born Cannes’ darling Huppert has been making waves in the film industry for over 40 years now, with no signs of slowing down. Her haunting performance in 2001’s The Piano Teacher may be her best known work in the U.S., but the BAFTA- and Cesar-winning chameleon has over 50 films under her belt, a testament to her status as one of the world’s most spectacularly natural acting talents. See her cast a spell in the current drama Elle. Julianne Moore: Moore has the makings of a modern legend. She landed on the radar with her high of a performance in 1997’s Boogie Nightsand she’s been building a noticeably meaty list of credits ever since. Her subtle and natural style has made her a household name and a favorite during Academy Awards season (and she won a GALECA Dorian Award for Still Alice). While Moore is usually cast in dramas like the heart-wrenching The End of the Affair, her comedic timing in The Big Lebowski is proof she has the chops to do it all. Barbara Stanwyck: The stunningly "real” Stanwyck rose from a childhood filled with poverty and strife to become one of early Hollywood’s most dynamic actresses. The former Ziegfeld Follies dancer elicited tears in Stella Dallas, mesmerized in the noir classic Double Indemnity and delighted in the screwball comedy The Lady Eve. “Missy” later turned heads in television, winning three Emmys, including one for her gutsy performance in The Thorn Birds. Meryl Streep: Enigmatic, brilliant, timeless. Meryl Streep’s career is as varied as can be, with Oscar-winning performances in The Iron Lady (which also earned her GALECA’s Dorian Award), Sophie’s Choice and Kramer vs. Kramer to fun frolics in films like Mamma Mia and The Devil Wears Prada. Streep completely loses herself in her roles, making her not only fascinating, but (shhh) GALECA’s number-one Best Actress of All Time. • • • • • Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Fete Carol and Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy at Annual Winners Toast **Transparent, Grace and Frankie Cast Members Discuss Their Awarded Shows MONDAY MARCH 7, 2016** - HOLLYWOOD, CA Members of the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, comprised of nearly 150 entertainment journalists nationwide, gathered Sunday in Los Angeles to celebrate their 2015 Dorian Award winners across film and TV. GALECA’s top titles and performances of the year were announced January 19, but the group eschews the award show format for an afternoon party where select winners enjoy champagne and some lighthearted questions before the crowd at its annual Winners Toast. This year, Oscar nominee Phyllis Nagy, presented her Dorian Award for Screenplay of the Year for Carol, was asked by GALECA Board Member Trish Bendix (AfterEllen) about adapting novelist Patricia Highsmith’s classic lesbian romance for the screen. “Retaining the novel’s sense of mystery” was key, said Nagy. The writer also noted that the film, an international success, seemed to ruffle feathers in some circles. “Hollywood still isn’t used to seeing strong lesbian characters. Carol is a woman who knows what she wants,” Nagy said of the determined divorcee (Cate Blanchett) who intrigues younger Therese (Rooney Mara) in 1950s New York. GALECA obviously responded to the film — Bendix and the organization’s president, John Griffiths (Us Weekly), had to jump in to help Nagy pose with Carol’s five awards in all. The movie, hailed by GALECA as a work “of precise beauty and huge emotional impact,” also had won Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, Director of the Year - Todd Haynes and Film Performance of the Year - Actress for Blanchett. Alexandra Billings, the groundbreaking transgender actress who costars on Amazon’s Transparent, accepted that show’s awards for TV Comedy of the Year, LGBTQ TV Show of the Year and TV Performance of the Year - Actor (Jeffrey Tambor). Billings, asked about her place as the first transgender performer to play a transgender character in a TV production, had fun roasting that turn in 2005’s Romy and Michelle: In the Beginning. The comedy prequel was “awful!” Billings had higher praise for her current gig, in which she plays Davina, a warm transgender woman who helps show Tambor’s character Maura transition. Transparent is “funny because it’s real and true. And [creator] Jill Soloway is a nut!” Accepting on behalf of Jane Fonda for the Grace and Frankie’s star’s Timeless Award — GALECA’s career achievement honor previously given to the likes of Sir Ian McKellen — her sitcom costar Baron Vaughn raved about the legendary actress’s “approachable” charms and professionalism. On the Netflix hit, about the unlikely friendship between fastidious Grace (Fonda) and aging hippy Frankie (Lily Tomlin) and their suddenly out husbands, Vaughn plays Tomlin’s adopted son Bud. “When I’m in scenes with Jane and Lily, I’m thinking I’m basically the new Dolly Parton,” quipped Vaughn, referencing a certain Fonda/Tomlin/Parton comedy classic. Other swells attending GALECA’s Hasty Pudding-esque Toast, held at Wilde Wine Bar and Restaurant in Los Angeles, were actor Jason Stuart (Unsung Film of the Year winner Tangerine and the upcoming The Birth of a Nation), rising star Corey Craig (Pee Wee’s Big Holiday) and reality star/actor Massimo Dobrovic (Euros of Hollywood). The afternoon was capped by Natalie Denise Sperl of the L.A. rock band Kill My Coquette, who sang a tribute to the late David Bowie. GALECA, an established 501 C-6 nonprofit, aims to generate camaraderie in an unsettling media environment, champion constructive film and TV criticism and elevate entertainment journalism as a whole. Via panels, screenings, events and our occasional “Ten Best” lists, GALECA also strives to remind the world that the LGBTQ-munity has a significant history of helping improve pop culture at large. After all, how would the world fare without knowing what’s campy?

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, home of the annual Dorian Awards, is currently comprised of approximately 190 professional (as in paid — and not just with respect) journalists who write on television and film for legitimate media outlets in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. These outlets run the gamut, from magazine to radio, from national to regional, from consumer to trade, and from mass-audience to LGBTQ-centric.

Formed in 2009, GALECA toasts the finest in movies and television, from mainstream to LGBTQ-niche, via its Dorian Awards. The awards are named with a wink to our patron saint — the inimitable Oscar Wilde, of course!

Note: GALECA was originally an acronym for “Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association,” but in 2017 we changed our “tagline” to underscore our inclusivity. Most GALECA members identify as a member of the LGBTQ-munity, be they lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, though we happily include demonstrably committed ally journalists in our ranks as well.

OUR LOFTY (AND FUN!) GOALS

To remind the world — and at-risk LGBTQ youth — that our community, with its distinct history and perspective, often leads the way in flagging great film and TV.

To champion the art of witty, wise and historically knowledgeable film and TV criticism and entertainment journalism.

To provide fellowship, camaraderie and career support in a time of change and uncertainty in the media.

To revel in being different!

ABOUT MEMBERSHIP

GALECA officially accepts new members April through August ahead of award season, though journalists are welcome to apply at any time.

Those who are interested in joining GALECA must submit five recent pieces of their work from within the two most recent months.

To remain active year to year, members must be able to show they are currently and regularly writing, reporting and/or editing pieces about television and/or film for at least one legitimate media outlet, be it print, TV, radio or online.

Members must also pay dues (currently $35 per year), and participate in the voting process of our Dorian Awards, to be considered fully active.

GALECA members are given a strict code of conduct upon joining. They must abstain from voting for projects which present a clear conflict of interest, and must resist undue influence at all times.

Bloggers are welcome, provided their site represents their livelihood and is exceptional in legitimacy, presentation and popularity.

JUST SO YOU KNOW

GALECA, a tax-exempt 501 (c)(6) nonprofit, is guided by a seven-member Board of Directors who, along with our general membership, determines its policies, priorities and fiscal accountability. Our Board Members work on a voluntary basis, though they and any other members are reimbursed for organization-related expenses they are due.

GALECA members vote on the Dorian Awards in a purely democratic fashion. All members are encouraged to vote their top three choices per category in the nominating round, then their sole choice per category in the final round.

You may contact us at info@galeca.org. Direct emails for our Board of Directors and liaisons can be found on this site’s Members page.