Super Studds, Drag Queens and a USHER Look-A-Like

Aug. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- From August 10-12, 2012, M.I., A Different Kind of Girl, a new riveting documentary film by filmmaker Leslie Cunningham, about a little known LGBTQ sub-culture will be showcased as a part of the 2012 North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC.

Making its debut at U.S. film festivals, the M.I. film presents a corner of the LGBTQ world rarely seen in mainstream media. In M.I., filmmakers, Leslie Cunningham and Alana Jones (Co-Producer) enter the world of new millennium drag and pick up the torch ignited by films like Paris is Burning to investigate attitudes in the North Carolina LGBT and African-American communities about women in drag.

Long a beloved character, the 'drag queen' has often shone on stage and in screen. Birdcage, Tootsie and To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Numar are but a few modern examples in a cadre of popular films that brought drag queens to mainstream America, while RuPaul remains relevant in entertainment and reality television decade after decade. Rarely, however, do we encounter drag ‘kings’ or female performers of masculine gender identity in film and on stage despite the ever-presence of women that bend the boundaries of female gender identity.  

Laine Brown, a spirited and passionate male impersonator (or male illusionist) born on North Carolina's rural coast, transforms by taping down her breasts, shaving her head, and studying the masculine performances of Usher, Neyo and many famous male entertainers- to become the incomparable NATION TYRE, show-stopper and ground-breaker for women in drag.

In her fledgling years on stage, Nation's drag ‘family’, the House of Tyre from of Atlanta, GA, helped mold into a ‘super studd’, embodying a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week gender performance that rejected the “trans-” label but required a commitment to masculinity that left Nation feeling pressured to abandon the reality of her femaleness. The family, headed by Sincere Tyre, an established M.I. in his own right, wants Nation to be “harder,” and ultimately return to Atlanta where this strict and complete dedication to masculinity dominates the female drag scene and Male Illusion is more accepted in the LGBTQ community. Nation’s fiancée and biological family, while increasingly accepting of her sexuality and career as a Male Illusionist, want her to be more feminine in life.  Ultimately, Nation is challenged by a desire to please all of those that love her. Yet ultimately, she is on a mission to generate acceptance for women like her, a rainbow of more and less masculine women and Male Illusionists, and crack the nut of pop culture as a proud ‘natural’ woman reaching for stardom from the drag stage.

Set in the American South, M.I. uses candid interviews, live performance footage, artful b-roll, images of striking green in the Carolina Piedmont and more to bring viewers through the flashing lights into the heart of Nation Tyre. Featuring music and special commentary by Hip Hop’s hottest female duo, KIN4LIFE, their “Lone Ranger” song, a featured track in the film, is in response to the recent wave of media attention focused on attacks and bullying targeting LGBTQ youth. KIN4LIFE offers important commentary at the end of the film.

"I believe that we uncovered some powerful and fundamental ideas about life and identity that we hope will challenge viewers thinking about women, in general, and specifically, on drag stages reaching beyond the borders of the LGBTQ community," says Cunningham.

A TRIBES Entertainment Film, M.I. debuted this past March at the Hayti Heritage Film Festival in Durham, NC, one of the longest running film festivals in the country, and the film is now on a 2012 Pride Festival tour with screenings in cities including Philadelphia, St. Louis, Nashville and Raleigh at their annual Triangle Black Pride Festival.

Officially selected to be screened for three consecutive days at downtown Durham's historic Carolina Theatre as a part of the 2012 North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, M.I. will show on  8/10@7:10pm | 8/11@1:15pm | 8/12@1pm. For more information, visit www.carolinatheatre.org/ncglff.

For more information about the film, M.I., A Different Kind of Girl, or to watch for upcoming film screenings, visit www.maleillusionistthefilm , www.facebook.com/Maleillusionistthefilm or www.tribesentertainment.com.

WATCH THE TRAILER NOW:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u92NxKwlLl4&feature=player...