Each week The GLAAD Wrap brings you LGBT-related entertainment news highlights, fresh stuff to watch out for, and fun diversions to help you kick off the weekend.
1) Director Eytan Fox’s new film Yossi opens in New York today with a Los Angeles release to follow on February 8. The film is a sequel to Fox’s 2002 short Yossi & Jagger which told the love story of two Israeli soldiers. Yossi focuses on the life of one of those soldiers following the tragic aftermath of the first film, as he attempts to live a more honest life than he allowed himself previously and opens himself up to the possibility of new love. Watch the film’s trailer below.
2) The Sundance Film Festival doesn’t wrap up until Sunday, but there is early good news for some LGBT-inclusive films. The Beat poet murder mystery Kill Your Darlings (Daniel Radcliffe, Michael C. Hall) has been acquired for distribution by Sony Picture Classics. Longtime LGBT ally Radcliffe, who plays gay poet Allen Ginsberg, said of his kiss with Dane DeHaan’s Lucien Carr character, “Dane and I are banging the drum already because we want the MTV Best Kiss award. We want that golden popcorn! To my knowledge, a sincere, passionate, romantic gay kiss has never won, so I think that would be a very cool thing for this movie to receive.” Another film gathering some buzz is Concussion, a drama about a lesbian housewife who begins a secret life as an escort following a head injury, which has been picked up by RADiUS-TWC for North American distribution. Next door at the Slamdance Film Festival, Gravitas Ventures acquired the Michael Urie-directed comedy He’s Way More Famous Than You for North American Video On Demand release within the next three months. The film follows a woman who is trying to rebuild her career with the help of her brother Ryan and his boyfriend.
3) Director Ira Sachs next film, Love Is Strange, will star Michael Gambon (Harry Potter) and Alfred Molina (Chocolat) as a married couple living in New York who deal with romantic ups and downs as they are forced to live separately following their wedding. Love Is Strange will begin filming this summer. Sachs’ last movie, the semi-autobiographical drama Keep the Lights On, has been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in Outstanding Film – Limited Release.
4) George Takei will guest star on the season finale of ABC’s extra-terrestrial comedy The Neighbors in March. He will play Larry Bird’s father and he has 
a big announcement to share with the family. Takei also recently guest starred on NBC’s GLAAD Media Award-nominated comedy The New Normal and CBS’ Hawaii Five-O. The always-in-demand Takei will also make an appearance in the Dick Tracy comic strip each Sunday under the name “George Tawara” along with a character modeled after his husband Brad Altman. The storyline will discuss WWII internment camps for Japanese Americans, which Takei actually spent time in as a child.
5) ABC this week pulled LGBT-inclusive comedyDon’t Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 from their airing schedule, effective immediately. The fate of the remaining 8 episodes remains unknown, but they could possibly air sometime this summer. ABC will fill the period with back-to-back episodes of the LGBT-inclusive Happy Endings until March 19 when the new season of Dancing with the Stars results show will take the place of both.
6) Out rock duo Tegan and Sara’s new album Heartthrob isn’t available in stores until next Tuesday, January 29, but the whole album has been made available to stream through Rolling Stone. Check out the full album stream of Heartthrob at Rolling Stone.
7) God Des and She released their new music video this week for the single “God, I Know You Love Me.” The video deals with a young girl’s struggle to reconcile her religion with her sexuality. Their fourth album United States of God Des and She will hit stores February 5. Watch “God, I Know You Love Me” below.
8) Otep Shamaya, out founder of the metal band OTEP, released her final album Hydra this Tuesday and it has already reached number 8 on the iTunes US Rock Chart. OTEP has sold over 600,000 albums to date in her career and was nominated in Outstanding Music Artist at the 21st GLAAD Media Awards. Hydra is available for purchase on iTunes.
9) Just Another Night is a feature film about four separate LGBT couples at different stages of their relationships that all face a turning point in their lives. GrumpyFILMS inc., the creators, is looking for crowdsourced funding help to assist with production costs associated with completing a feature film. Learn more about the project at Just Another Night’s Seed & Spark page.
10) The print magazine about trans male culture, Original Plumbing,is in need of funding assistance as they work to expand their online community with a complete website redesign and re-launch. The website supplements the quarterly magazine with daily bloggers’ columns, stories from award-winning trans writers and the new “Talk About It” video campaign. Learn more at the Original Plumbing indiegogo page and watch OP creators, editors and publishers Amos and Rocco discuss the importance of the magazine and this reboot below.