Last night I filmed more new footage of the Drag Queens performing on stage at the Cabaret Club on Duval St in Key West. Sushi and the girls, Samantha, Gassy, Kylie, and Déjà have been rehearsing tirelessly a new song called “one love” that Ray Burris and Bill Coate, the guys from NYC have asked them to do. Last night was the first time the drag queens have performed it live in the Friday night show. Sushi introduced the new song to the audience and mentioned that I was filming it for the preview film trailer that we are creating for NY and we would appreciate loud applause at the end of the performance… and loud it was, along with lots of cheering.

photo from the Fort Lauderdale Intl. Film Festival

The new film footage will also be added to the film “Audience with the Queens” for the upcoming Feb17th screening premiere at the Tropic Cinema in Key West. This will be the first opportunity that “locals” will have a chance to see the film that been shot on location in Key West by Robbie Hopcraft. It should be a fun and exciting evening for all who get to attend.

The Drag Queens who live and perform in Key West are incredibly talented and interesting characters; there is no doubt about it!! They put on a great show and there humor and witticisms keep you involved in the show.

Sushi made some interesting comments to the audience last night. She said that we are all born naked and everything else is drag, meaning that we’re all wearing a costume.  And that Drag Queens in every culture teach us not to take life so seriously.  I believe that drag is a sacred practice.  Drag Queens and Kings are like aphrodisiacs.  They encourage the rest of us (if we’re open to them) to feel libidinous, empowered, and playful. 

Speaking of Aphrodisiacs, I’m making homemade aphrodisiac infused honey, for spreading on a buttery croissant or….

Aphrodisiacs have a ’serious’ side, in the fact that most of them are also strengthening to the heart, reproductive, and/or nervous systems, many if not all are anti-depressive, and in general they make people feel happy, even giddy, which is very creatively freeing.  They aren’t “just” about sex.

Talking of sex as a life force, Aphrodisiac plants are living poems to life force.  They support the idea that life is pleasurable.  What a simple, and yet somehow still radical thought.

By Peter Howell  Movies Columnist

All through the Sundance Film Festival, an image from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has been flashing through my mind.

It’s that moment right at the end where Paul Newman’s Butch and Robert Redford’s Sundance are surrounded by a platoon of Bolivian soldiers, yet decide they’re going make a run for it anyway. As hundreds of guns fire in their direction, the camera freezes on their final act of defiance.

Redford summoned up similar boldness in his opening press conference last week. He spoke of how Sundance had “flatlined” recently and had to get back to its roots as an outlaw alternative to Hollywood. The theme for this 26th edition of the festival was all “renew” and “rebel,” but it certainly made you wonder: What has Sundance been doing for the past 25 years, if not rebelling against the establishment? 

Photo from the Fort Lauderdale Intl. Film Festival

Join us, Sushi, Gugi, RV, Gassy and Samantha and our group on incredibly entertaining Drag Queens at the Tropic Cinema in Key West, Florida on Wed. Feb. 17th for the priemiere screening of Audience with the Queens, the award winning documentary film about the lives of Drag Queens produced and directed by Robbie Hopcraft right here in Key West.  Come see the film, you’ll love us!!

Here’s the article  i wrote about my experience in filming the drag queens. It’s been an amazing adventure and i hope to get the show picked up by a major distributor or made into a killer reality TV docu-series.. we shall see.

I look for any good advice or help out there in the entertainment world. hit me up and tell me what you think..

http://ezinearticles.com/?Audience-With-the-Queens&id=2674176

the drag queen film is called Audience with the Queens and i do hope you get to see it soon. Coming to theatres everywhere !!

Go To:  www.keywestdragqueens.com

or www.audiencewiththequeens.com

Robbie Hopcraft

The documentary film, “Audience with the Queens,” features a diverse group of drag queens who perform at the 801 Cabaret Club in Key West, Florida. And when a straight guy like Robbie Hopcraft takes a look at the lives and experiences of drag queens, onstage and off, he comes up with an eye-opener that’s both informative and entertaining. 

Key West, FL (PRWEB) October 15, 2009 — The documentary film, “Audience with the Queens,” features a diverse group of drag queens who perform at the 801 Cabaret Club in Key West, Florida. And when a straight guy like Robbie Hopcraft takes a look at the lives and experiences of drag queens, onstage and off, he comes up with an eye-opener that’s both informative and entertaining.

This is Robbie Hopcraft’s first-ever entry into professional filmmaking. It has been accepted into the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and will be screened at the Cinema Paradiso on Fri. November 6th. at 9:15 pm.

Hopcraft produced, directed, and did all the cinematography on the film. After spending hours in the editing room he said: “I sat with my editor through every minute of every scene we put into the film, and that’s tedious work on a project that existed only in my head. He didn’t know the product I wanted, but he did a great job helping me produce the vision.”

Nevertheless, Hopcraft says he’s “extremely nervous about how it will be accepted by the public. Although I’ve lived in Key West 16 years, until I began filming I didn’t have any idea what Drag Queens were all about. I sure do now,” he said. “I hope it will give the viewers a greater understanding and acceptance of what it’s like to be labeled ‘different’ by our society.”

By gaining the trust of the Drag Queens, Hopcraft was allowed into the inner sanctum–the back-stage dressing room–where everyone is transformed into each Queen’s unique personae.

Hopcraft’s film production company, Key West Unplugged, www.keywestunplugged.com is based in Key West, Florida.

For more information on the Drag Queen film go to www.audiencewiththequeens.com

or

www.keywestdragqueens.com

and to learn more about the upcoming film festival schedule, go to www.FLIFF.com or call 954 760-9898 ext 10.

Contact: Robbie Hopcraft

305 295-9501 off.
305 304-1609 cell

I’ve finished editing the latest version the the Drag Queen film and put it in the mail to be screened at the Fort Lauderdale Intl. Film Festival. 

It has many new and different sequences that have been added to the film that include Destiny, Sushi, Gugi, RV, Samantha and Gassy Winds.

I’m very excited for this month’s opening of the film festival and for the Nov. 6th film screening.  I hope many of you will come and join us for the film screening. I do hope to see you there.  

Robbie

Oooops, Sooo sorry, I made a mistake.

The screening date is Fri., Nov. 6th at 9  pm at Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale  Hope to see you there…

We here at Keywestdragqueens.com and the film  “Audience with the  Queens”  are back in the studio editing some great new film footage to be added the the film for the upcoming

Destiny all Dressed Up and Looking Sexy

Tickets to see Audience with the Queens at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival will be available for purchase on October 1, 2009. Hope to see you there!

Gugi Is So Sexy !

Audience with the Queens is an eye opening film series about the lives and experiences of a very diverse and talented group of Drag Queen performers living and working in Key West, Florida.

This documentary film series explores the underworld of Drag Queens, and gives the “audience” an idea of who a Drag Queen really is and what they’re all about. It gives real perspective into the person and personality of the different Drag Queen personas who are profiled in the film. This documentary grab’s it’s “audience” and definitely entertains and also makes the audience curious enough to want to get to know these Drag Queens on a more personal level. If gives a true sense of their person and personality and a look into the more human and emotional side of these talented and diverse Drag Queen performers. The film tells what a Drag Queen is all about on stage and off stage. It gives you a sense of their personal life and what they do in addition to dressing up like a woman. The film will answer questions like: Why do men cross-dress in woman’s clothing and put on full make up to perform on stage? Are they male or female, or a combination of both? What are they really like as individuals and what else do they do in real life? What do their parents and families think about the path they’ve chosen in life? Do these Drag Queens function or dysfunction as a family group? What do the terms transvestites, trannies and t-girls mean? What is a cross-dresser? These and many other questions are answered in this very fast paced and entertaining film. Make sure you look for the film “Audience with the Queens”; you will be delighted when you see it!

Sushi Looking Gorgeous

Starring: “SUSHI”
The most talented & famous Drag Queen of all! Sushi is known as the “Drag Mother” for this group of Queens. A talented fashion designer who creates many of the costumes worn by her and the other drag queens, she has long beautiful legs and a body most real women would die for.

Produced and Directed by: Robbie Hopcraft
Cinematography: Robbie Hopcraft
Co-Produced & Edited by: Mary Sparacio
Editing and Sound by: Tom Jackson

An Award Winning Documentary
“When a straight guy takes a look at the other side, he unearths an eye opening film about the lives and experiences of Drag Queens, onstage and off. But these are not just any Drag Queens; in Robbie Hopcraft’s new documentary “Audience with the Queens,” he features a very talented and diverse group of cross dressing Queens who perform at the 801 Caberet on Duval St in beautiful downtown Key West, Florida.”