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Funded! This project successfully raised its funding goal on June 11, 2011.

KEEP THE LIGHTS ON: Now Available on DVD/VOD/Digital Download!

Update #11 · Jan 23, 2013 · comment

Dear Friends,

The last few weeks, Keep the Lights On has received a lot of great end-of-year news, being named on many Top 10 lists, as well as receiving the Dorian Award for Best LGBT Film of the Year, and a GLAAD Media Award nomination for "Best Film in Limited Release"

We wanted to let you know that Keep the Lights On is now available for home viewing on DVD, BluRay, and on VOD/Digital Download. Included on the DVD/Blu Ray are never-before-seen deleted scenes, the original audition videos from Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth, as well as In Search of Avery Willard, the film-within-the film which has found success on the festival circuit in its own right.

Here's where you can find KEEP THE LIGHTS ON to view in the comfort of your own home:

Amazon - DVD, BluRay, Amazon Instant Video

iTunes - Digital Rental / Purchase

InDemand - Check you local cable provider

The release comes almost exactly one year after we premiered at Sundance 2012. Thank you for helping to take the film this far, and for your support over the past year.

Warm Regards,

Ira, Lucas, and Marie Therese

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4 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations!

Update #10 · Nov 28, 2012 · comment

Dear Friends & KTLO Supporters:

It's been a good season for our little movie, and we wanted to share with you, our gracious supporters, news of some of the warm response Keep the Lights On has recently received. This week, we were very excited (and somewhat surprised!) to learn of our 4 Independent Spirit Awards nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director (Ira Sachs), Best Actor (Thure Lindhardt), and Best Original Screenplay (Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias). The yearly awards - the biggest ceremony for US Independent Film -- will be held in Santa Monica and televised live on IFC the night before the Oscar's on Saturday, February 23, 2013.

Recently, the French film journal Cahiers Du Cinema named KTLO as one of their Top 10 Films of the Year. They're tough critics, so we're proud to be part of an annual tradition that started in 1951. Throughout its 11-month festival run, the film has also received the following prizes and awards internationally:

Berlin Film Festival - Teddy Award for Best Queer Dramatic Film
Outfest/LA Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – Best US Dramatic Feature, Best Screenplay
Philadelphia Q-Fest – Best Feature Film
Lisbon Queer Film Festival – Best Feature Film
Prague Queer Film Festival – Best Feature Film
LesGaiMadrid Film Festival – Best Director, Best Actor - Thure Lindhardt
Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – Award for Aesthetic Excellence
Asheville Q-Fest, Best Supporting Actor – Zachary Booth
Gotham Independent Film Nominee, Breakthrough Actor, Thure Lindhardt

We are also excited that KEEP THE LIGHTS ON will soon be available to home viewers, when the film is released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and VOD on January 22. It will include deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes documentary, the completed film-within-the-film In Search of Avery Willard, auditions of the lead actors, and a commentary track by Ira. You can pre-order your copy now!   

And lastly, if you're in NYC, the film is having a special return engagement on the big screen at the Cinema Village starting on Friday, December 21. Catch it again, or for the first time! 

Thank you again for your generous support. Happy holidays, and we wish you a healthy and happy new year.

Warm Regards,

Ira, Lucas, and Marie Therese

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KEEP THE LIGHTS ON Opens this Friday, Sept. 7 in NY/LA!

Update #9 · Sep 4, 2012 · comment

Dear Friends,

We've come a long way. This Friday, September 7, Keep the Lights On opens theatrically in New York and Los Angeles. Opening weekend attendance is crucial to a film's success, and plays a huge factor in determining how long it will play, and whether it will travel to theaters outside of major cities. So, we hope you'll heed the Village Voice's advice this weekend, and see the "frontrunner for the best American film this year."

In New York, the film opens at the Angelika Film Center, the Chelsea Clearview, and the Elinor Bunin Monroe FIlm Center (Film Society of Lincoln Center). In Los Angeles, the film will play at the newly re-opened Sundance Sunset 5. To see when the film is opening near you soon, click here.

In NYC, Ira will be attending Q&A's throughout the weekend. It would be great to see you there (though we hope you'll go anytime over the weekend!). The Q&A screenings are:

Friday, Sept. 7, 6:30pm - Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center (Film Society of Lincoln Center)
Friday, Sept. 7, 8:10pm - Angelika Film Center
Saturday, Sept. 8, 6:30pm - Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center (FSLC)
Saturday, Sept. 8, 8:20pm - Angelika Film Center

Please spread the word of the film's opening, and share our trailer and facebook page with friends, family, and lovers.

Thank you for your continued support. We hope to see you at the movies this weekend, and celebrate what we've accomplished together.

Warm Regards,

Ira, Lucas, and Marie Therese 

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Summer Tour and US Distribution

Update #8 · May 22, 2012 · 1 comment
"Forget Brokeback Mountain; Keep the Lights On is the grittiest and most heartbreaking gay love story of our times."
-Dan Heching, NEXT Magazine 

"A hauntingly introspective film — obsessively charting the couple's emotional trajectory from initial passion to emotional enslavement — it was a standout at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is one of the most powerful films at Tribeca.

"This beautifully aching love story gets the hometown spotlight it deserves... cut[s] to the bone with the gentlest of knives in its dissection of commitment, addiction, and gay sex, withholding judgment even at its grimmest displays of human frailty. Sachs's stunner is a front-runner for best American film of the year."
-Eric Hynes, Village Voice


Dear Friends,

We wanted to share with you some of the press response Keep the Lights On received following its sold out screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival. Last May, we launched a Kickstarter campaign knowing that we needed the support of friends, families, gays, straights, film-lovers, and the generous-minded, to make this movie happen. "With your help, we are confident you'll see the movie at a theater near you in the year 2012!", we wrote back then.

One year later, and thanks to you and the community that has rallied behind this film, we're happy to share that Keep the Lights On has done just that.  Since our screenings at Sundance and Berlin (where the film won the 2012 Teddy Award for Best Narrative Feature), the film has been seen at festivals in Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Guadalajara, Torino, Atlanta, Sarasota, Zagreb, and many more. This summer, we will be the centerpiece gala screening at LGBT festivals in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto, and will also be seen in festivals in Jerusalem, Provincetown, Karlovy Vary, Paris, Seattle, Philadelphia, and many more.   

This September, Music Box Films will release the film theatrically in the US. In a few short years, this excellent distributor has distinguished itself as a cutting edge company with a sophisticated understanding of cinema and the marketplace, releasing such films as Tell No One, Monsieur Lazhar, and the Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. The film will also open in cinemas in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. 

Over the next year, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON will continue to travel the world, so if you see that the film will be in your neighborhood, come say hi, bring a friend, and feel proud that you helped bring this story to the screen. As always, please check our facebook and website for updates on when KEEP THE LIGHTS ON will be playing at a theatre near you. Have a great summer, and hope to see you on the road! 

Warm Regards,
Ira, Lucas, and Marie Therese
1 Comment

Teddy Award for Best Feature Film!

Update #7 · Feb 20, 2012 · comment

Dear Friends,

We're excited to share that this past week, Keep the Lights On won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival! As the film has a scene set at the awards, it feels like a lovely, wonderful instance of life imitating art. Now in its 26th year, the award honors the best in queer cinema, and we feel proud to be in the same company of such past recipients as Derek Jarman’s The Last of England, Rose Troche’s Go Fish, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids are Alright, and Pedro Almodovar’s Law of Desire. 

The Teddy Award caps off an exciting month on the road for KTLO.  In January, the film world premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival  to an appreciative, enthusiastic audience and a great reception from the press as well. Here’s what some of the critics had to say:                                                                                 

  • "An instant landmark in gay cinema, and easily the finest dramatic film I saw at Sundance this year. Not only does this film gloriously fulfill the potential that Ira Sachs tantalized movie-lovers with for years, it also helps explain what took him so long. Out of lost love comes a terrific work of art; it's the oldest story in the world, but it always feels new when it's done right." - Andrew O'Hehir, Salon 
  • "Devastating. What could have been a routine film about love and addiction becomes something else entirely. This is personal filmmaking at its most eloquent and poetic, a movie that sent me reeling.” - Tom Hall, Filmmaker Magazine
  • “* * * ½ (out of four). Like a gay Scenes from a Marriage, this survey of a 9-year relationship as a codependent form of addiction is 100% honest/90% heartbreaking.” - Peter Debruge, Variety

Next stop is Istanbul, where the film will screen as part of !f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival  on February 25 and February 26, followed soon after by the Guadalajara International Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival, with more requests coming in daily.  

Lastly, in Berlin, KTLO was represented by our new friends at the Films Boutique at the European Film Market, and has now sold to numerous territories throughout the world, including France, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan. We expect to announce details on US distribution soon, as well as distribution pending in Germany, Poland, Israel, UK, and numerous other territories.  We are happy to say that the film will be seen in theaters throughout the world in the coming year!

We feel fortunate that some of you have been able to see the film already, and look forward to sharing it with a lot more of you in the months to come. Your support and facebook comments means a great deal. As always, please continue to follow us on facebook and twitter for news on when and where you can expect to find KEEP THE LIGHTS ON at a theatre near you!  

Warm Regards,

Ira, Lucas, and Marie Therese 

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    Above + an actual on screen "thank you" in the credits of the film, so when the movie is over, all your friends and lovers (and exes) will know that you were a part of getting this movie made!

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    Above + you will also receive a poster of the film signed by the cast and the director. It's going to be classy, and look good in your kitchen, or bedroom.

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    Above + be the first on your block to own a complete set of the films of Ira Sachs (including THE DELTA, FORTY SHADES OF BLUE, MARRIED LIFE, and a collection of rare shorts).

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    Above + either a drink with the director at Julius's, the oldest (and best) gay bar in New York City or brunch at Morandi, 7th Ave & Waverly Place, in the heart of the Village. Scintillating and revealing conversation promised!!

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    This is the glam prize! All of the above + 2 tickets to the world premiere of the film and the celebration afterwards (travel and accommodations not included). Previous films by Sachs have played at Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals. Wherever it might be, we invite you to join us, the actors and the creators, to celebrate the world premiere!