ATX TV Fest

Austin filmmaker’s new unscripted series champions LGBTQ stories

Check out Austinite Fiona Dawson on Now with Fiona through the ATX TV Fest.

Courtesy of Onion Creek Productions

Austinite Fiona Dawson exclaims, “I’ve been described as the bisexual female version of Mr. Rogers,” when summing up her role and how she is viewed as an advocate for the LGBTQ community.

Dawson, an Emmy-nominated and award-winning director, producer, writer, and public speaker, is promoting her unscripted series, Now with Fiona through ATX TV Fest, which badge and ticket holders can view on demand starting Thursday, June 17 through the duration of the festival, which ends Sunday, June 20.

The proof-of-concept episode, produced by Free Lion Productions and presented as part of the Syndication Project, takes inspiration from reality shows such as This is Life with Lisa Ling and Queer Eye.

In the inaugural episode, hosted by Dawson, we meet activist Stuart Milk, the nephew of visionary gay politician Harvey Milk, and Kate, an indefatigable Honduran transgender woman seeking asylum in the United States. In addition, Dawson weaves in voices of hope from the streets of New York City’s WorldPride, as she believes strongly in sprinkling in a good amount of hope and positivity in every episode.

The nine-part series is executive produced by Mindy Raymond, of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance and co-chair of Women in Film & Television Austin. Both Dawson and Raymond call Austin home and some of the episodes include Texas stories and locations.

The two met only 18 months ago, through mutual friend, author, and public speaker, Dr. Sheila Newsom.

“We had lunch and literally, it was just like a kismet moment,” Raymond tells CultureMap. “And I had seen her film TransMilitary, [a SXSW 2018 Audience Award Winner] before we had lunch, so I was already enthralled.”

Dawson, who was raised in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, and moved to Houston in 2000 after volunteering in Bangladesh and a year in Portugal, wanted to be like Princess Diana when she grew up.

“She inspired me as a young child because I saw the power that she had on her platform and her visibility to raise awareness about issues that she wanted other people to care about,” Dawson says.

Her desire to advocate for others led her to various jobs in Houston, where she worked for Casa de Eperanza, helping abused, neglected, and HIV-positive children, and later for the Houston Area Women’s Center for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Eventually, she settled on an even bigger platform, media production, and a stint in New York and Washington, D.C.

Now Dawson is back in Texas (“I am a proud Texan,” she exclaims.) and teaming up with Raymond to bring Now with Fiona to a “mainstream audience that wouldn’t necessarily automatically go for LGBTQ content,” she says.

So, what is next for this project and the collaboration?

“The common theme to the type of work that I want to do, or we want to do,” says Dawson, “ is to be able to reach those people who might be on the fence when it comes to LGBTQ issues, but be able to educate and entertain them in a nonconfrontational way, and be able to say, ‘Look at this story. Look at these emotions and this experience that this individual has, and let’s help you relate to that so that you can understand that gender is on a spectrum, that sexuality is on a spectrum. We just happen to fall in different areas on that spectrum.’”

“We’re really focused on getting this out into the world,” Raymond adds. “The time is now, too. People are ready for it. This content is so relevant. We’re seeing this on a global scale, that these conversations are happening.”

Catch Now with Fiona during ATX TV Fest, in addition to plenty of other original series and panels. To learn more about the series and where it’s heading next, check the website.

After the 27-minute episode, viewers can watch a conversation with Kate, the central character who fled Honduras to save her life; as well as Edna Yang with American Gateways, who helped Kate once she arrived in the U.S.; and Ricardo Martinez with Equality Texas as he discusses the intersectionality of immigration and the LGBTQ+ community.

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Movie Review

English pop star goes wild in unconventional musical biopic Better Man

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Jonno Davies in Better Man.

English pop star Robbie Williams has been massive in his native United Kingdom for over 30 years, first as a member of the boy band Take That, and then as a solo artist, with all but one of his 12 solo albums hitting No. 1 in the U.K. But somehow he’s never had a significant impact in the United States, which may mean that the new film about his life, Better Man, will be overlooked here as well.

But whether you know Williams or not, the film from writer/director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) is an audacious, highly entertaining treat that throws the standard music biopic on its head. The most daring part of it is that Williams is portrayed not by a series of actors, but in CGI ape form, not unlike the recent Planet of the Apes series. Williams, who does voiceover work for much of the film, says in the fourth-wall breaking movie that he asked for the look because he's felt like a dancing monkey for much of his public-facing life.

And so the film follows Williams from a young age as he grows up with his mother (Kate Mulvany) and grandmother (Alison Steadman) while still idolizing his deadbeat entertainer father (Steve Pemberton). Taking inspiration from his dad, he pursues a singing career with all his heart, joining Take That at the tender age of 16. But like has happened to so many others, the overwhelming fame and his brash personality lead him down some dark roads, especially drugs.

Gracey, with co-writers Simon Gleeson and Oliver Cole, hits a lot of the beats present in many music biopics: Early success, trouble adapting to fame, heavy drug use, pain stemming from childhood, and more. And while the story is familiar, the way it’s presented is not, as the usage of the ape visual allows the film to go in many wild directions. Instead of the movie occasionally tipping its hat to Williams’ music, it turns into a full-on musical on several occasions in sequences that are both thrilling and informative for those who are unfamiliar with his work.

Williams is heavily involved in the film, and yet unlike other artists who want to micromanage their reputations, he lets all of his warts show. It’s clear from the start that he is an in-your-face kind of person, and so even though the film often shows him at his worst, he owns up to every bit of his story. That’s not to say that the movie isn’t on his side; he’s mostly portrayed as a cocky showman who’s still likable even when he shouldn’t be.

It’s funny how quickly the ape gimmick goes from “WTF?!” to normal, which is a testament to the motion capture technology team that brought it to life. Thanks to a great physical performance by stand-in Jonno Davies and digital trickery that puts Williams’ eyes on the ape’s face, his interactions with the other characters in the film never feel out of place. If anything, it adds an extra layer of joy onto a story that needs it at times.

Aside from his voiceovers, how much of Williams is “in” the film is unclear, but his irrepressible energy is felt throughout. Pemberton, Mulvany, and Steadman are all fantastic in demonstrating the Williams’ family dynamic. The large cast is full of people who are not familiar to American movie audiences, but they do a uniformly great job of supporting the story.

Williams may not be well-known in the United States, but movie lovers should not let that deter them from seeing this unique take on a music biopic. In fact, it probably helps if you have no distinct concept of the singer, as it allows his wild life story to be told without any preconceived expectations.

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Better Man opens in theaters on January 10.

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