Have Dinner in Marseille with Stu Maddux & Reel in the Closet

Stu Maddux is a multi-award winning filmmaker with international credits trying to use his powers for good. Sometimes he gets butterflies in his stomach about something that no one is paying attention to and he knows he should document it.

His preceding film, “Gen Silent” is a widely used documentary about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender older people hiding their lives to survive discrimination, bullying and abuse in aging care.

Stu’s first documentary as an independent filmmaker was the critically-acclaimed “Bob and Jack’s 52-Year Adventure” about an Army sergeant who began an affair with his commanding officer in 1952. The two men came out to the troops in their unit and are still together a half-century later.

Stu Maddux will be screening his latest documentary on Pride of the Ocean’s 2016 European cruise. Click on the button below to learn how you can join him.

Stay tuned to meet our other Pride of the Ocean 2016 filmmakers and films!

REEL IN THE CLOSET

Stu Maddux’s “Reel In The Closet” is a feature-length documentary that lets us connect with LGBT people from the past through the rare LGBT home movies that they left for us.

Stu was searching for a way to really understand the people who came before him, not just read about them. He discovered old home movies dating back to the 1930s in closets and attics around the world. There were also recorded news stories and community productions that they left behind.

Stu spent three years making his documentary that he hopes lets you feel how he felt the first time he saw one of these movies.

But a big part of the story for Stu isn’t the few movies that have been saved but all the ones being thrown out- sometimes on purpose. In a decade, most will be destroyed or no longer playable.

We will never get them back.

MAKE FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY

Greetings from the Celebrity Solstice®

In his New York Times article below, author George Gustines alludes to the fact that travel to exotic destinations is only made better by making friends along the way.

Greetings from the Celebrity Solstice®
During our past 8 cruises, traveling in the good company of Pride of the Ocean’s fellow passengers has not only engendered enduring friendships, both personal and professional, but has even resulted in several long-term romantic relationships along the way.

Victoria, British Columbia

“The true delight of the trip was not the quality of the festival itself (the richness of Web content being developed was especially amazing) but the friends we made.”

George Gustines

The New York Times

“This is not just a cruise to Alaska. It’s a gay group cruise to Glacier Bay, and a great way to mix and mingle with other LGBT film lovers who may have missed the winning films and documentaries at local festivals around the country.”

Anthony Schillaci

Examiner.com

We hope you’ll consider joining the smart and engaging people like you who have been coming to Pride of the Ocean since 2009 for the unique experience of enjoying an ocean cruise together with much more than a film festival. Past passengers have included everyone from cruise aficionados, to film enthusiasts, to people who simply like to travel.

Warmly,

Everyone at Pride of the Ocean
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Copyright © 2016 Pride of the Ocean, All rights reserved.

The Secret to Skipping the Long Lines at the Uffizi Museum

The Uffizi Museum in Florence

Bust of Hadrian, Uffizi Museum Bust of Antinous, Uffizi Museum

Sleeping Hermaphroditus, Uffizi Museum

A New Year’s Wish for You in 2016

Cheers!

Celebrate in Rome!

Apollo and Hyacinth (above), and your friends at Pride of the Ocean (below), would like to wish you a glorious, rewarding and productive New Year, and invite you to join them in Europe in 2016.

Celebrate Pride month in 2016 by raising a glass in Rome to our Roman gay and lesbian ancestors on the 47th anniversary year of Stonewall.

We hope you’ll take a moment to consider joining us on our Western Mediterranean cruise in June 2016, visiting Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes, and Marseille for 7 days and 7 nights. We’ll have some great food, great films, and will see some amazing sights for less than you might think.

Warmly,

Your Friends at Pride of the Ocean

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

Bacchus by Caravaggio c.1593 Uffizi Gallery

What better gift to give your sweetheart this holiday season than Spain, Italy, and France with Pride of the Ocean, topped off by an exclusive tour of LGBT related artwork in the now notoriously sold out Uffizi Gallery in Florence?

With the popularity of cruise ships in Europe, it’s become nearly impossible to get into this amazing museum where you can see some of the works of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, including Gabrielle d’Estrees and Her Sister, by the School of Fontainebleau Master (left).

When you see Europe with Pride of the Ocean, you’re escorted on a private guided tour of LGBT themed art in the Uffizi Gallery.

The Abduction of Ganymede by Anton Domenico Gabbiani c. 1700 Uffizi Gallery

Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals, who was abducted by Zeus in the form of an eagle and made immortal so that they he could be with him  for eternity. Zeus later put Ganymede in the sky as the constellation Aquarius, which is associated with that of the Eagle (Aquila).

One of the more colorful personalities in the Uffizi Gallery is that of Artemisia Gentileschi, a female Renaissance painter, who often painted heroic women, with herself in the title role, such as in her 1620 painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes (above), hanging in the Uffizi Gallery. Rumor has it that Artemesia may have modeled Holofernes on Pierantonio Stiattesi, her ex-husband.

Did You Know?

John Scagliotti Researching the Same- Sex Love Sonnets of Michelangelo with Harvard University in Florence, Italy

Did you know that Michelangelo wrote numerous same-sex love sonnets  to his beloved Tommaso DeCavalieri that were disguised by one of Michelangelo’s descendants to appear heterosexual by changing the gender pronouns and names used in those sonnets?

How was this deception discovered? How was the record set straight?

James Saslow tells us the story in the upcoming documentary

film, BEFORE HOMOSEXUALS. Guests on our 2015 Western Mediterranean cruise will not only be treated to a sneak peek of the full Before Homosexuals film, but will also have the privilege of meeting some of the scholars interviewed in the film, who will be accompanying us on the cruise.

Learn how you can make a holiday gift of this historic cruise to yourself and/or a loved one (substantial discounts and incentives still available), by clicking here, or on the button below.

Before Homosexuals Preview

Pride of the Ocean’s 2015 Alaska cruise guests were treated to a sneak peek  of a work in progress excerpt of John Scagliotti‘s upcoming documentary film, Before Homosexuals, the anticipated prequel to his classic 1984 film Before Stonewall.

(L-R) Director, John Scagliotti, with editors Christopher Dawes and HB Lozito answering questions from the audience following the Before Homosexuals sneak peek screening on Pride of the Ocean’s 2015 Alaska Cruise.

Before Homosexuals reveals a rich legacy of LGBT history and artwork dating from 2000 BC until 1900 AD, much of which has only come to light in the past decade, due to the research efforts of LGBT scholars, over 30 of whom are interviewed in the film, accompanied by lush visuals of artwork and artifacts illustrating the concepts of the film.

Guests on our 2015 Western Mediterranean cruise will not only be treated to a sneak peek of the full Before Homosexuals film, but will also have the privilege of meeting some of the scholars interviewed in the film, who will be accompanying us on the cruise. Scheduled guests to date include Bernadette Brooten, Ph.D., a MacArthur Fellowship award recipient and Fulbright Scholar who discovered ancient lesbian love spells inscribed on oval-shaped lead tablets.

The love spell is actually in the category of what are called binding spells. They are spells to bind another person to yourself. So you call upon a, the what we would call the Soul of a person who has died, to come and bind another person to go forth and grab another person and bind the person to you. So one woman tries to get the person into the bathhouse and bind her to her. So they’re very sensuous.

HEROIC LGBT ART IN FLORENCE

Emperor Hadrian and his slain lover Antinous, Piazza della Signoria, Florence

Depictions of two of the most famous same sex love stories can be found in Florence, on the Piazza della Signoria.

Antinous is described as “the one person who seems to have connected most profoundly with Hadrian” throughout the latter’s life. There is no reliable evidence that Hadrian ever expressed a sexual attraction for women, in contrast to much reliable early evidence that he was sexually attracted to boys and young men.Emperor Hadrian was devastated by the death of his lover Antinous. In Egypt, the local priesthood immediately deified Antinous by identifying him with Osiris due to the manner of his death.

Statue of David by Michelangelo, Piazza della Signoria, Florence

“The way that Hadrian took Antinous on his travels, kept close to him at moments of spiritual, moral or physical exaltation, and, after his death, surrounded himself with his images, shows an obsessive craving for his presence, a mystical-religious need for his company.”
-Royston Lambert

“He is David not only the killer of Goliath but David the lover of Jonathan. David, who says when Jonathan dies, ‘Your love to me was more beautiful than that of women.'”

In modern times, some scholars, writers, and activists have emphasized what they interpret as elements of homoeroticism (chaste or otherwise) in the story. A number of groups made up of gay Roman Catholics trying to reconcile their faith with their sexuality have also adopted the name to their cause.

Celebrating Women Directors

The world premiere of Andrea Meyerson’s film, Letter to Anita took place on Pride of the Ocean’s 5th Anniversary cruise from New York to Bermuda. The film went on to play numerous film festivals, winning Jury Awards and Audience Awards, but Pride of the Ocean passengers got to see it first. Question & Answer session with “Letter to Anita” subject Ronni Sanlo and Director Andrea Meyerson following the world premiere screening on Pride of the Ocean Pride of the Ocean’s 9th Anniversary cruise, from Barcelona to the Western Mediterranean, promises to be no exception, with what is promising to be the first screening of the final theatrical version of the film Clambake, Reflecting on the 30-Year History of Women’s Week in Provincetown. The pre-release version of Clambake has already screened and won Audience Awards at several festivals. Stay tuned for announcements of additional  screenings and premieres on our upcoming cruise. Andrea joins a distinguished group of women directors who have charted the course of their films on Pride of the Ocean as they have screened their films as works in progress and held workshops to chart the path to the final cut of their finished films, which have gone on to screen on HBO, PBS’s Independent Lens, Frameline, OutFest, and numerous other festivals, but we got to see it first, on Pride of the Ocean.

Yoruba Richen, Director of the film THE NEW BLACK at a Pride of the Ocean press conference Cheryl Furjanic, Director of “Back on Board: Greg Louganis” at a Pride of the Ocean screening

Visit Our LGBT Ancestors in Rome

Rome from the Capitoline Museum

One of the treasures of Rome, often overshadowed by the more famous sites in Rome, such as The Coliseum and The Vatican, is The Capitoline Museum, which houses some of the most exquisite ancient Roman marble sculptures, several of which may be of interest to the LGBT community.At the Capitoline Museum, is the Head of Harmodius. Aristogeiton & Harmodius  became famous as Lovers and Slayers of Tyrants.

Double Portrait of Epicurus and Metrodorus (c. 250 AD) Capitoline Museum, Rome

Psyche alata, 2nd century AD, Capitoline Museums, Rome  While we can only speculate, it is known that Metrodorus was the most prominent disciple of Epicurus, with whom he shared an intimate friendship, and was rarely separated from him. After their deaths, a national holiday was created in their honor.A mythical creature that can be seen in many ancient cultures around the world is that of the fairy. Ancient Roman art has many depictions of fairy-like creatures, perhaps the most well known being that of Psyche, a human woman with butterfly wings.

Bust of Antinous (117-138 CE) Capitoline Museum, Rome

See ancient LGBT works of art in Italy

John Scagliotti admiring a fresco of the bisexual poetess Sappho, rescued from Pompeii, hanging in in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Discover the missing pieces of the puzzle when you see the treasures housed at the Naples National Archeological Museum, visit Pompeii’s ruins, and learn of its history. Experience the “original pizza” in the city that boasts the world’s first pizzeria, dating back to 1830, and see the sites of Naples.

The Temple of Apollo in Pompeii

Travel along the coast with magnificent views of the Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius as a backdrop. This still active volcano buried Pompeii in 79 A.D.

Fresco of Sappho

Statues of Aristogeiton and Harmodius, “Lovers and Slayers of Tyrants” in the National Archeological Museum of Naples.

The lovers Harmodius and Aristogeiton became
known as the Tyrannicides after they killed the Peisistratid tyrant Hipparchus. They were Athenian heroes whose act of daring in 514 BC opened the way for Athenian democracy.

Mosaic of Plato’s Symposiu

At the ruins of Pompeii, you’ll discover the archeological excavations of a lost city buried deep beneath the ash from Mt. Vesuvius. Highlights include stunning frescoes and elaborately detailed