A Drag Queen, Bear and Cub Bring “Sweet Nothing” to the Screen
Auteur Robby Kendall is finally ready to show his Sweet Nothing movie to an audience.
Having seen (and enjoyed) the film as part of a focus group last April, you can see how seriously Kendall took the comments and suggestions for the group as it has taken many months to get to the screen. I am anxious to see what changes might have been made as it was wonderful when I saw it but Kendall says it’s been tweaked and is ready to screen at the Bay Area’s AMC Emeryville on Saturday, Feb. 28 and then, by popular demand, a screening has been added to show in the nearby city of Orinda on April 9.
Kendall also explained that the delays have nothing to do with anything major; he just needed to find the time in his schedule to work with the editor to fine tune it.
While he primarily hosts a film festival entitled Fishnets & Film in which, as Miss Sweet Nothing, Kendall invites drag queens to perform between screenings of short LGBTQ+ films. It makes the screenings more fun and interactive and Kendall has done them throughout the Bay Area and even has gone to Southern California with this festival.
He’s also no stranger to filmmaking as he has created a web series (Un)Free Will which was a hit at film festival and can now be screened at home on Dekko.
His movie, Sweet Nothing is an adorable tale about a drag queen who is approached to take over a struggling bingo game and he faces opposition from a rival and tons of support from his bear husband. Speaking of that bear, Lito Briano has all the fur that the bear world desires even though he personally doesn’t use labels but did point out he enjoys the attention and has a profile is on Scruff instead of a less-hirsute dating app and does enjoy our community but he’s also “smooth friendly.”
When he’s not creating web series, movies and his film festival, Kendall has become a beacon of the city of Emeryville. “Maybe I should be called the Emeryville Diva,” he laughs. Emeryville is a small city adjacent to Oakland, CA and Kendall has been getting on the gay radar for years, having started their first ever gay pride parade, hosting drag bingo at their Public Marketplace and now doing a screening at an Emeryville theatre. He’s doing a lot of this as, especially in these times, he’s “trying to create a true community experience and a reason to celebrate” even in a small city such as Emeryville where he’s also worked on bringing carnival and circus performers to the outdoor areas.
Briano is someone new to admire on screen but he has been in over 40 production in the North Bay of San Francisco.
While perfectly cast in the role, Briano was actually the fourth actor who was considered for the role. But he and Kendall both felt there was chemistry during the casting phase and that would translate to the screen.
Another welcome addition to the Kendall’s team is Tom Goss, who scored the movie and wrote a song for it. Bears for sure are familiar with Goss as he’s likely one of our communities favorite cub. He is a fan of ours too with a bear of a husband and many songs dedicated to the community: Bears, Nerdy Bear and Bear Soup, among others.
Goss met Kendall one year when Goss’ short film screened as part of a Fishnets & Film program and they two really hit it off and thought they should work on something together.
Kendall, Briano and Goss will all be on hand for opening night and it promises to be more than a screening – but an event. Before the show, there will be live drag performances and then after the show there will be Q&A.
Keep up with the film at: https://fishnetsfilm.org/sweetnothing/
Follow on IG: SweetNothingFeature
