SCENE + HEARD: BearCity Brings the Bears Out of Hibernation

(Cast and crew of BearCity at SVA Theater)

Friday night saw the screening of one of NewFest's most hotly anticipated films, BearCity, the new burly rom-com from writer/director Doug Langway and co-writer Lawrence Ferber, which features a fair share of the city's bear community and camoes by Michael Musto, David Drake, Randy Jones, Chris March and lots of other gay-lebrities.  During a post-screening Q&A, Langway and Ferber admitted the film went through several—or several dozen—drafts. "When we first approached TLA, we envisioned it as a series of webisodes, so we had it set up in that kind of format," Ferber explained. "But then the network said, 'no, this is a feature.' We were like, 'um..sure!'"

It's only fitting the after-party was at the Eagle, where many of the film's pivotal scenes take place. (Can a BearCity bus tour be far off?). We rubbed elbows with cast members like Gerald McCullough, JJ Mack and Gregory Gunter—whose real-life boyfriend is even hotter and younger than his on-screen partner—and producer Ted Huang. We asked Ferber how he felt about the screening, which was sold out. "It was great. We were hoping for a good turnout, but its so incredible to know so many people were interested in the film," he gushed "And it was a mixed crowd. There was maybe just 60 percent bears in audience—and maybe 10 percent chasers—so it was a good mix." With both BearCity and the doc Bear Nation coming to a indie screen near you, are bears the new twinks? RepliedFerber, "Ha! yes, bears are the new Justin Biebers!" Speaking of twinks, we didn't see Alex Di Dio, who plays the cub-in-training lead's hilarious twink bestie, Simon, at the after-party. But rumor has it that, unlike his character, Alex actually has a thing for beefy boys—so maybe we just didn't look in the right dark corner. —Dan Avery