LGBTQ filmmaker Cory Wexler Grant & his new film SCREAMS FROM THE TOWER

Cast of Screams from the Tower. (Photo courtesy of Cory Wexler Grant)

The movie Screams from the Tower premiered this month at the Dances With Films NYC festival. It is described as "a delightful Hughes homage broadly based on Grant’s teenage years, growing up in the 1990s in the Chicago suburbs in the style of the late great John Hughes who was so very instrumental in highlighting the growing pains of the nerds, weirdos, and outliers.  Focusing on the absurd, painful, and often laughable journey of self-discovery and identity exploration every teen goes through before graduating and leaving the lives they know."

Rated LGBTQ spoke with Cory Wexler Grant about the film and the impact he hopes it will have. 

Cory started a production company in 2001, and began writing, directing, and producing original theatrical works: 3 plays and 2 musicals. Cory wrote and directed his first feature film, PAINTER, in 2018, which was an Official Selection at Los Angeles Indie Film Festival 2020, and was awarded Grand Prize, Best Feature Film at Rhode Island International Film Festival 2020.

The film, his second feature film, SCREAMS FROM THE TOWER, is currently on the film festival circuit garnering "Best Feature Film" at the LGBTQ+ Toronto Film Festival, the Audience Award at REELING: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, and Best Screenplay at the Midwest Film Festival.

Cory lives in Greenwich Village with his husband and their two children. He has several other screenplays in development, with his third feature film due to start production in Fall 2025.