East Rockaway. The production wrapped on August 31, 2014 in Baldwin, New York. Also present in film is Musician/Artist Soda, seen as a dancer in a few scenes. He also supplied artwork for the set. This is notable to mention as he is an alumnus of East Rockaway High School under his birth name. Release The film was released at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and also screened in the Panorama section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. It received its California premiere during the 17th FilmOut San Diego LGBT Film Festival. The film was the opening night film of the Frameline Film Festival on June 18, 2015 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Brainstorm Media acquired distribution rights to the film, and set the film for a limited release and through video on demand on January 27, 2017. Reception The film drew mostly mixed reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 35 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "I Am Michael takes a determinedly balanced approach to its complex subject, and although the results don't always add up, they're anchored by strong work from James Franco." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average". Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "An unusually nuanced James Franco carries this complex portrait of a man who came out and fought to encourage other LGBT youth before converting to conservative Christianity," but concluded that the film was too dry and kept the title character too distant and veiled in its attempt to be impartial. Boyd van Hoeij wrote in The Hollywood Reporter, "Thankfully, the screenplay doesn't portray the story in simple terms of good or evil, but that doesn't mean that there's quite enough nuance or insight to constantly elevate the material above the level of a well-made-but-TV-ready biopic." Indiewire's Eric Kohn gave the film a B+ grade. See also List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films of 2015 References External links 2015 films 2015 biographical drama films 2015 directorial debut films 2015 LGBT-related films 2000s in LGBT history American biographical drama films American LGBT-related films Ex-gay movement Films about LGBT and Christianity Films based on newspaper and magazine articles Films set in the 2000s Films shot in New York City