The complete lineup for the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, running July 14-24th 2022, has just been announced. The 11-day festival boasts over 200 titles, comprising feature narratives, documentaries, shorts, and episodics, with work from 29 countries. Among the 42 world premieres is the Opening Night Gala presentation of Billy Porter’s directorial... Continue Reading →
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced the nominations for its 2022 Dorian TV Awards, with HBO's Hacks and Somebody Somewhere leading with five nods apiece, closely followed by Euphoria with four. Netflix's hit series Heartstopper gained three nominations for its first season, including Best LGBTQ show alongside Hacks, The Other Two, Our... Continue Reading →
Robert Roth has taken his queer action sci-fi set up and layered multiversal political intrigue into the mix. Rise of the Renegade Child deepens and expands the world of The Gates Saga, without sacrificing its frenetic pace. Picking up right after the events of the previous book, Into the Lightning Gate, Cam Maddock is reeling... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Friday, July 15th at 9:30pm at Directors Guild of America, Theater 1. All hail Demi Moore! Kneel before Andrea Riseborough! Praise be to Harry Melling! Amanda Kramer’s Please Baby Please takes you on a campy, sexual thrill ride questioning gender, sexuality, and... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Saturday, July 23rd at 3:45pm at Directors Guild of America, Theater 2. Sarah Watts and Mark Slutsky’s debut feature, You Can Live Forever, opens up the world of a Jehovah’s Witness community in Canada through the eyes of a queer teenager in... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Friday, July 22nd at 8pm at The Ford. Screening preceded by live performances from Alaska, Laganja Estranja, Kelly Mantle and Jordan M Green! With the enormous popularity of drag, and the seemingly never-ending production line of RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni, we’ve been... Continue Reading →
Today, Friday June 24th, sees the debut of the hilarious Peacock Original comedy special Would It Kill You To Laugh? starring Kate Berlant (A League of Their Own, Search Party) and John Early (Search Party, The Afterparty), produced by A24 and directed by Andrew DeYoung. The comedy duo play an internationally-adored comedy duo named Kate... Continue Reading →
Indie comic publishers A Wave Blue World's new queer comic romance anthology, Young Men in Love is drawing a lot of attention. This collection of 20 gay love stories spans genres, art styles, and relationships, with a top-tier collection of queer creative talents including Sina Grace, Josh Cornillon, Chris Shehan, Charles Pulliam-Moore, David Booher, Anthony... Continue Reading →
Queer vampire series First Kill, created by New York Times bestselling author Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, based upon her own short story of the same name, launches on Netflix today, Friday, June 10th. It's a "Juliet and Juliet" tale of two households and forbidden love, which introduces us to teenage vampire Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook)... Continue Reading →
As queer folk it's important to know our history, but we all know it can be a bit dry at times. Well, siblings, that’s all over as Discovery+ has a new series to quench your cerebral thirst (and yes, it’s pretty damn thirsty). The Book of Queer is a five-part deep dive into history through... Continue Reading →
I can vividly remember sitting on the floor of my university flatmate Lisa's bedroom, along with all of our other flatmates (London rents were never cheap), on Tuesday, February 23rd 1999, gathered around the television tuned into Channel 4 to watch the first episode of the much-anticipated Queer As Folk. We were surprised, delighted, confronted,... Continue Reading →
The 21st Tribeca Festival, running in-person in New York and online from June 8th until June 19th 2022, will kick off with the world premiere of Amanda Micheli's Halftime. Halftime. Jennifer Lopez in Halftime. Netflix © 2022. The Netflix documentary follows global superstar, queer icon, ally, and GLAAD and HRC honoree Jennifer Lopez as she... Continue Reading →
Ahead of tonight's NewFest Pride world premiere of Fire Island, written by and starring Joel Kim Booster, and directed by Andrew Ahn, The Queer Review's editor James Kleinmann spoke exclusively with Ahn and cast members Matt Rogers, Conrad Ricamora, Bowen Yang, James Scully, Zane Phillips, Torian Miller, Tomas Matos and Nick Adams about the queer... Continue Reading →
First Kill, launching on Netflix on Friday, June 10th, is a Juliet and Juliet tale of two households and forbidden love. In the first episode we meet teenage vampire Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) as the time draws near for her to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire... Continue Reading →
When stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Joel Kim Booster had the genius idea to rework Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as a modern-day rom-com set on Fire Island centering queer Asian American characters, he turned to Andrew Ahn to direct his screenplay. The queer Korean American filmmaker caught the attention of critics and the entertainment... Continue Reading →
As I sit here, with a bleak post-Heartstoppers hole in my TV viewing life, the UK’s brilliant (and currently embattled) Channel 4 comes to the rescue with a very different queer love story, Big Boys. It also conveniently fills that gaping space left by Sex Education and Derry Girls. Adapted from writer, narrator, and executive... Continue Reading →
On Wednesday, June 1st 2022 at 1pm, federal officials and LGBTQ+ activists will hoist the rainbow flag on the first Pride flagpole on federal land, in Christopher Park in the heart of the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's historic Greenwich village. This will be the first permanent rainbow flag to fly on federal... Continue Reading →
While Michael R. Jackson's 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop is enjoying a hit run on Broadway—and is deservedly the most Tony-nominated production of the season—downtown at the Public Theater a 2022 Pulitzer-winner, James Ijames' Fat Ham officially opened last night, with its original run already extended twice until July 3rd (extended again until... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen was an astute observer of human behaviour. Behaviour that's changed very little in the two hundred years or so since she wrote Pride and Prejudice, the nuances of which can just as readily be found among gay men summering on Fire Island in 2022 as they could in Austen's nineteenth century high society... Continue Reading →
With footballers like Australia's Josh Cavallo and the UK's Jake Daniels bravely coming out, the timing of the return run of Adam Fawcett’s 2019 play Become The One couldn’t be better. How does a relationship work when one of you stays in the closet? What’s the impact on your other relationships? How long can it... Continue Reading →
She brought fierce lewks and charisma as a host on Drag Race Thailand, and made the most emotional exit in Drag Race herstory on UK vs The World earlier this year after an impressive winning streak as a competitor. Now, Pangina Heals, the trade of every season, is about to embark on a weeklong tour—RuPaul’s... Continue Reading →
Celebrity and fashion photographer Mike Ruiz, continues to expand his ongoing portrait series focusing on the beauty and diversity of the leather community, by taking leathermen into the metaverse. On June 5th, Ruiz will be dropping a series of 100 portraits from his leathermen project as NFTs. Keyon. Mike Ruiz Leathermen project. Ⓒ Mike Ruiz.... Continue Reading →
The exhilarating trailer for Stephen Dunn's reimagined Queer As Folk has just launched ahead of the series' June 9th debut on Peacock, along with ten new first look images. Set in New Orleans, the trailer features the sounds of Mm Mm Good by one of that city's most loved residents, the Queen of Bounce, Big... Continue Reading →
Doctor Who has been wearing its queer credentials on its sleeve since Russell T Davies brought it back to TV screens in 2005 (and the recent casting announcement of Ncuti Gatwa, best known for playing gay character Eric on Sex Education, as the next Doctor doesn't hurt). But with Doctor Who: Redacted, it has put... Continue Reading →
Back in 1999, when Russell T Davies' Queer As Folk first burst on to the UK's Channel 4, causing a stir both within the LGBTQ+ community and the mainstream press, as well as creating much-needed gay representation on the small screen, actor and musician Fin Argus was just one year old. They're now starring in... Continue Reading →
In recent years the USA has finally been waking up to the camp majesty of the Eurovision Song Contest, partly thanks to 2020's Netflix film, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and the second season of Drag Race UK's tribute, The RuRuvision Song Contest, which spawned the hit track UK Hun? Which was... Continue Reading →
Many years ago, Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann thought it would be a fluffy good time to follow around one of the world’s leading gay adult film stars in service of a sexy, funny documentary. Little did he know at the time that his years of filming his star, Jonathan Agassi, would instead result in something... Continue Reading →
It only feels like a New York minute since drag superstar BenDeLaCreme graced the Manhattan stage for her annual holiday show with fellow Drag Race alum Jinkx Monsoon, The Return of the Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, LIVE! But that was actually five months ago, so clearly my perception of time has been warped by... Continue Reading →
They’re both already winners, baby! Two of the stars of the upcoming season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7, Yvie Oddly (who snatched the season 11 crown) and Trinity The Tuck (who reigned victorious on All Stars 4, in a tie with Monét X Change) were in attendance at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media... Continue Reading →
A Strange Loop became the most Tony Award-nominated production of the season today, receiving 11 nominations including Best Musical. On Friday night the show's Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, composer and lyricist, Michael R. Jackson, gave a powerful and moving performance of Memory Song from the musical on stage at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Ahead... Continue Reading →
On Friday night in New York, GLAAD—the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization—announced the recipients of the awards for the remaining 16 categories at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, following its Los Angeles event on April 2nd. Community members, allies, activists and stars walked the red carpet at the Hilton Midtown, and there were... Continue Reading →
Fluent in five languages, with a singing range of six octaves, pinup good looks, and charisma for days, Matteo Lane is already a gay hearthrob (as a quick glance at his Instagram will confirm) and fast becoming a New York stand-up comedy institution, regularly performing at the legendary Comedy Cellar in the West Village. Before... Continue Reading →
Often edgy, always fiercely intelligent and hilarious, stand-up comedy rising star Robin Tran is performing in Los Angeles this week as part of Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival. Named one of Just For Laugh’s New Faces of 2021, her comedy frequently deals with her identity as an Asian trans lesbian and her experience of... Continue Reading →
This Friday, May 6th, GLAAD—the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization—will honour award-winning actor, producer, and activist Wilson Cruz with the Vito Russo Award at its 33rd annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York. The Vito Russo Award—named after the writer, GLAAD founder, and ACT UP activist who pushed open the door for news and entertainment industries to... Continue Reading →
Before the lights go down at the Lyceum Theatre, a recorded announcement by A Strange Loop's Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, composer and lyricist—Michael R. Jackson—politely reminds us to keep our masks on and to switch off or silence our mobile devices. Theatre etiquette which he says, as a former usher, he finds particularly irksome when ignored.... Continue Reading →
Based on the memoir of Sergey Fetisov, Peeter Rebane's achingly romantic Firebird is released in US theaters today. After receiving its world premiere at last year's BFI Flare, the film went on be a queer festival hit, garnering award recognition along the way including honorable mention for Best First Feature at Frameline and snatching wins... Continue Reading →
At first glance, Alice Oseman's beautifully heartwarming Heartstopper which launches today on Netflix, based on her hit graphic novels, feels like a throwback to much-loved 90s British films about gay teens like Beautiful Thing and Get Real. Although this series does share much of the feel-good quality of those movies and a similar focus on... Continue Reading →
Guillermo Díaz, star of TV shows like Scandal, Weeds, Law & Order: Organized Crime, and movies like Party Girl, Stonewall (1995), and Billy Eichner's upcoming BROS, will take the lead in Todd Verow's 90s New York set queer horror thriller You Can't Stay Here. The project, which recently launched an Indiegogo campaign, is loosely inspired by real events... Continue Reading →
Antonio Marziale, who has starred in three Netflix series—Alex Strangelove, Altered Carbon, and the upcoming Grendel—makes an impressive debut as a writer-director with his short film Starfuckers, which premiered at Sundance, played the 2022 Berlinale, and screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on July 17th. The LA-based actor, who also... Continue Reading →
As twenty year-old Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel) arrives in Los Angeles from her native Sweden she's asked by a US customs agent whether the purpose of her visit is 'business or pleasure', with her momentarily delayed reply giving director Ninja Thyberg's stunning debut feature, co-written with Peter Modestij, its title. Pleasure, which expands on Thyberg's... Continue Reading →
Matt Cain’s The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is a heartbreakingly sweet story about how times of crisis can trigger moments of rewarding growth. Melancholic and romantic, it charts one man’s realisation that it is never too late to live life to its fullest. Albert Entwistle is a postman in an English country village. A... Continue Reading →
Australian indie film The Longest Weekend, which received its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival 2022, keeps its focus tight on the lives of three adult siblings in Sydney's diverse Inner West, whose plans get ripped apart when their estranged father comes back into their lives. From the outside all seems well with the... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Saturday, July 23rd at 9:30pm at Directors Guild of America, Theater 1. Director Craig Boreham (Teenage Kicks, Drowning) is back with another tale of young gay men looking for meaning and connection, alienated from the support structures around them in the aptly... Continue Reading →
Gianluca Matarrese’s Fashion Babylon is a documentary more interested in the lives on fashion’s fringes than the glamour on the runway. Following a trio of notable fashion obsessives, Matarrese’s cold lens highlights how wafer thin glamour is, and how hollow art can be… but just maybe, for a few, it is still redeemable. Musician/artist Casey... Continue Reading →
