Update: I Am Samuel will be available to stream for free across Canada from February 18-22 and a Q+A will follow screening. Tickets are free and must be reserved in advance through Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema website. Peter Murimi's I Am Samuel, which has its European premiere at the London Film Festival on October... Continue Reading →
64th BFI London Film Festival LGBTQ+ highlights
The 64th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) runs from October 7th-18th, and like many other festivals, Covid-19 restrictions mean that it's taking a different form this year. Given current circumstances the 2020 programme offers a reduced number of feature films, just 58, plus collections of short films and experimenta, but with an expanded reach across... Continue Reading →
Album review: Notes On A Conditional Form by The 1975 ★★★
My boyfriend has been briefed; he’ll be eating alone tonight whilst I scoff Notes On A Conditional Form, a whopping 22 tracks, in the bedroom. He retreats with a wry smile, well-accustomed to these rituals. Listening to The 1975 threatens to conjure my seventeen-year-old self. They’re a band who try on genres like clothes, playfight... Continue Reading →
LGBT Britain – the BFI’s free queer history time capsule
If you're in the UK you can access the British Film Institute’s treasure trove LGBT Britain for free, it's a rich visual time capsule of the country’s queer past. You'll discover the "pioneering gender-bending" risqué music hall ditty Miss Norah Blaney, (1932) and the Tennessee Williams-inspired short film Scarborough Ahoy! (1994). There are period lesbian,... Continue Reading →
Single Review: If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) by The 1975 ★★★★★
The 1975's bombastic self-isolation anthem Is it a bird? Is it a plane? The flaming fist of a vengeful deity? Perhaps a fleet of morbidly fascinated aliens back (with space snacks) for the next episode in Earth’s tragic mini-series? Trick question. It’s pop polymorphs, The 1975, digitally descending from the cloud to bless our weary... Continue Reading →
EP Review: Isaac’s Insects by Isaac Dunbar ★★★★
It’s hard to picture Isaac Dunbar, Gen Z’s dazzling alt-pop ascendant, juxtaposed against the quaint promontory of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but that’s exactly where he is right now, self-isolating in his family’s New England home. For context; I’ve just watched the music video for makeup drawer where every pore of Dunbar shimmers silver and, later, a tiered... Continue Reading →
The Queer Rearview: The Way He Looks/Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho ★★★★★
Life has paused, a battle waged. Social life has been depleted. With proximity identified as a vector for transmission, physical contact was to be curtailed. Sex, hugging, kissing, vital acts of physicality, would have to be forgone. When it comes to love, these behaviors command our attention, overwhelming the senses. And while they are important,... Continue Reading →
The Queer Rearview: I Want Your Love ★★★
I should have gone in blind. But I didn’t. I let preconceived expectations guide my experience. It was hard not to. Writer/director Travis Mathews' debut fiction feature I Want Your Love (2012) welcomes us back to the familiar territory of queer friends living in San Francisco. It is a city that has produced some of... Continue Reading →
The Queer Rearview: I Am Jonas/Jonas ★★★★
I Am Jonas begins with a father and son driving into a gas station. The street is deserted, car headlights dulled by an eerie haze. The son, Jonas, is a typical adolescent: grouchy, eyes glued to a Gameboy. He is left alone in the car, his father paying for gas. The Gameboy dies. Jonas shifts... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: This Queer House (VAULT Festival 2020, London) ★★
The concept of award-winning poet Oakley Flanagan's debut play, produced by the female and LGBTQIA+ led OPIA Collective in partnership with Gendered Intelligence, This Queer House was intriguing. The press blurb tempted me in: "A young queer couple inherit a home. A joint renovation project begins. A restless house gathers strength." I immediately wondered about... Continue Reading →
