Things are ominous in Manfred Oldenburg’s documentary The Last Taboo (Das letzte Tabu), which explores the lives of gay football (soccer) players. Assembling most of the currently publicly-identifying gay players, along with sports commentators, psychologists, and campaigners, Oldenburg takes us through the tragic history of out players and the current state of the game. Despite... Continue Reading →
Two former lovers reconnect in New York City after decades apart in director Romas Zabarauskas' fourth feature The Writer (Kirjanik). Lithuanian author Kostas (Bruce Ross) has written a novel that fictionalizes elements of his life and that of his old flame, Russian-born Lithuanian Dima (Jamie Day). Between the two men there lingers a melancholy and... Continue Reading →
Oscar Wilde once called homosexuality “the love that dare not speak its name” (technically, he was quoting his lover Bosie), and that’s the energy that infuses Duino, the debut feature from actor-turned-filmmaker Juan Pablo Di Pace (The Mattachine Family) and editor-director Andrés Pepe Estrada (Argentina, 1985). It’s a contemplative tale of lost gay love that... Continue Reading →
Writer-director Marco Calvani's sweet-hearted emotional drama High Tide succeeds largely thanks to the excellent and honest lead performance by Marco Pigossi as Lourenço, a gay Brazilian in Provincetown left adrift by a series of life events. Stranded in P'town, Lourenço is making a living doing under the table work as a cleaner and handyman. He... Continue Reading →
Bubbling with radical feminism and a generous dose of cheek, Sally! captures the charisma and passion of the late lesbian activist Sally Miller Gearhart through political struggles and personal heartache. It’s a wild ride. Director Deborah Craig, along with co-directors Jörg Fockele and Ondine Rarey, deliver a lively and warm documentary through which Gearhart refuses... Continue Reading →
There is an undeniable, gentle warmth to Michael Clowater’s Drive Back Home that defies the frozen Canadian winter backdrop. As two estranged middle-aged brothers reconnect on a long drive from Toronto to the icy New Brunswick countryside—with a few stops along the way—touchingly, the bond between them begins to thaw. Based on true events from... Continue Reading →
Writer-director Carmen Emmi's debut feature Plainclothes, which world premiered at Sundance 2025, winning the festival's US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, has an enticing premise. In Syracuse, Upstate New York, a young police officer, Lucas (Tom Blyth), has been placed on undercover "plainclothes" duty tasked with entrapping gay men. The assignment involves lingering... Continue Reading →
A few days before this year's Sundance Film Festival began, the President declared in his inaugural address that "it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female". As Sundance 2025 takes place, five anti-trans bills continue to advance in the legislature of the... Continue Reading →
Mathias Broe's seductive debut feature Sauna, which just world premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance, is both super sexy and has something to say. Based on Mads Ananda Lodahl's novel of the same name, adapted for the screen by Broe and William Lippert, this contemporary queer story of love and self-discovery set... Continue Reading →
Gianluca Matarrese's GEN_, which just premiered in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance, employs an absorbingly intimate vérité style to explore the fascinating work of Dr. Maurizio Bini. On the cusp of retirement, Bini runs a department in Milan's publicly-funded Niguarda hospital which offers both fertility and gender-affirming care treatments free of charge. Matarrese,... Continue Reading →
