Category: Interviews

The Queer Review Interviews

Filmmaker Q&A: Jenni Olson reflects on her Harvey Milk film 575 Castro. St. ahead of 2026 Berlinale retrospective screening

Queer filmmaker, film historian, archivist, and writer Jenni Olson's acclaimed documentary short film, 575 Castro. St., which originally world premiered at Sundance in 2009 and received its international premiere at the Berlinale that same year, is being revisited and celebrated by both festivals with retrospective screenings. Olson’s film is a contemplative yet urgent meditation on... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: the cast of Sydney Theatre Company’s revival of The Normal Heart – “Kramer’s play may be more than 40 years old, but it’s incredibly resonant”

When Larry Kramer first staged his furious play, The Normal Heart, in 1985 at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York, it was an uncompromising demand for action. It is now revered as a seminal piece of activist theater. As queer communities in many parts of the world face a rollback of rights... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Pillion filmmaker Harry Lighton – “I wanted to upturn people’s expectations of what a BDSM film could be”

Unless you've been living in a BDSM dungeon for the past few months (no judgements here), you will no doubt have seen dreamboat daddy Alexander Skarsgård dominating red carpets around the globe with leather and fetish flourishes ("kinky in the front, kinkier in the back", is how Vogue described his BFI London ensemble) since his... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Plastique Tiara & Nymphia Wind on The Serpents Tour – “it’s important to us to showcase & uplift AAPI talent across America”

This weekend sees fellow Drag Race alum, Plastique Tiara and Nymphia Wind, launch The Serpents Tour across the United States. Inspired by the classic Asian folktale of the White Snake and Green Snake, the show follows two mystical serpents on a journey of love, adversity, and sisterhood. “The Serpents Tour is a chance to reimagine... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Bouchra filmmakers Orian Barki & Meriem Bennani – “there was a desire to make a film that the queer Moroccan community could claim”

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York filmmakers Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki collaborated with voice actors and composers to create 2 Lizards, a captivating surrealist eight-part animated series. Originally released on Bennani’s Instagram account, the episodes focused on two anthropomorphic lizard best friends as they experienced the isolation, uncertainty and yearning... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Cato Kusters on the real-life love story & marriage equality activism that inspired her debut feature Julian

Belgian filmmaker Cato Kusters makes her powerfully affecting feature debut with an adaptation of Fleur Pierets’ acclaimed 2019 book, Julian, a memoir of love, activism, and grief. In 2017, Fleur (Nina Meurisse) and her wife Julian P. Boom (Laurence Roothooft) launched 22 The Project, a performance art piece in which the couple planned to get... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) filmmaker Bretten Hannam – “Two-Spirit people have always been here & we’re not going anywhere”

Bretten Hannam is a Two-Spirit L’nu filmmaker living in Kespukwitk, Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), Canada where they were raised. They wrote and directed the short films, New Skin, Puppy, Deep End, and Elmiteskuatl, and the features North Mountain and Wildhood, which was one of the 2SLGBTQ+ highlights at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Hannam... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke on his Cannes Award-winning A Useful Ghost – “I wanted to bring many dimensions of queer characters into the film”

Following its world premiere at Cannes, where it was nominated for the Queer Palm and won the Critics' Week Grand Prize, writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's startlingly original and delectably queer debut feature A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka) made its North American premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival. It went on to be... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Hugh Sheehan on his award-winning podcast Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7 – “we must never forget these queer histories”

In this politically regressive era in the United States and beyond, it is especially vital that LGBTQ+ history be recorded and shared, enabling us to find context, empowerment and guidance in the narratives of our queer and trans forebearers. Recognizing that necessity is composer, sound designer, writer and audio producer Hugh Sheehan, whose exquisitely crafted... Continue Reading →

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Exclusive Interview: Daniel Waters on writing “dark, f***ed up Christmas movie” Batman Returns

"I'm a queer icon, who knew?!" Jokes screenwriter Daniel Waters as he discusses the strong queer following for Batman Returns and Heathers. Waters is also known for the 2032-set sci-fi Demolition Man, which predicted a President Schwarzenegger, and the under-appreciated screwball action-comedy Hudson Hawk starring Sandra Bernhard as the villainous Minerva Mayflower opposite Bruce Willis'... Continue Reading →

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