Brazilian-Italian writer-director duo Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon made their feature debut in 2015 with the queer coming-of-age drama Seashore (Beira-Mar) which premiered at the Berlinale and went on to win three prizes at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. Their captivating 2018 sophomore feature Hard Paint (Tinta Bruta), exploring the double life of... Continue Reading →
MQFF33 Film Review: Our Son ★★★★
Luke Evans and Billy Porter deliver powerful performances in writer-director Bill Oliver’s gay divorce drama Our Son. Bringing to mind classics like Kramer vs Kramer and the more recent Marriage Story, Our Son adds the well-observed specificity of middle-class gay city life into the fraught mix. Gabriel (Porter) and Nicky (Evans) have a seemingly picture... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Aitch Alberto on Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe “owning my authenticity made me capable of directing this film”
One of the standout queer films at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was writer-director Aitch Alberto’s adaptation of Benjamin Alire Sáenz bestselling YA novel, Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe. Produced by Alberto, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda, Eugenio Debrez, and Kyra Sedgwick, the emotionally potent coming-of-age tale explores the bond that builds between two... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Andrew Ahn “celebrates queer joy & chosen family” with Fire Island
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 →
Film Review: Firebird ★★★1/2
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 →
Film Review: Great Freedom (Große Freiheit)★★★★
Sebastian Meise's masterpiece of restraint, Great Freedom, opens with a series of police surveillance footage of a men's public toilet, where Hans Hoffmann (Franz Rogowski) is caught on camera engaging in various sex acts with other men. Cut to a courtroom where the footage is being shown as evidence, with Hans in the dock, leading... Continue Reading →
LGBTQ+ highlights at Sundance 2022
UPDATE: January 5th 2022, Sundance announced that the Festival’s in-person Utah elements will be moving online. The Festival will begin Thursday January 20th 2022 as planned with screening schedule adjustments to be announced to account for an online only schedule. The seven satellite partners will host screenings for their local communities from January 28th-30th 2022. With... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Sex Demon ★★★★ – plays select cities October 2023
Turns out there was a “Demon Twink” out there all along. He was just hiding in a previously believed to be lost film that had stopped circulating in the corners of gay adult films for almost four decades. Following screenings in Los Angeles and New York in 2021, J.C. Cricket’s Sex Demon plays Manhattan's IFC... Continue Reading →
The Play’s The Thing – Film Review: Tu Me Manques ★★★★
Based on his semi-autobiographical and groundbreaking play, filmmaker Rodrigo Bellott’s Tu Me Manques became Bolivia’s official International Feature Film Oscar entry. Roughly translating to “I miss you in me”, the film tells the story of Jorge (Oscar Martínez), who travels to New York following his gay son Gabriel’s suicide to atone for how he treated... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: “we are queer creators pushing our way into a straight space” filmmakers Ng Choon Ping & Sam H. Freeman on their SXSW short Femme
Among the queer highlights at last month's SXSW Online 2021 was the short film Femme, by co-writers-directors Ng Choon Ping and Sam H. Freeman. The film stars I May Destroy You's Paapa Essiedu as Jordan, a femme queer man in London who leaves the safety of a night out clubbing with his friends and gets... Continue Reading →
