Writer-director-editor Jules Rosskam's Desire Lines, which received its world premiere in the NEXT section at the 40th Sundance Film Festival and won the NEXT Special Jury Award, boldly forges its own hybrid form to explore intimate stories of transmasculine sexuality from the past and present. In the narrative fiction strand of the film (written by... Continue Reading →
"We're all born naked and the rest is drag", RuPaul has been pointing out for decades. British-Iraqi-Egyptian filmmaker Amrou Al-Kadhi's assured feature directorial and screenwriting debut Layla, which just premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance, could be seen as an engaging narrative thesis on that playful, but astute observation. As the film... Continue Reading →
The career of Noël Coward, the poster boy for aristocratic, quick-witted, camp British queerness, is explored in filmmaker Barnaby Thompson’s brief, but charming and amusing overview of a truly brilliant life, Mad About The Boy: The Noël Coward Story, playing Queer Screen's 31st Mardi Gras Film Festival. Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story... Continue Reading →
Daishi Matsunaga's fourth dramatic feature, Egoist—which world premiered at the Toyko International Film Festival and makes its Australian debut at Queer Screen's 31st Mardi Gras Film Festival—takes a successful gay man in his 30s and leads him to unexpected places as he looks for, pays for, and eventually discovers the love he needs. Saitô Kôsuke... Continue Reading →
Executive produced by Dev Patel, Raghuvir Joshi’s Sahela (Companion) moves its “coming out” narrative away from Sydney’s beaches and the queer life of Oxford Street, to the city’s geographical centre, Parramatta, and its Indian-Australian community. Vir Oza (Antonio Aakeel) and Nitya Behl (Anula Navlekar) are a young married couple still in their “honeymoon phase”. Living... Continue Reading →
It is the potent combination of small, real moments that build to make A Portrait of Love a slow-burning heartbreaker. Along the way, we are immersed in the life, love, and creative process of Australian artist Craig Ruddy, through the lens of his partner of twenty years, Roberto Meza Mont. Best known for winning Australia’s... Continue Reading →
Combining traditional 2D animation with rotoscoped footage ala Richard Linklater’s Waking Life, Carl Joseph E. Papa's The Missing (Iti mapukpukaw) looks beautiful, while beneath its colourful surface, a much darker story packs a powerful punch. Eric (Carlo Aquino) is a young computer animator, working long hours with Carlos (Gio Gahol). Eric is mute—he literally does... Continue Reading →
Late at night, an East London drag queen, Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), is waiting to buy cigarettes when he receives the unwanted attention of a gang of aggressive young men. When he recognizes one of them, Preston (George MacKay), from the club where he performs, Jules throws a sassy one-liner at him. But rather than deflect... Continue Reading →
Director Zacharias Mavroeidis' Queer Lion-nominated The Summer with Carmen (To kalokairi tis Karmen) is a gay film within a film, about pitching a gay film to a producer who wants a “fun, sexy, Greek and low-budget” script, and it succeeds on all fronts. Laced with a meta-commentary on queer filmmaking, incorporating several life-affirming themes, and... Continue Reading →
On Monday, January 17th, GLAAD—the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization—received the Television Academy's prestigious Governors Award at the postponed 2023 Emmys ceremony, in recognition of its "profound, transformational, and long-lasting contribution to television". Two days later, GLAAD revealed its own honourees in the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which included The Queer Review in... Continue Reading →
