With Sundance award-winning filmmaker Carter Smith's sexy and unsettling queer horror Swallowed now available on demand and digital in the US, two of its stars, Cooper Koch and Jose Colon, speak exclusively with The Queer Review's editor James Kleinmann about how they got involved, shooting in a cabin in the woods in rural Maine, working... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Irish drag star Enda McGrattan aka Veda on HIV documentary How To Tell A Secret “art has always been a part of our activism”
The brilliant hybrid documentary How to Tell a Secret busts open the conversation about HIV in Ireland. Winner of Best Documentary Film at the Irish Film Festival London, the film offers stories of HIV+ people, queer and straight, and the culture of silence that often surrounds them. Breaking through that silence are two activists and podcasters... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Of An Age ★★★★★
Writer-director Goran Stolevski's achingly romantic Of An Age opened Sydney's 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival last night ahead of its US theatrical release on Friday, February 17th. Set in Melbourne's northern suburbs in the summer of 1999, the film quickly establishes a riveting, frenetic pace as high school senior Nikola “Kol” Denić (Elias Anton) receives... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Carter Smith on his queer horror Swallowed “I wanted to put the male body front & centre”
Queer filmmaker Cater Smith grew up in rural Maine, launching his photography career in New York aged just 17, going on to shoot some of the world's most famous faces for the likes of W, Vogue, i-D, and GQ. His 2006 debut short as writer and director, Bugcrush, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Australian drag superstar Etcetera Etcetera on her Sydney WorldPride one-woman show “Big Screen, Small Queen (Everything I Didn’t Learn at Film School)”
Already loved in Australia for her glamour and quick wit, non-binary drag and visual artist Etcetera Etcetera leapt onto the international stage thanks to her appearance on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under. Since then she's toured the nation and sashayed down fashion week runways, while her activism has seen her become... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Simon Hunt on the legacy of queer Australian filmmaker Stephen Cummins ahead of Mardi Gras retrospective
As part of this month's 30th anniversary Mardi Gras Film Festival, coinciding with Sydney WorldPride, Queer Screen will be hosting a retrospective of gay Australian filmmaker and Queer Screen co-founder, Stephen Cummins. Cummins was a leading light in the Australian queer cinema scene of the 1980s and 90s, with his work shown in festivals around... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Winner Takes It All ★★★
A gigolo, a drag queen, and a porn star scheme their way to a motherload of cash in fashion photographer James Demitri’s feature debut as writer-director, The Winner Takes It All. This film is utter trash. That’s not a read, it’s the aesthetic. This is a deliberately, deliciously trashy comedy caper that won’t come anywhere... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Punch ★★★1/2
New Zealand filmmaker Welby Ings’ debut feature, Punch, lives up to its title with some powerful drama, stunning visuals, and a sexy subject. Jim (Jordan Oosterhof) is a rising boxer on the eve of his first professional fight, trained by his father (Tim Roth). Their lives are lived in service to Jim’s boxing career with... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Venus Effect (Venuseffekten) ★★★1/2
Danish lesbian romantic drama, The Venus Effect (Venuseffekten), closes out Queer Screen's 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival with subtle charm. This gentle story is a sexy and sweet treat to round off an excellent 2023 festival. Liv is a young woman on the cusp of change. Living in rural Denmark, she is surrounded by orchards... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Blue Caftan ★★★1/2
Writer-director Maryam Touzani’s Queer Palm-nominated and Cannes Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Prize-winning The Blue Caftan revels in the intricacy of love and tradition. What at first glance seems to be the story of a closeted man cheating on his wife, becomes a more complex tale of the multiplicity of loves in our lives and how... Continue Reading →
