Following the world premiere of Queerpanorama (眾生相) at the 75th Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, where the film was in competition for the prestigious Teddy Award, filmmaker Jun Li and star Jayden Cheung speak exclusively with The Queer Review's editor James Kleinmann. Set in contemporary Hong Kong, the strikingly shot black and white film... Continue Reading →
Berlin’s queer film Teddy Award remains vital in its 39th year
39 years ago German filmmakers Wieland Speck and Manfred Salzgeber created an award for LGBTQ+ films at the Berlin International Film Festival as a way of acknowledging and rewarding queer films and filmmakers. But it was always much more than just another bunch of awards. It effectively turned the Berlinale (an A-list film festival) into... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Lesbian Space Princess filmmakers Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese “it all started with the title, we built the movie around it”
Following this week's world premiere of the hilarious animated scifi musical comedy epic Lesbian Space Princess in the Panorama section at the 75th Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, the film's South Australian writer-director duo Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese speak exclusively with The Queer Review's editor James Kleinmann about bringing their shared vision... Continue Reading →
MGFF 2025 Film Review: Riley ★★★½
Star high school football player Dakota Riley (Jake Holley) is feeling the pressure. His girlfriend Skylar (Riley Quinn Scott) wants to have sex, but he’s resisting. His best friend Jaeden (Colin McCalla), who is temporarily living with him, seems to be sending out flirty vibes. While his former star-athlete dad Carson (Rib Hillis), who is... Continue Reading →
MGFF 2025 Film Review: In Ashes (Se Gennem Aske) ★★★★
Danish drama In Ashes (Se Gennem Aske), which world premieres at Queer Screen's Mardi Gras Film Festival, follows a gay young man struggling to come to terms with his first heartbreak. Writer-director Ludvig C. Poulsen leaves the audience grasping for details as they are gradually revealed, forming an incomplete but fraught picture of modern love.... Continue Reading →
MGFF 2025 Film Review: High Tide ★★★½
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 →
MGFF 2025 Film Review: Drive Back Home ★★★½
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 →
Sundance Film Review: Plainclothes ★★★
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 →
Sundance 2025 Film Review: Sauna ★★★★
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 →
Film Review: Liza – A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story ★★★★
"They wanted her", performer Jim Caruso—who made his Broadway debut in Liza’s At The Palace! alongside Liza Minnelli—recalls his friend having observed after spending an evening at a party where she could tell that those gathered wanted to be around Liza! the effervescent red sequined star, not simply Liza the person. Director Bruce David Klein's... Continue Reading →
