Multiple Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Live writer Julio Torres first caught my attention as an actor with his absorbingly understated supporting turns in comedies on film and television such as The Other Two, Together Together, Shrill, Search Party, and more recently a characterful voice performance that further queered the animated movie Nimona. Making those roles his... Continue Reading →
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has revealed the winners for its 15th annual Dorian Film Awards. Andrew Haigh's beautifully haunting drama All of Us Strangers was voted both Film of the Year and LGBTQ Film of Year by the 500-member organization of professional journalists, while Haigh also won the Dorian for LGBTQ Screenplay... Continue Reading →
The new queer cinema of the 1990s gets reborn courtesy of one of its OGs, Todd Verow. With his micro-budget new thriller, You Can’t Stay Here, co-written by longtime collaborator James Derek Dwyer, that raw, confrontational, punk sensibility feels like a breath of fresh air in our current stale, over-processed cinematic environment. Harkening back to... Continue Reading →
The full lineup for the 38th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, running March 13th - 24th at BFI Southbank and on BFI Player, has been announced. The 2024 selection, divided into three thematic strands—Hearts, Bodies, and Minds—includes 33 world premieres, with 57 features and 81 shorts from 41 countries. This year's programmers are Grace Barber-Plentie, Jay Bernard, Diana Cipriano, Zorian... Continue Reading →
Writer-director Daniel Levy's Netflix film Good Grief is a testimony to the complexities of grief. More than that, it's also a reflection on the received wisdom of grieving and how we function beyond it, or more importantly, with it. Too often, we're told that grief is a cry-it-out at the funeral scene and a bounce back... Continue Reading →
Director-producer-editor-colorist-composer Sterling Hampton IV's Merman is a poignant, beautifully layered portrait of André Chambers, a 58-year-old Black queer man living in Palm Springs, where the 11-minute short film was shot on location, featuring some stunning desert scapes. In its specificity about André's life, the Holly Shorts Social Impact Award-winning film is a powerful reminder of... Continue Reading →
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has just announced the nominees across 21 categories in its 15th annual Dorian Film Awards, voted for by the group's more than 500 members made up of LGBTQIA+ identifying media professionals. Andrew Haigh’s powerful All of Us Strangers leads with nine nominations including Film of the Year, LGBTQ... Continue Reading →
Writer-director Gabriel Carrubba's atmospheric and touching queer coming-of-age debut feature Sunflower has been lighting up the Australian festival circuit, including screenings at Sydney Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, and Cinefest Oz. This month it plays Queer Screen's 31st Mardi Gras Film Festival, which runs in cinemas in Sydney February 15th – 29th, with... Continue Reading →
Writer-director Mikko Mäkelä's brooding sophomore feature Sebastian, which premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 40th Sundance Film Festival, captivatingly explores the creative process and contemporary conversations around authenticity and authorship. Ruaridh Mollica in Mikko Mäkelä's Sebastian. Courtesy of Kino Lorber. As the film opens, we meet an inexperienced sex worker, Sebastian, as... Continue Reading →
Theda Hammel returns to Sundance following her 2022 TV pilot My Trip To Spain, with her feature debut as writer-director-composer-editor and star, Stress Positions, playing in the festival's US Dramatic Competition. With its dry, sometimes uncomfortable tone, that easily shifts from offbeat to satirical to absurd to farcical, this deliciously dark, thought-provoking comedy sees her... Continue Reading →
