Since 1977 San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival has presented LGBTQ+ cinema to a ravenous audience each year. Ravenous? Yes, I meant it. The huge crowds packed into such iconic venues as the palatial Castro Theatre love cinema so much, they'll loudly cheer on what speaks to them. Conversely, you haven't lived until 1400 people hiss... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Ask Any Buddy ★★★★
One of our favourite queer Instagram accounts @askanybuddy delights in the rich history of how gay porn movies of the golden age of the 70s and 80s were advertised in print; the promotional stills, screening listings and cover stars. So our interest was aroused when we learnt that the curator of these treasures, Evan Purchell,... Continue Reading →
BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival 2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
The British Film Institute has taken the difficult decision to cancel this year's LGBTQI+ Flare festival, two days before it was due to begin "due to the scale and complexity of running a large international film festival with filmmakers set to travel from across the world". In a statement released to media the BFI said,... Continue Reading →
34th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival Highlights
The British Film Institute’s annual LGBTIQ+ film festival Flare is back this month with an exciting lineup of more than 50 feature films, including a few The Queer Review favourites. From March 18th-29th the festival will fill the BFI Southbank with queer cinema, discussions, parties and more. Things kick off with the Opening Night world... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: And Then We Danced filmmaker Levan Akin
Following its world premiere at Cannes in 2019 writer/director Levan Akin's gay coming of age drama And Then We Danced went on to enjoy a hugely successful international festival run, including showings at last month's Sundance, picking up awards in cities such as Chicago, New York and Montréal. The premiere in Tbilisi, Georgia, where the... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Sundance 2020 Interview: Buck Filmmakers Elegance Bratton & Jovan James
From Sundance 2020, The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann spoke exclusively with filmmakers Elegance Bratton and Jovan James about their beautiful short film Buck which had its world premiere at the festival on Sunday night. Partly inspired by the deaths of two young black men under suspicious circumstances in Los Angeles, Buck follows a young... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Cubby ★★1/2
Mark Blane's semi-autobiographical New York fantasia Cubby toured film festivals this summer, playing at events like OutFest in LA, Frameline in San Francisco, New York's NewFest and Reeling Film Festival in Chicago, among others. It's a film that seems tailor-made for festivals -- quirky, strange, shot on 16mm film, a bit clunky, with subject matter that was never... Continue Reading →
BFI London Film Festival 2019: LGBTQ+ Preview
The 63rd BFI London Film Festival is coming (October 2nd - 13th 2019) and the programme has a wealth of queer and queer-friendly films from around the world (not to mention some blockbuster presentations). Here are The Queer Review’s LFF 2019 LGBTQ+ highlights. Matthias & Maxime Xavier Dolan returns to his roots by writing, directing... Continue Reading →
TIFF 2019: LGBTQ+ Preview
With the 44th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) opening on Thursday 5th September, The Queer Review takes a look at some of this year's LGBTQ+ related highlights taking in feature films, documentaries, shorts and animation. Recent years at TIFF have delivered award winning LGBTQ+ gems including BPM (Beats Per Minute), Disobedience, A Fantastic Woman, Call Me By... Continue Reading →
Outfest 2019 Film Review: End of the Century ★★★★★
Lucio Castro’s debut feature End of the Century has the essence of a fleeting affair that burns itself into your memory for years to come, and shows a confident authorial voice that holds a lot of promise. Ocho (Juan Barberini) checks into an Airbnb in Barcelona spying a good looking man in the neighbourhood. Later... Continue Reading →