By now, most people know that what gets presented on social media may often differ greatly from the harsh reality. We pose for multiple selfies until we get “the one”. We fill our feeds with fabulous vacations, scrumptious meals, breathtaking hikes, wondrous nights at the theatre, and more. Occasionally, someone may overshare about their misery... Continue Reading →
Support the Frameline 2020 Fund
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 →
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 →
Theatre Review: V&V (Vault Festival, London) ★★★1/2
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? When you go to see a play about the famed writer you really don't expect to be laughing at bad sexting and awkward nudes! V&V, an entertaining new two-hander currently playing at The Vaults in London, juxtaposes the literary love affair of Woolf and socialite Vita Sackville-West with the modern... Continue Reading →
MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Weekend at Anthology Film Archives Nov 23-24th
This weekend in New York, MIX NYC presents a weekend of Queer Experimental Film Programming at Anthology Film Archives over two evenings. SATURDAY NOVEMBER 23rd: Program One: 7:15-8:30pm “Within There Runs Blood” presented by Eve Oishi and Marisa Hicks-Alcaraz This program represents the vision of two curators whose careers span twenty-five years, beginning with a... Continue Reading →
NewFest 2019 Film Review: The Archivettes ★★★★
If you have one takeaway from the documentary The Archivettes it would be the power of resilience. This concise (just over an hour long) film looks at the history of the Lesbian Herstory Archive, a collection of lesbian documents and “herstory” that started life in the mid-70s as a bookshelf in an apartment on Manhattan’s... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Vita & Virginia ★★★
Vita & Virginia, directed by Chanya Button, is a film about one of the definitive Bloomsbury love affairs, that between literary lion Virginia Woolf and popular novelist Vita Sackville-West. Starring Gemma Arterton as Vita and Elizabeth Debicki as Virginia, it depicts the trajectory of their relationship in broad brushstrokes while shimmering with period detail, from... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Are You Proud? ★★★
Are you proud? It’s a simple question with a lot of long and complicated answers, as highlighted in Ashley Joiner’s fascinating but unfocused documentary on the state of the LGBTQ movement in the United Kingdom. The film begins with a personal look at the state of queer Britain in the mid 20th century. A former... Continue Reading →
Frameline Opens Tonight with Vita & Virginia
The San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Frameline, opens tonight 20th June 2019 with lesbian period drama Vita & Virginia. As Pam Grady notes in the festival's programme, the film features "sensational star turns by Elizabeth Debicki (Widows) as Virginia Woolf and Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as Vita Sackville-West" and brings "to dazzling life one... Continue Reading →