Writer-director Georgia Oakley’s impressive directorial debut Blue Jean is a compelling character study set in northern England in 1988, as Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government is about to pass the notorious Section 28 of the local Government Act which stigmatized the nation's gay and lesbian population, stoking homophobia—both societal and internal—at the height of the HIV/AIDS... Continue Reading →
Two NYC galleries present Queer Love: Affection & Romance in Contemporary Art
Explorations of intimate queer relationships by 48 LGBTQIA+ artists are currently on show at a two-part New York exhibition at Lehman College Art Gallery in the Bronx and La MaMa Galleria in Lower Manhattan. Queer Love: Affection & Romance in Contemporary Art presents paintings, photographs, sculpture, video, and multimedia works that celebrate queer carnality, camaraderie,... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Origin of Evil (L’origine du mal) ★★★★
Situations spiral out of control and the classes clash in the juicy lesbian drama, The Origin of Evil (L'origine du mal). Money, murder, and the design choices of the nouveau riche fill the screen in this darkly comic-thriller. Stéphane (a wonderful performance by Call My Agent’s Laure Calamy) works in a factory, packaging anchovies all... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Gateways Grind ★★★1/2
The Gateways Club, or the Gates as it was known, was the centre of lesbian London for decades. A watering hole in the heart of Chelsea, it one of the only exclusively lesbian venues in London, frequented by a mix of women of all classes, including the likes of author Patricia Highsmith. Running from the... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: In Her Words – 20th Century Lesbian Fiction ★★★
Chronicling key figures in lesbian fiction from the 1920s to the 90s, Lisa Marie Evans and Marianne K. Martin's In Her Words: 20th Century Lesbian Fiction is an exhaustive walk through individual author's lives and works using a range of new and archival interviews. Without preamble, we are thrown into a discussion of Radclyffe Hall’s... Continue Reading →
The Queer Review 2022 – LGBTQ+ highlights of the year
As 2022 draws to a close, we ask some friends of The Queer Review, including prominent creators, performers, artists, and activists to share the LGBTQ+ culture or events that have sustained, stimulated, moved, inspired or brought them joy this year. We hope that you enjoy reading this eclectic selection of theatre, film, TV series, books,... Continue Reading →
TV Review: Heartstopper ★★★★
At first glance, Alice Oseman's beautifully heartwarming Heartstopper which launches today on Netflix, based on her hit graphic novels, feels like a throwback to much-loved 90s British films about gay teens like Beautiful Thing and Get Real. Although this series does share much of the feel-good quality of those movies and a similar focus on... Continue Reading →
LGBTQ+ highlights at Sundance 2022
UPDATE: January 5th 2022, Sundance announced that the Festival’s in-person Utah elements will be moving online. The Festival will begin Thursday January 20th 2022 as planned with screening schedule adjustments to be announced to account for an online only schedule. The seven satellite partners will host screenings for their local communities from January 28th-30th 2022. With... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Christin Baker on her latest queer lady rom-com Christmas at the Ranch
'Tis the season for holiday movies, and filmmaker Christin Baker and Tello Films (an LGBTQ+ women's focused production, distribution company, and VOD platform launched by Baker in 2009) have been working to bring queer women to the forefront of the holiday rom-com over the past few years, with 2019's Season of Love and 2020's I... Continue Reading →
Film Review: No Straight Lines – The Rise of Queer Comics ★★★1/2
Directed and produced by Peabody Award-winner Vivian Kleiman (a longtime collaborator of filmmaker Marlon Riggs), the beautifully crafted documentary feature No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics, which received its world premiere at last month's Tribeca Film Festival, chronicles the history of queer comics by focusing on five lesbian and gay trailblazing cartoonists, with... Continue Reading →