Exclusive Interview: filmmaking duo Filipe Matzembacher & Marcio Reolon on their erotic thriller Night Stage “queer sex scenes can be very political & provocative”

Brazilian-Italian writer-director duo Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon made their feature debut in 2015 with the queer coming-of-age drama Seashore (Beira-Mar) which premiered at the Berlinale and went on to win three prizes at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. Their captivating 2018 sophomore feature Hard Paint (Tinta Bruta), exploring the double life of... Continue Reading →

February 26, 2025 1

Berlinale 2025 Film Review: Lesbian Space Princess ★★★★

"In space no one can hear you howl with laughter!" This is the queer animated scifi musical comedy you've been looking for. Co-writer-directors Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs made a splash at the 75th Berlinale with their debut feature, Lesbian Space Princess, which received its world premiere there last week. It went on to... Continue Reading →

February 25, 2025 1

Exclusive Interview: Queerpanorama filmmaker Jun Li & star Jayden Cheung “the inspiration came to me while I was having sex”

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 →

February 25, 2025 2

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 →

February 21, 2025 2

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 →

February 20, 2025 2

Winners revealed in LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ 16th Annual Dorian Film Awards

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics have announced the winners of the 16th Dorian Film Awards voted for by its more than 500 members. Coralie Fargeat's The Substance took Film of the Year while writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore feature I Saw the TV Glow won LGBTQ Film of the Year. I Saw the TV... Continue Reading →

February 13, 2025 0

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 →

February 11, 2025 0

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 →

February 11, 2025 0

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 →

February 6, 2025 1

Sundance Film Review: Heightened Scrutiny ★★★★

A few days before this year's Sundance Film Festival began, the President declared in his inaugural address that "it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female". As Sundance 2025 takes place, five anti-trans bills continue to advance in the legislature of the... Continue Reading →

January 31, 2025 1