Brydie O'Connor's tenderly-crated feature debut Barbara Forever, world premiering in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, is as sensual, intimate and uninhibited as much of the work of its prolific subject, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer. Immediately drawing us into Hammer's world, where the personal and artistic are interwoven, we hear... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Assembly ★★★★★
Assembly is a breathtaking feat that weaves the fascinating life, inspirations and creative process of interdisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome into the thrilling story of the build-up to his landmark exhibition of the same name at New York's Park Avenue Armory in 2022. Co-directed by Newsome and Johnny Symons, this feature documentary is a monumental, profoundly... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Oscar-nominee Arthur Dong reflects on his five-decade filmmaking career “a more equitable society has always been my goal”
Following the Criterion Channel's 2021 Arthur Dong retrospective, ten films by the Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker have just been released by Kino Lorber with the three-disc Blu-ray Arthur Dong Collection, along with four hours of bonus features. The set includes Dong's first independently made and previously unavailable film, Public from 1970, in a 2K restoration... Continue Reading →
MQFF34 Film Review: Baldiga – Unlocked Heart (Baldiga – Entsichertes Herz) ★★★★½
Director Markus Stein’s searing documentary Baldiga – Unlocked Heart (Baldiga - Entsichertes Herz)—which world premiered at the 2024 Berlinale, went on to win the Mix Mexico Jury Award, and receives its Australian premiere at this month's Melbourne Queer Film Festival—is, in many ways, a familiarly tragic tale. A young queer artist finding their voice and... Continue Reading →
TIFF 2024 Film Review: Will & Harper ★★★★★
Comedy writer Harper Steele and comedian Will Ferrell have been friends ever since they began working together on Saturday Night Live nearly 30 years ago. During the pandemic, Steele took Ferrell by surprise when she sent him an email telling him that she was transitioning. Steele, who rose to become head writer on SNL, has... Continue Reading →
Emmys 2024 FYC Exclusive Interview: Taylor Mac on his 24-Decade History of Popular Music “so much of queer culture has been erased – I wanted to make something so big it couldn’t be ignored”
In 2016, Taylor Mac performed a one-time-only, 24-hour immersive theatrical experience in front of a live audience at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. The concert offered an alternative take on U.S. history, narrated through music that was popular from the nation’s founding to the present, with Mac transforming hourly by changing into elaborate, decade-specific costumes... Continue Reading →
Tribeca 2024 Film Review: I’m Your Venus ★★★★★
Rising New York ballroom legend and trans icon Venus Xtravaganza was killed aged 23 in December 1988 and her murder remains unsolved. Venus has lived on as a gentle, captivating, playful, and vibrantly indelible light in Jennie Livingston's 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning, which featured Venus describing her life as it was and her dreams... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Lil Nas X – Long Live Montero filmmakers Carlos López Estrada & Zac Manuel “he speaks powerfully to Black youth, to queer youth & to anyone who feels othered or like an outsider”
As the groundbreaking, Grammy-winning rapper, singer, and songwriter Lil Nas X was about to embark upon his first tour last year, Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel were brought on board to document it. The co-directors were present to capture both the dazzling show itself—and the fans' poignant reaction to it—as well... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: How to Tell a Secret ★★★★★
How To Tell A Secret is a documentary. How To Tell A Secret is a documentary about the filming of a documentary. How To Tell A Secret is a documentary about the filming of a documentary about the staging of a play. How To Tell A Secret is a documentary about the filming of a... Continue Reading →
LGBTQ+ highlights at 13th annual DOC NYC running in-person & online November 9-27
America's largest documentary festival, DOC NYC, returns with its 13th annual edition running in-person November 9th-17th at New York's IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Cinépolis Chelsea, with over 110 feature-length documentaries among over 200 films and events, including 29 world premieres and 27 US premieres. With most films available digitally to US viewers, the festival... Continue Reading →
