Danish lesbian romantic drama, The Venus Effect (Venuseffekten), closes out Queer Screen's 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival with subtle charm. This gentle story is a sexy and sweet treat to round off an excellent 2023 festival. Liv is a young woman on the cusp of change. Living in rural Denmark, she is surrounded by orchards... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Trans Glamoré ★★★
Two mid-length documentaries about Australian trans women will receive their world premieres at Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival under the banner of Trans Women Champions: Trans Glamoré and The Accidental Archivist. Filmmaker Lachlan Bradbury's Trans Glamoré (a recipient of the Queer Screen Completion Fund), is a look at Sydney's eponymous trans cabaret night.... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Blue Caftan ★★★1/2
Writer-director Maryam Touzani’s Queer Palm-nominated and Cannes Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Prize-winning The Blue Caftan revels in the intricacy of love and tradition. What at first glance seems to be the story of a closeted man cheating on his wife, becomes a more complex tale of the multiplicity of loves in our lives and how... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Billy Porter on his 80 For Brady co-stars – Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno & Sally Field – “they were always inspirations to me”
Much-loved for his "10s across the board" portrayal of Pray Tell in Pose, Billy Porter is a Tony, Emmy, and Grammy-winning creative force and cultural icon. The actor, singer, director, composer, and playwright, is also celebrated for his groundbreaking red carpet looks, including what Vogue described as “the most fabulous entrance in Met Gala history”... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Ryan White on his Netflix Pamela Anderson doc “she’s a gay icon & huge ally”
Through his production company Triod Media, co-cofounded with producer Jessica Hargrave, Emmy-nominated filmmaker Ryan White has spent the last decade making an eclectic range of impactful documentaries. From LGBTQ+ topics, such as The Case Against 8 exploring the case to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and the road the Supreme Court, the evolution of representation... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2023 Film Review: The Stroll ★★★★★
Directors Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker's outstanding feature The Stroll, received its world premiere in the US Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, going on the win that section's Special Jury Award for Clarity of Vision. It tells the collective history of the transgender women of colour who worked "the stroll"—a section of... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2023 Film Review: Fancy Dance ★★★★
Queer Native American filmmaker Erica Tremblay returns to Sundance following 2020's Grand Jury Prize nominated short Little Chief, with her poignant directorial narrative feature debut (co-written with Miciana Alise), Fancy Dance. Executive produced by Bird Runningwater, Charlotte Koh, and Forest Whitaker, the film received its world premiere in the US Dramatic Competition at this year's... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2023 Film Review: Little Richard I Am Everything ★★★★
If you're going to make a film about Little Richard, it'd better be electrifying, complex, and queer. That's exactly what Oscar-nominated director Lisa Cortés delivers with Little Richard: I Am Everything, executive produced by Dee Rees, which world premiered in the US Documentary Competition section at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and has been acquired... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2023 Film Review: Mutt ★★★★
Writer-director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz—an alum of Ryan Murphy's HALF Initiative, who mentored under Janet Mock on Pose—makes an impressive feature debut with Mutt, executive produced by Silas Howard, which just received its world premiere in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The action opens in a bustling New York club, as a... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2023 Film Review: Kokomo City ★★★★
When two-time Grammy nominated songwriter-producer D. Smith, who has appeared on both the Atlanta and Hollywood versions of the reality series Love & Hip Hop, had an idea for a film centering Black transgender sex workers and examining their place within the Black community, she approached several filmmaker friends with the concept. They all turned... Continue Reading →