The 37th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival opens tonight with Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s outstanding The Stroll which 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... Continue Reading →
Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival marks 30th anniversary during World Pride – full lineup announced
The lineup for the 30th anniversary of Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival—running February 15th until March 2nd, 2023—has just been announced including several world and Australian premieres. A total of 166 films will screen over 16 days in cinemas, outdoors, and on demand at home alongside a program of panel discussions, workshops, industry networking... Continue Reading →
Film Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe ★★★★
UPDATE: Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe opens in US theaters on September 8th, 2023. When the poignant, defiantly hopeful sound of Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat kicked in early on in writer-director Aitch Alberto's Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe, I settled deep down into my seat at... Continue Reading →
Outfest LA 2022 Film Review: Art and Pep ★★★1/2
Director Mercedes Kane's touching and surprisingly expansive feature documentary Art and Pep, which received its world premiere at the 40th anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, introduces us to two Chicagoans, Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña, who've been at the centre of the city's queer community together for nearly fifty years. Partners in... Continue Reading →
Outfest reveals full lineup for 40th anniversary festival July 14-24th
The complete lineup for the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, running July 14-24th 2022, has just been announced. The 11-day festival boasts over 200 titles, comprising feature narratives, documentaries, shorts, and episodics, with work from 29 countries. Among the 42 world premieres is the Opening Night Gala presentation of Billy Porter’s directorial... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: the cast of Fire Island on the queer icons & LGBTQ+ culture that’s shaped them
Ahead of tonight's NewFest Pride world premiere of Fire Island, written by and starring Joel Kim Booster, and directed by Andrew Ahn, The Queer Review's editor James Kleinmann spoke exclusively with Ahn and cast members Matt Rogers, Conrad Ricamora, Bowen Yang, James Scully, Zane Phillips, Torian Miller, Tomas Matos and Nick Adams about the queer... Continue Reading →
It’s A Sin: Dr Emily Garside’s guide to the HIV/AIDS narratives to read & watch next
Dr Emily Garside's guide to which HIV/AIDS narratives to read and watch next after Russell T Davies' acclaimed series It's A Sin. There is a vast array of work to choose from. Since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic those affected began telling their stories, both as an act of memorial, remembering those the government... Continue Reading →
SXSW Online 2021 Film Review: Disintegration Loops ★★★★
As someone who has lived in Manhattan throughout the pandemic, the black and white shots of the vacant city streets and landmarks which open David Wexler's Disintegration Loops—world premiering at SXSW Online 2021—struck me as one of the most evocative works I've seen so far that captures a sense of what being here was like... Continue Reading →
BFI Flare 2021 Film Review: Cured ★★★★
Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer's riveting feature documentary Cured, which had its world premiere at Outfest and screens this month as part of the virtual 35th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, examines the fascinating chapter in queer history that saw gay liberation activists successfully overturn the US psychiatric profession's classification of homosexuality as a... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: LGBTQ drama Lupe exec producer Kerry Michelle O’Brien & star Rafael Albarrán “I identify as non-binary & all that discovery started with this film”
André Phillips and Charles Vuolo's LGBTQ+ drama Lupe follows a Cuban immigrant, Rafael (Rafael Albarrán), as she begins to embrace her identity as a transgender woman while searching for her missing sister in New York City's sex worker community. Trans artist Celia Harrison, who is a co-writer on the film, portrays the role of Lana,... Continue Reading →