A gay Brooklyn teenager (The Inheritance’s Samuel H. Levine) charts his own sexual awakening and the complexities of his Russian Jewish family in documentarian Eric Steel’s narrative debut Minyan. The work of James Baldwin is certainly in the zeitgeist again as, much like Tomasz Jedrowski's brilliant debut novel Swimming in the Dark, Giovanni’s Room provides... Continue Reading →
Outfest Film Review: Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of José Sarria ★★★1/2
“They always forget the ones who were first,” someone says in voiceover in Joe Castel’s remarkable documentary, Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of José Sarria. After watching this essential record of an important life in the LGBTQ+ community, I doubt anyone will forget him. Sarria’s list of accomplishments include establishing the Imperial Court System,... Continue Reading →
Support the Frameline 2020 Fund
Since 1977 San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival has presented LGBTQ+ cinema to a ravenous audience each year. Ravenous? Yes, I meant it. The huge crowds packed into such iconic venues as the palatial Castro Theatre love cinema so much, they'll loudly cheer on what speaks to them. Conversely, you haven't lived until 1400 people hiss... Continue Reading →
Exhibition: Tom of Finland – Love and Liberation (House of Illustration, London) ★★★★
Tom of Finland (aka Touko Laaksonen) gets his first solo public exhibition in the UK with Love and Liberation at the House of Illustration. Featuring iconic images as well as previously unseen drawings from Tom of Finland Foundation’s collection, the exhibition forms part of the ongoing #TOMs100 celebration of his birth. Forty works on paper... Continue Reading →
34th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival Highlights
The British Film Institute’s annual LGBTIQ+ film festival Flare is back this month with an exciting lineup of more than 50 feature films, including a few The Queer Review favourites. From March 18th-29th the festival will fill the BFI Southbank with queer cinema, discussions, parties and more. Things kick off with the Opening Night world... Continue Reading →
Theatre Review: V&V (Vault Festival, London) ★★★1/2
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? When you go to see a play about the famed writer you really don't expect to be laughing at bad sexting and awkward nudes! V&V, an entertaining new two-hander currently playing at The Vaults in London, juxtaposes the literary love affair of Woolf and socialite Vita Sackville-West with the modern... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Sundance 2020 Interview: Buck Filmmakers Elegance Bratton & Jovan James
From Sundance 2020, The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann spoke exclusively with filmmakers Elegance Bratton and Jovan James about their beautiful short film Buck which had its world premiere at the festival on Sunday night. Partly inspired by the deaths of two young black men under suspicious circumstances in Los Angeles, Buck follows a young... Continue Reading →
MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Weekend at Anthology Film Archives Nov 23-24th
This weekend in New York, MIX NYC presents a weekend of Queer Experimental Film Programming at Anthology Film Archives over two evenings. SATURDAY NOVEMBER 23rd: Program One: 7:15-8:30pm “Within There Runs Blood” presented by Eve Oishi and Marisa Hicks-Alcaraz This program represents the vision of two curators whose careers span twenty-five years, beginning with a... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Trans Bodybuilding Documentary Man Made Director T Cooper
Author of seven novels including The Beaufort Diaries and Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes and the non-fiction book Real Man Adventures, T Cooper has had his writing appear in publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Esquire, Harper’s and The Guardian. A graduate of Columbia University, he is currently a professor... Continue Reading →
BFI London Film Festival 2019: LGBTQ+ Preview
The 63rd BFI London Film Festival is coming (October 2nd - 13th 2019) and the programme has a wealth of queer and queer-friendly films from around the world (not to mention some blockbuster presentations). Here are The Queer Review’s LFF 2019 LGBTQ+ highlights. Matthias & Maxime Xavier Dolan returns to his roots by writing, directing... Continue Reading →