Well, that was an eye-opener! As a 'gold star' gay man I’m not the most ‘cliterate’ person out there and the documentary The Dilemma of Desire (getting its Australian premiere at the Mardi Gras Film Festival) presented a lot of new information in an entertaining way. Artist Sophia Wallace’s work around ‘Cliteracy’ is woven through... Continue Reading →
David Freyne’s Dating Amber is a much more complex and interesting film than it at first lets on. Yes it’s a kind of romantic-comedy without the romance (platonic-comedy? Is plat-com a thing?) but once those tropes are disposed of there’s more grit lurking beneath the colours and jokes, all anchored by a series of authentic... Continue Reading →
Hong Kong director Ray Yeung’s Suk Suk (released as Twilight’s Kiss in North America) has been drawing rave reviews since its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why; gentle, subtle, and deeply moving, Suk Suk is a real gem. Pak (Tai-Bo) is a married taxi driver and grandfather coming... Continue Reading →
Thomas Wilson-White’s The Greenhouse (receiving its World Premiere at Queer Screen's Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney) is a queer fairytale, but if that sounds like it’s all prancing twinks in tight shorts running around the woods, I hate to be the one to disappoint you. Like all good fairytales, this one is about bigger,... Continue Reading →
Australian director David O’Donnell’s feature debut, Under My Skin, takes a fresh approach to telling the story of young couple Denny and Ryan, whose relationship is tested as Denny questions their gender identity. Denny is played by four non-binary and trans non-binary performers (Liv Hewson, Chloe Freeman, Lex Ryan, and Bobbi Salvör Menuez) to dramatic... Continue Reading →
There is something quintessentially Australian about finding privacy in a wide expanse of nature, and My First Summer uses the depths of Australian forests as a furtive playground for big emotions. A teenage girl, Grace (Maiah Stewardson), witnesses a reclusive writer, Veronica Fox (Edwina Wren), commit suicide in a local lake. She also spies another... Continue Reading →
Can a prison romance exist in the outside world? That’s the central question filmmaker Jon Garcia asks with Luz, the story of Ruben (Ernesto Reyes) and Carlos (Jesse Tayeh) who struggle to translate their secretive relationship into an open one when released. The dynamic between the men changes and evolves from reluctant cellmates, to mentor/mentee,... Continue Reading →
Queer Screen’s 28th Mardi Gras Film Festival has announced its full lineup of queer treats that will debut both in cinemas in Sydney and online on-demand across Australia from February 18th to March 4th 2021. MGFF will screen 94 films including narrative features, docs, shorts, and episodics, with 70% of those available on-demand. The program... Continue Reading →
