New Zealand filmmaker Welby Ings’ debut feature, Punch, lives up to its title with some powerful drama, stunning visuals, and a sexy subject. Jim (Jordan Oosterhof) is a rising boxer on the eve of his first professional fight, trained by his father (Tim Roth). Their lives are lived in service to Jim’s boxing career with... Continue Reading →
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 →
Two very different documentaries playing at the Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 focus on individual LGBTQ+ activists in different walks of life: controversial gay rights warrior Peter Tatchell in Hating Peter Tatchell, and progressive Islamic campaigner Seyran Ateş in Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam. Seyran Ateş is a human rights lawyer and Imam, born... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Screens at the 40th Anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Wednesday, July 20th at 9:45pm at Directors Guild of America, Theater 1. It’s not easy making a film with an emotionally distanced lead character, an enigma can only be so interesting without letting the audience in, so it’s a real achievement that... Continue Reading →
Outfest LA 2021 Audience Award winner, writer-director Lyle Kash Death and Bowling, which gets its Australian premiere at the Mardi Gras Film Festival, is a surprising, surrealistic look at a trans man’s grief and a mediation on trans lives, how gender trans folks are presented on screen and the complex motivation to be seen. Will... Continue Reading →
Luis Mariano García’s Mayfly is utterly endearing. A coming-of-age story, sprinkled with magic realism that steps over many of the clichés to deliver a charming take on a well-worn genre. Emillia (Danae Reynaud) is a serious, studious high-schooler with her eyes on the prize of a place at a prestigious architecture school. In the library... Continue Reading →
