Filmmaker Emily Branham spent fifteen years following drag artist, and Drag Race's OG next drag superstar, BeBe Zahara Benet aka Marshall Ngwa, resulting in the insightful, heartfelt, and inspiring award-winning feature documentary Being BeBe. From her early pageant days, to the high of snatching that first Drag Race crown, through the struggles of making a... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 Review: Death and Bowling ★★★★
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 →
The Queer Review 2021 – LGBTQ+ highlights of the year
With the end of this challenging year in sight, we asked some friends of The Queer Review, including prominent creators, performers, artists, and activists to share the LGBTQ+ culture or events that sustained, stimulated, or inspired them in 2021. The eclectic list features two deserving mentions for a Spanish-language limited TV series that was released... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: The Novice filmmaker Lauren Hadaway & star Isabelle Fuhrman “it’s rare to see a queer character that’s comfortable in her own skin”
After graduating from Southern Methodist University, Texas born and raised writer-director Lauren Hadaway went on to forge a career as a dialogue and ADR supervisor, working on movies like Justice League (both cuts), The Hateful Eight, and Whiplash. Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning film proved particularly impactful on her, and she describes her intense, utterly gripping debut feature The Novice, released in... Continue Reading →
Outfest LA 2021 reveals jury & audience award winners
Outfest has just announced the award winners of the 2021 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, which ran from August 13th—opening with the LA premiere of Everybody's Talking About Jamie—until August 22nd, closing with Fanny: The Right to Rock. Sunday's closing night gala also saw Outfest's annual honors bestowed upon Octavia Spencer, who received the... Continue Reading →
Elliot Page honored with 2021 Outfest Achievement Award “we don’t talk enough about how important representation is & how many lives it saves”
As the 39th annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival drew to a close with the LA premiere of Bobbi Jo Hart's rousing documentary feature Fanny: The Right To Rock, Oscar-nominee Elliot Page was honored by Outfest with the organization's 2021 Achievement Award, making him the first publicly identifying trans person in the history of... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Outfest LA 2021 spotlight artist Lauren Hadaway on her award-winning debut feature “Outfest was an early champion of The Novice”
After graduating from Southern Methodist University, Texas born and raised writer-director Lauren Hadaway went on to forge a career as a dialogue and ADR supervisor, working on movies like Justice League (both cuts), The Hateful Eight, and Whiplash. Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning film proved particularly impactful on her, and she describes her intense, utterly gripping debut... Continue Reading →
Outfest LA 2021 Film Reviews: Bridesman, Firebird, The Legend Of The Underground, & The Extinction Of Fireflies
It’s that favorite time of the year for queer people and our allies in Los Angeles as Outfest kicks off another year with a stellar lineup of films, one which is more diverse than ever before. I would typically write longform reviews, but because I intend to watch so many features and shorts over the... Continue Reading →
Outfest LA 2021 Exclusive: an insider’s guide to the lineup from Outfest’s Director of Festival Programming Mike Dougherty
As the 39th edition of the world’s largest LGBTQIA+ film festival, Outfest LA 2021, opens this Friday August 13th—boasting 175 titles, with a mix of outdoor events, indoor screenings for vaccinated moviegoers, and online streaming options—Outfest's Director of Festival Programming Mike Dougherty offers an exclusive insider's guide to help you get acquainted with some of... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Outfest LA 2021 spotlight artist Justice Jamal Jones on How to Raise a Black Boy “I strive to push past the need for marginalized representation in the gaze of a normalized center”
Inspired by J.M. Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird, which introduced the world to Peter Pan, writer-director Justice Jamal Jones’ lyrical debut short film, How To Raise A Black Boy, reframes that tale of childhood and adulthood within a queer Black narrative. Following its inclusion in April’s Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival, How To... Continue Reading →