For many years, most LGBTQ+ festivals reserved their best short films for the Boys and Girls Shorts programs. Usually deemed the sexiest, funniest, or most cinematic of the bunch, they typically play to sold out audiences. Fortunately, shorts submissions have diversified and have showcased such incredible talent that festivals like Outfest offer a whole host... Continue Reading →
Outfest 2020 Film Review: Dramarama ★★★★
Jonathan Wysocki’s debut feature Dramarama is about the last summer after high school, after the curtain has fallen in the high school auditorium for the last time, just before the cast is about to split up and head their separate ways, everyone going off to college to pursue their dreams. Gene (Nick Pugliese) has decided... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: teen comedy Dramarama filmmaker Jonathan Wysocki – “I feel like there’s a secret society of us.”
One of the best films so far at this year’s Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival is Dramarama, a sweet comedy about five drama club friends getting together for one last murder-mystery dinner party before they all go off to college. It’s an unconventional teen flick, one where the characters are largely resistant to change instead... Continue Reading →
Outfest 2020 Film Review: The Carnivores ★★★1/2
Over the years, too many LGBTQ+ films have relied on tired tropes to tell our stories. Coming out angst, U-haul lesbians, and drugged out circuit queens have seemingly been done to death. Imagine my surprise while watching writer/director Caleb Johnson’s The Carnivores, which on the surface trots out the old chestnut of Lesbian Bed Death,... Continue Reading →
Outfest 2020 Film Review: Gossamer Folds ★★★★
Director Lisa Donato’s Gossamer Folds focuses on the heartwarming friendship between two Kansas City suburban neighbours in 1986. When his parents decide to move the family away from the city in an attempt to salvage their marriage, ten year-old Tate (Jackson Robert Scott) is ordered by his prejudiced father Billy (a suitably menacing Shane West)... Continue Reading →
Outfest 2020 Film Review: Two of Us (Deux) ★★★1/2
Two pensioners, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), living across the hall from each other are at the centre of Filippo Meneghetti’s debut feature film, Two of Us (Deux). These women are not just neighbours, friends and companions as Madeleine’s children believe, they are long-term lovers. But when Madeleine is rushed to hospital, Nina... Continue Reading →
Over 70% of 2020 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival lineup directed by trans, POC & female filmmakers
The 2020 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival launches today, Thursday August 20th, and runs through Sunday August 30th. Featuring a diverse selection of more than 160 films this year's Outfest will be both virtual, with in-home streaming, and for the first time in the 38-year history of the festival there will be a drive-in... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Alexandra Grey on her new film Gossamer Folds “I hadn’t seen a lot of roles specifically written for Black trans women”
Lisa Donato's heartwarming drama Gossamer Folds, produced by Yeardley Smith, played in competition at last week's Bentonville Film Festival and will be available to stream for a limited time from this Thursday August 20th as part of the 2020 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival. Set in 1986 in the suburbs of Kansas City, the... Continue Reading →
OutFest Fusion & Cinequest 2020 Film Review: Breaking Fast ★★★★
Back in 2015, director Mike Mosallam’s short film Breaking Fast played a number of respected film festivals, including Cannes. He has now adapted the short into a full-length feature, also titled Breaking Fast, which premieres at Cinequest 2020 and OutFest Fusion this weekend. The feature film is a warm, heartfelt romantic comedy about two seemingly... Continue Reading →