Following the short film My Trip to Spain, Theda Hammel and John Early continue their creative collaboration with the deliciously dark and hilarious 2020-set comedy feature Stress Positions, which world premiered at Sundance and was the closing night selection of MOMA's New Directors/New Films festival. As well as writing and directing, Hammel also serves as... Continue Reading →
Ramblin’ Man – Film Review: You Can’t Stay Here ★★★1/2
The new queer cinema of the 1990s gets reborn courtesy of one of its OGs, Todd Verow. With his micro-budget new thriller, You Can’t Stay Here, co-written by longtime collaborator James Derek Dwyer, that raw, confrontational, punk sensibility feels like a breath of fresh air in our current stale, over-processed cinematic environment. Harkening back to... Continue Reading →
38th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival – full lineup revealed
The full lineup for the 38th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, running March 13th - 24th at BFI Southbank and on BFI Player, has been announced. The 2024 selection, divided into three thematic strands—Hearts, Bodies, and Minds—includes 33 world premieres, with 57 features and 81 shorts from 41 countries. This year's programmers are Grace Barber-Plentie, Jay Bernard, Diana Cipriano, Zorian... Continue Reading →
SAPPH-O-RAMA! A 30 film exploration of the lesbian image in cinema runs at NYC’s Film Forum February 2nd – 13th
SAPPH-O-RAMA, a 30-film series exploring the eccentric, enduring, and genre-encompassing history of the lesbian image in cinema runs at New York City's Film Forum from Friday, February 2nd through Tuesday, February 13th, 2024. This swoon-worthy celebration of the sapphic canon—groundbreaking, cult favorite, or under-seen selections from the silent era to present day—includes films by Dorothy... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2024 Film Review: Sebastian ★★★★
Writer-director Mikko Mäkelä's brooding sophomore feature Sebastian, which premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 40th Sundance Film Festival, captivatingly explores the creative process and contemporary conversations around authenticity and authorship. As the film opens, we meet an inexperienced sex worker, Sebastian, as he makes small talk with an older client before having... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2024 Film Review: Layla ★★★1/2
"We're all born naked and the rest is drag", RuPaul has been pointing out for decades. British-Iraqi-Egyptian filmmaker Amrou Al-Kadhi's assured feature directorial and screenwriting debut Layla, which just premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance, could be seen as an engaging narrative thesis on that playful, but astute observation. As the film... Continue Reading →
Sundance 2024 Film Review: Ponyboi ★★★★
Director Esteban Arango returns to Sundance with his riveting, stylish, and kinetic sophomore feature Ponyboi, which just received its world premiere in the US Dramatic Competition at the 40th edition of the festival. Written, produced by, and starring queer intersex nonbinary Latinx model, actor, and activist River Gallo, the seeds of the film were in... Continue Reading →
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2024 Review: Egoist ★★★
Daishi Matsunaga's fourth dramatic feature, Egoist—which world premiered at the Toyko International Film Festival and makes its Australian debut at Queer Screen's 31st Mardi Gras Film Festival—takes a successful gay man in his 30s and leads him to unexpected places as he looks for, pays for, and eventually discovers the love he needs. Saitô Kôsuke... Continue Reading →
The Queer Review among nominees in 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards – full list of nominations
On Monday, January 17th, GLAAD—the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization—received the Television Academy's prestigious Governors Award at the postponed 2023 Emmys ceremony, in recognition of its "profound, transformational, and long-lasting contribution to television". Two days later, GLAAD revealed its own honourees in the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which included The Queer Review in... Continue Reading →
LGBTQ+ highlights at 40th Sundance Film Festival
Thursday, January 18th marks the opening of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival which runs in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah until January 28th, as well as online US-wide for the last four days of the festival. The 40th annual edition will showcase 91 features, 53 shorts, and eight episodics, with 32... Continue Reading →