Exclusive Interview: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong on his Criterion Channel retrospective “it’s up to us to find a way to survive & to resist”

In 1984, trailblazing independent filmmaker Arthur Dong received an Oscar nomination for Sewing Woman, a touching documentary short about the life of a Chinese immigrant worker in San Francisco, his mother Zem Ping Dong. This recognition marked the director as an emerging artist to watch, while the film itself exemplified what would become hallmarks of... Continue Reading →

October 28, 2021 7

NewFest 2021 Closing Night Film Review: Flee ★★★★

Jonas Poher Rasmussen's remarkable Flee, which I first saw when it world premiered at Sundance 2021 where it took the festival's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, closes NewFest's 33rd New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival on Sunday October 24th at the SVA Theatre at 7pm. As the film opens a caption tells us that... Continue Reading →

October 22, 2021 1

Exclusive Interview: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes on The Velvet Underground “heteronormative is what they were pushing against”

New Queer Cinema pioneer Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground, which had its world premiere at Cannes and recently played the New York Film Festival, is an exquisitely crafted, invigorating time capsule which uses music, contemporary film, archive interviews, and present day commentary from those who were there, to immerse us in New York's avant-garde culture... Continue Reading →

October 14, 2021 9

Film Review: Cured ★★★★

Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer's riveting feature documentary Cured, which opens the fall season of PBS' Independent Lens on Monday October 11th, examines the fascinating chapter in queer history that saw gay liberation activists successfully overturn the US psychiatric profession's classification of homosexuality as a mental illness. Using archive photographs and video footage, recently discovered... Continue Reading →

October 10, 2021 1

Crash! Boom! Bang! – Film Review: Titane ★★★★1/2

For me, good art is pretty, but great art is confrontational, forcing the viewer to reflect upon the human condition and reveal truths, however inspiring or ugly. The 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Titane, writer-director Julia Ducournau’s sophomore effort, definitely veers towards the latter type of confrontation. With enough brutal violence to fill all of... Continue Reading →

October 4, 2021 2

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 →

August 24, 2021 2

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 →

August 17, 2021 5

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 →

August 11, 2021 4

Outfest LA 2021 Film Review: Rebel Dykes ★★★★★

Harri Shanahan and Sian Williams' feature documentary Rebel Dykes, which receives its Los Angeles premiere at Outfest LA 2021 on Saturday August 14th (also screening virtually August 15th-17th), is a rousing, celebratory, and considered examination of London's rebel dyke subculture of the 1980s and its legacy. The film's punky, DIY aesthetic captures the anarchic spirit... Continue Reading →

August 10, 2021 0

New York Asian Film Festival Review: As We Like It ★★★

Directors Chen Hung-i and Muni Wei’s gender-fluid screen reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It (now As We Like It) is a colourful, bold, fresh and often messy treat of a movie that pushes boundaries with unbridled joy. Made with an all-female lead cast (a nod to Taiwanese opera, and to the performance history of... Continue Reading →

August 8, 2021 0