David Freyne returned to his hometown in Country Kildare in Ireland last summer to direct his semi-autobiographical screenplay, set in 1995, just two years after the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the country. The film, Dating Amber, which is released on demand and digital in the US today, is a platonic romantic comedy that sees two... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Dating Amber star Lola Petticrew “playing Amber helped me come to terms with my own sexuality – my sort of second coming out has been the most liberating thing”
Writer-director David Freyne's semi-autobiographical comedy Dating Amber, which recently delighted virtual audiences at both Toronto's Inside Out and New York's NewFest LGBTQ film festivals, focuses on the platonic love story between two queer teenagers, Eddie (played by Normal People's Fionn O'Shea) and Amber (rising star Lola Petticrew). Coming to terms with their own sexuality and... Continue Reading →
NewFest 2020 Film Review: Tahara ★★★1/2
Following the suicide of one of their peers, best friends Carrie (Madeline Grey DeFreece) and Hannah (Rachel Sennott) are forced to spend the afternoon at their upstate New York Hebrew school reflecting on the passing of a classmate they apparently hardly knew in this queer dark comedy. Unfurling compellingly more or less in real time,... Continue Reading →
NewFest 2020 Film Review: Sublet ★★★★
Veteran Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox's outstanding new feature Sublet, co-written with Itay Segal, opens with the arrival of a jetlagged and disorientated fifty something gay man, Michael (The Inheritance's John Benjamin Hickey) to bustling Tel Aviv. He's a travel writer for The New York Times who has come to uncover the "real" city over a... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Vivian Kleiman & curator Ashley Clark on Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs
This month, the Criterion Channel is celebrating the groundbreaking work and enduring legacy of the late queer Black filmmaker, activist, poet and educator Marlon Riggs. Race, Sex & Cinema: The World of Marlon Riggs features a complete retrospective of his still searingly urgent, provocative, nuanced, and beautifully crafted video work exploring Black identity and representation,... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: queer film historian, archivist & filmmaker Jenni Olson “it’s kind of an amazing achievement to make a sexy 16mm urban landscape film”
This month sees the work of queer experiential filmmaker Jenni Olson celebrated on the Criterion Channel, with a five film retrospective, plus a new insightful interview. Included in the collection are Olson's two features, The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015), which both world premiered at Sundance. These, along with her 1998... Continue Reading →
LFF 2020 LGBTQ+ Short Film Reviews
This year's London Film Festival has a larger-than-usual array of short films, all free to watch online in the UK until Sunday October 18th via BFI Player. Here are some favourites so far. Dungarees. Courtesy of LFF. Dungarees, written and directed by Abel Rubinstein, is a 5-minute 3-hander (now there's a phrase to conjure with)... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: No Ordinary Man filmmakers Chase Joynt & Amos Mac on reclaiming & reframing the narrative of jazz musician & trans icon Billy Tipton
One of the highlights of last month's Toronto International Film Festival was the extraordinary No Ordinary Man, which world premiered at TIFF's semi-virtual 45th edition. The thought-provoking and emotionally potent feature documentary takes an innovative approach to reclaim and reframe the life story and legacy of popular 1940s and 50s jazz musician—and transmasculine icon—Billy Tipton,... Continue Reading →
Out on Film Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival goes virtual for 11-day event
Established in 1987, Atlanta's Out On Film LGBTQ Film Festival is in the midst of its 11-day 2020 virtual edition, which ends on Sunday October 4th. The 33rd Out on Film offers a diverse selection of LGBTQIA+ narrative features, documentaries and shorts, with 82 films from 20 countries. The festival opened on September 24th with... Continue Reading →
Exclusive Interview: Tony-nominated The Boys in the Band star Robin de Jesús “being a part of this cast really helped me find that pride & that gay ancestral power to step into”
Robin de Jesús received both critical acclaim and his third Tony nomination for his show stealing, hilarious yet soulful, performance as the fabulously flamboyant Emory in the Ryan Murphy produced 2018 Tony-winning Broadway revival of Mart Crowley's groundbreaking play The Boys in the Band. He's now reprising that role, alongside his all-star, all publicly gay... Continue Reading →
