Exclusive Interview: filmmaker Goran Stolevski on queer romance Of An Age “it’s more emotionally autobiographical than literal”

Writer-director-editor Goran Stolevski's achingly romantic and emotionally potent sophomore feature, Of An Age, opened Queer Screen's 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival this week and is playing in US cinemas from today. The Macedonian-born, Australian-raised queer filmmaker followed his Sundance award-winning short, Would You Look At Her, by directing several episodes of the fourth season of... Continue Reading →

February 17, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Winner Takes It All ★★★

A gigolo, a drag queen, and a porn star scheme their way to a motherload of cash in fashion photographer James Demitri’s feature debut as writer-director, The Winner Takes It All. This film is utter trash. That’s not a read, it’s the aesthetic. This is a deliberately, deliciously trashy comedy caper that won’t come anywhere... Continue Reading →

February 5, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Outrageous – The Queer History of Australian TV ★★★★

In the 1970s, while the rest of the world was struggling to show LGBTQ+ characters as anything other than jokes or morality tales, one country led the way with fully-fledged gay characters front and centre. Australia’s Number 96 was a sexy soap opera about the lives of people sharing an apartment building, putting sympathetic gay... Continue Reading →

February 5, 2023 1

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Punch ★★★1/2

New Zealand filmmaker Welby Ings’ debut feature, Punch, lives up to its title with some powerful drama, stunning visuals, and a sexy subject. Jim (Jordan Oosterhof) is a rising boxer on the eve of his first professional fight, trained by his father (Tim Roth). Their lives are lived in service to Jim’s boxing career with... Continue Reading →

February 5, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: The Venus Effect (Venuseffekten) ★★★1/2

Danish lesbian romantic drama, The Venus Effect (Venuseffekten), closes out Queer Screen's 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival with subtle charm. This gentle story is a sexy and sweet treat to round off an excellent 2023 festival. Liv is a young woman on the cusp of change. Living in rural Denmark, she is surrounded by orchards... Continue Reading →

February 3, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Trans Glamoré ★★★

Two mid-length documentaries about Australian trans women will receive their world premieres at Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival under the banner of Trans Women Champions: Trans Glamoré and The Accidental Archivist. Filmmaker Lachlan Bradbury's Trans Glamoré (a recipient of the Queer Screen Completion Fund), is a look at Sydney's eponymous trans cabaret night.... Continue Reading →

February 3, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Horseplay (Los agitadores) ★★★★

The fine line between straight boys “being boys” and homoeroticism is on display in Marco Berger’s latest feature, Horseplay (Los agitadores), that leans into the liminal spaces of male sexuality and “manhood”. A group of twenty-something young Argentinian men are vacationing together in a luxury villa. Freed from the constraints of parents and family, the... Continue Reading →

January 22, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Gateways Grind ★★★1/2

The Gateways Club, or the Gates as it was known, was the centre of lesbian London for decades. A watering hole in the heart of Chelsea, it one of the only exclusively lesbian venues in London, frequented by a mix of women of all classes, including the likes of author Patricia Highsmith. Running from the... Continue Reading →

January 21, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Elephant (Słoń) ★★★★

The autumnal landscape of southern Poland shines in writer-director Kamil Krawczycki’s new feature, Elephant (Słoń), adding fresh layers to the familiar tale of a rural young man discovering his sexuality in a homophobic town. Bartek (Jan Hrynkiewicz) works multiple jobs to support himself and his mother, looking after their farm animals by day and helping... Continue Reading →

January 21, 2023 0

Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 Review: Golden Delicious ★★★

Basketball, teen angst, social media, and family drama combine in Golden Delicious, a tale of an Asian-Canadian high schooler dealing with the claustrophobic impact of everyone else's expectations. Jake (Cardi Wong) is a good kid with a sweet girlfriend in Vancouver whose parents run a local Chinese restaurant. But the pressure is mounting. Nearing graduation,... Continue Reading →

January 21, 2023 1