Queer Screen Film Fest will bring some of the hottest LGBTIQA+ themed films straight from major international festivals, landing in time for their 10th anniversary.
Tickets are on sale now at queerscreen.org.au for Wednesday 23 August to Sunday 27 August in Sydney, and for a special on-demand program, available nationally for an extra week, until Sunday 3 September.
This summer’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival, in the midst of Sydney WorldPride, was always going to be a hard act to follow but Queer Screen are confident they have locked in the highest quality program their mini-fest has seen in its short yet sweet 10-year history.
Queer Screen Film Fest showcases ten top notch narrative features, three deserving documentary features, four remarkable retrospective encores, two entertaining episodics and 19 spectacular shorts from eleven different countries around the world.
“Queer Screen is celebrating not only its 30th year of existence, but also the 10th edition of our mini festival,” says Lisa Rose, Festival Director. “It’s an incredibly exciting year and I’m thrilled to be bringing such an outstanding selection of films to Sydney to continue the celebrations.”
“Ten years ago when the first Queer Screen Film Fest began we only screened seven films and the whole thing was run by volunteers. This world-class program is a very fitting tribute to how much we have grown and to how LGBTIQ+ stories have found their place, front and centre, on the international stage.”
The Festival includes a world premiere, over 20 Australian premieres and four Sydney premieres and opens with Blue Jean (pictured above), desacribed as one of the best lesbian films in years. Set in Thatcher-era England when the Section 28 legislation forbidding the promotion of homosexuality in schools cast a dark shadow, PE teacher Jean leads a double life.
When a student spots her at a lesbian bar, it all begins to crumble. With anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation surfacing around the world again, the film is more timely than ever. Blue Jean premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won four British Independent Film Awards.
The closing night crowd is in for a real treat with farcical, tongue-in-cheek mockumentary Theater Camp. After its founder falls into a coma, the eccentric staff and students of a scrappy summer theatre camp band together to stage a show-stopping original musical in a bid to keep things afloat. Just-released in the USA, THEATER CAMP premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
Among the narrative features on offer is Drifter which follows Moritz, who finds himself alone and adrift in Berlin, searching for somewhere to fit in. Desperate for human connection in the city’s hardcore sex and drug-fuelled party scene, he is captivated by assorted friends and acquaintances whose lives intertwine. Drifter premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival.
Hot on the heels or in fact studded boots of the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and fresh from its premiere at Tribeca comes Marinette, a moving, intimate exploration of the life of soccer legend Marinette Pichon. A stunning narrative feature, the film spans the three decades from her turbulent childhood to her selection for the French national team. An incredible, inspiring and very personal tale of one woman’s courage to pursue her dreams.
Based on the acclaimed novel by Philippe Besson, Lie With Me is a sensitive and moving drama that explores the bittersweet intensity of first love and making peace with the past.
Medusa Deluxe premiered at Locarno International Film Festival and takes us behind the scenes of a hairstyling competition, where tensions are high and the ’dos are even higher. This very unique, hirsute whodunnit is not to be missed!
A mysterious fire, a withdrawn child, an overprotective mother, a teacher keeping secrets, and three truths to be uncovered are some of the pieces of the puzzle in acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, a deeply human, twisty drama which won both the Queer Palm and best screenplay at Cannes.
A Korean trans woman returns to her rural roots after her estranged father’s passing to lead a mourning ritual that will reinvigorate her passion for dance, in Peafowl, a story of fierce authenticity and defiance which took the Busan International Film Festival by storm.
In the documentary stream acclaimed documentarian Jeffrey Schwarz explores the impact the AIDS epidemic had on Hollywood, and Los Angeles more broadly, in Commitment to Life, an inspiring documentary.
Equal the Contest explores the barriers that still exist for women and gender-diverse people to participate in sport. Non-binary filmmaker Mitch Nivalis follows the highs and lows of regional women’s Australian rules football team Mount Alexander Falcons, the members of which are a wildly diverse group of people who came together to challenge notions of who has the right to play. The film will be followed by a panel discussion.
Grammy award winning acoustic folk-rock band the Indigo Girls gifted queer fans with songs to live by in the 1980s and 90s and cemented their place in the hearts and minds of many. This long overdue documentary, Its Only Life After All, reveals intimate details of the friendship, musicianship and dedication to activism behind the trailblazing duo’s decades-long career. The film premiered at Sundance and also screened at South by Southwest to much acclaim.
QSFF screens at Events George Street, Sydney from Wednesday 23 August to Sunday 27 August. The online program is available on demand, nationally, from 23 August to 3 September.Â
OIP Staff
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