OUT ON FILM Atlanta : Queerguru's Top Picks of Must See Films

The 35th Edition of Out On Film, Georgia’s gay film festival in Atlanta is now underway. The next 10 days celebration of LGBTQ stories and artists including narrative features, documentaries, short films, and premieres. It may be one of the oldest queer film fests but it is still one of the hippest go-to-events of Queerguru’s year.

Actually Out on Film was just named as the top film festival in the nation by the readers of USA Today and 10Best. To have that honor is an amazing testament to those filmmakers, sponsors, and patrons who have supported them all these years, and the staff and volunteers who keep hungry to grow every season.

Jim Farmer the Festival Director told Queerguru “People always ask me why it’s still important to host an LGBTQ film festival. At a time when our community is under attack, it is vital to bring us all together and provide a safe haven – and offer positive portrayals of our entire community.”

We’ve scoured the very diverse program which covers nearly the entire queer spectrum to come up with

QUEERGURU’S TOP TEN LIST OF MUST-SEE FILMS

A BIG, GAY HAIRY HIT! WHERE THE BEARS ARE: THE DOCUMENTARY. A wonderfully funny and touching story for anyone who loves the bear community. Despite the success of Where The Bears Are success, the filmmakers faced an impossible brick wall when they tried to develop their next project/ This warm, fuzzy, and refreshingly entertaining documentary about friends and the creative process is a real must-see

ALL THE COLORS OF THE WORLD : This fictional film from Nigeria premiered at the Panorama Section of the 73rd annual Berlin International Film Festival. where it won the prestigious TEDDY AWARD Queerness is a taboo topic in Nigeria, one of the most difficult countries in the world to be an LGBT+ person, people there can face up to 10 years in jail for being part of anything considered a gay social club or group, and up to 14 years if in a same-sex relationship

An intimate portrait of yearning desire in an adverse social context, and to Queerguru’s knowledge it is only the 6th queer film to be produced in Nigeria, and is not to be missed.

BARRIO BOY: Writer/director and Emmy Award winner Dennis Shinners adopted his own short film (2014) of the same name into his debut feature film. It’s the story of a Latino barber in a macho world who faces a tough road ahead when an attraction develops for a handsome stranger during a hot and sweaty summer in Brooklyn.

It’s not surprising to learn that BIG BOYS, a charming coming-of-age dramedy and the debut feature film of Corey Sherman, is based on an incident in his own life, as it has such a convincing authenticity to it. In fact, the premise of his heartwarming tale of a confused teen coming to terms with his burgeoning sexuality is something that most of us gay men can relate to on a personal level. Kudos to Sherman for the sensitive way he handled the young man’s sexual awakening with such a fine balance that gave such a sense of normality to both Jamie and his predicament. He was helped to no end by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance by Krasner who made Jamie so extremely relatable. And also with the beautifully measured response from Johnson …. who looked and acted like a charming gay bear… that we would have all wanted to have received back when we were ‘Jamie’.

P.S. you may also like to check out Queerguru’s interview with Corey Sherman HERE

CHASING CHASING AMY is an interesting documentary that takes a deep dive into the complex legacy of Kevin Smith’s 1997 indie film Chasing Amy, its effect on queer people, and its life-saving impact on director Sav Rodgers.

The original film is a romantic comedy starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams and Jason Lee. The film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian/sexually fluid woman (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee). The film was originally inspired by a brief scene in the cult 90s lesbian film Go Fish. In Guinevere Turner’s Go Fish, one of the lesbian characters imagines her friends passing judgment on her for selling out by sleeping with a man. Rodgers’ film is a love letter to film-making, his wife, and to Chasing Amy. His charismatic energy is infectious. Keep an eye on him.

If ever there was a time that the LGBTQ+ community needed powerful voices in our corner it is now. The trouble is that for them to get to a place where they can be heard and make a real difference is getting even more impossible in the present political climate. Not that Malcolm Kenyatta was aiming to just represent the queer community in his home state of Pennsylvania, but his attempt to run for the US Senate was severely hampered by the fact that he is a gay man of color.

Tim Harris‘s documentary Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn the inspiring story of Malcolm Kenyatta’s political campaign really grabs you both mentally and emotionally. When the final credits roll you simply just want to dash off and vote for him, It is of course too late but you know that even though he may have fallen at this hurdle, Kenyatta will be back

Lie WIth Me, based on the novel by Philippe Besson, has a wistful charm that sits with you long after the film is over. It’s a tale about nostalgia, love and heartbreaking loss that begs you to feel nothing but kindness to all its characters.

The character’s pain reveals their humanity in all its absurd messiness. Guillaume de Tonquedec portrays the writer Stephane as equally capable of saying the toe-curlingly wrong thing as he is of achieving sublime prose. This adds to the idea at the heart of the movie that life can be brought back into balance. In the case of director Olivier Peyon’s charming Lie With Me, the balance is achieved by finally being able to see life through someone else’s eyes.

STUCK IN GREECE When out-gay actor and filmmaker Gerald McCullouch (CSI, Physical, the BearCity trilogy) went to Athens, Greece in 2016 for a screening of his film Daddy, he unexpectedly met a group of LGBT refugees fleeing persecution from their communities, their governments, and their families who now find themselves trapped in Greece. Unable to move on to other parts of the EU, they face abuse, torture, rape and murder in the refugee camps so many are forced into a life of displacement. For years.

Confounded by their circumstances, Gerald felt compelled to document his education of a crisis facing countless members of his community who came to Greece under desperately different circumstances. Even if you are aware of the situation seeing up close how distraught and desperate these reluctant refugees are is a major wake-up call.

THE MATTACHINE FAMILY is a heart-touching story about queer parenthood. It is the story of a handsome couple Thomas (Juan Pablo Di Pace) and Oscar (Nico Tortorella) who are living a good life in LA. They are in love, busy, and happy foster parents to a young kid Arthur (Matthew Jacob Ocampo). When it’s time for Arthur to return to his birth mother, however, his loss affects the couple deeply and in different ways, and they realize they have different ideas about what being a family entails.

Out in Film are previewing THE MATTHEW SHEPARD STORY: AN AMERICAN HATE CRIME, honoring Matthew Shepard’s life and legacy, ahead of the 25th Anniversary of Matthew’s passing. With interviews from Matthew’s friends and allies, local journalists and community members, as well as key celebrity voices who were deeply affected by Matthew’s story including Rosie O’Donnell, Andrew Rannells and Adam Lambert, THE MATTHEW SHEPARD STORY will also focus on the progress society has made since his passing and the work that still needs to be done. When Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was brutally tortured and left for dead in Wyoming, this shocking act of violence captured the nation’s attention and sparked a debate about the discrimination, danger and violence that many LGBTQ+ Americans face. Regarded as one of the worst anti-gay hate crimes in American history as well as a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, THE MATTHEW SHEPARD STORY: AN AMERICAN HATE CRIME is a timely tribute to Matthew’s story at a time when the LGBTQ+ community is once again under attack.

Out on Film : Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival begins on 9/21 and will end on 10/01 To see the whole program and book tickets https://outonfilm.org/

for full reviews of over 1800 queer films check out www.queerguru.com and whilst you are there be sure to subscribe to get all the latest raves and rants on queer cinema …best of all its FREE