Queerguru’s TOP PICKS OF MUST SEE MOVIES at Inside Out : Toronto’s Queer Film Fest

This Memorial Day Weekend the Queerguru  Team has hot-tailed it over the border to Toronto where INSIDE OUT LBGTQ Film Fest is in full swing.  Founded in 1991 Inside Out is Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival …. and one of our favorites too.  We particularly like the fact that amongst all the Juried Awards for Best Film etc as Canada has a well-deserved reputation for producing some of the very best queer movies.

Here then Our Top Picks of Must See Movies that are still to be screened this weekend: 

ALL THE COLORS OF THE WORLD ARE BETWEEN BLACK & WHITE 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 This movie is 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

A Place Of Our Own is a new feature film about the trials and tribulations of a couple of transgender women In Bhopal, India, and is a tragic reminder of how life for them has not progressed at all in society.  The film, made by the Ektara Collective, an independent collaborative of filmmakers which makes films about and involving marginalized and disenfranchised communities,  perfectly captures the lows ….. and the highs …..  of the women’s search for accommodation after their latest landlord has illegally evicted them.

BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND  In this feature film debut from Trevor Anderson, the highlight is the performance of newcomer Vaughan Murrae as Robin, in a nonbinary lead role.  They play an American child that arrives in Edmonton, Canada to live with their smoker father.

It is 1987, at school, Robin´s classmates wonder if he is a boy or a girl, if somebody asks, the question hangs in the air unanswered.  No gendered pronouns are used to describe Robin in the film.  We are allowed to watch the way the children relate with each other, and through Robin’s appreciation and reactions, develop empathy. The girls and boys are mean to Robin and Tony (Jhztyn Contado), the classmate from different roots, who, for obvious reasons, shows complicity with Robin, who likes to draw.

It’s not surprising to learn that BIG BOYS, 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.

Big Boys is the tale of 14-year-old overweight Jamie  (Isaac Krasner) who is a bit of a geek and verges on being shy around others.  Whilst other boys his age may be splitting their attention between sports and girls, he is just obsessed with developing his culinary skills.  He is on the verge of going on his annual camping trip with his older brother Will (Taj Cross) who he tolerates and their twenty-something cousin Allie (Dora Madison) who is extremely fond of.  However, his mother shares the news that not only is Allie now dating but her new boyfriend  Dan (David Johnson III) is coming on the trip too.  It doesn’t sit well with Jamie at all. 

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

BLUE JEAN is a brilliant new lesbian drama set in Thatcher’s Britain“Do you know what the phrase ‘Fight or Flight’ means?” asks gay Geordie PE teacher Jean (Rosy McEwen) of her teenage students at the beginning of the brilliant new drama Blue Jean. It is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. It’s obviously on Jean’s mind as she navigates life as a queer teacher in a northeastern secondary school during bleak late 1980s Thatcher-era England in the shadow of controversial new anti-gay legislation, clause 28 of the Local Authorities Act.

Golden Delicious: The title of Jason Karman’s debut feature film is also the name of the family restaurant in the movie but it could almost pass as a critique too on this charming coming-of-age story. 17-year-old Jake (Cardi Wong) in his final High School Year who was being pressured by his father to take up basketball  (which he loathed) and by his pushy girlfriend Valerie (Parmiss Sehat) to give up his virginity (which he had no intention of parting with).   He had no idea what he wanted and he got even more confused when Aleks (Chris Carson) a hot jock who was openly gay, moved in next door.  His drama is the real core of the story and we get the full anguish of a teenager so completely scared of his peers at school, and his family, as he tries so valiantly to come to terms with his true identity.

Their journey on how the film came to be made starts when out of pure frustration after D Smith suddenly got blackballed from the music industry when they started to transition. They went from being in great demand producing songs forLil Wayne, Keri Hilson, Billy Porter and André 3000. to being unemployed, broke, and homeless.  In fact, Smith was still homeless when she began working on the project, with a camera being purchased by a host where she was once staying, and a laptop by a producer.

INSIDE OUT Film Fest begins on 5/28 and will end on 6/4 To see the whole program and book tickets https://insideout.ca/festival/

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