OUTFEST LA is the world’s largest LGBTQ+ film and media organization and its next edition runs July 13 – 23 in LA.  It has one of the very best and most diverse programs of new queer films from around the globe.  Like most Fests these days it has a hybrid schedule that is made up of in-person screenings in LA but also virtual online screenings that can be accessed almost anywhere you live in the world.

We’ve had our whole  team of reviewers to scour through the whole program to come up with

QUEERGURU’S TOP PICKS OF MUST SEE MOVIES 

 

ALL THE COLORS OF THE WORLD ARE BETWEEN BLACK & WHITE This fictional film from Nigeria won the prestigious TEDDY AWARD even though queerness is a taboo topic in Nigeria. In fact, it is 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.  But this, only the 6th queer film to be produced in Nigeria,, is an intimate portrait of yearning desire in an adverse social context.  Not to be missed

 

 

 

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 the interview Corey Sherman had with Queerguru 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.

 

 

CORA BORA  is an entertaining, highly watchable new film with a breakout starring role for Megan Stalter, who is primarily known for her hilarious portrayal of Kayla in Max’s “Hacks” series. While she kills it as Kayla, this film gives her a chance to show her range as an actress, and she runs with it. She brings a raw realness to her character Cora, whose already chaotic life seems set on crash and burn. Her career as a singer/songwriter/musician has come undone since losing her band, and she struggles to rekindle it as a solo act in tiny clubs and spaces across L.A. Meanwhile, her long-distance “open relationship” with her lover Justine is crumbling, too, and she returns for a bit to Portland, where she finds Justine in content domesticity with a new woman. 

“Love is a Joke and It’ll Break Your Heart”

 

HIDDEN MASTER : This is the story of a little boy from New Jersey that made magic with his camera and was a pioneer in homoerotic and racial portraiture. The name of George Platt Lynes shpud not to be overlooked and it is a happy coincidence to learn about his life and art in this month of Pride 2023 thanks to the documentary directed by Sam Shahid.  The film shows the shadows and lights in the life of this visionary photographer/creator,  who made visual statements decades before Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and particularly, Robert Mapplethorpe. 

The linear narrative of the film takes us to the 1920s when an eighteen-year-old handsome George, who always lived out of the closet,  travels to Paris to become a friend of Gertrude Stein and a member of her salon, where he met other habitués such as Man Ray, Colette, and Jean Cocteau to name three. After that promising debut in the circle of artists and intellectuals, he goes back to America to live his life fully due to his close relationship with Monroe Wheeler  and Glenway Westcott, they told him he had a natural gift for photography, he dedicated to it self taught, developed an artistry on lighting, and also elaborated surreal and mythological settings. He worked as a freelance portrait photographer and collaborated with several fashion magazines and more. Important to say that in 1932 he exhibited his work along with Walker Evans at the Julien Levy Gallery.

 

 

IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL :  (Why the Indigo Girls Matter)Alexandria Bombach’s 2023 documentary,  is both blessed and cursed by an abundance of archival footage of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers performing and being interviewed over the years. The two have been writing and performing intelligent and out music for decades, managing to remain relatable to a spectrum of fans from radical lesbians to mainstream audiences.  The film is informative and shows plenty of concert footage and is so worth seeing even though it is a tad too long

 

 

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 for Lil 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.

After being ousted for being transgender, Smith had the idea for a documentary film revolving around sex work, after wondering what would happen if she had to turn to it to sustain herself, and those who had no other options. So Kokomo City explores the lives of four transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia who were found by simply searching the internet. 

 

 

PORNOMELANCHOLIA is cinema, reality, and fiction combined in this extremely well-crafted documentary that is not for all tastes but one which makes a statement on contemporary movie making. 

It is a compelling portrait of loneliness in the times of social media where there is no place for privacy. In the first sequence, a tall disquiet man in his mid-30s is standing alone in a busy street and seems that he is longing for something or someone; suddenly, he begins to sob, and eventually, we get to know his name is Lalo Santos.

The smartphone is essential to the story, it is Lalo´s main tool of work, almost his way of living. Through camera images, text messages, tweets, and posts, we are introduced to Lalo´s daily life.  He works for a living in a factory, and there he makes erotic self-portraits to be posted later with precise text such as:  In case you need something done…

 

 

Newbie Russian filmmakers Agniia Gladanova & Igor Myakotin debut feature film  QUEENDOM  is the story of Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, who stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism –  but also put her life in danger

PS you may also like to check out this interview the filmmakers gave to Queerguru when  they were at 
the Provincetown Film Festival  click HERE 

 

 

 

‘ROTTING IN THE SUN’ is Chilean queer filmmaker Sebastian Silva’s brilliantly funny + no holds barred comedy-drama It stars Silva and hot gay comedian/influencer Jordan Firstman, both of whom play themselves. It’s in part a queer version of a Larry David Curb Your Enthusiasm episode and in other ways reminiscent of a John Waters film. Rotting in the Sun is unique, sexy, laugh-out-funny, dark, and depressing at the same time.  And we totally love it 

 

 

 

THE MATTACHINE FAMILY  is a heart-touching story about queer parenthood.  Its the story of 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.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

OUTFEST  Film Fest begins on 7/13 and will end on 7/23 To see the whole program and book tickets, https://www.outfestla.org/