November sees us still in the middle of the Queer Film Festivals season right across the globe. This week we are making tracks up north to the 36th Edition of IMAGE+NATION …. Canada’s original LGBT2SQ+ Film Festival. This hybrid Festival runs from November 16 – 23rd in Montreal Theatres + curated Programming is available Online in Quebec and across Canada
Talk about diverse programming with 175 films from 27 counties from the four corners of the globe, plus from local Canadian queer filmmakers. Plus a FOCUS FRANCE program: a space for French Queer voices to be seen, heard, and shared.
THESE ARE QUEERGURU’S TOP PICKS OF MUST SEE MOVIES
“1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted a Culture” or how the Bible got it wrong about Homosexuality….. is a quest for bible truth
About six verses in the Bible contain the word homosexual, since 1946 when it appeared for the first time in the Revised Standard Version (RSV), due to the work and duty of a team of 22 men translators. The RSV was not modified for 25 years and the texts were printed there in millions of copies of the Bible containing the word homosexual as a stigma against LGTB people. The misconception spread between readers, pastors, and religious fanatics. As the film said , “if you mistranslate something, there is a power behind what you are putting out to other people”. Why does being a homosexual exclude anybody from the kingdom of God? The film states that it is because of an error, a wrong translation in the Bible.
Calling all bears, admirers, and allies. Cult web series Where The Bears Are is celebrated in Eduardo Aquino’s fabulous new documentary A Big Gay Hairy Hit – Where the Bears Are. This funny, heartfelt documentary tells the story of how three Hollywood film industry bears, tired of the lack of visibility of burly gay men on mainstream TV, decided to create and produce their own series which surprisingly became a huge hit.
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.
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
Drifter was the final film of the 2023 BFI Flare and, it has to be said, it’s a delicious side-eyeing choice from the programmers to have the final film be one that leaves you thinking ‘where is this going?’ for the first 60 minutes of its 79-minute length.
Director Hannes HIrsch’s film is almost documentary in style, but hanging in the air is the question of whether it is being satirical. The characters and the scenes are so on the nose. The artists do their art. The club kids do their clubs. The sexually liberated, well, they do everyone. However, If it is being satirical it does it without being snide or judgemental and It sits back and lets the audience decide. If it’s not satire it may just be the veneer that outsiders see because they are not part of it.
Femme is an intensely dark, sexually explicit thriller that plays out in London’s nightlife. Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a drag performer called Aphrodite Banks. One night during a cigarette break at a club performance, he catches the eye of Preston (the super-hot George MacKay), a buff tattooed blonde guy lurking across the road. Jules gets back to his performance and thinks nothing more of the encounter. Then later that night, after the club and in a corner shop, he encounters Preston and a group of his friends who are all straight. A brief exchange occurs between Jules and Preston which results in Preston being embarrassed in front of his mates. Preston gets very angry and viciously attacks Jules with his thug friends once Jules has left the shop.
The theme of power runs throughout the film…queer power, drag power, losing power and reclaiming power. Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay have excellent physical chemistry between them and the complementary supporting cast, moody soundtrack, and realistic sex and night-time club scenes all combine to achieve a totally believable queer story. Highly recommended.
THE LOST BOYS is the debut feature-length film by Zeno Grato a Belgian film director and screenwriter, and it rightly picked up an award when it premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2023. It’s set in a juvenile reform center, a place governed by the prohibition of physical contact, where Joe and William fall in love. To love each other, they will have to break the law.
Norwegian Dream is a dark, atmospheric drama that takes a deep dive into how our social and economic living conditions affect our ability to live our truest lives. Robert (the chiseled, super handsome Hubert Milkowski) is a 19-year-old Polish migrant-worker, living in a remote coastal area of Norway and working in a salmon processing factory. He’s left homophobic Poland behind to live a better life and also provide for his mother, who’s struggling financially and emotionally following the death of his father.
Directed by Leiv Igor Devold and written by Justyna Bilik, Norwegian Dream is a joint Norwegian/Polish-produced drama. This multi-layered, tough yet tender, coming-of-age story covers themes such as migrant working, insecure housing and employment, wealth inequality, racism, familial drama, self-absorption, coming-out and young love. The various moody sub-plots align seamlessly and combine together with excellent bleak Norwegian landscape cinematography, a heartfelt soundtrack and strong performances by the cast to create a memorable film.
Since The Last Time We Met is a romantic psychological drama by Argentinian director Matias De Leis Correa. Handsome Victor (Patricio Arellano) by chance bumps into hunky David (Esteban Recagno), his first love, fifteen years since they last saw each other. The reunion ignites the clandestine love they had had for each other, secretly seeing each other back then without telling their mutual group of friends. David, however, had suddenly broken off the affair and blocked all contact with Victor without giving him any reasons. Victor had been heartbroken but unable to share his grief with anyone as their relationship had been secret.
Since The Last Time We Met is a confident film. Beautifully shot with powerful and heartfelt performances by Arellano and Recagno, both of whom are very easy on the eye. The plot only focuses on the relationship between the two men as they emotionally navigate their way through complex waters given their history, their differences, and David’s married status. Will they manage to make it work?
Who I Am Not is a fascinating documentary chronicling the lives of two engaging, very different, black intersex people; South African ex-beauty queen Sharon-Rose, and unemployed fellow South African, Dimakatso, both of whom live in Johannesburg.
Intersex people are rarely given such a detailed platform, and it’s the detail of their lives that makes Skovran’s documentary so interesting. An added bonus is that they are both in South Africa and we get to see contemporary SA life. All too often we only hear about very rich or very poor South Africans, so it’s refreshing to have the focus on the middle ground of life there. The role of religion and tribal medicine and how it impacts their lives is also shown. We see that each intersex person has different characteristics and as such there is a broad spectrum of physical and mental health issues to understand and overcome. Theirs is a journey, often vulnerable, and full of self-discovery, that involves everyone around them.
IMAGE + FILM FEST begins on 11/16 and will end on 11/26 To see the whole program and book tickets https://www.image-nation.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
Labels: 2023, Canada, image+nation, Must See Films, Queer Film Fest, Top Picks
