A pioneer of LGBTQ+ cinema for four decades, image+nation. film festival LGBT2SQueer Montréal is the oldest festival of its kind in Canada, showcasing award-winning local and international films that strive to preserve the authenticity and diversity of LGBTQ+ voices while chronicling an evolving queer cinematic practice. image+nation explores New Queer Storytelling – both the uniqueness and the universality of these stories – offering audiences a contemporary representation of what it means to be LGBTQ+ in the 21st century.
This year’s program seems more diverse than usual and set a tougher-than-usual role for Queerguru reviewers looking to select their TOP PICKS IF MUST SEE FILMS : HERE IS THEIR FINAL SELECTION
Croatia is hardly known to be a prolific source of queer movies, but maybe that is about change. Of the 11 movies so far in its history, two of them have been released this year. First was SANDBAG DAM, a superb coming-of-age drama that was nominated for the prestigious queer Teddy Award at the Berlinale, and now there is Beautiful Evening Beautiful Day Croatia’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards and one of the most memorable films we have seen all year. Despite the extreme bleakness of this plt underlying is a remarkable love store that resonates so deeply with you. Written and directed with such passion by Ivona Juka who cut her teeth on ‘Facing The CIty’ which she shot in Lepoglava, one of the most notorious penitentiaries in Europe. She is all for realism and her insistence on explicit queer sex had some well known actors shaking their heads, but it made sense with such a tight group of friends who valued this and lnsisting of iiving life in its entirety.
It’s almost impossible not to fall in love with iconic New York City trans drag performer Peppermint in this very affectionate warts-and-all documentary A DEEPER LOVE from filmmaker Oriel Pe’er This is not just her life story but a brilliant snapshot of the struggles for trans visibility in the current moment. She’s been living in her Harlem apartment for the past 17 years, when filming for the doc started some 10 years ago, and she was making ends meet by performing her drag shows. It’s a meager living as the bookings were not as good as they used to be, plus she has to walk home late at night in what can be a tough neighborhood. However, from the very first clip, you are hit by her infectious humor and her zest for life, which never disappear even when the going gets tough.
Only Good Things: An erotic queer romantic melodrama written and directed by the talented Brazilian filmmaker Daniel Nolasco, it portrays a relationship that outlasts several decades , from a rural area to an urban one. Beautifully shot, there is a crochet blanket that worths the mention and visual poetry in serveral of the rural sequences; the move to the city brings a harsh scenery and in contrast, hazardous nighttime situations into the woods; all these provide context to a fragmented story the viewer has to guess and try to find out about the male lovers and the good things the title refers to.
Outerlands. Elena Oxman’s compelling film is the the story of two hurt people who don’t believe they deserve any act of kindness that’s given to them. Through their unlikely relationship, they learn that everyone deserves to feel loved. Cass (Asia Kate Dillon) and their younger scene partner, Ari (Ridley Asha Bateman) give such gentle, grounded performances. Outerlands is a truly special piece of filmmaking that you really should not miss.
PILLION is the one reason I should be flying up to Montreal as we’re desperate in the US to finally see this film since first-time film director Harry Lighton raked in some good reviews when he premiered his film at Cannes earlier this year, where it picked up two awards at A Certain Regard. One of them was the Palm Mutt For Rosie, a Dachshund Hippo and a Rottweiler. (and that’s a first for us!) Aleander Skarsgård as always is stunning in this role in this BDSM story which will re-confirm his status as an icon to the queer community, but young Harry Melling (known for his roles in Harry Potter) is quite the discovery in this very challenging role that will certain shock anybody that is very uptight about sex.
PLAINCLOTHES Top of our list this year of highly anticipated movies was this feature film debut of writer/director Carmen Emmi. His PLAINCLOTHES is a love story that turns into a thriller set in 1997 that reminds us of how our community was harassed and persecuted as some authorities still bore anger that homosexuality had been legalized. Starring Brit heartthrob Russell Tovey, the ‘love story’ part of Plain Clothes is both sad and sexy but it is impossible not to be totally captivated. The sad part is that although this is set in the dark part of queer history, in this present uncertain political, it could very easily rear its ugly head again . You may like to check out this interview Queerguru filmed with writer/director CARMEN EMMI
Queerpanorama takes a deep dive into the offbeat hook-up experiences of a twenty-something Hongkonger. Directed by Jun Li and featuring the impressive acting debut of Jayden Chung, we follow an unnamed protagonist (Chung) as he flips from hook-up to hook-up in and around Hong Kong. What makes this guy different is that he takes on elements of the identity of his last hook-up and passes them off as his own with his next hook-up. At first he’s an actor, then a post-grad scientist at HKU called Erfan, then a teacher, then a motorcycle delivery driver called Dan, and then an architect, and so on.
SKIFF is the fictional story of teenager Malou (Femke Vanhove), her personal struggles, body issues, and the relationship with her immediate family in Willebroek, Antwerp province, Belgium. Malou is into water sports, and she may be a rowing competitor in the coming Olympic Games, meanwhile sport teammates gossip about Malou not showering again, and they are not nice to her at all. This is an intimate portrait of infatuated boyish girl who is in the process of getting to know and accept herself. The film closes with a tender sequence and a question from Malou to her mother that resonates loud….. and to learn what did she asked about you must watch the movie.
The History of Sound is adapted from a short story of the same name by Ben Shattuck and directed by the South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus (who won The Queer Palm at Cannes for ‘Beauty‘), and the film promises to tell a sweeping American story of love, loss, and folk music set in the early 20th century. It the tale of Lionel (Paul Mescal), a gifted young music student at the prestigious Boston Conservatory in 1917, who has a chance encounter with David (Josh O’Connor) at the bar one night. After bonding over their shared love of folk tunes, the pair wind up in bed together, striking up a connection that will shape the rest of their lives.
Karun (Akash Unnimenon), a handsome young security officer from Kerala, is stationed in a remote village in Kashmir. One day he meets Faheem (Tawseef Mir), a charming, equally attractive, student returning from college to visit his family, who stops his motorbike at Karun’s checkpoint. The two men fleetingly lock their beautiful eyes, before parting company. A mutual romantic interest has, however, been sparked. This gradually blossoms as Karun occasionally bumps into Faheem when picking up food from his father’s catering business and the two men follow each other on TikTok.
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