Its almost time for the 36th Edition of Out On Film, Georgia’s LGBTQ+ film festival in Atlanta …..(our favorite City in the South….. but dont tell them that back in Miami where we live). Its an exciting 10 day 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.
It has been as the top film festival in the nation by the readers of USA Today and 10Best, and an Oscar® qualifying film festival. 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.”
The ever expanding QUEERGURU team of reviewers the very diverse program which covers nearly the entire queer spectrum to come up with our TOP PICKS OF MUST SEE MOVIES
“All Shall Be Well “is a new lesbian drama from Hong Kong director Ray Yeung that is moving and beautifully made. It opens with a scene from the everyday life of two women, shopping at street markets and then unloading the food at home. We intuit that they might be lovers, especially as they prepare a meal together wordlessly in synch, with the familiarity of a very long-term couple.
But before much more occurs, Pat passes away in her sleep, leaving Angie shocked and grieving. Ray Yeung has cleverly used the family drama genre to uncover the truth behind the “acceptance” of queer people.”
THE ASTRONAUT LOVERS :In this romantic comedy from Argentinian Teddy Award Winner Marco Berger (one of Queerguru’s very favorite queer filmmakers) Javier Orán and Lautaro Bettoni are Pedro and Maxi, friends from childhood reunited years later at a beach house with a group of friends, during a weekend. Well chosen locations, camera angles that provide intimacy and the appeal of the two male leads are the hooks in this talky picture that strongly, refers to Marco Berger´s early films where tension is latent but nothing erupts. There is an additional ingredient in Astronauts´ story, Pedro and Maxi agree on playing a game: to tell their friends they are interested on each other as a couple.
Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps : Taken from 127 total stories and over 15 years of material, Scott Turner Schofield’s debut 1-hour Special blends archival footage, live performance, animation, and bold cinematic imagery. After all, every person is many things. (Queerguru first saw it as a live preformance piece in Miami in 2017) A total redefinition of the “transition narrative,” the film represents a lifetime from a trans masculine perspective: self-knowledge since early childhood as the start of a lifelong journey toward alignment and acceptance; transition as a period of both drama and comedy, at once finite and never-ending; and the radical belief in the possibility of change that fuels a #RealLiveTransAdult irrepressibly navigating an authentic life.
CHUCK CHUCK BABY : is love better the second time around? This whimsical musical comedy drama is set in a small town in North Wales where Helen lives with her ex-husband, his 20-year-old girlfriend, their new baby – and his dying mother Gwen. Her life is a grind, and like all the other women she toils with at the local chicken factory, is spent in service of the clock.
Toronto-based trans-man Sam (Elliot Page )who’s nervously preparing for his first trip back home in four years. He’s off to visit his estranged family back in small-town Cobourg, and it’s the first time they’ve seen him since his transition. He assumes that he’s a disappointment to his family and the ache in the pit of his stomach is palpable.
Acclaimed director Dominic Savage examines family, both birth and chosen, in Close To You, a beautifully poetic drama co-written by himself and Page. The largely unscripted, improvised story sees sexually fluid, thirty-something, Sam cautiously bid farewell to his housemate in Toronto and make the journey back to his hometown for his father’s birthday celebrations. The dull train trip home is broken up when he bumps into Katherine (Hillary Baack), an old high-school flame who’s also deaf. Sam’s slightly puppy dog joy at reconnecting with Katherine is not, however, fully reciprocated, and awkward Katherine, now a slightly frumpy mum of two, doesn’t share her number as the two part company on arriving back in Cobourg.
“Can a vagina be masculine?” This, and many more thought-provoking questions, are posed by interviewer/director Jules Rosskam, in his innovative new documentary Desire Lines, which examines the lives of trans men who also became gay men after transitioning. Rosskam’s film, which premiered at Sundance, combines drama with documentary.
Some 18 months ago Italian/American queer filmmaker Marco Calvani unexpectedly found himself staying in Provincetown for 6 months in the off season. This is the time of year when this gay mecca at the tip of Cape Cod, is completely empty of all the summer tourists and has a full time population of just 3000 souls. Its when Calvani fell in love …… with the town that is …. and the result is that he ended up writing/directing High Tide his debut feature film.
I’m not sure how Calvani pulled it off but for a small budget feature (shot in just 14 days) it also has a remarkable first class cast of supporting actors that included Marisi Tomei, Bill Irwin, Todd Flaherty and Tangerine’s Mya Taylor. But even so despite their performances , and an exceptional one from the remarkably talented Pigossi, (the actual real-life BF of Calvani) the real star is Provincetown.
PS You may like to check out QUEERGURU’s interview with the filmmaker HERE)
An excellent new documentary, A House Is Not A Disco, directed by Brian J. Smith, takes a deep dive into the Fire Island Pines community of today. Smith details one six-month season on the island, from its opening up in April, the build-up to the annual Pines Party on the beach fundraiser, through to the closing Halloween party at the end of October. We follow a bunch of residents, both long-term and new, as well as business owners, house-sharers, drag performers and the organisers of the Pines Party. The resulting documentary is an interesting, eye-opening profile of one of the most iconic queer places on the planet.
PS You may like to check out QUEERGURU’s interview with the filmmaker HERE)
THE JUDGEMENT : the journey of a gay couple in love in homophobic Egypt. The men belong to a culture different from the Western and the demonstrations of loving care and other interactions are always interesting to observe. The film pictures contemporary Egypt rooted in religion and traditions that go against free will and respect for difference. Unfortunately, several misconceptions are replicated all around the world. Directed by Marwan Mokbel with stunning photography by Leo Purman. it is one of the rare few queer movies in Egypt and is a definite must-see.
A stunning debut film by Fawzia Mirza The Queen of My Dreams whose human insights are entertainingly luminous. For a film that is set around the death of a father and husband and the funeral that follows it, The Queen of My Dreams is so fresh, and super saturated in color that its vim, sparkle, and humor cannot help but shine through. The conflict between a mother and a daughter is shown, but rather than trudge predictably towards reconciliation the more interesting story of the parallels between their lives is shown.
Written and directed by Benjamin Howard, Riley is a beautiful coming-of-age tale set in contemporary, suburban Southern California.
Life appears good for middle-class high-school football athlete Dakota Riley (Jake Holley). Under the watchful eye of his ambitious, ex-league player, coach/father, Carson (Rib Hillis), he’s successful, has a large group of friends, a close family, and a girlfriend, and is doing well in his senior year at high school. He’s in control of all areas of his life except one, his sexuality. He’s gay but tries his best to deny it to himself. He maintains a façade with his girlfriend and his friends, and teammates in the locker room, but his youthful raging hormones get in the way, especially when surrounded by his ripped team-mates wearing very little. We follow Riley as he navigates his way through the turmoil to try and live authentically and find peace with himself
PS You may also want to check out QUEERGURU’s interview with filmmaker Benjamin Howard HERE
SEBASTIAN. Writers are always advised to ‘Write about what you know.’ Aspiring twenty-five-year-old Scottish writer Max, (the handsome Ruaridh Mollica), is living in London and working on his first novel, a story about a sex-worker, Sebastian. He’s good-looking and ambitious, energetically forging his career and soul. To improve the authenticity of his work he creates an online escort profile and starts seeing clients himself, as his alter-ego Sebastian, and writes about each gig afterward. His potential publisher is impressed with his work, which he credits to interviews with sex workers. This third feature from Finnish Mikko Måkelå, confirms him as one of the most exciting queer filmmakers today
PS You may want to check out QUEERGURU”s interview with filmmaker Mikko Måkelå, HERE
YOUNG HEARTS is a tender story of young queer love that premiered at Berlinale. Fourteen-year-old Elias (Lou Goossens) is growing up in a nice European family and has the loving care of his grandfather who owns a farm somewhere in the Netherlands. One day, he is aware they have new neighbors, afterwards at school he meets Alexander (Marius De Saeger) and his whole world changes. When it all later meets with the disproval of his family, its Elias’s grandfather that rescues him and saves the day for these two young hearts.
begins on 9/26 and will end on 10/06 To see the whole program
and book tickets https://outonfilm.org/
Labels: 2024
