Wicked Queer : Boston’s fab LGBTQ Film Festival
is taking its 36th Edition Online this year. Still the largest LGBT media event in New England, its 10 day program is packed full of some of the best of new queer movies from sexy to serious …. plus a wealth of shorts too.
The whole program is being screened on easy to access & use XERB.TV that can be viewed WHEREVER YOU LIVE
QUEERGURU had been through most of the program already and here are our TOP TEN PICKS of what we thing you should not miss. (And yes we know there actually 11 on our list but we just couldn’t leave one out….)
ASK ANY BUDDY is a look back at a history of gay sex, or more accurately, gay porn. Archivist EVAN PURCHELL has combed his massive private collection of hundreds of films churned out by the gay adult film industry throughout the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s to make this fascinating compilation/mish-mash.. It may be about sex but the film is also very much about how during this period, porn contributed to changing the face of gay culture and empowered so many of us to help come to terms with our own sexuality.
BREAKING FAST: Writer/director MIKE MOSALLAM’S debut feature, is part queer romantic comedy and part tutorial on the ups and downs of being a gay Arab Muslim living in West Hollywood. Somehow the two are a good fit, so it makes us feel good that love (eventually) conquers all and we’ve learnt something new too.The filmmaker said that his intention was to tell a story that speaks to the nuances of daily life and treats identity: religious, sexual, gender and otherwise, as harmonious lenses by which individuals interact with the world. He did that, and make them fall in love too.
DRY WIND: Sandro (LEANDRO FARIA LELO), is An ordinary middle aged bear with extra pounds on his belly and extra hairs on his back. Pretty average for a bear who knows the summer heat of youth is gone and winter is coming. Though engaged in a passionate affair with co-worker Ricardo, played by ALLAN JACINTO SANTANA, he has an obsessive unfulfilled fantasy for Maicon (RAFAEL THEOPHILO). Unable to commit, Sandro fatefully drives Ricardo into the arms of Maicon in this brand new drama from Brazilian filmmaker Daniel Nolasco.
FIREFLIES: After escaping from Iran where he was persecuted for being gay, Ramin mistakenly takes the wrong freighter out of the port and ends up stranded in Vera Cruz Mexico. This is a powerful and heart-touching tale about the difficulties of being true to oneself in what is frankly a very hostile environment. With a pitch perfect performance from Marandi as Ramin, we really feel the desperation faced by so many reluctant LGBT displaced around the globe .
I’M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME BRIAN BELOVITCH’S was born in Massachusetts in 1963 into a large Russian/Portuguese family who moved to Providence, Rhode Island when Brian was young. As an effeminate boy he was bullied at school, beaten by his father , and screamed at by his mother when he was mistaken as ‘her little girl’. This extraordinary life told in this fascinating documentary tells how he transitioned into aw women, and then much later in life transitioned back
LINGUA FRANCA : NY based Filipino trans filmmaker ISOBEL SANDOVAL’s heart-wrenching third feature film is sadly one of those tales of the moment that seem like they can never end well. Its the story of Olivia (played by Sandoval) who is an undocumented Filipino caregiver in Brooklyn. She leads a solitary life and is stuck scrimping and saving to send money home to her mother in the Philippines. Also she is trying to pay off Matthew. He is a friend of a friend, who has agreed to marry her so she can finally get a Green Card. It’s a downbeat drama that seems to deliberately avoid giving even a hint of optimism and hope, yet somehow Sandoval draws us in and keeps us invested until the very end.
PIER KIDS: ELEGANCE BRATTON’S compelling documentary on the homeless LGBTQ kids of color that center their lives around the piers in NY’s Greenwich village has been years in the making. He started filming in 2011 and shot footage up until 2016 by when some of the kids had grown up, and a few had sadly died, but most of the scene had essentially remained unchanged.
Bratton’s powerful documentary merely observes, so any thoughts or opinions we gather are based on the kids own actions and words. This is essentially an historical record of the facts. Braxton seems almost resigned to the reality that even if one day the pier kids get physical displaced, they will simply reassemble elsewhere to maintain their sense of community which is now so vital to their very being.
THE QUEEN OF LAPA The Brazilian transgender activist Luana Muniz was considered such a fascinating character that her life has been the subject of no less that three documentaries. This latest one was completed just before Muniz died of a heart attack in 2017 aged 59. She was larger than life figure who had transitioned at an early age (‘I’ve had by breasts operated on 14 times’ she proudly boasted) and she went on to become a surrogate mother figure sheltering transexuals, prostitutes, and HIV-positive people, in her big house in Rio de Janeiro’s downtown nightlife area known as Lapa.
QUEER JAPAN: The LA based Canadian filmmaker GRAHAM KOLBEINs set himself an impossible task with his new documentary Queer Japan. Although it is both intriguing and thoroughly entertaining it is also very obvious that 90 minutes is certainly not long enough to comprehensively cover the whole spectrum of LGBTQ culture in Japan. Kolbein’s glimpse at how traditional Japanese society is slowly embracing the queer community does have some fascinating glimpses into the lives of a few of the more outrageous and larger than life characters in the community.
Twilight’s Kiss. From celebrated queer Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung comes an unexpected love story between two elderly mature closeted men. With finely nuanced performances from his veteran actors, this is a compelling drama about a world that none of us have encountered before. Even with restricted viewings during tHE pandemic the film has deservedly packed up 7 awards and 11 other nominations many of them as ‘audience favorite; which you will so understand why after you have viewed it.
15 YEARS For his feature film debut Israeli writer/director YUVAL HADADI gives us this compelling tale of an outwardly successful gay couple in Tel Aviv who seem to have all the trappings of a good life but who are nevertheless destined for heartbreak . Hadadi’s fine script takes the story beyond the normal struggle about accepting our sexuallity and tells AN acutely observed tale about the difficulties of adjusting as a gay couple into all the expectations of contemporary life. All of the three leads playing such well constructed characters give such pitch perfect performances that have you completely invested in the outcome right to the very last frame.
WICKED QUEER 36th Annual Boston LGBTQ+ Film Festival is VIRTUAL between July 24 - August 2 2020 on XERB.TV!
