From cheeky laugh-out-loud comedies, to insightful, honest takes on LGBTIQ life and culture,
Queer Screen is proud to announce a diverse, quirky and exciting program for the 21st
Mardi Gras Film Festival, this February in Sydney.
With ten teaser films announced at the end of
last year, today sees the festival’s complete program
revealed, with an eclectic selection of classic and contemporary LGBTIQ
films from Australia and around the world set to be screened from
Thursday, February 13th to Sunday, February 23rd at Event Cinemas George Street.
One of the most respected Queer Film Festivals internationally, and now in its 21st year, the 2014
program features no less than five world premieres, with 19 films also making their Australian premiere.
Mardi Gras Film Festival Director, Paul Struthers,
says, “Amongst our program we’re thrilled to have five world premieres
at the festival, all of which are from homegrown talent. It’s a special
year for the local industry, as well, with
Muriel’s Wedding and Pricilla: Queen of the Desert both
released 20 years ago this year. We’re proud to be screening both films
and celebrating their amazing success both locally and internationally.”
Struthers also flagged some of his must-see
additions to the program, saying, “The entire program is
full of incredible pieces of queer filmmaking, celebrating works from
around the world, but there’s also a few that are sure to thrill.
C.O.G. for instance, is a dark comedy and laugh-out-loud funny, especially for anyone who’s a fan of David Sedaris’ books.”
“Born This Way has such truth and honesty to it… making you realise how lucky we are to be gay
in Sydney. Don’t be put off by the cheeky title for Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf; it’s one of the funniest lesbian comedies of the last decade! Then there’s
Free Fall, which has been called Germany’s Brokeback Mountain. It’s just a hot and sexy film. There is something at the festival for everyone!” says Struthers
In addition to the films highlighted by Struthers, world premieres include
Out in the Line-Up, a groundbreaking documentary that shines a
torch on the taboo of being a gay in the surf world. Another Australian
documentary receiving its world premiere at the festival is
Vicky: The Gay Gene Comes To Australia, from Sydney filmmaker
Sasha Hadden, about Vicky Gene Robinson, the world’s first openly gay bishop.
Another true – and quintessentially Sydney focused film will be told in the world premiere of
Croc A Dyke Dundee, The Legend of Dawn O’Donnell, which tells the
story of Dawn O’Donnell, a convent girl turned ice-skater who became
the godmother of Sydney’s Rainbow Mile, Oxford Street – the home of the
Mardi Gras Parade. A lot of the truth behind
Dawn’s legacy has become nothing more than legend. The film explores
her incredible history in the Sydney community and will screen as the
festival’s closing night premiere.
Also focusing on Sydney will be
Zoe.Misplaced, another world premiere helmed by the incredibly
talented Mekelle Mills, which is one of the first Australian films in
years to feature a lesbian protagonist Zoe, played by the impressive
Hannah Raven Smith and filmed in and around Newtown.
In one of the many premiere events at the festival, the film’s cast and
crew will participate in a Q&A after the screening. The already
announced world premiere of
Friends of Dorothy, meanwhile, sees prolific photographer William Yang share his personal tales, traversing the history of queer Sydney.
The 2014 program features one of the most fabulously diverse schedules in the festival’s 21 year history,
covering a wide range of LGBTIQ issues. Out in the Line-Up, The Battle of the Sexes and
The Rugby Player all explore gays in sports, while the hot topic of religion takes focus in
Vicky – The Gay Gene Comes to Australia. Bullying takes a heartbreaking turn in
Valentine Road, a documentary about Larry King, a 15 year old boy
who was killed by another boy at school for giving him a Valentine’s
Day card. Larry’s murder made international headlines and brought issues
of gender expression and sexual identity of
teenagers to the global spotlight.
Films direct from this year’s Berlin Film Festival include
52 Tuesdays, Quick Change and Test, with 52 Tuesdays also playing at The Sundance Film Festival this month.
2014 will also be the first time that a kids film will be screened as part of the festival, with Disney
classic Beauty and The Beast, presented by Rainbow Kids and babies.
There will be four short film categories as part of the festival.
Mixed Shorts will see critically acclaimed queer short films from
around the world, including the debut of Jude Law’s son Rudy Law,
produced by mother Sadie Frost.
Gay Shorts sees director Travis Mathews screen In their Room: London.
Mathew’s previous films have been refused classification in Australia,
so this is a rare chance to see the work of the acclaimed filmmaker
domestically.
A retrospective best of Bear Men of Adelaide’s
Golden Woofs will feature 15 finalists from the last five years and a titillating afternoon of bears of the big screen.
My Queer Career, Australia’s richest prize for queer short films,
will also return in 2014 with a fantastic lineup of films from around
the country. The winner will take home $10,000 worth of prizes, with
best film recipient being granted entry into
the world’s biggest queer short film competition, The Iris Prize, in
Cardiff, Wales.
The 21st anniversary of the Festival will be accompanied at Event Cinemas by a
pop up festival bar, which will serve up drinks and entertainment
from Valentine’s Day, Friday, February 14th, and continue from 6pm for
10 nights. More than just a bar, the crème of Sydney’s Queer scene will
entertain, including DJs Kitty Glitter, Sveta,
Colin Gaff and Mark Alsop, alongside free talks, parties and events in
partnership with community groups.
Presented by Queer Screen, the Mardi Gras
Film Festival is Australia’s leading selection of LGBTIQ
films, offering audiences a carefully curated program of queer-tinged
features, documentaries, short films and retrospectives over eleven days
and nights.
2014 will also mark a new partnership between
Mardi Gras Film Festival and the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention
Board. LA Tourism
is proud to be a major sponsor of the Queer Screen 2014 festival and
welcomes Australian LGBT travelers to discover Los Angeles as one of the
world’s leading LGBT travel destinations as well as being the home of
‘Outfest’ the world’s longest running Queer
film festival held annually in July.
ABOUT MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL
The Mardi Gras Film Festival has grown
considerably since 1993. It is now one of Australia’s largest
film festivals of any kind, and one of the top queer film festivals in
the world. It is highly regarded by filmmakers all over the world, and
is the most important avenue for promoting gay and lesbian titles to
distributors and exhibitors in this territory.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILMS
C.O.G. (USA)
Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez
C.O.G is the first-ever screen adaptation of
the work of acclaimed writer David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day),
based on a story
that appears in Sedaris’s collection Naked. Jonathan Groff (Glee and
HBO'S Looking) stars as David, a young man just graduated from Yale, who
decides to work on a farm one summer in the Northwest, to get to know
the real people of the USA. When his friend
Jennifer (Troian Bellisario, Pretty Little Liars) decides not to join
him on the farm, David is left to face the harsh reality of farm life
solo and enter into an array of circumstances that will take him to new -
and hilariously uncomfortable - places. From
working through the night at a miserable factory, to saying no to a
male a co-worker’s odd and scary advances, these and other weird
situations question his beliefs about himself and give him a tough
education in the ways of the world. C.O.G. received the
grand jury prize for best new American cinema at the Seattle
International Film, and is a film you should not miss!
Duel (Slovenia-Denmark-Croatia)
Directed by Nejc Gazvoda
An airplane technical problem forces a plane
from Denmark heading to Greece land at a Slovene airport. All passengers
are being taken
to a hotel in Ljubljana. Among then, Iben, a quiet young Danish girl.
She meets Tina, who drives a shuttle as a summer job. Iben asks Tina to
take her for a midnight drive around the town and they grow closer,
realising they are at different stages in their
lives: one is hiding a big secret and the other is simply trying to
find her place in the world. Following the international success of his
debut A Trip, Slovenian director Nejc Gazvoda has come out with a
tender, perceptively written story that capitalises
on a summer-in-the-city atmosphere and examines the emotions of today’s
young generation.
Free Fall (Germany)
Directed by Stephan Lacant
A promising career with the police, a
beautiful girlfriend and a baby on the way - Marc's life seems to be
right on track but while
attending a work training camp he meets the handsome and seductive Kay.
Marc begins to develop intense and never before felt feelings for him
and a relationship commences. He is soon living a tumultuous double life
and is torn between his stable life with
pregnant girlfriend and his new relationship with Kay. Marc’s world
spins out of control as his feelings continue to grow as do the
suspicions of his girlfriend and conservative colleagues. Suddenly, his
life is in free fall and Marc realises that try as he
might, he can't make everyone happy. Least of all himself. This not to
be missed drama by Stephen Lacant is gripping and erotic thanks to the
on-screen chemistry between its two leads (Hanno Koffler & Max
Riemelt) and Lacant’s skillful direction. Critics are
calling the film a German Brokeback Mountain. Free Fall was the Opening
Night film at Berlin International Film Festival (German Perspective
program) and winner of Best Feature at the Philadelphia Gay &
Lesbian Film Festival 2013.
Geography Club (USA)
Directed by Gary Entin
At Goodkind High School, a group of students
of varying sexual orientations form an after-school club as a discreet
way to share their
feelings and experiences. Handsome 16-year-old football player Russell
is gay but still going on dates with girls, while having a secret
relationship with football quarterback Kevin, who will do anything to
prevent his teammates from finding out his secret.
Min and Terese tell everyone that they're just really good friends. And
then there's Ike who can't figure out who he is or who he wants to be.
Finding the truth too hard to hide, they all decide to form the
Geography Club, thinking nobody else in their right
mind would ever want to join. However, their secrets may soon be
discovered and they have to face the choice of revealing who they really
are. Based on Brent Hartinger's best-selling critically acclaimed
novel, Geography Club is a smart and funny account of
contemporary teenagers as they discover their own sexual identities,
dreams, and values. An entertaining film for the young and the
young-at-heart that shows just how far things have come in high schools.
A Rainbow Kids event.
Gerontophillia
(Canada)
Directed by Bruce LaBruce
Harold and Maude takes on a decidedly queer
kink in this transgressively touching story of the sexual relationship
that builds between
a young nursing home attendant and a confined elderly man. Canadian bad
boy and queer director dynamo, Bruce LaBruce (Otto, L.A. Zombies)
breaks out and delivers his most accessible film to date in
Gerontophilia, without compromising subject matter. Young
and beautiful Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) has troubles with his
girlfriend, his mother and his work as his creative and sexual urges
start to turn towards older men. Finding work at a nursing home,
attraction erupts when Lake meets charismatic Mr Peabody (Walter
Borden) and they embark on a memorable road trip. In his first film
role, Lajoie delivers a tender performance with intangible screen
presence and poster boy good looks that will have you wondering where
this actor has been hiding. An aging male body has rarely
- if ever - enjoyed so much of the camera’s loving gaze in a feature
film, giving the story a fresh perspective. Bruce LaBruce deftly and
defiantly skewers the mainstreaming of gay and queer culture and youth
obsessed desire. Adept storytelling and solid performances
keep difficult themes taut and close to the surface.
Heterosexual Jill (USA)
Directed by Michelle Ehlen
Unable to make progress with her ex-lesbian
conversion path, a neurotic "All American" Jill tracks down her butch
ex-girlfriend Jamie
to prove to herself that she is no longer attracted to her. Strung
along by guilt and desire, Jamie agrees to the preposterous plan of
"dating" Jill so that Jill can close this chapter of her life and move
forward with men. Meanwhile, David and Lola compete
for the affections of José, a sexually ambiguous and seductive man from
Brazil, and they compare notes on their differing opinions of his
sexuality. As complications arise with Jill and Jamie's relationship,
Jill starts to see José as her ticket out. However,
when the love triangles shift and realign, Jamie has her own identity
crisis that she is ill-equipped to handle. A mix of over-the-top comedy,
sharp wit, and pathos, Heterosexual Jill rides the edge of laughter and
pain, desire and repression, and explores
the complicated attachment to one's sense of self in the face of love.
The film received a special mention at the Barcelona International LGTIB Film Festival 2013.
Hot Guys With Guns (USA)
Directed by Doug Spearman
It’s Chinatown meets Boystown. Imagine Lethal
Weapon but with Danny Glover and Mel Gibson as younger, hotter
ex-boyfriends and you
get the idea. This over-the-top ‘private dick’ mystery is filled with
laughs and hot L.A. boys. Danny Lohman is a wannabe-actor prepping for
the role of a lifetime by studying to be a detective. Funnily enough,
he’s actually pretty good at it. Danny’s PI homework
includes spying on his recent ex-boyfriend, Pip Armstrong, a handsome
trust-funded Alpha-Gay who’s been raised in Beverly Hills and knows
every gAy-lister in town. However, he still lives in the pool house on
his controlling, alcoholic mother’s estate and
she’s determined to keep him under her thumb and away from Danny. After
Pip gets drugged and robbed at an orgy the boys get sucked into solving
a crime spree that is wreaking havoc on Hollywood's Velvet Mafia.
Careers, reputations, and lives are at stake;
mostly Pip and Danny's as they go deeper and deeper to solve a case
that's way over their heads. It’s a good, old-fashioned who-done-it,
cat-and-mouse chase with a ruthless blond, some very wild parties and a
dash of Nancy Drew. All done with tongue firmly
in cheek, as proven by the slick James Bond inspired credit sequence.
Noor (France & Pakistan)
Directed by Çağla
Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti
No longer part of the Khusras, Pakistani's
transgender community, Noor is determined to carve out his own path and
live life as a
man. Taking a man's job at a truck decoration centre, Noor's only wish
is to discover a woman to love and accept him. Unable to secure a wife
without a beard, Noor turns to his friend, Baba for advice. Baba offers
his friend support and tells Noor of a faraway
lake that can transform lives.In his quest to carve his own niche and
find love, Noor encounters diverse characters on a journey that spans
much of the country. This film offers a broad insight into Pakistani
culture told with honesty and tenderness for both
characters and the country. Choreography, dance and music are featured
throughout the film and provide an interesting insight into the cultural
significance of these practices. Notable cinematography showcases the
stunning cinematic landscapes of Pakistan.
Premiering at ACID, the independent section at Cannes Film Festival,
this film offers a beautiful glimpse at love, loneliness and
transgendered life in Pakistan.
Pit Stop (USA)
Directed by Yen Tan
In director Yen Tan’s drama, two men nursing
broken hearts eventually find each other in a small Texan town.
Recovering from an ill-fated
affair with a married man, Gabe, a contractor, finds solace in the
relationship he maintains with his ex-wife, Shannon, and daughter. On
the other side of town, Ernesto, a lumberyard worker, evades life at
home with his live-in ex-boyfriend by spending much
of his spare time in the hospital with another past love who is in a
coma. Far from the gay centres of the world, director Tan explores the
complex and often forgotten lives of gay men in small towns in search of
love. The emotional isolation the two men have
grown accustomed to is captured in a subtle, optimistic fashion and
avoids melodrama. In this refreshingly quiet film, Tan’s protagonists
meet for a one-night-stand - having endured all the struggles and
heartbreaks and wondering if they’ll ever find love
again – and face the possibility that they might just be meant for each
other. Pit Stop premiered at Sundance Film Festival and screened at
SXSW. The film also won the Texas Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Dallas
International Film Festival
Quick Change (Philippines)
Directed by Eduardo Roy Jr
Dorina is a beautiful transgender Filipino
woman raising her nephew, struggling to keep her failing relationship
together and eking
out a living administering illegal, backyard 'collagen' implants.
Servicing the gay community, Dorina's many clients are looking to
enhance their beauty, achieve voluptuous figures or become better
endowed at a price they can afford. Sourcing actors from the
Philippine transgender and gay community, the characters in this movie
are beautiful, colourful and compelling. However beneath the attractive
exterior of sculpted faces and bodies this movie takes a dark turn,
exposing the dangerous side of a black market
industry where the unregulated sourcing of implant materials and the
lack of medical training threatens serious consequences. Quick Change is
a gritty look at the dangerous underbelly of the implant industry and
its effects in the beauty pageant world of Filipino
gay culture. This feature film unfolds with a sensitivity and
commitment to the characters that gives it a documentary feel. Following
successful screenings at Cinemalaya (the Philippines' independent film
festival), Quick Change has been selected for the
2014 Berlin Film Festival.
Test (USA)
Directed by Chris Mason Johnson
It’s San Francisco in 1985, the new gay
disease is frightening the community, both gay and straight. Frankie, a
naïve contemporary
dancer who loses himself to dance and new wave 80s music is scared.
Scared of the disease and letting go to dance with the masculinity and
confidence his choreographer expects. This award-winning atmospheric and
beautifully shot film sets an authentic 80s
mood, as we watch Frankie navigate the challenges of being a dancer on
the sidelines of his company and the dangers and unknowns of the new
disease that is targeting gay men. Joining in his journey is charismatic
and confident Todd, a fellow dancer and his
polar opposite, but they say opposites attract, right? When one of the
other dancers is injured, Frankie must perform in his place. It’s a
test of skill and character. Will he succeed in facing his fears by
taking the new HIV test and letting go to dance
the way he knows he should? Recently selected to screen at the 64th
Berlinale, we are thrilled to have its Australian Premiere.
Two Mothers (Germany)
Directed by Anne Zohra Berrached
When Katja and Isabella, happily married,
decide to have a child, they are confronted with unexpected obstacles.
Like many lesbian
couples in Germany, they have to find out that the road to a common
child is much harder than expected with most of the sperm banks and
fertility clinics not offering treatment for homosexual couples due to
legal factors. After finally finding a doctor who
is willing to offer very expensive inseminations for lesbian women, the
fertilisation does not work for months. Katja wants to quit the
treatment while Isa suffers more and more with the weight of the
treatment failures and the financial hole they are digging
themselves. However Isa refuses to give up and finds a trader who sells
instruments with which one can inseminate oneself at home. Thousands of
men are offering their sperm for money on his website. A casting for
potential donors continues over several gruelling
weeks. In this time Katja discovers that Isa is willing to betray their
pact as well as their relationship in order to fulfil her wish of
becoming pregnant. Two Mothers won the FGYO award at Berlinale 2013.
Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf (USA)
Directed by Anna Margarita Albelo
This award winning and hilarious comedy is a
breath of fresh air. A semi-autobiographical film within a film, we
first meet our protagonist
Anna (co-writer/director Anna Margarita Albelo) at her 40th birthday
party dressed as a life-size plush vagina. Anna has three goals in
life; make a feature film, lose 20 pounds and get a girlfriend. She
currently has none out of three and is determined this
is the year to make it happen. With the help of her friends Penelope
(Guinevere Turner, Go Fish, The L Word), Chloe (Carrie Preston, The Good
Wife, True Blood) and the super sweet and gorgeous cinematographer
Julia (Agnes Olech), she embarks on the quest of
making an all-female version of the classic Who’s Afraid Of Virginia
Woolf and securing her latest muse Katia (Janina Gavankar, True Blood,
The L Word) as her girlfriend. Winner of best comedy at QFest, and
outstanding actress for Guinevere Turner at Outfest,
this witty and fun coming-of-middle-age film is sure to be a crowd
pleaser.
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES
Alice Walker – Beauty In Truth (USA/UK)
Directed by Pratibha Parmar
This feature documentary offers an insightful
and sensitive portrait of the renowned writer, feminist and activist,
Alice Walker.
Walker is best known for her acclaimed novel, A Colour Purple, for
which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – the first black woman to
do so. Walker provides some remarkably personal reflections about
herself, and we receive generous contributions from
fellow writers and activists, along with the key people involved in the
film adaptation of A Colour Purple, including Steven Spielberg, Danny
Glover and Quincy Jones, as well as her friends and former lovers. From
her poor upbringing in the southern U.S. state
of Georgia, to her involvement in the civil rights movement of the
1960s and her recognition as a key writer of the 20th Century, her
journey is truly a remarkable one.
Battle Of The Sexes (USA/UK)
Directed by James Erskine
In 1973, tennis star Billie Jean King agreed
to face 1940s men’s champion Bobby Riggs in what became the most watched
tennis match
in history. This illuminating documentary goes behind the scenes to
show the history of the match, how it came to pass and the impact it had
on the media, the community, the sport of tennis and the ever present
battle of the sexes. Looking at the build-up
to the event, with all the ridiculous gamesmanship put forth by the
self-proclaimed "male chauvinist pig" Bobby Riggs, whilst also taking a
fascinating look at the beginnings of women’s professional tennis and a
feminist movement led by the charismatic and
legendary Billie Jean King. Featuring excellent archival footage and
interviews with tennis greats and modern tennis stars like Maria
Sharapova and the Williams sisters, this is one documentary about a
sporting event that transcends the game, to tell a fascinating
story of an inspirational woman who didn’t sit back, but stepped
forward to be a vital voice in the women’s liberation movement.
Born This Way (USA/Cameroon)
Directed by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann
Winner of Best Documentary at Outfest Los
Angeles 2013, Born This Way is an unsettling but poignant depiction of
the underground gay
and lesbian community in the West African country of Cameroon. With
some of the world’s harshest laws against homosexuality, life in
Cameroon for gays and lesbians can be a daily struggle. Shot guerilla
style, and set largely in and around a community centre
for the local LGBT community, we meet an array of young gay men and
lesbians, and those helping them live their lives with dignity and
justice. Gertrude struggles to come out to the Catholic nun who helped
raise her; the flamboyant Cedric is forced to move
house when he is attacked; Alice is a prominent lawyer who defends LGBT
clients. Both heart wrenching and heart-warming, this moving
documentary is an intensely personal insight into day-to-day life for
some in modern Africa.
Born Naked (MLB) (Spain)
Directed by Andrea Esteban
“We are all born naked, everything else is
drag”. Andrea and Paula, homosexuals of 23 and 25 years, will show us
through their personal
experience, the reality of young lesbians of their generation in
Madrid, London and Berlin. Traveling through these three cities, we will
meet different organised groups who will describe their proposals and
attitudes towards their sexual orientation. With
a riveting and edgy style, Born Naked (MLB) introduces us to
individuals who refuse to be labeled by society. A generation who fights
for their right to reinvent themselves. The film has screened at
Newfest (NY Gay Film Festival 2012), Outfest (LA Gay Film
Festival 2012), Cinespaña (Touluse) and American Film Festival.
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
(USA/Italy)
Directed by Nicholas D. Wrathall
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want
to say, and not giving a damn.” – Gore Vidal. A hit on this year’s
international film
festival circuit, this highly entertaining documentary reminds us why
Gore Vidal was truly one of a kind. Novelist, essayist, playwright,
critic, political candidate, raconteur and socialite, he combined a
fierce intellect, sharp wit and seductive charm as
one of the world’s most well-known public intellectuals. The film is
structured around a series of fascinating one-on-one interviews with
Vidal, filmed not long before his death in 2012. Combined with
commentary from the likes of the late Christopher Hitchens,
filmmaker and nephew Burr Steers, and the best of Vidal’s legendary
on-air performances, Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia is a
fitting tribute to the man and his life.
Valentine Road (USA)
Directed by Marta Cunningham
On February 12, 2008, in Oxnard, California,
Lawrence "Larry" King, 15 years old and openly gay, was shot and killed
by his 14-year-old
classmate Brandon McInerney, after Larry asked Brandon to be his
Valentine. This not to be missed documentary tells the powerful,
important and moving story of two young boys from small town USA. One
of mixed race, a ward of the state and exploring his gender
identity, the other, white from a troubled home and with an interest in
neo-Nazi philosophy. First-time filmmaker Marta Cunningham brings a
remarkable balance to the film as she delves deeply into the story by
interviewing people from Larry and Brandon’s lives,
as well as those involved in the criminal case. We learn about both of
their struggles, the tragic crime and the startling aftermath that led
to a tidal wave of shock and discussion around the globe. This
incredible documentary calls into question the safety
and acceptance of LGBTQI youth, whilst also looking at the fairness of
the US educational and juvenile justice systems. Nominated for the Grand
Jury Prize at Sundance and winner of Outstanding Documentary at
Frameline (San Francisco LGBT Film Festival), this
is one documentary that the world needs to see.
AUSTRALIAN FEATURE FILMS
52 Tuesdays (Australia)
Directed by Sophie Hyde.
16-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to
independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender
transition and their time
together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons. Filmed over the course
of a year, once a week, every week – only on Tuesdays – these unique
filmmaking rules bring a rare authenticity to this emotionally charged
story of desire, responsibility and transformation.
Sophie Hyde’s directorial debut, 52 Tuesdays, is a one of a kind film.
The fascinating aspect of this intimate story is also the unique form
representing the chronology of the story, as it was shot every Tuesday
for 52 consecutive weeks. The filmmakers had
set themselves the same rule, that they could only shoot on Tuesdays up
until midnight and only consecutively, so whatever filmed on that day
is what happens in the story on that day. The writers, Matthew Cormack
and Sophie Hyde, created the structure before
they decided on character and story. Led by the very real performances
of the collaborators playing the mother, James (Del Herbert-Jane) and
teenage daughter Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), the actors, all
non-professional, were given the script one week at
a time and only given the scenes that they were in. The film has been
selected to screen at Sundance and Berlinale 2014.
Submerge (Australia)
Directed by Sophie O'Connor
Jordan (Lily Hall) living with her best
friend, the bisexual Lucas (Kevin Dee), is drowning under the pressures
of university, her
job as a research assistant and her family’s desire for her to become
the elite swimmer she has trained all her life to be. When she meets
her history professor’s girlfriend Angie (Christina Hallet), sparks fly
and what seems like something that may help
her emerge from her stress, only compounds it further as she immerses
herself in a world of partying, fetish clubs, anonymous sex and drug
taking. A homage to Generation Y and their apparent need to want it all,
Submerge takes a look at the pressure society,
friends, family and we ourselves put upon us to succeed. The film has
an interesting take on the sexual fluidity of a generation not wanting
to label themselves as they look to explore, experience and discover who
they really are. After playing at over 25
film festivals around the globe, this Australian feature film from
Melbourne wraps up its run with its Sydney Premiere where key people
from the film will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening.
Zoe Misplaced (Australia)
Directed by Mekelle Mills.
Zoe (the impressive Hannah Raven Smith) is a
20-something lesbian, and just like so many other 20-somethings in
Australia, she goes
to university, leaves her assignments to the last minute, drinks beer,
and is already cynical and wary of love. So what happens when she
unexpectedly falls for the one girl she shouldn’t? This witty and highly
relatable film that transcends gender and sexuality
goes a long way in showing that lesbians are just like everybody else.
Everyone experiences love, hurt, laughter, failure, betrayal and the
all-encompassing desire and infatuation of new love. But, what effect
does this new love have on you and those around
you? Zoe is a student, friend, lover, sister, room-mate and aunt, can
she balance all of the expectations and responsibilities she has? One of
the first Australian films in years to have a lesbian protagonist, we
are thrilled to have the World Premiere of
this locally made feature by writer/director Mekelle Mills, with scenes
shot in and around Newtown. The cast and crew will be at the screening
and participate in a Q&A after the film. This is one experience not
to be missed.
AUSTRALIAN DOCUMENTARIES
Croc A Dyke Dundee (Australia)
Directed by Fiona Cunningham-Reid
Dawn O’Donnell was a penniless lesbian in
1950s Australia. She wanted money, power and sex, but of course it was
the dark ages. All
women were third class citizens, lesbians practically invisible.
Everything was illegal, licensing laws were draconian, with no bars open
you couldn’t even get a drink after 6.00pm. Homosexuality was
criminalised and demonised, and police brutality was commonplace.
Nevertheless, Dawn stormed her way through Sydney’s gay underworld and
built herself an empire of drag clubs, car parks, real estate, bars,
steam rooms and sex shops. Dawn married twice, once to a man and then to
a woman. The convent girl turned ice-skater
became the godmother of Sydney’s Rainbow Mile, Oxford Street. She
adored drag queens and many started their careers in Dawn’s pubs. After
all it was the entertainment in one of Dawn’s pubs that served as
writing material for Stephan Elliott when crafting
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Dawn was a ruthless businesswoman, but
was she a criminal? Did she run brothels? Did she commit arson? Did
she or didn’t she murder? When Dawn died in 2003, the church was packed
and a chunk of gay and lesbian history was
lost forever. But her legend endures. She was neither a feminist nor a
gay activist but for good or bad Dawn O’Donnell was instrumental in
Sydney’s transformation from a sleepy provincial city to one of the
gayest cities in the world. This film goes some way
to sharing the myth and legend of her life.
Out In The Lineup (Australia)
Directed by Thomas Castets
We are pleased to have the World Premiere of
Out In The Line Up, a documentary that shines a torch on the taboo of
being gay in the
surf world. David Wakefield is a former state champion surfer who ended
his career early for fear that his peers would discover his sexuality.
20 years later, the typically shy David is thrust into the spotlight
after he publically comes out in front of hundreds
of thousands of spectators at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. On the
other side of the world, Thomas Castets is setting up the first online
community for gay surfers. Together, David and Thomas travel the world
from Australia to Hawaii, California, Mexico
and the Galapagos Islands. They meet gay surfers, hear their stories
and bring awareness to their unique community. The pair speak to
everyone – from openly-gay professionals to amateur young surfers, surf
journalists to a U.S. Congressman with a surfer husband.
Out In The Line Up provides a refreshing perspective on a
male-dominated culture that has strayed from its foundation of freedom
and open-mindedness.
Vicky – The Gay Gene (Australia)
Directed by Sasha Hadden
Vicky Gene Robinson was consecrated as the
world’s first openly gay bishop…wearing a bullet-proof vest. He was the
only bishop not
invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Bishops, but he was also the
only bishop Barack Obama selected to deliver the invocation at the
inaugural weekend of his presidential election. Now retired, the former
Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal (Anglican)
Church of the U.S. remains a divisive figure and caused controversy
with his recent visit to Australia, including a well-publicised
encounter with the Reverend Fred Nile on ABC’s Lateline. This new
documentary from Sydney filmmaker Sasha Hadden follows the
Bishop’s visit to Melbourne in 2013. Anchored by a series of
interviews with Melbourne radio presenter Dean Beck, his message is
clear – that it will take religious people to undo the harm that
religious people have done. As Australia struggles with issues
of sexuality and faith, marriage equality, and institutional child
sexual abuse, this film is an important and timely contribution.
THE CLASSICS
Muriel’s Wedding (Australia)
Twenty years since its initial release,
Muriel’s Wedding has become a classic of Australian cinema. Toni
Collette plays the charming
and endearing Muriel Heslop, an ‘ugly duckling’ who yearns to escape
her dreary suburban existence in the seaside town of Porpoise Spit. She
often daydreams of her own Prince Charming sweeping her off her feet to
an ABBA-laden soundtrack. Inspired by hedonistic
gal-pal Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths), the pair embark on a camp,
entertaining and life-changing adventure from a tropical resort to the
big city. With an estimably talented supporting cast including Bill
Hunter, Matt Day and Daniel Lapaine as Muriel’s hunky betrothed,
come join us for a retrospective screening of the comedy classic that
launched Toni Collette’s stellar international career, won 4 AFI Awards
and introduced a new iconic phrase to the ‘Aussie’ lexicon – “You’re
terrible Muriel!”
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
(Australia)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the
Desert is perhaps THE queer classic of Australian cinema. Hugo Weaving,
Guy Pearce and Terence
Stamp play drag queens who christen a large bus ‘Priscilla’, before
driving it from their home city of Sydney through the Australian outback
where they encounter amazing sights, colourful characters and hostility
from homophobic country town residents. With
hilarious and touching performances from the lead trio, stunningly
designed costumes and breathtaking cinematography, it isn’t difficult to
see why Priscilla went on to win two AFI Awards for costume and
production design, inspire a hit Broadway musical and
receive endless critical acclaim both nationally and internationally
for the past two decades.
SHORT FILMS
Best of Golden Woofs
Five years, five continents, 11 countries, 13
judges, over 80 films. One bear short film competition. Drama, comedy,
documentary,
experimental and music videos from India, Australia, New Zealand, USA
and UK are all part of this retrospective best of Bear Men of Adelaide's
Golden Woofs - featuring 15 finalists from the last five years. An
exciting afternoon of bears on the big screen,
with cute cubs, hot daddies, sexy otters, cheeky chubs, friendly
chasers and infamous scruppet…
Gay Shorts
This package of great short films about gay
life features the excellent In their Room: London, directed by Travis
Mathews. Mathews
previous In their Room films, and his feature I Want Your Love, have
all been refused classification in Australia, so Queer Screen is very
happy to get this film through the censorship board.
Mixed Shorts
A great selection of the best queer short
films from all over the world. This selection includes the familiar
faces of Marisa Tomei,
Aubrey Plaza, Sadie Frost and the debut of Jude Law’s son Rudy Law.
Several films have been selected for Sundance and SXSW festivals
including Social Butterfly and Natives.
My Queer Career
My Queer Career is Australia's richest prize
for queer short films, and one of the highlights of the Mardi Gras Film
Festival. The
prize returns in 2014 with a fantastic lineup of quality films from
across the nation. We have over $10,000 worth of prizes to give away to
the best locally produced works. Join us for a special screening and
ceremony where we announce judges choices for best
films. The winner of Best Film will be granted automatic entry into the
world's biggest queer short film competition, The Iris Prize, in
Cardiff, Wales.
