Love is Love Shorts

Sat 16 Nov – 1:00 PM

Prepare to swoon as these heart-full stories of queer joy explore love on the apps from a neurodiverse perspective, the poetry of love and reconnecting to what was lost.

Desire Lines (2024)

Dir: Jules Rosskam | USA

Sat 16 Nov – 1:15 PM

The cinematic form is no more bound by a binary than gender, as autoethnographic artist, academic and filmmaker Jules Rosskam (Transparent) adeptly underlines with his exhilaratingly sexy and smart hybrid docufiction film Desire Lines. The fictional component centres on Iranian-American transman Ahmad (Aden Hakimi) and follows his tentative exploration of transmasculine history via a meet-cute with younger trans man Kieran (Theo Germaine) in Chicago’s LGBTQI+ archive. But when the pandemic crashes the party, closing the city’s bathhouses with echoes of the HIV/AIDS crisis, a time slip of sorts opens a documentary door to real-life heroes, in new interviews and archival footage including author and activist Lou Sullivan, the pioneering transmasc hero.!

nanekawâsis (2024)

Dir: Conor McNally | Canada

Sat 16 Nov – 3:15 PM

Enduring the Sixties Scoop and the intergenerational trauma of what his mother suffered from the residential school system, First Nations and Two-Spirit artist George Littlechild shares their story as a survivor of the genocidal policies of Canada. George’s art is a way they “try to bring joy to the planet” despite the challenges and struggles of the Indigenous experience under colonial systems. The artist’s indigeneity and interconnectedness to nature has made their art a spiritual way of healing for the community. Documenting through photograph and video archives of their experiences in a world that was often dismissive of Two-Spirit identity, George perseveres for recognition that queers have always existed. This debut feature documentary by Métis Nation director Conor McNally is an insight into the artist’s process, drawing the viewer inside the world of an artist whose quiet defiance expresses the need for a queer indigenous futurity.

Turtles (2023)

Dir: David Lambert | Belgium, Canada

Sat 16 Nov – 3:30 PM

Close To You is a heartfelt exploration of identity and belonging, following Sam, a trans man who returns to his hometown for his father’s birthday after years of distance. Confronting family dynamics, lost love and the emotional impact of his transition, the film goes beyond personal transformation, redefining the meaning of love and acceptance. Written and directed by Dominic Savage and starring Elliot Page in his first leading role as a trans man, Close To You draws from Page’s lived experience. As Sam reconnects with his family and an old flame, the film tenderly examines the complexities of coming home and embracing one’s true self. With themes of resilience, hope and understanding, Close To You courageously captures the unending journey of self-acceptance and love.

Wide Horizons Shorts

Sun 17 Nov – 1:00 PM

From a Turkish tailor’s shop to graffitied streets in Argentina via Berlin apartment hunting and a poetically sexy Croatian animation, this window on the world is wondrous..

Queerama (2017)

Dir: Daisy Asquith

Sun 17 Nov – 1:15 PM

Created from a deep dive into the British Film Institute Archive, this engrossing, profoundly moving essay film charts a century of incredible change in British queer life. Film, television, documentary and newsreel footage is mined to illuminate the relationships, desires, fears and activism of queer folk from 1919 onwards. Queerama features landmark moments from films such as Victim, The Killing of Sister George, Caravaggio, Beautiful Thing and Young Soul Rebels (which also screens in this year’s festival), yoked to a dynamic soundtrack that includes Hercules & Love Affair, Goldfrapp and John Grant (with a cameo from Sinéad O’Connor). Director Daisy Asquith traverses persecution, injustice, forbidden encounters, sexual liberation and Pride to create an intimate and unflinching portrait of what it was to be British and queer in the 20th Century. Previously screened at MQFF in 2018, this year’s “Formative Sound and Vision” theme resoundingly demanded an encore!

Throuple (2024)

Dir: Greyson Horst | USA

Sun 17 Nov – 3:15 PM

Throuple follows Michael (played by screenwriter-musician Michael Doshier), a lonely gay singer-songwriter who’s lost his voice and his way. Stuck in a cycle of avoiding relationships and relying too heavily on his best friend Tristan and her girlfriend Abby, Michael hasn’t marched to the beat of his own drum, for years. Everything changes when he meets Georgie and Connor, a gay married couple looking for something – or someone – new. A casual hook-up turns into an unexpectedly intimate connection, pushing Michael to confront his fears around love, intimacy and creativity. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Brooklyn’s DIY music scene, Throuple is a raw, captivating exploration of modern love, queer relationships, and the pursuit of artistic expression. Featuring a stellar soundtrack from Dakota Jones, Darlin! The Band and more, Greyson Horst’s debut film showcases how queer artists navigate the triple threat of life, love and music in this semi-autobiographical, full-of-fun film.

Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023)

Dir: Lisa Cortés | USA

Sun 17 Nov – 3:30 PM

From The Beatles to Bowie to Billy Porter, a grand cavalcade of stars credits the indelible starlight shimmer of Little Richard for helping pave the way for them to shine. A galaxy-brained talent with a startling voice and the smooth moves to match his pizzazz-filled piano playing, the musician born in Macon, Georgia, did not doubt his innate talents. “Y’all ain’t never gave me no Grammy … I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll”, he archly declared while presenting at the 1988 ceremony. Everyone from the Pope of Trash, John Waters, to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger bows down in Lisa Cortés’ illuminating, toe-tapping documentary. Acknowledging just how far ahead of his time the mercurial, often contradictory Richard Wayne Penniman was, it shows how he twinkled far too bright for a music industry unsure what to make of his magnificent queerness, in every sense of the word, though that too was in flux. This fabulous filmic tribute is long overdue.

I Am What I Am (2022)

Dir: Shinya Tamada | Japan

Sun 17 Nov – 5:30 PM

In Shinya Tamada’s quietly touching new feature film, call-centre employee and former cellist Kasumi (Tôko Miura, star of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car) struggles to fit in with her peers and the norms of mainstream Japanese societal expectations, as she grapples with her asexual identity. Her mother, concerned by Kasumi’s lack of interest in marriage, takes her to a matchmaking service which sets off a journey of self-actualisation. This gentle film deals not only with culturally specific issues of queer identity but is also universal in its themes of belonging and alienation, in focusing on that section of the LGBTQIA+ community least represented on film, and perhaps least understood, to date.

Queer Lives Shorts

Sun 17 Nov – 5:45 PM

Vogue balls, orgies and US politics, oh my! Truth can often be queerer than fiction, so settle in for these daring documentary shorts sourced from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

Crossing (2024)

Dir: Levan Akin | Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, France, Georgia

Thu 21 Nov – 6:15 PM

Cat lovers, assemble!! Our feline friends are delightfully distracting co-stars in this luminous Istanbul-set voyage of discovery from And Then We Danced director Levan Akin, who also helmed several episodes of the new and much queerer Interview with the Vampire show. Georgian stalwart Mzia Arabuli stars as Lia, a grieving older woman who sets off for the continents-spanning city in the hopes of reuniting with her estranged trans niece, with barely any leads. Grudgingly accepting the support of goofy younger lad Achi (newcomer Lucas Kankava), they eventually team up with staunch trans woman and community lawyer Evrim (Deniz Dumanli) in this mesmerising movie that secured the Teddy Jury Award at this year’s Berlinale. Surrender to a meandering adventure that’s as much about discovering our true selves as it is that which we have lost.

Close to You (2023)

Dir: Dominic Savage | Canada

Thu 21 Nov – 8:30 PM

Close To You is a heartfelt exploration of identity and belonging, following Sam, a trans man who returns to his hometown for his father’s birthday after years of distance. Confronting family dynamics, lost love and the emotional impact of his transition, the film goes beyond personal transformation, redefining the meaning of love and acceptance. Written and directed by Dominic Savage and starring Elliot Page in his first leading role as a trans man, Close To You draws from Page’s lived experience. As Sam reconnects with his family and an old flame, the film tenderly examines the complexities of coming home and embracing one’s true self. With themes of resilience, hope and understanding, Close To You courageously captures the unending journey of self-acceptance and love.

Lesvia (2024)

Dir: Tzeli Hadjidimitriou | Greece

Sat 23 Nov – 1:00 PM

The Greek island of Lesbos gifted its name to the international term for women who love women, going all the way back to its famous daughter, Sappho, who penned countless poems to them and also lent her name to the cause. Flash forward a few thousand years, and it remains a cultural outpost for the free of spirit, as this beautifully drawn, lyrical documentary by local filmmaker and photographer Tzeli Hadjidimitriou outlines. Featuring a wealth of talking heads who have called the idyllic farming village of Eressos home, it details how lesbians of all stripes and every corner of the globe have flocked to this place since the ‘70s, transforming it in their wake, even if some of the locals have been less than impressed. You’ll feel the sand on your feet and the warm waters’ tender caress.

The Life of Sean DeLear (2024)

Dir: Markus Zizenbacher | Austria

Sat 23 Nov – 1:15 PM

Formerly fronting L.A. post-punk band Glue, multidisciplinary queer Black artist Sean DeLear (sounds like “chandelier”) packed a helluva lot into a mere 52 years of life. Upon their passing from cancer in 2017, who better to pay tribute to their life’s sprawling, polymath, gender-fluid magnificence than Viennese filmmaker Markus Zizenbacher, whom “Seandy” entrusted with their archive? A companion piece to DeLear’s posthumously published, unfiltered, highly explicit teenage diaries, I Could Not Believe It, Zizenbacher’s film has a frantic punk energy, collaging materials galore from DeLear’s handheld video diaries and featuring interviews with fashion designer Rick Owens, actor and Bongwater founding member, Ann Magnuson, and Seandy’s former housemate, cult actor Susan Tyrrell (an Oscar nominee for 1972’s Fat City). While DeLear is sadly no longer with us, we can still learn from their example – this film delivers an object lesson in living life large, with multi-intersectional, punk rock aplomb!

nanekawâsis (2024)

Dir: Conor McNally

Sat 23 Nov – 3:15 PM

Enduring the Sixties Scoop and the intergenerational trauma of what his mother suffered from the residential school system, First Nations and Two-Spirit artist George Littlechild shares their story as a survivor of the genocidal policies of Canada. George’s art is a way they “try to bring joy to the planet” despite the challenges and struggles of the Indigenous experience under colonial systems. The artist’s indigeneity and interconnectedness to nature has made their art a spiritual way of healing for the community. Documenting through photograph and video archives of their experiences in a world that was often dismissive of Two-Spirit identity, George perseveres for recognition that queers have always existed. This debut feature documentary by Métis Nation director Conor McNally is an insight into the artist’s process, drawing the viewer inside the world of an artist whose quiet defiance expresses the need for a queer indigenous futurity.

The Queen of My Dreams (2023)

Dir: Fawzia Mirza | Canada

Sat 23 Nov – 3:30 PM

The Queen of My Dreams is a vibrant exploration of identity, love and cultural connection infused with the lively spirit of a Bollywood musical. This semi-autobiographical film from debut writer-director Fawzia Mirza follows Azra, a queer Muslim graduate student living in Canada in 1999 with her non-Muslim girlfriend, Miriam. When family tragedy hits, Azra must return to her motherland of Pakistan where she’s confronted with childhood memories and the friction of growing up with a conservative mother – but perhaps they’re not so different, after all. Through the dual performances of Amrit Kaur, the narrative weaves between 1969 Karachi and 1999 Toronto, revealing the intricate bonds between mothers and daughters desperately seeking to define their own identity and decide their own path.

Lady Like (2024)

Dir: Luke Willis | USA, UK

Sun 24 Nov – 1:00 PM

One of the most magical movies to birth at this year’s Berlinale – where it was nominated for the Teddy Documentary award – Lola Arias’ form-fracturing marvel is magnificently queer in every way imaginable. This shimmering chameleon of a multicoloured docu-musical features former prisoners depicting not only versions of themselves, but also their jailers. Skipping gaily between the real and imagined, it happily breaks the fourth wall and pulls back the curtain to cheekily include bloopers, script-in-hand. Set in an artfully crumbling, shuttered prison in Buenos Aires that evokes their prolonged captivity in Caseros Prison, a remnant of the rolling military dictatorships of the ‘60s, it’s a surreally neon-hued stage on which this delightfully diverse array of cis women and trans people come together in a fabulous fever dream set to a disco beat replete with smooth Ballroom moves. Emancipation has rarely felt this astoundingly empowering.

Backspot (2023)

Dir: D. W. Waterson | Canada

Sun 24 Nov – 1:15 PM

After hearing the news that the esteemed high school cheer squad Thunder Hawks have new spots opening, the mid-level ranked Riley (Devery Jacobs) and her girlfriend Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo), apply ,making the elite team. The high level perfectionism dictated by their coach Eileen (Evan Rachel Wood) impact the newcomers and Riley’s interior world begins to crumble like a cheer squad pyramid gone wrong. The days of blanket forts and queer bliss for Riley and Amanda are tested by the rigours of gruelling practice and dopamine highs. With a high energy soundtrack by Casey MQ along with amusing singalongs from Legally Blonde: The Musical, Backspot backflips the formulaic cheerful cheerleader genre tropes of Bring It On, landing a blister-making, compulsive narrative by non-binary, first time feature helmer, and electronic music producer, D. W. Waterson. Jacobs (Waterson’s partner in life) also acts as one of the producers along with Elliot Page (Executive Producer). It’s also worth a mention of the wonderful Shannyn Sossamon as Riley’s mum. Anchored, literally, by Jacobs’ driven performance as the squad’s backspot, Backspot will cartwheel into your heart with a physicality and rawness so rarely observed in queer sport cinema.

Carnage for Christmas (2024)

Dir: Alice Maio Mackay | Australia

Sun 24 Nov – 3:15 PM

Australian filmmaker and extraordinary trans woman Alice Maio Mackay is an unstoppably anarchic punk powerhouse, pumping fiercely queer horror movies out at a rate that would make even the late, great Rainer Werner Fassbinder look a little lazy tbh. She had a double bill in last year’s MQFF program – Satranic Panic and T-Blockers – and has another wild ride ready for us in Carnage for Christmas, edited by none other than Vera Drew (The People’s Joker). Hallmark could never, as true-crime podcaster Lola (Jeremy Moineau) returns to her country town for the first time since transitioning only to Miss Marple that shit when a sick Santa-costumed serial killer lets loose on the local LGBTQIA+ community. Only the murderer picked the wrong folks to mess with, in a sass-packed slasher where the final girl and her gang fight back like it’s brat summer.

Single, Out: Season 3 (2024)

Dir: Lee Galea | Australia

Sun 24 Nov – 3:30 PM

In the highly anticipated penultimate season of Single, Out, Adam (played by the charismatic Will Hutchins) returns, navigating the complexities of life, art and relationships. Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, Season 3 follows Adam as he continues his journey of self-discovery set in motion by a life-changing sexual experience. With humour and heart, Adam and his friends stumble through the highs and lows of life, capturing the raw challenges of staying true to oneself Originally written by Lee Galea during Melbourne’s first lockdown, Single, Out: Season 3 dives deeper into character development, blossoming friendships and romances, and awkwardly charming adventures. New faces and unexpected twists bring plenty of surprises, making this season a heartfelt exploration of queer life—whether you’re single, out, or somewhere in between. Blending the warmth of Heartstopper with the boldness of Queer as Folk, this season invites both longtime fans and newcomers to experience its uniquely Melbourne and wonderfully queer storytelling.