MQFF Presents: Midsumma Movies

Australian-Made Shorts

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, 2022

Direct from the MQFF33 season, this collection of short films celebrate the brightest and best Australian queer filmmakers, highlighting the richness of storytelling and the breadth of original talent working in Australia today.

Eight short films that will have you captivated by their unique stories, offering a glimpse into the diverse tapestry within the Australian queer community.

Adapted from Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s beloved YA novel, this delightful coming-of-age romantic drama tracks the burgeoning friendship between Aristotle and Dante, two Mexican-American teenage outsiders growing up in El Paso, Texas, and contesting a range of social and ethnocultural expectations, in the late 1980s. Aristotle is full of resentment, wanting nothing so much as to blend in with the world around him, until he meets Dante, whose unquenchable curiosity for all that the universe has to offer proves infectious, allowing Aristotle to come out of his shell.

Solo, 2023

Dicks: The Musical, 2023

Simon (rising star Théodore Pellerin) is a skilled make-up artist who, by night, is a mainstay of Montreal’s exuberant drag scene. His performances are elevated upon hooking up with the charismatic Olivier (Félix Maritaud), a French drag artiste who becomes his partner on and off stage. Their chemistry is electric… yet might not Olivier be a touch… manipulative? When word reaches Simon that his long-absent opera diva mother, Claire (Anne-Marie Cadieux) will be passing through town, Simon struggles with validation issues. Are either capable of affording him the respect he so yearns for?

Writer-star pairing Aaron Jackson and Joshn Sharp play aggressively heterosexual, unconvincingly identical twin salesmen separated at birth but united in the offices of a retail company bossed by Megan Thee Stallion’s Gloria. Their pissing-contest rivalry there falls away when they realise their fraternal bond and become hellbent, à la The Parent Trap, on reuniting their mother (Megan Mullally) and father (Nathan Lane). This will be no easy task, however, as the former has become a completely batty shut-in and the latter a fabulously gay recluse.

Laugh-Out-Proud Shorts

Shape, 2023

Need a little LOL in your life? We’ve got you sorted with these laugh-out-loud shorts.

Prepare to laugh ’till your side hurts while watching a throuple trying to find the perfect bed (and also a perfect night’s sleep!), a woman who dies during a hysteroscopy then her queer archangel reveals that her soulmate is the doctor who accidentally killed her. These 6 short films will have you rolling in the aisles.

Roger Ungers’ insightful documentary explodes the harmful, nigh-on impossible body image standards gay men are bombarded with in glossy magazines, on social media and hook-up apps. Eviscerating a hierarchy favouring white over people of colour, perfectly sculpted abs over more common figures and looking down on those who embrace femme identities or are older. Shape asks if there’s a way the gay community can become more truly inclusive?

Bend it Like Beckham, 2002

Bottoms, 2023

After the Matildas-mania during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, MQFF celebrates the 21st birthday of a beloved soccer classic, cherished by the LGBTQIA+ and women’s football.

During the summer before she’s due to commence university, Jesminder “Jess” Bhamra sneaks out of home to play soccer with local boys in defiance of her Punjabi Sikh family’s wishes. Tomboy Jules (Keira Knightley) catches sight of her and ushers her into an amateur women’s football team. With both girls crushing on their coach, complications ensue, while Jess’s worried mother starts to wonder whether Jess and Jules mightn’t instead have the hots for one another.

Unpopular senior-year lesbian besties PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) hit upon a brilliant scheme to lose their virginity to the unattainable cheerleaders they’re crushing on – they’ll set up a fight club for aggrieved girls to let rip with their pent-up frustrations with men. What could possibly go wrong?

The increasingly unhinged Bottoms doesn’t simply queer the John Hughes comedies of yesteryear; it mercilessly tears them – and itself! – another one.