Cora Bora, 2023

Before I Change My Mind, 2022

You know her as the world’s most wildly negligent (and hysterically funny) PA in Hacks, or perhaps from her side-splitting skits on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Now Megan Stalter’s stepping into the spotlight as the star of Ingrid Goes West actor and Disengaged director Hannah Pearl Utt’s screwball comedy about a bisexual musician trying to make it big in LA. When her girlfriend moves on, she has second thoughts, though not before sleeping with a flat earther: “He doesn’t believe in science, but he’s got that big dick.”

Robin, an androgynous newcomer at school, defies the binary norms of a single-sex sports team just as Before I Change My Mind breaks the usual tropes of gender on film. This well-crafted, exciting story chooses to explore themes of personal growth and motivations for defiance, rather than treading a well-worn path of brutish bullying. Robin befriends the boys, develops feelings for the rebellious troublemaker Carter, and takes the audience on a voyage of high school drama, high emotion, 1980’s flair, and thought provoking comedy.

Femme, 2023

Silver Haze, 2023

Misfits star Nathan Stewart Barret slays as Jules, a dazzling London drag artist who sashays across the stage in full-Ballroom mode as mighty alter ego Aphrodite. But a homophobic hate crime postshow one terrible night leaves them licking wounds both physical and psychological, unable to peform. However, this is no victim narrative, far from it. Directorial duo Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s crackling feature debut is a fierce reclamation of power, spinning a gripping Hitchcockian cat and mouse game. A devastating neo-noir spun out on the rain-lashed streets of south London, its erotic spiral will leave you shaken and stirred.

The incredible Vicky Knight once again delivers a powerhouse performance in this working-class British slice of social realism that reconnects her with Dirty God writer/director Sacha Polak. Knight picked up a Jury Prize at this year’s Teddy Awards for her turn as Franky, a nurse trying to turn her life around, but carrying a lot of anger over the scars her body holds following an unexplained fire that razed the pub she grew up in. But will dumping her boyfriend and falling in with in-patient Florence offer the way out she desires?

Orlando, My Political Biography, 2023

Kokomo City 2022

Virginia Woolf’s exhilarating novel Orlando: A Biography, published in 1928, depicts with satirical wit the life of an English aristocrat who falls into a deep, fairy-tale-like slumber for days only to awaken as a woman who goes on to live for hundreds of years. This remarkable transition (depicted by Tilda Swinton in Sally Potter’s film adaptation) inspires this gender euphoric, cinematic essay. Springboarding off of Woolf’s unbridled imagination, feminist fire and rigorous writing process to gift us with an immensely generous love letter to not only their own transition, but also that of many fabulous Orlandos who inhabit Woolf’s creative spirit through their own stories.

This raw and edgy debut film explores the dialect between four black and transgender sex workers in Atlanta and New York City. Daring to strip away pageantries and constraints of transgender representation, filmmaker Smith hands over the mic and lets the women do the rest. Sharing their truths through first-hand experience, these indomitable women relay their untampered stories, demonstrating the vital importance of self-representation. From friendship and freedom to violence and vitriol, they unveil what it means to be a black transgender woman.

Golden Delicious, 2023

Beyond the Binary – Shorts Package

Jake is just trying to survive high school. His father is pressuring him to try out for the basketball team and his girlfriend is ready to take their relationship to the next level. Feeling pulled in every direction, he finds himself drawn to the new “boy next door”, Aleks, which soon puts everything into perspective as his love for basketball and being openly gay fuels Jake to get closer and closer. In his daze and confusion, he is forced to confront the question, is it friendship, sportsmanship or something more that he is lured to?

Embrace a brighter world with these celebratory trans and gender-diverse shorts.

T-Blockers, 2023

Birder, 2023

T-Blockers is Alice Maio Mackay’s third feature, made when she was seventeen. As with all her work to date, it’s an avowedly “transgender and queer film”, shot with a predominantly queer, non-binary and trans cast and crew. Its Invasion of the Body Snatchers-esque premise could hardly be more relevant in 2023: a parasitic infection turns fearful people into alt-right transphobes. Throw in a found-footage mystery – featuring a campy film host (Drag Race alumna Etcetera Etcetera) – and snappy, authentic dialogue between its young leads, trans filmmaker Sophie (Lauren Last) and Spencer (Lewi Dawson) – and it could scarcely be any more queer!

Kristian Brooks is a drifter of a different kind, a ‘birder’ from Vermont who ingratiates himself with fellow campers at a queer nudist camp called Lotus Lake in New Hampshire – a sex positive retreat in the woods. It’s a verdant escapist fantasy where psychologists, wellness coaches, body workers, thruples, bisexual couples and drag artists can feel free to free range, sexually. With couple couplings, fetish and campfire hookups and a spot of fishing thrown in the mix, love amongst the trees turns dark and pretty twisted when Kristian the birdwatcher is around. In this erotic thriller serial killing satire on consensual politics, it’s not the bears in the woods you need to worry about.

Swallowed, 2022

The People’s Joker, 2022

It’s Ben’s last night in a small town in Maine before heading to Los Angeles to pursue his porn career, so his best friend Dom arranges a going-away present. The present? A drug run. Dom wishes to send Ben off with cash to keep himself afloat in LA by simply having the two deliver a package across the border. But things take a turn and spill out of control when the package appears to be far more dangerous than they thought. This indie body horror flick is one for the Cronenberg fans and will have you squirming in your seat.

This is the trans coming of age Joker origin story DC Comics and Warner Brothers don’t want you to see. Vera Drew directs, writes and stars in this subversive, hilarious and explicitly queer reimagining of your favourite DC characters. Drew plays an aspiring clown who grapples with her gender identity and fights fascistic foes in this absurd and visually bold film. Featuring comedians Scott Aukerman, Tim Heidecker, Maria Bamford and Bob Odenkirk – this part-parody movie and part-memoir ultimately conveys a moving message of self-love.

Young and Queer – Shorts Package

East Palace, West Palace, 1996

From kids to teens, we salute our LQBTQIA+ youth with these hopeful shorts.

Cheekily borrowing its English-language title from two public toilets in Beijing that sit on either side of the Forbidden City and are infamous beats, this daring, erotically charged and emotionally nuanced film was the first from mainland China to address homosexuality explicitly. Adapted from the short story by Xiaobo Wang, it features Si Han as a young man so enamoured with a cop (Jun Hu) who busts him after dark one night that he basically engineers getting arrested. What follows is an almost noir-like, at times sadomasochistic, interrogation during which the power balance is in constant flux.

Glitter & Doom, 2023

Real Life – Shorts Package

When serious musician Doom (Alan Cammish), and the free-spirited aspiring circus clown Glitter (Alex Diaz) meet on the dance floor of a sweaty night club, this summer romance musical is on. Doom aspires to play on the stage at his favourite queer bar; Glitter has recently graduated from an Ivy League but is desperate to get into clown college. Sparkly and whimsical chaos ensues as their romance is tested by the pursuit of their respective dreams. Set to an iconic soundtrack of Indigo Girls hits, some lush filming locations to boot. This is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and is a heck of a lot of fun.

These short docos shine a light on real-life queer stories.

It’s Only Life After All, 2023

A Song Sung Blue, 2023

Lifelong friends and fire-in-their-belly activists Amy Ray and Emily Saliers – AKA The Indigo Girls – never expected to become the international folk rockstars they are. Legit pioneers in terms of being so loudly out and proud early on in their careers, while their hopeful lyrics became a beacon for scores of LGBTQIA+ people when there weren’t many heroes to go around. Laying it all bare, warts and all, in On Her Shoulders director Alexandria Bombach’s detailed documentary – stacked with incredible archival footage and photography, you’ll get a true sense of how much this wild trip has meant to them both.

Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for both the Queer Palm and the Caméra d’Or for best first feature film, Zihan Geng’s directorial feature debut is an aching summer love story. Hung on an incandescent central turn by Zhou Meijun (Angels Wear White), she plays shy 15-year-old Liu Xian, who is sent to live with her father when her mother takes a job in Africa to be with another doctor. A tumultuous world of emotion and identity is opened when she meets his slightly older, free-spirited stepdaughter Jin Mingmei (Huang Ziqi) and a new way of being presents itself.

Lesbians at Large – Shorts Package

All of Us Strangers, 2023

Lesbians go large with this small but perfectly formed collection.

All of Us Strangers tales Adam, a listless screenwriter (Andrew Scott, Fleabag’s “hot priest”) and Harry (Aftersun’s Paul Mescal) who seem to be the only tenants of a Ballardian London high-rise. A burgeoning relationship between them lifts Adam’s spirits; when not with Harry, he takes to visiting his childhood home where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) are there to greet him, surely not a day older than when they died tragically in Adam’s youth, in the mid-‘80s. Premiering at this year’s Telluride Film Festival, its fusion of gothic romance and magic realism, and superb performances across the board, immediately garnered huge Oscars buzz.

Fireworks, 2023

American Parent, 2023

Prolific Italian screenwriter and actor Giuseppe Fiorello has landed his first directorial role with Fireworks (Stranizza d’amuri). 1982 in a sun soaked Sicilian coastal town at the beginning of summer. Two young boys form a friendship that, to them, can move mountains. Gianni (Samuele Segreto) and Nino (Gabriele Pizzurro) attempt to navigate their growing love for each other without shame in the conservative town. When they both start working for Nino’s father, shooting fireworks, suspicions are afoot and their families step in. Fiorello’s debut feature earned him a Silver Ribbon (Nastro d’argento) for Best New Director.

Is it too soon to talk about lockdown(s)? Leave your PTSD at the door and surrender to Emily Railsback’s largely improvised, immensely generous portrait of loving lesbian mums trying to keep their shit together while raising a toddler during the upheaval of the pandemic. Bette is itching to get back to her theatre gig now that everything’s reopening, but then gets made redundant. Elsie is going great guns as an adjunct professor who teaches her classes on Zoom, but their landlord’s selling their apartment building from underneath them.

In the Meantime, 2023

Orlando, My Political Biography, 2023

Channelling Frances Ha via the French New Wave and shot on an iPhone 13 Pro Max, Nicholas Anthony’s debut feature is a cinéma verité trip centred on Max, fast-approaching her thirties and not entirely okay with it. An aspiring writer, she keeps hitting roadblocks and the wheels are coming off. Living with her bestie Emma affords her some sense of stability, but why is everyone else catching a break when she’s stuck in second gear? You’ll get swept away in a Melbourne-set journey that’s all-too recognisably real.

Virginia Woolf’s exhilarating novel Orlando: A Biography, published in 1928, depicts with satirical wit the life of an English aristocrat who falls into a deep, fairy-tale-like slumber for days only to awaken as a woman who goes on to live for hundreds of years. This remarkable transition (depicted by Tilda Swinton in Sally Potter’s film adaptation) inspires this gender euphoric, cinematic essay. Springboarding off of Woolf’s unbridled imagination, feminist fire and rigorous writing process to gift us with an immensely generous love letter to not only their own transition, but also that of many fabulous Orlandos who inhabit Woolf’s creative spirit through their own stories.

Chasing Chasing Amy, 2023

Narrow Path to Happiness, 2023

Kevin Smith’s hugely successful 1997 rom-com Chasing Amy saved trans filmmaker Sav Rodgers’ life, he says, notwithstanding that, by his own reckoning, it “holds a complicated and controversial history in [the] queer film canon.” In the wonderful Chasing Chasing Amy, Rogers documents his coming-of-age and gender transition offset against his evolving relationship with Smith’s film. Leaning into nuanced discussions around the complexity of sexual identity and fluidity in Chasing Amy, Rogers speaks to Smith and Joey Lauren Adams (Amy herself), queer icon Guinevere Turner and others, de-romanticising and yet enriching his relationship to the film.

Prepare to fall head over heels for Gergo and Lénárd, an adorable young couple who are proud to fly the pride flag even though it makes life difficult for them in their Romani community in Hungary, a country with an antagonistically anti-LGBTIQA+ government. No barrier will ground their sky-high dreams of creating a smash hit musical based on their big-hearted romance. Leaving their village behind and heading for the bright lights of Budapest, they promptly locate a student filmmaker to be their dramaturg, with Gergo promising, “Funky music, lots of dancing with a pinch of racism.” Delivering all that and more, their journey is a joyous ode to believing in yourself and your loved ones.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, 2023

All the Colours of the World are Between Black and White, 2023

This filmic tableau of truth, trauma, and trust is queer in more ways than one. Its events occur almost entirely within the walls of an isolated Estonian smoke sauna which is exclusively occupied by a close community of Võro women – diverse in body, identity, and experience. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood explores the bonds between these women through the physical rituals and raw, powerful storytelling they tenderly share with one another – and with us. Don’t miss the chance to experience the gorgeous intimacy that plays across its smoke-filled screen.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of vast Nigerian city Lagos, motorbike-riding courier Bambino finds himself increasingly drawn into the gentle orbit of handsome photographer Bawa. But in a country where homosexuality is punishable by death, the first blushes of what may well be a budding romance must be closely guarded within a veil of halting secrecy. Filmmaker Babatunde Apalowo shockingly witnessed a close friend lynched for living his truth, and that terrible shadow informs this beautifully lensed, achingly delicate dance.

Rosie, 2022

It is Not the Homosexual Who is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives, 1971

In the Summer of ‘84, a band of misfits take on Montreal. After the passing of her mother, English-speaking, Indigenous Rosie is left in the guardianship of her mother’s tough, French speaking sister Fred (Mélanie Bray). As Rosie is under her guardianship she is opened to a world of new experiences and challenges as she navigates the isolation of being an Indiginous person within a newfound causcasian family. But as the colourful and exuberant family of Rosie and her friends emerge, a newfound family begins to form.

Prolific activist-filmmaker and controversy-magnet Rosa von Praunheim’s epochal docudrama concerns a closeted young provincial man introduced to a series of manifestations of gay subculture in early 70’s Berlin. The director, one of the leading figures of what was termed the “New German Cinema”, provides commentary throughout in a mordantly hilarious voice-over. Made in the immediate wake of the legalisation of male homosexuality in West Germany, It Is Not the Homosexual… has long been deemed instrumental to establishing the German gay liberation movement and many similar globally.

The Chambermaid, 2022

Single, Out: Season 2, 2023

This period-masterpiece which exhibits a narrative complexity that can only come from real-life experience, is set just prior to World War I. 15-year old Anka leaves her poverty-stricken Slovak hometown for Prague to work as a maid for a wealthy family amidst the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Anika is to serve Resi, the family’s slightly sadistic daughter, who is betrothed to marry well. At polar opposite ends of the class ladder, the women slowly grow very close. A sapphic drama set in an age when unconventional relations are all that could exist.

Last year, we were lucky enough to showcase the first season of Lee Galea’s episodic show Single, Out – starring Will Hutchins as Adam, a young lad diving headlong into the dating world, having just come out to his family and hooked up for the first time. As with all great TV shows, we were left wanting more after a final episode that saw a flourishing Adam pull off a successful art show, ticking another first off the list. Expect eye candy, finger-snapping comedy and plenty of emotional drama as we go west once more.

Satranic Panic, 2023

Cross Dreamers, 2022

Fresh off the success of three show-stopping queer horror films in quick succession , young trans auteur Alice Maio Mackay delivers another gory delight. Satranic Panic blends road trip quest with horror, satanic tropes with the more typical threats posed by transphobia, and demons with drag. It follows trans drag queen Aria and artist Jay, as they set off in search of the secret satanic cabal behind the death of Max — the love of Jay’s life, and Aria’s found brother.

Nominated for Best Latin American Film at this year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival, Argentinian director Soledad Velasco presents a delicate exploration of Ornella, Mabel, Mirna and Paula’s journey towards acceptance of their emerging identity. All four concealed their experimentation with cross-dressing from their families for decades until finding their people in the corners of the internet. Now 50-plus, they share their story with pride in this beautiful exploration of gender, acceptance and solidarity.

Summer Qamp, 2023

Monster, 2023

Screening presented in partnership with Minus18 for LGBTQIA+ youth: ages 12–19

A queer summer camp for kids would be the easy way to describe Canadian filmmaker Jen Markowitz’s latest feature documentary, but it’s so much more than this. Using mostly fly-on-the-wall cinematography Summer Qamp provides a sincere lens into the lives, hardships, successes, highs and lows of a group of queer campers, many of whom are trans, non-binary or just trying to figure themselves out. It’s the summer camp queer-kid dreams are made of, and seeing young queer joy on screen still feels truly radical in 2023.

When tween-aged Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother, Saori, suspects the school has something to do with it. Saori begins a relentless campaign to expose Hori’s problematic teaching practices and the school that appears to be covering it up. But Minato and his newest friend have a different tale to tell. Yet as the story unfolds through the eyes of various characters, nothing is as it seems. Acclaimed director Hirokazu Koreeda tenderly brings to life Yuji Sakamoto’s layered screenplay. With its Cannes debut this year, the film was awarded Best Screenplay and the Queer Palm.

Glen or Glenda, 1953

Housekeeping for Beginners, 2023

This landmark exploitation film (aka I Changed My Sex! and I Led Two Lives!) was conceived by producer George Weiss to cash in on the sensation surrounding Christine Jorgensen, an American G.I. who had a “sex change” operation in Denmark and returned to America “a blonde beauty”. Supposed to dramatise her story, it famously became more a plea for acceptance of director Edward D. Wood Jr.’s own angora-philic gender non-conformity. Glen or Glenda is sincere and tremendously entertaining, with charming, primitive special effects that would have done Georges Méliès proud.

This year’s Queer Lion winner at Venice and North Macedonia’s Oscar candidate is none other than the third feature from outstanding Melbourne-based filmmaker, Goran Stolevski, director of 2022’s Of an Age and You Won’t Be Alone. This boisterous, cinéma vérité-style dramedy is set in a makeshift queer household in Skopje, subject to constant, farcical comings and goings of queer and Romani folk galore. Anamaria Marinca anchors the film as Dita, a woman who had never sought to be a mother but has to raise her Romani girlfriend’s two troublemaking daughters, hopefully with assistance from housemate Toni, whose young, new Romani boyfriend seems to have taken up residence too.

T-Blockers, 2023

T-Blockers is Alice Maio Mackay’s third feature, made when she was seventeen. As with all her work to date, it’s an avowedly “transgender and queer film”, shot with a predominantly queer, non-binary and trans cast and crew. Its Invasion of the Body Snatchers-esque premise could hardly be more relevant in 2023: a parasitic infection turns fearful people into alt-right transphobes. Throw in a found-footage mystery – featuring a campy film host (Drag Race alumna Etcetera Etcetera) – and snappy, authentic dialogue between its young leads, trans filmmaker Sophie (Lauren Last) and Spencer (Lewi Dawson) – and it could scarcely be any more queer!