Cruising, 1981

Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe, 2023

Arguably Al Pacino’s hottest role, his depiction of undercover cop Steve Burns getting his leather on to catch a serial killer stalking gay men in New York’s S&M scene would also prove to be one of his most controversial. It was the target of protest by the queer community before it debuted in 1980, with many fearing it would demonise them and kink-positivity. Come for the true crime kicks, giallo vibes and Pacino rocking the sleekly alluring Tom of Finland style. Stay for the whip-smart social commentary, pushing back against prejudice and police brutality with an open mind.

“The power of Christ compels you” … not to smoke the devil’s cabbage, thereby getting the munchies and scoffing all the church’s blessed wafers like a very naughty boy. Free-loving German filmmaker Harvey Rabbit’s deliriously unhinged, partly animated and often fully undressed interstellar misadventure in which a probing alien force, the ex of a closeted priest, attempts to flood the Earth with rampaging homosexuals. Can Captain Faggotron save the day? Who knows? But you should totally go.

Summer Qamp, 2022

Prejudice & Pride: Swedish Film Queer, 2022

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.

Step into the world of Fördom och Stolthet – en queer filmhistoria and be whisked away by a documentary that delights in a dazzling array of queer Swedish cinema. Predjudice & Pride unveils the hidden truths of Ingmar Bergman in the glorious 70’s, where camp and sensuality intertwine. It’s a true kaleidoscope of queer lives, replete with drag kings and queens who ignite the screen, reminiscent of the timeless allure of Greta Garbo. This vibrant doco embraces the triumphs, trials and tribulations of a century-long quest for queer liberation through Scandinavia’s new wave transgender films.

Nina’s Heavenly Delights, 2006

Who I Am Not, 2023

Curry isn’t the only dish getting spicy in this GLAAD Award-nominated 2006 lesbian rom-com. Set in Glasgow, a vibrant city that has proudly embraced its much-loved Scottish-Indian community. It casts Bridgerton’s Shelley Conn as Nina, a prodigal daughter who returns home from London on learning about her father’s death only to discover he lost half the family restaurant in a bet with Lisa (Lar Fraser, A Knight’s Tale). Joining forces to fulfil his dying wish of securing a historic third win in the Best of The West Curry Competition, pretty soon, the heat’s rising between them in the kitchen.

Romanian actor Tünde Skovrán makes her directorial debut with an intimate documentary portrait of two intersex South Africans – honing in on the challenges they face, in negotiating a world in which the roughly 2% of the population they represent are viewed routinely as anomalies and, often, problems to be fixed, for their innate transgressions against binary societal constructs of sex and gender. This deeply affecting and celebratory film profiles two people accustomed to the public eye, representing over four years of their collaboration with the director, whose aim, superbly accomplished, was to “Shine a light on the ‘I’ in LGBTQIA+

Fancy Dance, 2023

Kokomo City, 2022

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Fancy Dance, the feature film directorial debut of Indigenous filmmaker Erica Tremblay, shares a window of insight on being queer and First Nations. Certain Women star Lily Gladstone plays Jax, a queer Aunty searching for her missing sister Tawi. Also finding herself as an unlikely guardian to her 13-year-old niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson), Jax has to step up and get her niece to a powwow. By weaving a story about identity, intergenerational and uniquely Indigenous love, keeping the levity and warmth, rather than focusing on the trauma of life as a colonised people, Tremblay communicates a universal understanding of survival.

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.

Head On, 1998

All the Silence, 2023

Graduating from Heartbreak High with distinction, Alex Dimitriades burned up the screen as a small-time drug dealer and big-time hot mess Ari in Ana Kokkinos’ seminal Melbourne story. A high-spirited adaptation of author Christos Tsiolkas’ free-wheeling debut novel Loaded, it depicts the Greek Australian teen pushing back against parental expectation, class boundaries and ethnic stereotypes in a self-destructive, sure, but take no prisoners break for freedom. It’s an irresistible performance matched toe-to-toe by living legend Paul Capsis as his fearless drag queen buddy Toula. Kokkinos burns an indelible mark on the Australian cinematic landscape.

Session proudly sponsored by Carer Gateway

People with hearing loss, deafness and those who are hard-of-hearing are a part of our queer community underrepresented on screen. In director Diego del Rio’s film, we meet Miriam, who is a CODA (a hearing child of deaf adults). Miriam is an actor and a sign language teacher in a relationship with a deaf girlfriend who doesn’t sign, which is fine… until Miriam begins to experience her own hearing deteriorating rapidly. Del Rio’s film uniquely considers the variance and nuance of different types of communication abilities, and the experience of hearing loss through a queer lens, while gifting us a rare insight into the challenges the Deaf community faced during the height of the pandemic.

Slow, 2023

The Mattachine Family, 2023

Maria Kavtaradze’s beautifully warm and sensitively directed sophomore feature, gloriously shot on 16mm, breathes new life to a rarely portrayed corner of the library. Dancer Elena and sign language interpreter Dovydas meet and immediately connect. A natural bond ensues and gradually transforms into a tender relationship. Elena is faced with personal insecurities when Dovydas reveals he is asexual. They must navigate how to build their own kind of intimacy. Winner of a directing award at Sundance this year, Kavtaradze (Summer Survivors) is quietly becoming a director to watch.

Coming out isn’t always easy, even in a big city like Melbourne. Writer/director Gabriel Carrubba’s semi-autobiographical debut feature explores the challenges at play in a working-class suburb on the outer edges of the train line. Nowhere Boys alum Liam Mollica plays 17-year-old Greek-Italian highschooler Leo, crushing on his best mate Boof (Luke J. Morgan) but unable to tell him how he really feels in this delicate coming-of-ager that doesn’t shy away from the harsher realities still too often at play. One for the Heartstopper fans.

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, 2023

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, 2023

What happens when conservative academics mistranslate a text? Utilising never-before-seen footage from Yale University, this challenging and investigative unveiling examines a single word – “Homosexual” – and asks if it actually even appears in the Bible or is it an unfortunate mistranslation, which has been leapt upon by conservative movements worldwide? Tackling ideology head-on and reaching across the aisle, it unravels a potentially massive mistake that has fuelled and fired Biblical Literalism for decades – is the Bible prejudiced against LGBTQIA+ communities, or has it just been mistranslated?

What happens when conservative academics mistranslate a text? Utilising never-before-seen footage from Yale University, this challenging and investigative unveiling examines a single word – “Homosexual” – and asks if it actually even appears in the Bible or is it an unfortunate mistranslation, which has been leapt upon by conservative movements worldwide? Tackling ideology head-on and reaching across the aisle, it unravels a potentially massive mistake that has fuelled and fired Biblical Literalism for decades – is the Bible prejudiced against LGBTQIA+ communities, or has it just been mistranslated?

Commitment to Life, 2023

Isla’s Way, 2023

Los Angeles in the 1980’s. The world is about to change as a young doctor discovers the first warning sign of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While the virus and history unfolded as we know it, Commitment to Life examines Hollywood’s fight for LGBTQIA+ justice. The invaluable activist work of some of Tinsel Town’s biggest stars – including Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and David Geffen – is brought into the spotlight using archival footage and first-person interviews. From individual determination to the collective might of ACT UP and The AIDS Project Los Angeles, this documentary tribute looks at a city that helped support, advocate for, and strengthen a community.

Isla is a feisty, stubborn and resilient octogenarian who lives with Susan, who is a lesbian. But Isla won’t be pigeonholed, instead calling herself “a widow”, having been married previously to a man with whom she raised four children on her farm in country South Australia. Refusing to relinquish her passion for horse driving carriages, Isla remains active in her community no matter her age, even as the naysayers insist her time to slow down has come. A quirky new Aussie documentary, Isla’s Way observes an indomitable woman, community elder and miniature horse lover.

L-Word – Shorts Package

L’immensità, 2022

This shorts collection goes out to all the women-identifying and loving fans.

Penelope Cruz pulling off spectacular moves while wearing fabulous 70’s fashion should be all you need to know to snap up tickets to this technicolour marvel. But newcomer Luana Giuliani is the real star of the show, magnificently depicting young trans teenager Adri. For all his loving mother’s attempts to support him, it’s only when Adri meets Sara in a traveller’s camp beyond the reeds at the edge of his suburban home that he truly feels seen in this lilting love song to finding your people. It’s also a heartfelt ode to Italian director Emanuele Crialese’s personal history, having announced that he is a trans man at last year’s Venice Film Festival, where this luminous film was nominated for both the Queer and the Golden Lion.

La Cage aux Folles, 1978

You’ve all seen the late, great Robin Williams and Only Murders in the Building star Nathan Lane as a gay couple attempting to play it straight to impress the conservative family of their son’s fiancée in the 1996 classic The Birdcage. But have you seen the Saint-Tropez-set, French-language original? Adapted by director Édouard Molinaro from Jean Poiret’s play of the same name, he casts Cesar-winner Michel Serrault in the role of Zaza the drag star and Italian actor Michel Galabru as his slightly butcher partner Renato, who owns a cabaret club.