QUEER CINEMA IS BACK

By Samuel Leighton-Dore

It’s an exciting time to be a queer filmmaker in Australia. As traditional distribution models fall slowly by the wayside, an increasing number of independent LGBTQI films are engaging new audiences both here and overseas on alternative viewing platforms. Just look at local lesbian web series Starting From… Now!, which is currently celebrating a staggering 20 million views ahead of it’s fourth season. Despite some lingering cynicism regarding the state of our film and television industries, accomplishments like these prove international audiences are craving diverse content now more than ever.

Last year, director Dean Francis (Roadtrain) premiered his indie film Drown at Mardi Gras Queer Film Festival with two sold-out screenings. Despite not finding a home in local cinemas (as is too often the case with local LGBTQI films) the film has since screened at festivals around the world and was recently released on Netflix in the U.S.

Craig Boreham, another Sydney-based queer director, recently put the finishing touches on his debut feature film, Teenage Kicks, which is set to be released this year. Based on a short film which also premiered at MQFF, both he and Francis prove testament to the importance of local festivals in nurturing and developing emerging screen talent.

“The most important thing to us as filmmakers is to connect with an audience and the queer festival circuit brings together people who are really engaged with the themes I explore as a story-teller,” Boreham tells Heaps Gay. 

“In practical filmmaking terms, the support of local festivals like Melbourne Queer Film Festival and the Mardi Gras Film Festival, getting behind our work and helping it travel well on the international circuit has enabled us to take our feature film Teenage Kicks to market in Cannes and secure international sales representation.”

At last night’s program launch for the 2016 Mardi Gras Queer Film Festival, festival director Paul Struthers proudly announced an even greater focus on the diversity of films selected – with particular emphasis, he said, on “lesbian and trans films”. The diamanté-studded evening at Star City Casino was broken up with surprise performances from local diva Deni Hines and Ru Paul’s Drag Race alumni Jynkx Monsoon, whose indie documentary Drag Becomes Him will be screening at the festival. On a side note, Jynkx gave me a big-ass sweaty hug after her performance and it was amazing. 

Okay. Back to the show. International highlights of the festival include Dame Maggie Smith’s portrayal of an eccentric homeless woman in The Lady In A Van and the Open Night Gala screening of critically acclaimed lesbian film Summertime, which recently premiered at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival. 

However, if non-fiction is more your jam, this year’s documentary offering is nothing to sneeze at with films including fashionista-fave Jeremy Scott: The People’s Designer, Timothy Conigrave documentary Remembering The Man, confronting British feature Chemsex and future cult classic Waiting For B – the fabulous portrayal of a group of Beyoncé fans who camp out for two months at her 2013 concert in São Paulo, Brazil. Fuck. Admit it. That one pretty much sells itself. 

 

The festival also continues to pride itself on supporting Australian writers and directors, with the international premier of Grant Scicluna’s debut feature Downriver. Scicluna won Best Short Film at MQFF’s “My Queer Career” with his short film The Wilding back in 2013, proving again the importance of the festival and its cash prizes in the ongoing career development and financial sustenance of Australia’s queer filmmakers.

So go and see a film or two. It promises to be a gay old time. Tickets for the festival (which runs from February 18 – March 3) are available now.