Queer

Six of this year’s best films on all things LGBTQ. Here’s everything from powerful kitchen sink drama to uproariously glamourous musicals. Films move from meteorite falls to trans experiences of the medical system, from capitalistic town planning to a surreal soap opera, and from the vivid realities of transgender sex workers in South Africa, to a gas tank-wielding fairy in a Taiwanese musical bonanza.

Screened:
FRI 28/10, 19:00 SLOTTS
SUN 30/10, 19:00 FYRIS

Madrid, Bad Life

Thoughts about how we perceive the Other, his institutional, literary and architectonic heritage while looking at Madrid in 2020 through a sociological work called “Low Life in Madrid” published in 1901.

Spain 2020 / 13:27 / Director: Isabela Bianchi, Ignacio Rúiz, María Gómez, Pablo Adiego / Producer: María Gomez García

Subserotic Bulge

In 2019 an iron meteorite was filed to dust, stirred into cream, and fed to 36 people. Flis’ uterus was rife with tumours soon after. Their belly swelled as a fleshy block pushed its way out at astonishing speed. From the first poke of a finger, to WebMD, to x-rays, every diagnostic tool came up short. But Flis’ telling of it is rather different to the medical notes.

Finland 2021 / 17:42 / Director: Holland / Producer: Holland

Prayers for Sweet Waters

A Burundian refugee seeking sanctuary rests on faith as she searches for belonging. An elder dedicated to her community reflects on wisdom from the past. A GenZ navigates finding safety and family in online spaces.

South Africa 2021 / 16:00 / Director: Elijah Ndoumbe  / Producer: Elijah Ndoumbe

Poppets

Poppets is a surreal soap opera following three Essex girls, two Plotlands women, two kinda gay boyfriends and one old man in the smoking area through four generations of capitalist town planning, from the smallholdings of the 1800s to luxury flats built on the floodplains of the future.

UK 2022 / 16:19 / Director: Maz Murray

Too Rough

After a night of intoxication, a hungover and hysterical Nick wakes up next to his boyfriend Charlie and must conceal him from his own homophobic and dysfunctional family.

UK 2021 / 16:28 / Director: Sean Líonadh / Producer: Alfredo Covelli, Ross McKenzie

Tank Fairy

In Taiwan, “song wa si de” are workers who routinely supply gas tanks to street vendors and old residential buildings. The magical Tank Fairy delivers her tanks unlike any other – with sass, stilettos and a healthy helping of glitter. Her arrival upends the life of Jojo, a lonely ten-year-old who dreams of dancing and drag. Outcast by classmates and misunderstood by his stern, single mom, Jojo is inspired to live out loud by his fierce, propane-toting fairy godmother.

Taiwan, USA 2021 / 9:31 / Director: Erich Rettstadt / Producer: Anita Tung, C.K. Hugo Chung, Erich Rettstadt