2024 QUEER SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL: PREVIEW

Ushering in Sydney’s springtime film festival season is the 11th Queer Screen Film Festival, set to warm our hearts with 35 fresh films. Tickets for the one of the largest LGBTIQ+ film events globally are available now at queerscreen.org.au for 28 August to 1 September in Sydney and for the on-demand program, which streams nationally from 2 to 8 September.

“We’re bookending the festival with two fabulously fun and romantic films, on opening and closing nights,” Festival Director Lisa Rose reveals. “And we’re continuing that theme with the one incredible documentary feature. Queer love, in its many forms, flows through every film in the program.”

Setting the sizzling tone on opening night is Marco Berger’s new feature THE ASTRONAUT LOVERS (pictured, right), which follows two men – one gay, the other swaggering and seemingly straight – who connect in Buenos Aires one steamy summer. Also bringing the palpable chemistry, yet without any dialogue whatsoever, is closing night film GONDOLA, about two young, female cable-car conductors who find ingenious ways to communicate their burgeoning feelings, every time they pass by in the sky. 

Love is laid bare in FRAGMENTS OF A LIFE LOVED, as filmmaker Chloé Barreau revisits past loves, and lovers. This captivating film won Outstanding Documentary Feature at Frameline last month and was lauded for its unique approach to storytelling.

A film about first love seems only fitting and CLOSE TO YOU, featuring Elliot Page in his first film role since transitioning, is QSFF’s first ever narrative centrepiece. Page’s character Sam, visiting family after delaying a trip home for a long time, runs into high school crush Katherine, along the way. 

“Queer films and filmmakers are taking up their rightful space on what is a very competitive and commercial global stage,” she said. “The fact Queer Screen has been invited to the Marché du Film for two years running is also a reflection of the significance of LGBTIQ+ storytelling.” 

2024 Queer Screen Goes to Cannes selection STRANGE CREATURES has its World Premiere during the Festival and 2024 Queer Screen Completion Fund recipient VIDEOLAND (pictured, top) has its Australian Premiere, following its win in the Comedy Series Competition at the prestigious 2024 Series Mania Festival in Lille, France in March. 

STRANGE CREATURES filmmaker Henry Boffin will be in attendance for a Q&A on his touching comedy-drama film, which sees two feuding brothers set out on a road trip – in a hearse – to scatter their ashes at the old family home in remote Narrabri. Writer-director of VIDEOLAND Jessica Smith and producer Scarlett Koehne will also be guests of the Festival, together with lead actor Emmanuelle Mattana, who plays hapless video store clerk Hailey. Serving 1990s nostalgia at every turn, the series sees Hailey watching every Sapphic film ever made in a bid to research ‘how to be a lesbian’. When she develops a crush on a customer, it’s time to put her research to the test.

In ALL SHALL BE WELL, a lesbian relationship is left devastated when her partner of 30 years dies, and the acceptance she thought they had earned fades as legal and financial matters enter the frame. Filmmaker Ray Yeung received the 2024 Teddy Award at Berlinale 2024 and Frameline’s Audience Award for Narrative for this restrained yet powerful film. 

Also exploring long-term love is TURTLES, a poignant comedy-drama about an older gay couple – one of whom is withdrawing, and the other is going all-out to bring him back. A must-see gem that offers a refreshing and authentic story of queer love and self-discovery.

In BACKSPOT, Riley (Devery Jacobs) is given the opportunity to join an elite cheerleading squad, face new pressures from a demanding head coach (Evan Rachel Wood; pictured, above right) and confront her own pursuit of perfection, causing her world to spiral.

The festival will celebrate Wear It Purple Day on 31 August with a special screening of BIG BOYS (pictured, right), in which teenaged Jamie starts to develop some complicated feelings towards his cousin’s new boyfriend during a camping trip. This heartfelt crowd-pleaser is free to see for those under 26, and just $10 for everyone else. 

And the organisers have upped the ante on Queer Screen Pitch Off, where six Australian filmmakers pitch their film proposals to a panel of expert assessors, competing for funding to produce their short film. The prize pool has doubled to $20,000, with a $10,000 prize for the winning pitch. Eligible female and gender-diverse practitioners can vie for a best screenwriter prize and a professional development grant, each worth $5,000, following a generous contribution from Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Taskforce.

Tickets and session details for the 2024 QUEER SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL program can be found here.