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.

PREVIEW: 2024 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

The 71st Sydney Film Festival program has launched with a blockbuster roster of talent and international titles - Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, starring Emma Stone, fresh from the Cannes Competition; the World Premiere of Aussie boxing drama Kid Snow; the first Indian film to appear in the Cannes Competition in 30 years, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light; Lee Tamahori’s intense drama The Convert with Guy Pearce; The Bikeriders (pictured, below) starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy; and, Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Sujo.

In 2024, the Festival will present 197 films from 69 countries including 28 World Premieres and 133 Australian Premieres, bringing together hundreds of new international and local stories, with more to be announced. The program is made up of 92 narrative feature films, including prestigious international festival prize-winners and 54 documentaries tackling crucial contemporary issues, from established and upcoming documentarians.

Opening the festivities will be the World Premiere of Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line (pictured, right). Featuring unheard interviews with every band member, unseen live and studio footage, alongside signature moments like the outback tour with Warumpi Band, their Exxon protest gig in New York and those famous “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympics, this film traces the singular journey of Australia’s quintessential rock band across their 45-year career.

Direct from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival will be Grand Tour, the latest from Miguel Gomes, about a romantic pursuit across Asia; Christophe Honoré’s Marcello Mio, featuring an all-star French cast playing themselves in a meta comedy paying homage to the great Marcello Mastroianni; acclaimed actor Ariane Labed’s directorial debut September Says, a Gothic psychological drama in which the closeness of two sisters becomes increasingly disruptive; and Cannes Un Certain Regard contender Việt And Nam, which tells the love story of two gay mineworkers.

Internationally awarded films in competition include Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear honouree Dying, a multi-generational epic about a conductor and his turbulent family and Rich Peppiatt’s raucous and rude comedy Kneecap stars three real-life Belfast rappers, Audience Award winner in the Sundance NEXT strand.

Italian box office juggernaut There’s Still Tomorrow (trailer, above) is a melodrama directed and starring Paola Cortellesi about an industrious woman in post-WWII Rome. It screens in competition at SFF alongside Puan, an incisive comedy about a philosophy professor at a Buenos Aires university who is threatened by a charismatic rival.

Ten documentaries (including seven World Premieres) will contest the 2024 Documentary Australia Prize, amongst them Dale Frank – Nobody’s Sweetie, an intimate portrait of artist Dale Frank; Aquarius, documenting a 1973 gathering embraced by activists, hippies, and radicals that changed the town of Nimbin forever; The Blind Sea (pictured, right), following professional athlete Matt Formston as he takes on the challenge of surfing the biggest wave ever tackled by a blind surfer; and, Sally Aitken’s Sundance Selected Every Little Thing, a story of a woman finding herself as she cares for injured hummingbirds.

Special Presentations at the iconic State Theatre include Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy in The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols’ take on the rise and menacing transformation of an iconic American motorcycle club; Lee, featuring Oscar winner Kate Winslet alongside Alexander Skarsgård in the true story of model turned WWII correspondent Lee Miller; My Old Ass, a comedy-love story starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella, produced by Margot Robbie; and, Viggo Mortensen opposite Vicky Krieps in The Dead Don’t Hurt, a feminist western about a romance in a time of corruption and war.

Two presentations are set to leave audiences reeling with their visual inventiveness. Choi Dong-hoon's Alienoid (trailer, above) and its sequel Alienoid: Return to the Future are mind-bending sci-fi thrillers that masterfully intertwine the fates of alien prisoners trapped in human bodies with 15th-century magicians, brought to life by an all-star Korean cast. And Skywalkers: A Love Story follows two hardcore daredevils as they scale the world’s highest buildings to capture footage for social media and ignite passion in the process - which audiences can also experience at a stomach-dropping screening at IMAX.

Always a stand-out is the Freak Me Out Program, curated by Richard Kuipers, which returns with six features, six shorts and a special live event. These include Cuckoo (pictured, right), starring Hunter Schafer as a troubled teen working at a holiday resort where very strange goings-on start to take place; Annick Blanc’s debut, Hunting Daze (Jour de Chasse), a SXSW Midnighters hit centred on a woman stranded at a buck’s party in the Quebec wilderness; Yannis Veslemes’ She Loved Blossoms More, a Greek Weird Wave fever dream about time travel and family ties; and, Michael Duignan’s The Paragon, the story of a tennis coach who team up with a mysterious psychic tutor to seek revenge on a hit-and-run driver.

A special film and live music event not to be missed is Hear My Eyes: Hellraiser which will give audiences the opportunity to experience Clive Barker’s 1987 extra-dimensional horror classic, re-scored live by EBM explorers Hieroglyphic Being and Robin Fox, and a synched laser-art show at City Recital Hall.

Sydney Film Festival runs from 5-16 June 2024. Tickets and Flexipasses to Sydney Film Festival 2024 are on sale now. Please call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information or to book.

PREVIEW: 2024 SOUTH AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL

April marks 30 years since the first democratic election in South Africa when for the first time in the country’s history, all citizens could vote for their future. To mark this auspicious anniversary, the 2024 South African Film Festival will feature some of the nation's most iconic films from the past 30 years when it unfolds from May 2-30 for audiences in Australia and New Zealand.

These include the classic documentaries 1994: The Bloody Miracle, co-directors Bert Haitsma and Meg Rickards chilling account of a nation’s democracy under siege; and The 16th Man, the story of how South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup win galvanised and united the nation (pictured, top; Tumelo Lekena's Father's Day)

A highlight of this year’s festival is the 4K restoration of Oliver Schmitz’s masterpiece, Mapantsula (pictured, right), the gritty gangster film set against the backdrop of apartheid rebellion. Upon its release in 1987, the film was banned after just one screening for inciting violence, but would be honoured by a screening in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 1988. Mapantsula is recognised as having a seminal influence on public opinion against apartheid.

Festival Co-Director Programming & Events, Ricky Human, said, “This year is truly special as we reflect on [this] anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa, and honour exceptional filmmakers like Oliver Schmitz, and heroic figures like George Bizos. We’re excited to be joined by George Bizos’ son, Alexi, and the Producer of the film, George Georgiou, who will be attending select screenings in Australia and New Zealand and participating in panel discussions.”

The South African Film Festival opens with John Barker’s The Umbrella Men, a rollicking crowdpleaser that follows  a ragtag bunch of musicians forced to rob a bank during the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival.

Feature documentaries include George Bizos Icon, a fascinating juxtaposition of the personal and political sides of the iconic anti-apartheid human rights lawyer; The Radical, an intimate portrait of the world’s first openly gay Imam from filmmaker Richard Finn Gregory; and, Gareth Whittaker’s Down: A Comrades Story, a chronicle of the pain and the glory that is the gruelling Comrades Ultra Marathon, a 90 km race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

There are five exceptional feature films on offer, including Seconds, a gripping tale of crime, deceit, and betrayal set in the dark world of underground boxing; Hans Steek die Rubicon Oor (Hans Crosses the Rubicon; pictured, above), a light-hearted comedy that tackles the subject of aging and stars luminaries of South African screen and stage, including Tobie Cronje and Sandra Prinsloo; and, Soccer Season: Playmaker, starring the beloved entertainer Desmond Dube.

PREVIEW: 2024 ANTENNA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

ANTENNA, Australia’s leading international non-fiction film festival, has unveiled the 52 creative, thought-provoking documentaries from around the globe that will screen over the course of 11 days, from 9–19 February 2024.

“I am very proud of this lineup as a whole,” said Festival Director Dudi Rokach. “Each documentary is imaginative, cinematic and provocative and I believe together they demonstrate the endless potential of documentary cinema in the hands of a great filmmaker”. 

Opening the festival is the Tribeca Film Festival winner The Gullspång Miracle (pictured, above), from director Maria Fredriksson. The stranger-than-fiction mystery-drama follows two pious sisters who buy an apartment after having witnessed a divine sign – only to realise that the seller looks identical to their other sister, who committed suicide some thirty years before.

Antenna will close the festival with the highly anticipated Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (pictured, right), a concert film announces an exciting new partnership with the Sydney Opera House. In capturing Sakamoto's last performance, filmmaker Neo Sora’s celebration of an artist's life is the definitive swan song of the beloved maestro.

Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan will attend the festival as a special guest to present his film The World is Family, an exploration of social and political life in which he paints a portrait of his parents, whose families were intertwined with Gandhi and India’s independence movement. Other Australian Premieres by celebrated directors include Wang Bing’s Youth (Spring), Werner Herzog’s Theatre of Thought, Claire Simon’s Our Body and Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney’s new film In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon.

Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias takes us on an intimate journey through Palestine, where actress Hiam Abbass navigates the fragmented memories of generations of resilient Palestinian women. Oscar-frontrunner 20 Days in Mariupol by Mstyslav Chernov presents a firsthand account of the siege in Ukraine, capturing the unyielding spirit of those caught in the crossfire. Complementing these narratives, Vanessa Hope’s Invisible Nation (pictured, below) investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan.

Three Australian feature documentaries and 12 Australian shorts will also screen at the festival, including Rosie Jones’ Abebe - Butterfly Song, about the musical legacy and enduring friendship between celebrated Papuan musician George Telek and Australian musician David Bridie and Annette Basile's Isla's Way, a tender, richly humorous portrait of an 87-year-old horse carriage driving champion. 

In a major coup, Antenna will host John Wilson, the young filmmaker behind the hit HBO show How To With John Wilson, one of the most genuinely inspired, oddball, and sneakily affecting works in contemporary television. In 2023, Wilson was invited by the prestigious Anthology Film Archives in New York to guest-curate a special series of films that have influenced or inspired him and he will present a version of this series at Antenna, as well as hosting a masterclass discussing his unique approach to filmmaking. 

The 12th edition of the Antenna Documentary Film Festival opens Friday February 9th in Sydney and runs until Monday February 19th. For complete program information and to purchase tickets and festival passes, go to www.antennafestival.org

R.I.P. JOHN BAILEY, A.S.C.

Veteran cinematographer John Bailey, whose skill in finding the most beautiful, evocative shot composition in often everyday settings made him a much sought-after studio ally, passed away on Friday November 9. He was 81.

Amassing 86 credits as D.O.P./Cinematographer since his debut in 1972 on Alan Rudolph’s hippy-horror indie Premonition, Bailey very quickly found himself in demand. Lensing Michael Pressman’s Boulevard Nights in 1979 opened the door for Bailey, who next entered into a creative partnership with Paul Schrader on American Gigolo (1980), followed by Cat People (1982); Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985, for which he earned a ‘Best Artistic Contribution’ honour at the Cannes Film Festival); and, the Michael J. Fox starrer, Light of Day (1987).

ORDINARY PEOPLE (Dir: Robert Redford; Paramount Pictures, 1980)

Bailey earned his stripes as camera assistant and operator on such iconic works as Pierre Aldridge’s concert-doc Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1971),  Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and, later, Robert Altman’s 3 Women (1977) and Terence Malick’s masterpiece Days of Heaven (1978).

GROUNDHOG DAY (Dir: Harold Ramis; Columbia Pictures 1993)

It would be Robert Redford’s Oscar-winner Ordinary People (1980) - only Bailey’s 10th credit as D.O.P. - that solidified his status as one of Hollywood’s elite artisans. Over the next four decades, he would shoot alongside such names as Walter Hill (Crossroads, 1986); Robert Benton (Nobody’s Fool, 1994); James L. Brooks (As Good As It Gets, 1997); Wolfgang Peterson (In The Line of Fire, 1993); and Ken Kwapis (Vibes, 1988; The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, 2005; A Walk in the Woods, 2015).

THE LAWRENCE KASDAN FILMS - CONTINENTAL DIVIDE, 1981; THE BIG CHILL, 1983; SILVERADO, 1985; THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, 1988.

In the latter stage of his career, his lightness of touch visually and experience on set made him the go-to cameraman for romance and comedy. His buoyant colours and composition enlivened such hits as The Out-of-Towners (1999), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), How to Lose a Guy in 10 days (2003), Must Love Dogs (2005), The Producers (2005); He’s Just Not That Into You (2009), Romona and Beezus (2010), The Way Way Back (2013) and How to Be  a Latin Lover (2017). His final film was Richard Pagano’s Ten Tricks in 2022, a two-hander drama starring Lea Thompson shot in evocative black-&-white.

CYNDI LAUPER: TRUE COLOURS (Dir: Patricia Birch, 1986)

His vast body-of-work earned him unparalleled respect amongst his peers, a following that led to him being elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 2017 to 2019 (the organisation that, ironically, never nominated him for an Oscar). Bailey is survived by his wife, Oscar-nominated editor and former Academy governor Carol Littleton.

THE DOCUMENTARIES - SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA (Dir: Jonathan Demme, 1987); THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (which he also directed, in 1991); A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME (Dir: Errol Morris, 1991); THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE (Dirs: Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen; 2002)