by FilmInk Staff
Queer Screen has announced the full program for the 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival, running from 12–26 February 2026 across Sydney venues including Event Cinemas George Street and Dendy Newtown, delivering two weeks of LGBTIQ+ cinema at the heart of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations.
The 2026 program presents 139 outstanding films from 38 countries, including six World Premieres, five International Premieres, and 64 Australian Premieres, showcasing bold new works, celebrated international titles and standout queer storytelling across features, documentaries, and shorts.
Program highlights include Opening Night film Jimpa from Australian director Sophie Hyde, starring Olivia Colman, John Lithgow and Aud Mason-Hyde; Closing Night film She’s the He starring Misha Osherovich (Freaky), Malia Pyles (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) and Nico Carney; and Pillion starring Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies) and Harry Melling (The Queen’s Gambit).
Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, starring Imogen Poots (28 Days Later) and adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s best-selling memoir, also features in the program. Love Me Tender, starring Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) and Antoine Reinartz (Anatomy of a Fall), is a stunning drama based on Constance Debré’s bestseller. While A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint offers unprecedented access behind the scenes of the trans icon and RuPaul’s Drag Race runner-up’s rise to fame.
Also in the program are the classic High Art by Lisa Cholodenko, gloriously restored in 4K; the 30th anniversary of Australian classic Love and Other Catastrophes; the 50th anniversary of The Naked Civil Servant, starring John Hurt; and, for the first time, a partnership with Pink Flamingo to showcase Castration Movie Anthology II: The Best of Both Worlds, with underground trans director Louise Weard in attendance.
“This festival would not be possible without our generous partners, donors, members, community supporters, as well as the festival team and volunteers who have put in countless hours to make it happen. It’s an honour to be able to lead the team and carry forward Queer Screen’s legacy after 32 years. I warmly welcome you back to the cinema to experience the magic with us,” said Queer Screen CEO Benson Wu.
“At a time when our community is facing increased persecution both here and abroad – particularly our trans siblings – seeing authentic LGBTIQ+ stories on our screens is more important than ever. Our continued visibility in the face of bigotry sends a clear message: we refuse to hide or be silenced. And that’s the theme that permeates this entire program, films all about being unapologetically queer and finding community,” said Queer Screen Programming and Industry Manager Andrew Wilkie.
ABOUT QUEER SCREEN
Queer Screen is Australia’s leading organisation for LGBTIQ+ screen culture, presenting the Mardi Gras Film Festival and Queer Screen Film Fest, and organising screenings, events and industry initiatives to support diverse queer voices and stories on screen.
FESTIVAL PARTNERS
The 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival is presented by Queer Screen, with the support of Major Partner Allianz and Government Partners Screen NSW, City of Sydney and Multicultural NSW.
TICKETS & SALES DATES
General public sales open: 5:00pm on 16 January, 2026
Tickets and full session details will be available at https://queerscreen.org.au/
PROGRAM
Opening Night Gala
Jimpa, directed by Sophie Hyde. Award-winning actors Olivia Colman and John Lithgow star in this uplifting multi-generational story. Filmmaker Hannah travels to Amsterdam with her non-binary teen, Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde). Reconnecting with her HIV+ academic gay father, Jim – affectionately known as “Jimpa” – she hopes to discuss plans to tell his story on screen. But when Jimpa’s health begins to decline, Hannah must negotiate what happens next as she confronts her past and the stories she’s told about her family.
Inspired by Hyde’s relationship with her own late gay father and non-binary child, the film grew from the conversations she imagined they would have had about queer identity. Jimpa is a celebration of LGBTIQ+ culture and queer family, offering a nuanced reflection on how social expectations and our understanding of family have evolved across generations.
In Conversation with Sophie Hyde
On 14 February at the State Library of NSW, acclaimed Australian director, producer and writer Sophie Hyde will sit down with writer Benjamin Law for a wide-ranging discussion about her storied career and the ways queerness has permeated her work; from her early short film My Last Ten Hours with You to the festival’s Opening Night feature, Jimpa.
Closing Night
She’s the He, directed by Siobhan McCarthy. Tired of everyone assuming they’re gay, Alex (Nico Carney) convinces best friend Ethan (Misha Osherovich, Freaky) they should come out as trans women. Alex sees it as an excuse to get close to his crush, Sasha (Malia Pyles, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin). But when Ethan steps out as a woman for the first time and experiences warmth and acceptance, she realises she actually is trans. After their scheme is inevitably exposed, Ethan must work to rebuild everyone’s trust as she prepares to come out – for real this time.
She’s the He is a bold reinvention of the high school teen comedy, joyfully reframed through a much-needed queer and trans lens. Created by a predominantly trans, non-binary, and queer team, the film hilariously skewers anti-trans panic around locker rooms with rapid-fire punchlines, playful indie flourishes, and a standout performance from Osherovich.
FESTIVAL STRANDS & CURATED PROGRAMS
The 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival will be presented across a selection of curated strands, including:
QUEER ASIA
3670, directed by Joon-ho Park. Cheol-jun is a gay North Korean defector trying to build a new life in Seoul. Offering a sensitive and human portrait of two marginalised worlds. Between Dreams and Hope (میان رویا و امید), directed by Farnoosh Samadi. Drawing on the Iranian LGBTIQ+ community’s real experiences to craft this tense yet poignant thriller.
Girlfriends (女孩不平凡), directed by Tracy Choi. Offering up an artful triptych of love stories in a woman’s life that unfold in reverse chronological order. A Good Child (好孩子), directed by Kuo Sin Ong. Balances humour and heartbreak in a moving exploration of family, identity and unconditional love.
Summer’s Camera (여름의 카메라), directed by Divine Sung. This sweet and tender coming-of-age story explores self-discovery through the intersections of the past and present. Tiger, directed by Anshul Chauhan. Taiga is a gay masseur in Tokyo, caught between traditional expectations and the life he has chosen.
A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ), directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke. Blends absurd humour with sharp social critique to explore class, labour and the pressure to be “useful” in a world that treats workers and spirits as disposable. We are Faheem & Karun, directed by Onir. Presenting a defiant queer romance set against the volatile borderlands of Kashmir, co-written by Fawzia Mirza (The Queen of My Dreams, MGFF24).
PANORAMA
The Best Friend (O Melhor Amigo), directed by Allan Deberton. Punctuated with bright and catchy ‘80s-style tunes, this frothy, feel-good musical rom-com will have you dancing in your seat. Drunken Noodles, directed by Lucio Castro. Drifting between city streets, apartments, forest paths and late-night encounters, fleeting erotic and emotional connections begin to blur time itself. Capturing the quiet power of seeing – and being seen.
The Last First Time (El fin de las primeras veces), directed by Rafael Ruiz Espejo, eighteen year-old Eduardo travels from his small hometown to Guadalajara, briefly escaping the watchful control of his family. The Last First Time is a raw portrait of a young man on the brink of becoming. Perro Perro, directed by Marco Berger. A homoerotic fable where “man’s best friend” is literally a man. A sweetly surreal exploration of intimacy, loneliness and desire.
Plainclothes, directed by Carmen Emmi. Back by popular demand after a sold-out Queer Screen Film Fest in 2025 Opening Night, Russell Tovey (Looking) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) star in this tense romantic thriller.
Queen of Coal (Miss Carbón), directed by Agustina Macri. Disowned by her family, homeless trans teen Carlita (Lux Pascal) is taken in by local trans sex workers. A true story of resilience and passion. Thesis on a Domestication (Tesis sobre una domesticación), directed by Javier Van de Couter. A provocative erotic melodrama about the pressure on LGBTQ+ people to meet societal expectations to be accepted.
OUT IN EUROPE
Amantes, directed by Caroline Fournier. An interconnected group of lesbians navigate their desires and fears in Paris, celebrating the romantic lives of unapologetically complex lesbians with heart and humour. Bearcave (Αρκουδοτρύπα), directed by Krysianna Papadakis and Stergios Dinopoulos. Fresh off its premiere at Venice, this poetic, genre-blending romantic odyssey is set against the stunning mountains of rural Greece.
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day (Lijepa večer, lijep dan), directed by Ivona Juka. A sweeping historical drama confronting the harrowing cost of artistic freedom under repression. Departures, directed by Lloyd Eyre-Morgan & Neil Ely. After a break-up, Benji has fallen into a self-sabotaging cycle of excess alcohol and empty hook-ups. This darkly funny, emotionally charged film finds humour, love and even hope in life’s darkest moments.
Four Mothers, directed by Darren Thornton. Gay novelist Edward is on the brink of a big break when his mother Alma has a stroke, and he returns to Dublin to take care of her. This sharply observed comedy is about the care we give and struggle to accept.
Girl for a Day (Un jour fille), directed by Jean-Claude Monod. In 18th century France, Anne was born intersex and raised as a girl at the advice of a priest. Girl for a Day transforms historical records into a quietly devastating meditation on identity and bodily autonomy. If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile (Wenn du Angst hast nimmst du dein Herz in den Mund und lächelst), directed by Marie Luise Lehner. A rallying cry for the outsiders who don’t fit neatly into any box, imagining a future where no one has to.
The Little Sister (La petite dernière), directed by Hafsia Herzi. Winner of the Queer Palm and Best Actress (Nadia Melliti) at Cannes, Fatima is the youngest daughter in a boisterous Franco-Algerian family, at university she secretly explores her sexuality via a series of one-off steamy hookups, using a fake name to maintain anonymity.
Maspalomas, directed by Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga. Vicente is 76 and has spent decades living openly as a gay man in the Spanish resort enclave of Maspalomas, a moving meditation on the struggle to live honestly in systems designed to make differences disappear. Nova & Alice, directed by Emma Bucht. A heartfelt musical drama that celebrates the joy of unexpected love and new beginnings.
On the Sea, directed by Helen Walsh. A quietly aching portrait of masculinity under pressure, where desire surfaces not as escape, but as something hard-won and deeply human. Skiff, directed by Cecilia Verheyden. The youngest of three, fifteen year-old Malou is a gifted rower bullied by her teammates for avoiding group showers. The one constant in Malou’s life is her brother Max – until she develops unexpected feelings for his new girlfriend, Nouria.
QUEERDOC
I Was Born This Way, directed by Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard. Lady Gaga, Billy Porter and Dionne Warwick feature in this joyful documentary celebrating the revolutionary life and music of Archbishop Carl Bean, who sang the first gay anthem, “I Was Born This Way”. Fatherhood (Tre Fedre), directed by August B Hanssen and Even G Benestad. A touching ode to the beauty of non-traditional families, it doubles as a rallying cry for justice and healing.
Night in West Texas, directed by Deborah S. Esquenazi. Forty years after James Harry Reyos, a gay Apache man, was framed for the murder of a Catholic priest, long-buried evidence is uncovered that could finally prove his innocence. A deeply moving yet uplifting documentary. Row of Life, directed by Soraya Simi. Row of Life tells the remarkable story of Paralympian Angela Madsen’s most ambitious journey yet: a solo, unassisted row across the Pacific Ocean.
Second Nature, directed by Drew Denny, and executive-produced and narrated by Elliot Page. An engaging documentary about the diversity of gender and sexuality in the natural world. Truth or Dare, directed by Maja Classen. An evocative experimental documentary exploring queer sexuality, consent and belonging within Berlin’s sex-positive community.
AFRICAN DIASPORA
Bouchra, directed by Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani. Rendered in striking 3D animation and infused with documentary intimacy, this thoroughly unique debut defies categorisation, using real life phone calls between co-director Bennani and her mother as part of the narrative.
Dreamers, directed by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor. Inspired by Gharoro-Akpojotor’s own experience, Isio, who fled homophobia in Nigeria, is detained and placed in an asylum removal centre after living in the UK undocumented for two years, the film is anchored by Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́’s luminous performance.
QUEERSCREAM
Drone, directed by Simon Bouisson. A taut techno-thriller exploring desire, surveillance and control in a world saturated with cameras. Queens of the Dead, directed by Tina Romero. When a zombie apocalypse breaks out during a warehouse party, an eclectic group of drag queens and club kids must put aside their differences to fight against the brain-thirsty undead.
Rains Over Babel (Llueve sobre Babel), directed by Gala del Sol. Death presides over the mythical bar Babel, a nocturnal crossroads where souls gamble their lives in pursuit of escape, redemption or one last chance at love. The Serpent’s Skin, directed by Alice Maio Mackay. Witchy, ferocious and defiantly trans, fusing occult horror with coming-of-age vulnerability.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Pillion, directed by Harry Lighton. Uprooted from his dreary suburban life, Colin, a directionless wallflower, is introduced to a community of kinky, queer bikers and uninhibited BDSM sex.
The Chronology of Water, directed by Kristen Stewart. Shot on 16mm, Stewart stitches together breathtaking and haunting images that mirror the ephemeral nature of memory. Love Me Tender, directed by Anna Cazenave Cambet. Adapted from Constance Debré’s bestseller, this complex drama is deeply affecting and emotionally raw.
Night Stage, directed by Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon. A bold, playful and unapologetically queer erotic thriller that embraces voyeurism, seduction and spectacle. A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint, directed by Oriel Pe’er. Offering unprecedented access and reveals a life lived in full colour, and the radical freedom that comes from being seen fully and unapologetically.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Love and Other Catastrophes, directed by Emma-Kate Croghan. A 30th anniversary screening of the recently remastered Australian classic starring Frances O’Connor (Mansfield Park) and Radha Mitchell (High Art). The Naked Civil Servant, directed by Jack Gold. Marking its 50th anniversary, John Hurt stars as Quentin Crisp, who made the bold decision to be openly gay in highly conservative 1930s and ‘40s England.
High Art, directed by Lisa Cholodenko. Gloriously restored in 4K, Lisa Cholodenko’s (The Kids Are All Right) award-winning debut is a landmark of ‘90s indie cinema and a modern queer classic. Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds, directed by Louise Weard. Shot on handheld camcorder with a five hour runtime, is a labyrinthine post-modern trans epic that amassed a cult following.
Rainbow Families: The Mitchells vs. the Machines, directed by Mike Rianda. A rare animated film with a LGBTIQ+ lead character, this sci-fi action comedy is chaotic fun for the whole rainbow family. Afternoon Delight: I Was Born This Way, directed by Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard. A movie matinee, afternoon tea and intergenerational social gathering celebrating our older LGBTIQ+ community, friends and allies.
