Staff Writer
Tickets are now on sale for Queer Screen’s 24th Mardi Gras Film Festival, which runs at Event Cinemas George Street and other venues between Wednesday 15 February to Thursday 2 March, 2017.
The first slate of 10 films have also been announced, with the full program due to drop on January 11, 2017. This year’s selection is drawn from some of the most highly regarded and influential independent and queer film festivals around the globe.
Festival director, Paul Struthers, observed, “By widening our search across the most influential film festivals, as well as the key LGBTIQ festivals, we know we are bringing the very best of the best to Sydney. Interestingly, we can now do this as more LGBTIQ characters and storylines appear in mainstream movies.
“However, while very welcome, mainstream representations can tend to be somewhat homogenous, which is why LGBTIQ film festivals like ours are so important to hold a mirror up and reflect the incredible diversity of our community – our guiding vision for this year to tell as many queer stories as possible through the most diverse range of characters, stories and genres yet”.
Highlights include:
The Pass, starring out actor Russell Tovey (HBO’s Looking) and Arinze Kene as two teen footballers whose lives are affected in the long term by a stolen kiss.
Below Her Mouth, a ground-breaking erotic lesbian romance written and produced by lesbians and shot with an entirely female crew.
Australian thriller Bad Girl, starring Sara West and Samara Weaving.
The documentary Political Animals, which tells the story of four pioneering lesbian politicians and the battles they fought to pass a wide range of anti-discrimination laws.
Filipino documentary Out Run, which follows the country’s first transgender political candidate taking on a homophobic evangelical preacher and fighting for LGBTIQ rights.
For more info and tickets, shoot over to the official site.
