Lesbian nuns and gay soldiers: eight movies to watch out for at the 2022 Mardi Gras Film Festival

With Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival turning 29 this year, we take a look at some of the must-book tickets.

Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Benedetta’. Source: Production Queer Screen

There’s something for everyone in this year’s program, playing out in cinemas or streaming online from Thursday 17 February to Thursday 3 March. Even better, we’ve matched each of our top picks with a film that we think pairs well with it from our Rainbow Pride Collection here at SBS On Demand too.

Benedetta

One thing you know you’re never gonna get with Dutch director Paul Verhoeven’s films is bored. From eye-popping sci-fi classics including Total Recall, Starship Troopers and Robo Cop, to that Sharon Stone shot in erotic thriller Basic Instinct, to Isabelle Huppert at the helm in button-pushing revenge fantasy Elle, he’s always setting cats amongst the pigeons. So all we’ll say about his latest offering is it’s a historical drama replete with lesbian nuns, blasphemous dildos and a plague.

Pair it with Disobedience at SBS On Demand

 

Great Freedom

‘Great Freedom’. Source: Production Queer Screen

When the allies swept into Berlin at the end of WWII and crushed the Nazis’ last stand, not everyone who remained in what would become West Germany enjoyed ‘liberation’. Punitive law Paragraph 175 continued to be used as a tool with which to persecute men who have sex with other men. Austrian director Sebastian Meise’s non-linear drama depicting one defiant man’s frequent rebellious internments in prison for said act shines bright thanks to Franz Rogowski’s central turn that helped the film secure the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes.

Pair it with Cut Snake at SBS On Demand.

Finlandia

‘Finlandia’. Source: Production Queer Screen

One of the most visually lush feasts your eye will soak up all year, Horacio Alcalá’s beautiful film centres around a community of muxes, the recognised third gender of the Indigenous Zapotec peoples of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Noé Hernández’s performance as one of the group’s most talented creators of new spins on traditional fashion is mesmerising. A magical realist wonder, there’s also a very socially realistic plotline involving Andrea Guasch as a fashion industry grunt sent to rip off their ideas and report back to her abusive boss.

Pair it with short film Tomgirl at SBS On Demand.

Kapana

‘Kapana’. Source: Production Queer Screen

The fact that Philippe Talavera’s heart-soaring romance is the first queer film to emerge from Namibia is worth celebrating in and of itself. It’s also a brilliant watch, largely thanks to its charismatic leads. Adriano Visagie plays George, an unashamedly out office worker who pursues romance with Simon Hanga’s much more reserved market stall holder Simeon after a drunken night in the sort of bar where everyone turns a blind eye. Though it tackles the realities of homosexual criminalisation and the HIV/AIDS stigma head-on, it’s never less than effervescent.

Pair it with Tu Me Manques at SBS on Demand

No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics

‘No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics’. Source: Production Queer Screen

Alison Bechdel is a supremely talented person. Not only is she the beloved author of seminal graphic novel Fun Home, depicting her coming out as a lesbian and her fractious relationship with her father, but she also coined the famous test to measure the feminist cred of any given film. Bechdel’s just one of the cool queer creators changing comics from the margins, then the very centre, in this fabulous doco from director Vivian Kleiman.

Pair it with Booksmart at SBS On Demand.

Hating Peter Tatchell

‘Hating Peter Tatchell’. Source: Production Queer Screen

While we’re on a doco kick, try out this riveting portrait of the relentless and unapologetic gay rights activist born in Melbourne, but who made his name on the streets of London after moving there, at 19, in 1971. Railing against homophobic injustices perpetrated by the likes of Margaret Thatcher and dictator Robert Mugabe, he was willing to take a bashing again and again to get his point across (and into the nightly news). Good friends Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry throw mostly softball questions, but it’s ace nonetheless.

Pair it with Pride at SBS On Demand.

The Retreat

‘The Retreat’. Source: Production Queer Screen

If you’re hankering for a fright night out, then sink your teeth into this slasher as a lesbian couple (Tommie-Amber Pirie and Sarah Allen) heads to a cabin in the woods to try and rescue their floundering relationship. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out quite a lot more than a possible break-up in Pat Mills’ gloriously blood-thirsty romp that has fun picking at its own well-worn tropes. You can rest assured that resilient lesbians under assault are not your typical horror movie gore-fodder.

Pair it with Good Manners at SBS On Demand.

Moffie

‘Moffie’. Source: Production Queer Screen

Fair warning, if you book a ticket to filmmaker Oliver Hermanus’s unflinching look at the unforgiving environment for closeted gay soldiers during the South African Border War, prepare to pack plenty of tissues. So named after the Afrikaans slur for “faggot”, you can guess how tough a time it’s going to be for 18-year-old Nicholas (Kai Luke Brümmer) when he’s drafted into the maddening conflict. Tough but brilliant stuff.

Pair it with Rurangi at SBS On Demand.

For more info on the Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival program, head here. And check out the Rainbow Pride Collection at SBS On Demand.

 

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