OMOS is a joyful expression of Black British queer creative existence. It is a short film whose language is performance: drag, dance, song, spoken word poetry, music. It takes place in a forest, with the final act in a castle. By setting it in this sylvan idyll, it juxtaposes, and at the same time challenges…
Well, that’s me emerged from my post-festival coma. Paced myself a lot better this year, didn’t go quite so bananas, only 33 films. Best film – Amerikatsi Worst film – Sanctuary For my post-Covid derth of spoons, still reasonably pleased with what I got done.
Closing Gala this year is Polite Society, a film about sisterhood and flying kicks. Ria is a young lassie who dreams of growing up to be a stuntwoman. The only person who encourages her in this is her big sister, Lena. Lena is an artist but has recently dropped out of art school to lie…
Something You Said Last Night is a warm-hearted film about a family holiday. Renata and Sierra are college-aged sisters who go away with their parents for a nice week near the beach for their father’s birthday. Cue classic sibling rivalry, pure regression, and the inevitable family argument. This film is full of such good humour,…
Among Us Women is a documentary about Huluager, a young pregnant woman in rural Ethiopia, as she tries to make her own choices about her birth and control decisions about her own healthcare. All the issues in this are so identifiable, and presented in the least Othering way imaginable. Patriarchy is global, and even though…
Free Money is a documentary following a pilot scheme in Kenya to give every adult in a village universal basic income. It follows the recipients for 5 years to examine the long-term impact it has on their lives, the good, the bad, and the unexpected. Right, so like this film, I’m not gonna go over…
I am still greeting from watching Amerikatsi. Haven’t cried all festival, not once, but this… Amerikatsi is the Armenian word for American. It’s what they call the main character, Charlie, an Armenian-American who comes back to rebuild Armenia in the 40s. Where to start? Although too young to really remember it, Charlie was one of…
Thoroughly enjoyed that. Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls is created with the hallmark of someone with a deep love for the horror-comedy classics of the late 80s. You can see influences of Beetlejuice, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and Evil Dead 2, to name just the obvious. Full of practical effects and…
Hong Kong Mixtape documents the activist art of the Free Hong Kong movement, from the street art, to the music, the songs, the dances, the performance art, posters, sculptures, illustrations, photos, films, everything! As Hongkongers fight back against attack on their freedom by the Chinese government, taking to the streets in unprecedented numbers, so many…
I spent the whole of that film waiting for it to it to be the usual retread of queer trauma, full of the same tired tropes. How delighted I am to have been wrong. Eismayer is the hard-ass drill instructor who terrifies all the new recruits. In the new batch that need whipped into shape…