Nine Fine Films to Keep an Eye Out For

Last month we took in a variety of LGBTQ films via the Newfest film festival. Some higher profile films like “Emilia Pérez” and “Bird”, which I saw in Cannes and just loved, are already playing on Netflix or theaters respectively.

But here are some truly fine films we caught at Newfest that have not gotten much press attention (as far as I can tell). I highly recommend you check them out when they become available for viewing in theaters or streaming platforms:

Out

“Out”, co-written and directed by Dennis Alink, is clearly informed by true-life experiences, telling of two young men, secret lovers in the conservative small town in the Netherlands, and how their relationship and sense of self evolve once they are accepted into film school and experience the freedoms and fault lines of contemporary gay life in Amsterdam. Beautiful black and white cinematography sensually envelops a nuanced, sensitively told coming-of-age tale.

The Queen of My Dreams

“The Queen of My Dreams”, written and directed by Fawzia Mirza, also appears to be autobiographically inspired; it brims with well observed/remembered details. This comedy/drama about the lives of several generations of Pakistani women, specifically a lesbian grad student living in Toronto and her initially rebellious but later conservative immigrant mother, jumps back in forth between decades of time and Canada and Pakistan and delights our senses with rich story, told with strong performances and vibrant musical and visual splendor.

A House is Not a Disco

“A House is Not a Disco” is a great title, but would you guess from it that this film is a documentary about the historic gay getaway Fire Island? That is my only quibble with this very well made doc (Director: Brian J. Smith) that packs decades of history in a brisk 90 minutes, covering all bases you’d expect, the gay haven of it all, the sex, the parties, the social tensions surrounding race, economics and drag/trans issues, the Aids epidemic, as well as bases you may not expect, like the impact of Climate Change on the island. Seek this one out before or after rewatching the hilarious “Fire Island” on Hulu, which wittily comments on some of the aspects of Fire Island life examined in this well researched and edited documentary.

Duino

“Duino”, written and co-directed by Juan Pablo Di Pace, is very meta: being about a gay Argentinian director struggling to finish an autobiographical film about the great heartbreak he experienced as a closeted youth studying at an international college in Duino, Italy, this is also clearly the very same autobiographical film for Di Pace himself, as home videos of his own youthful self at the self-same college during the end credits attest. While Di Pace is a charismatic guide to his own story, the great strength of this film is in its flashbacks, and the sensitive depiction of young, secret love and heartbreak and coming to terms with ones identity. That by itself may be a story we have seen many times before, but the specificity of the setting, the truthfulness in the remembered details and the sensitive performances of the young actors distinguish and elevate this memory tale.

Side note: fans of Dancing with the Stars will remember Juan Pablo Di Pace as the best dancer who never make it to the finals. Despite being clearly the best amateur dancer of season 27 and the only competitor to get perfect 10s from all the judges for both of his dances in the semi-final, he was not voted into the finals, a victim of both not having as large a fan base as the other “Stars” and of viewers mistakingly believing him to be safe due of his high judges’ scores and voting to save their favorites (I was one of those viewers, giving my votes to Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch to get her into the finals during which I was intending to switch my votes to Di Pace… but alas…).

What a Feeling

“What a Feeling” is an Austrian rom-com directed by Kat Rohrer about two women meeting cute in middle age: the sexy, confident, non-monogomous Fa (Proschat Madani), of Persian descent and not out to all of her family, and the inexperienced, very bourgeois Marie Therese (Caroline Peters), only just recently involuntarily separated from her husband. The tone is light and mainstream, but the details and cultural conventions well observed, making the watch breezy and winning. And yes, “What a Feeling” from “Flashdance” is performed twice, once as karaoke and then again in a drag show, and both times it works and is fun like the movie as a whole.

Asog

“Asog” is a fanciful Philippine road movie about a non-binary teacher and one of their students going to a resort island, the teacher to take part in a drag pageant, the student to find the father who deserted him. Seán Devlin’s film mixes elements of fantasy and docu-drama in the narrative, which includes the devastation of a real-life typhoon and the ensuing capitalistic exploitation that bedeviled the impacted islanders even more than the ravages of nature. Several characters are based on real people and their stories, with many actors playing themselves or versions of themselves, including the teacher Jaya, who co-wrote the screenplay with Devlin.

I’m sensing a trend here. Many of the best films we saw at Newfest are winning and often very original hybrids of narrative fiction and autobiography.

Gondola

“Gondola” on the other hand is total fancy. The only thing “real” is the Gondola that connects two isolated villages in the mountains of Georgia (the country, not the US state). This gondola inspired writer/director Veit Helmer to construct a dialog-free (no subtitles necessary whatever your language) comedy about two female cable car attendants who fall in love while passing each other daily, suspended in gondolas high above the valley. Many will recognize the influence of classic or classical comedy masters like Tati or Wes Anderson in the droll wit and imaginatively handcrafted art direction (the constant re-outfitting of the gondolas is a highlight of the film). Narratively the film does lose sight of its slim plotting more often than I would like, but makes up for it with sheer good natured silliness and sweetness.

This is Ballroom

“This is Ballroom” won the Newfest36 audience award for documentary feature, and it’s easy to see why: it is a vibrant, exciting and colorful inside look at the ballroom scene in Rio de Janeiro, directed by participants Juru and Vitã. It nods to “Paris is Burning” and how it and the original ballroom scene of NYC inspired its counterpart in Rio, but then confidently takes on its own identity as a vibrant film about a now uniquely Brazilian subculture, full of endlessly fascinating characters being fierce and fabulous.

Baby

“Baby” is also from Brazil, a vibrant drama about a young man released from juvenile detention with nowhere to go, who finds refuge and danger with an older male sex worker. I didn’t see this at Newfest but earlier this year when it played at Cannes and loved its mix of grit and tenderness. “Baby” is directed and co-written by Marcelo Caetano and features João Pedro Mariano and Ricardo Teodoro very good as the young and older lovers. Teodoro won the Critic’s Weak Rising Star Award at Cannes.