Remember Those Who Have Fallen
In November 1998 the murder of transgender woman Rita Hesler sparked the creation...
MIFF's Queer Offerings
The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) returns in 2008 to save us from our winter blues. MIFF is the biggest annual international film festival in Australia, screening over 250 films from Friday 25 July until Sunday 10 August. As usual there are more films that you can poke a stick at, and if you don’t have the time to read the festival guide from cover to cover, then a stick may just end up being the best way to choose which films to watch.
I often ask for less choice rather than more, but this year’s program has something for everyone. There are even a number of films this year with strong GLBTI themes that range from documentaries to a gay zombie flick. I can safely say that none of the films are like Another Gay Movie , however they are challenging and thought provoking.
The films with GLBTI themes to watch out for include:
Derek – Derek Jarman constantly challenged Thatcher’s conformist England through his predominantly queer, left of centre and intensely personal films. This film revisits his work, and will reward the viewer with a better understanding of his work, life and the times in which he created.
Bastardy – a story about Jack Charles; a 63-year-old homosexual Aboriginal elder and child of the stolen generation and his journey through Melbourne’s bohemian underground in the early 60s.
The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela – a transsexual Cinderella story following Raquela Rios on her journey to fulfil her dream of meeting Prince Charming and settling down in Paris.
Be Like Others – welcome to Iran, where male is male and female is female – with nothing in between; where a 1979 fatwa authorised sex-change operations for ‘diagnosed transsexuals’.
A Jihad For Love – Gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma travels the many worlds of this dynamic faith, discovering the tales of its most unlikely storytellers: lesbian and gay Muslims.
Fox And His Friends – A Fassbinder film from 1975. Fox is a financially strapped, gay man who performs in a travelling circus as ‘Fox the Talking Head’. When he wins the lottery, his life takes an upswing – or so it seems.
Otto: Or, Up with Dead People – Filmmaking provocateur Bruce LaBruce’s (The Raspberry Reich) latest film features a hoodie-wearing zombie, Otto, who reticently rises from the grave and wanders the gay clubs of Berlin. The film plays with genres and offers up sexual explicitness and gore a plenty. It is not for the faint hearted and is likely to get you talking or walking out.
More information and tickets to the festival check out their website: www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au
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