Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) | Opening Night MGFF20 | Thu 13 Feb 7:00pm Event Cinemas, George St. BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Ellie

This heartfelt lesbian rom-com, shot entirely in Sydney by writer-director Monica Zanetti (Skin Deep MGFF15) and based on her beloved play, is the first Australian feature to open Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival in its 27 year history.

Sophie Hawkshaw plays school captain Ellie, who is seriously crushing on her rebellious classmate Abbie (Wentworth’s Zoe Terakes). Determined to ask her first love to the year 12 formal, Ellie devises a plan to go public with the invitation but before she can go through with it, her dead aunt Tara (Julia Billington, Starting from…Now MGFF16) reappears from beyond the grave. Believing she’s been brought back from the dead to be Ellie’s fairy godmother, Tara dishes out unwanted dating advice based on her life as an out lesbian in the 80s.

Marta Dusseldorp (Stateless, Janet King) plays Ellie’s high strung mother whose concern about Ellie’s coming out is more than it seems, and Rachel House (Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) gives a wonderfully deadpan performance as Ellie’s adopted aunt with secrets of her own.

Don’t miss this intergenerational film which pays homage to Sydney’s LGBTIQ+ activist history — as well as bringing us a fresh take on the universal ‘first love’ story.

World Premiere. Join us for a Q&A after the screening and Opening Night Party in the Gold Class Lounge!

If you have a flexipass and wish to attend the party, please purchase a Flexi Party Add On.

UPDATE: PARTY SOLD OUT

Film only
$19.90 Full
$17.90 Concession
$16.90 Queer Screen Member

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Ellie

Presented with AGL

The Shiny Shrimps | Mardi Gras Film Festival 2020 | Fri 14 Feb 6:30pm Event Cinemas, George St. BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Shrimps

After Matthias, a hot-headed swimming champion at the end of his career, makes a homophobic slur on national TV he is relegated to coaching the Shiny Shrimps, a diverse and flamboyant water-polo team.

Upon initial inspection, the Shiny Shrimps seem little more than an undisciplined ragtag bunch of amateurs. But before long, the Shrimps transform themselves into a force to be reckoned with. They soon find themselves and their initially-reluctant coach embarking on an action-packed road trip from Paris to Croatia in a beat-up old bus to compete in the Gay Games.

This hilarious and touching journey will shake up Matthias’ past prejudices and forge friendships amongst the disparate team. A massive box-office hit in France, The Shiny Shrimps is a feel-good sports comedy, and unabashed escapist entertainment guaranteed to leave audiences feeling uplifted.

Join us for a Q&A with director Cédric Le Gallo after the screening!

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Shrimps

Presented with Sydney Stingers

Season of Love | Australian Premiere | Open Captioned
Fri 14 Feb, 7:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Season

For anyone who loved Love Actually, but felt that there was one thing missing: lesbians. Season of Love is a lively, enthusiastic comedy following the ups and downs of three queer female relationships in the lead-up to Christmas. From left-at-the-altar breakdowns, to first kisses and friendships, this film weaves together the lives and loves of six very different women. Full of allusions to your favourite queer and Christmas classics (spot Love Actually, Carol, Rent and more!), Season of Love is a sweet, refreshingly queer, feel-good Christmas film.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Season

Presented with Deaf Rainbow NSW

Queering the Script | Australian Premiere
Thu Feb 20, 9pm at Event Cinemas George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Script

* Screening followed by a panel discussion, The Power of Queer Fandom, featuring Danielle Jablonski (Director of ClexaCon) *

Highlighting how important it is to see ourselves represented on screen, Queering the Script takes us on a nostalgic exploration of the influence that queer female fandoms have had on shaping the rise of accurate LGBTIQ+ character portrayals on screen, from Xena: Warrior Princess to The 100.

Join us after the screening for The Power of Queer Fandom, a panel discussion featuring Danielle Jablonski, Co-Owner and Executive Director of ClexaCon, with other special guests who will explore the influence that queer female fandoms have had on shaping accurate character portrayals.

Queer Doc Shorts
Sat 15 Feb, 2:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Doc

This diverse selection of documentaries profile LGBTIQ+ people carving out space for themselves in communities, societies, and even families that weren’t built with them in mind. Originating in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, these shorts delve into an HIV+ gay couple’s artistic collaboration, a lesbian stripper’s day-to-day life, a boy’s journey towards acceptance by homophobic parents, the Taiwanese queer community’s marriage equality celebrations, long-buried interviews with trans people from the 1950s, the importance of a safe space for Lebanese women and queer people, and reflections from children with same-sex parents.

Sequin In A Blue Room
Sun 16 Feb, 6:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Blue

The winner of the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival, Sequin in a Blue Room explores the exciting and alienating world of hook-up culture. With stunning visuals and a gripping soundtrack, Sequin in a Blue Room brings to the screen the world of Sequin (Conor Leach), a teenager who finds himself ensnared in a cycle of sex, obsession, and mystery. Determined to find someone he met at an anonymous sex party, the question becomes will Sequin be able to find them before he loses himself?

BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Blue

Out Here Shorts | World Premiere
Mon 17 Feb, 7:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-OutHere

Three fascinating, short-form documentaries shine a light on the LGBTIQ+ experience in regional and rural Australia in Out Here, a new joint initiative between Screen Australia and Network 10.

Alone Out Here
In a moment of catastrophic climate change, Jon Wright, a gay farmer, is faced with a dilemma. His 22-year commitment to transform the genetics of his herd are pitted against the attitudes of the beef industry, who hold the future of his families 4th generation farm in their hands. Through his incredible journey of loss and survival, we learn what it takes to be true to yourself, at any cost.

The Rainbow Passage
The Rainbow Passage is the love story of Cadance and Amanda. Following a year in their gender transition, this intimate documentary charts not only their personal transformation but the building of a life and community together in regional New South Wales.

Belonging
Belonging follows 18- year-old LGBTIQ+ activist Sam Watson as he takes a road trip from Hobart to north-west Tasmania to examine the impact and influence of gay rights activist Rodney Croome’s public fight for gay law reform, which began in the 1980s and continues today.

BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-OutHere

More Beautiful for Having Been Broken
Tues 18 Feb, 7:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-mbfhbb

Australian Premiere

Award-winning director Nicole Conn’s (Elena Undone MGFF11, A Perfect Ending MGFF13) new film is a heartfelt drama about the power of love and the importance of living each day as it comes.

Grieving the loss of her mother, battle-scarred FBI agent McKenzie (Aussie actress Zoe Ventoura) takes refuge in the beautiful lakeside town she remembers from childhood. After meeting ten-year-old Freddie (Cale Ferrin), a boy with special needs, she’s gradually drawn into the lives of an eccentric group of locals, including a former fling who’s struggling with sobriety (Harley Jane Kozak) and Freddie’s beautiful single mother, Samantha (Kayla Radomski). As Freddie’s positivity and unique view of the world helps McKenzie heal from past trauma, a passionate love affair with Samantha beckons.

Loosely based on Conn’s own experiences as a mother, as shown in her intimate documentary Little Man (queerDOC05), More Beautiful embraces the Japanese idea of ‘kintsukuroi’, that we are stronger and more beautiful for our flaws.

BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-mbfhbb

Presented with AGL

End of the Century
Tue 18 Feb, 8:30pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-End

A festival favourite from QSFF19, End of the Century is back due to popular demand. Ocho, an Argentinian poet, and Javi, a Spanish filmmaker, meet by chance while in Barcelona. Initially intended as a brief hook-up, the two men realise that they met twenty years earlier. This serendipitous relationship unfolds in a non-linear fashion in three parts. Lucio Castro’s sensual film captures the romanticism of a balmy European summer, and explores the role of fate and chance in our sexual encounters. Is this just a summer fling or are they meant for each other?

BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-End

Sid & Judy | Mardi Gras Film Festival 2020 | Wed 19 Feb 6:30pm Event Cinemas, George St.
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Judy

Judy Garland fever is upon us! After Renée Zellweger’s powerhouse performance in biopic Judy,
spend more time getting to know the star in this insightful new documentary.

The unpublished memoirs of Judy’s third husband, Sid Luft are brought to life by narrator Jon Hamm, with Jennifer Jason Leigh voicing Garland. Sid & Judy explores the performer’s rise from child vaudevillian to entertainment legend, taking a fresh look at a journey that was beset with troubles and often subject to the whims of male power players who thought they knew best, even while she was crumbling.

What rings out is Garland’s incredible, goosebump-inducing voice, and the film features plenty of interviews, live recordings, and archival footage of the star. This is a fascinating profile told from the perspective of someone who knew and loved this icon intimately.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Judy

Presented with The Bookshop Darlinghurst

Double feature: Cloudy River & Without A Tracey
World Premiere
Wed 19 Feb, 7:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-crwt

Pairing two different but equally exciting Australian episodics, both the hilarious Without a Tracey and the riveting Cloudy River are not to be missed. Boasting laugh-out-loud performances and a killer script, Without a Tracey sees ex-cop Tracey stumble across a murder case, in a comedy about a very serious crime that is anything but serious. While pansexual painter Cloudy and musician boyfriend River navigate the complications of an open relationship in Cloudy River, a sexy drama about jealousy, mental health, and finding something solid in a life filled with fluidity.

BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-crwt

T11 Incomplete | World Premiere
Thu 20 Feb, 6:30pm, Dendy Cinemas Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-T11

Recovering alcoholic Kate (Karen Sillas, Female Perversions) is working as a home health aide striving to rebuild her life and her relationship with her adult son (Zachary Booth, After Louie QSFF17) who now has a child of his own. Laura (Kristen Renton from Sons of Anarchy) is a fiercely independent paraplegic who is fighting her own demons. When circumstances bring the two together they find commonality in their struggles that may go beyond what they are ready for. As their undeniable connection deepens and they begin to fall in love, issues of trust come to the fore and threatens to derail both their lives again.

The hallmark of this film is that both cast and crew are comprised of people who identify with disability, helping to deliver an authentic, romantic and heartfelt character study about people striving to be better.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-T11

Presented with Red Raw

Monsoon | Mardi Gras Film Festival 2020
Thu 20 Feb 7:00pm Event Cinemas, George St.
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Monsoon

Crazy Rich Asians’ sexy leading man Henry Golding stars in this poetic tale from director Hong Khaou (MGFF15’s Lilting).

Golding plays a gay man whose family left Vietnam when he was a child, and who returns to Saigon from the UK to distribute his parents’ ashes. As well as reconnecting with a cousin who reminds him of the world he left behind, he also hooks up with an American, Lewis (Parker Stevens) who has his own personal connection to Vietnam – their liaison offering both men a sympathetic ear.

Monsoon looks at the complexity of home and place, and how our culture, history, sexuality, and family history forms our identity. With the dreamy Golding as our guide, this beautifully shot and evocative film finds that the answers can sometimes be wondrously elusive.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Monsoon

Crystal City | Australian Premiere
Thu 20 Feb, 9pm at Event Cinemas George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Crys

* Screening will be followed by a post-screening discussion *

The manic rush of crystal meth is powerfully brought to life in this confronting yet inspirational tale of addiction and recovery. Beautifully cinematic, this is one for anyone whose life has been touched by drug use and addiction.

Stick around for a post-screening discussion of the issues raised in Crystal City, providing local context to the film’s powerful portrayal of crystal meth use in New York’s gay community.

Lizzie | Mardi Gras Film Festival 2020
Fri 21 Feb 6:30pm
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Lizzie

Lizzie is a distinct feminist retelling of the notorious unsolved grisly axe murders of the wealthy Borden family in 1892.

At 32 years of age, unmarried and already deemed an outcast by her family and society, Lizzie Borden (Chloë Sevigny) strains against stifling social conventions and the domineering and abusive rule of her father, seeking solace in an intimate connection with the new housemaid Bridget (Kristen Stewart).

Lizzie dives deep into the possible psychology and motivations behind the murders that stopped a nation, speculating a passionate affair between the two women in an intense and unsettling character study that will have you squirming in your seat until the climactic finale.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Lizzie

Girls Like Girls Shorts
Fri 21 Feb, 8:30pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-girl

Winner of the Outfest Los Angeles Audience Award for Best Narrative Short 2019, Time & Again is just one from this assortment of shorts about queer women, regardless of how they identify. These are the stories of their discreet dalliances, stubborn grudges, cinematic escapades, roadside encounters, repressed crushes, long-awaited kisses and out-and-out romance in its purest form. Serious, silly, and even strange, these shorts stretch the bounds of genre, tone and the Kinsey scale whether it’s about going to karaoke, down memory lane, or to St Kilda beach in search of dolphins.

BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-girl

Lingua Franca | Australian Premiere
Sat 22 Feb, 6:30pm, Dendy Cinemas Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-lifr

Enchanting and sensual, this gentle romance is a landmark drama written, directed, edited and starring critically acclaimed New York based transgender filmmaker Isabel Sandoval.

Fresh from the Venice Film Festival, Lingua Franca chronicles the struggles of Olivia – played by Sandoval – an undocumented Filipina transgender woman who cares for Olga, an elderly Russian grandmother in Brooklyn. Olivia’s search for love, security and a green card takes an unexpected turn following the arrival of an unlikely drifter who also happens to be Olga’s adult grandson and troubled abattoir worker, Alex.

Set against Trump-era immigration anxieties, Lingua Franca is both a sobering and visually mesmerising portrait of just some of the struggles facing the transgender community.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-lifr

Presented with Trans Pride Australia

Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life
Sat 22 Feb, 9:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-jasml

Offering explicit access to Israeli adult film star, Jonathan Agassi’s life, on camera and off, it’s often the unique bond with his supportive mum and their time together that’s the most fascinating to watch. Charting his rapid rise to fame and his attempts to cope with the pressures that brings, Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life is a personal story of addiction and survival. Filmed over eight years, it offers an at times confronting look behind the curtain at a man many think they know, but few have seen this naked and raw.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-jasml

Presented with Antenna Film Festival

Changing the Game
Sun 23 Feb, 1pm at Event Cinemas George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-ctg

* Screening will be followed by a panel discussion, Game Plan: Affirmation and Inclusion in Australian Sport *

Changing the Game is a timely doco profiling three transgender teens fighting for their right to compete in the sports they love. Supported by their families, friends, and coaches, the film ultimately becomes a striking portrait of three teens chasing their dreams in a world yet to catch up to them.

Australian Premiere

Join Beau Newell, National Program Manager at Pride in Sport; trans athlete and pioneer Ricki Coughlan; Merrilee Barnes, Director of Inclusive Sport at the Australian Sports Commission; and Monique Schafter, Board Member of Twenty10, ABC journalist and Producer of the Well Played project, as they discuss Changing the Game and the hurdles faced by trans and gender diverse athletes in Australia.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-ctg

Presented with Pride in Sport

The Elder One | Australian Premiere
Sun 23 Feb, 8pm
Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-teo

Acclaimed new film The Elder One audaciously blends social realism and magic realism; sexuality and gender identity; gay romance and crime-thriller, to startling effect.

The disappearance of Mulla’s older brother, Akbar, looms large over life in beautiful Lakshadweep. After braving the seas to find him, young Mulla is plunged headlong into the harsh realities of Mumbai’s red light district and a fateful encounter with drug-addicted gangster, Bhai. In the past, a tender but forbidden love affair unfolds between Akbar and Aamar, a mute islander on the verge of an arranged marriage.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-teo

Presented with Trikone

My Queer Career Shorts
Mon 24 Feb, 7:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-mqc

Australia’s biggest queer short film prize returns with ten films from emerging Australian filmmakers once again in the running for prizes, including entry into the Iris Prize Film Festival.

In Strangers, Adrienne and Stewart must care for their ailing mother in the face of an apparent sexual awakening and a strict nursing home policy; when tragedy interrupts their secret seaside tryst, the prospect of going public brings two men to a stand off, in We’re Not Here; and Long Distance sees a young Indian woman living in Australia gets a call from her mother back home.

Young queer Australians audition to retell stories from their elders who paved the way for their rights, in documentary We’re All In This Together; a nine-year-old closeted evangelical Christian tomboy must prove her faith by vandalising an LGBTQ sex shop, in Kids on Fire; in St. Augustine, a couple’s seaside trip taking a turn as the salty air finds its way into the cracks of their relationship, and Boldly Go sees a geeky sci-fi fan facing rejection by a ‘straight-acting’ guy – but not for the reason you might think.

Mindset sees Sam forced to confront her new reality over the course of an evening with old friends, road trips usually signify a beginning but for Isaac and his partner Levi, this is their last chance to spend time together before they part ways, in All Good Things; and finally, in Lone Wolf, 15-year-old Sam ignores cruel taunts from Blair and her growing feelings Willow – but she can’t ignore the strange things happening to her body.​

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-mqc

Unsound | Mardi Gras Film Festival 2020 | Tue 25 Feb 6:30pm Event Cinemas, George St. BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Unsound
Open Captioned

Unsound is a unique Australian movie that follows the lives of two young people; both at a crossroads in their lives.

Noah (Reece Noi) is a young guitarist in the UK, working with renowned Australian 90s sensation, Moniqua (Christine Anu). On the other side of the world in Sydney, Finn (Yiana Pandelis) is a young deaf trans man living with his father (Todd McKenney) and dealing with the recent death of his mother.

When Noah tires of the pub circuit with Moniqua, he quits and flees to his mother’s home in Sydney. Here he stumbles across The Deaf Club, a pounding nightclub run by Finn, for deaf people to feel music. And he and Finn find themselves embarking on a new relationship.

As Finn inspires Noah to write his own music, Noah supports Finn as he takes further steps in his transition and comes out as a trans man. Through a mutual love of music from two very different perspectives, a heart-wrenching love story unfolds.

Join us for a Q&A after the screening and Australian Showcase Party.

Party Note: If you have a Flexipass and wish to attend the Showcase Party, please purchase a Flexi Party add on. Film only (incl. Q&A) tickets are available.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Unsound

Presented with AGL and Deaf Rainbow NSW

The Glass Room | Australian Premiere
Wed 26 Feb, 7pm
Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Glass

A stunning love story of two women trapped by war and circumstance in Nazi-era Czechoslovakia. Shot on location at the historic Villa Tugendhat, this film captures the unwavering hope of love as seen through the eyes of Hana (Carice van Houten, Game of Thrones) and Liesel who share an intense friendship which frequently verges on more. Based on Simon Mawer’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel of the same name, in turn based loosely on the lives of the Tugendhat family saga, this era-spanning film is an historical, visual feast.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Glass

Presented with ACON LGBTIQ Women’s Projects

An Almost Ordinary Summer & Closing Gala
Thur 27 Feb, 7:00pm, Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-aaos

Come out, come out… to the gorgeous Italian coast for one hilarious family get together!

Our host is wealthy art dealer Tony (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) – a charming and chilled silver fox with a gorgeous holiday abode – who invites his two adult daughters to come stay. Then there’s Carlo (Alessandro Gassmann), a boardshorts-wearing widower from the south who runs a fish shop, who is heading to the same destination with his two sons, daughter-in-law, and grandson in tow. When Carlo and Tony tell their respective clans that they’re actually a couple, and planning on getting married – mamma mia!

Tony’s gorgeous holiday home is barely big enough to contain everyone’s meltdowns. There are accusations, tears, shouting and subterfuge. And that’s all before coffee is served! Can Carlo and Tony’s relationship rise above their respective clans’ dramatics?

This cheeky comedy – a hit at last year’s Frameline – will tug on the heartstrings, as well as having you cheering out loud for these two later-in-life lovers.

Join us for the Closing Night Party in the Gold Class Lounge.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-aaos

Presented with Accenture