Sell By | Australian Premiere
Sun Feb 16 8:00 PM & Tue Feb 18 6:30 PM
Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Sell

What happens when the facts don’t match the Insta filter?

In this comedy-drama, artist and painter Adam (Scott Evans, as swoon-worthy as his brother Chris Evans) and successful influencer Marklin (Augustus Prew) have the seemingly perfect New York lifestyle – gorgeous restaurants and cashmere coats aplenty.

However, after five years, cracks are beginning to show in their beautifully curated world. Can they salvage what they once had? And do they even want to? In this ensemble-led exploration of modern relationships, they and their friends will all find themselves putting long-held ideas about love and sex to the test. (Oh, and keep an eye out for a brilliant cameo by the amazing Patricia Clarkson). How do you live your most authentic life when you’re not even sure what that is?

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Sell

Presented with Novotel Sydney Darling Square

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

Speed Networking for Queer Filmmakers | MGFF 2020
Tue Feb 18 7:00 PM at Event Cinemas Set Bar
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-free

Queer Screen’s filmmaker networking is a chance for you to find that missing collaborator for your next project. We encourage artists from every discipline, at whatever level they are at in their career to attend, so we can work together to advance queer film.

“Director seeks editor for long nights in a post production office.”
“Cinematographer seeks gaffer to light up their scene.”
“Producer seeks actor for romantic comedy”

The event is completely free and open to filmmakers from every level. Space is limited, so book now: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-free

Head to queerscreen.org.au to sign up to the Filmmakers eNews to keep abreast of all the filmmaker opportunities available.

Presented with UTS Arts and Social Sciences

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm St | Australian Premiere
Tue Feb 18 8:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Scream

In 1985, Wes Craven’s unforgettable classic A Nightmare on Elm Street was followed up with Freddy’s Revenge, which quickly earned infamy as ‘the gayest horror film ever made’.

Despite performing well at the box office, the film was maligned by critics and horror fans due to its apparent gay subtext and homoerotic imagery. Mark Patton, the film’s leading man became a scapegoat for the film’s failure. In Reagan era USA, against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic, Patton endured relentless ridicule for his ‘gay’ performance, and with his promising career derailed, Patton left Hollywood. Over the course of the next thirty years on, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 has found a passionate fanbase in the queer horror movie community.

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street explores the once maligned sequel’s subsequent cult status, its firm place in the pantheon of queer horror, and traces Patton’s defiant return to Tinseltown to embrace his legacy as horror cinema’s first gay male scream queen.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Scream

Presented with FilmInk

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

To celebrate the opening of the 15th Apia Young at Heart Seniors Film Festival, join us for afternoon tea and a glass of sparkling wine followed by Never Too Late; a hilarious tale of a group of Vietnam vets breaking out of a nursing home. Director Mark Lamprell will be in attendance.

Palace Norton Street
Wednesday, February 19
3.00pm Afternoon tea
4.00pm Director’s introduction followed by Never Too Late

Synopsis:
It’s The Great Escape meets Grumpy Old Men in Mark Lamprell’s Never Too Late when four war buddies are faced with a new mission: to break out of their nursing home.

Having survived a Vietnamese POW camp, the ex-military men nicknamed, ‘The Chain Breakers’, reveal the spirit of rebellion is never age-specific. Featuring a stunning ensemble cast of actors almost all over 70 years old – Oscar-nominees Jacki Weaver and James Cromwell next to Jack Thompson, Roy Billing, and Minder’s Dennis Waterman – each has a dream to chase, and nursing home walls won’t stand in their way.

A delightful tale of love, friendship and determination, senior citizenship is no barrier for these rowdy larrikins who refuse to back down when it comes to achieving their dreams.

Pricing:
Palace Movie Club Gold Members $18.50
Seniors $19.00
Palace Movie Club Members $25.50
Concessions $27.50
General Admission $30.50

Festival website: https://youngatheart.net.au/

Sid & Judy
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

Transgender Shorts
Wed Feb 19 6:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Trans

Showcasing some of the best filmmaking about transgender people from around the world, this must-see package of beautifully realised shorts confronts bigotry, stereotypes, religion, cultural norms, and the medical establishment.

Firmly placing trans people and their diverse lives front and centre, this collection of shorts share a narrative throughline of transgender people – both real and fictional – reclaiming space for themselves in society, history, and life.

A trans woman’s compartmentalised life is shaken when her nighttime explorations of femininity come face-to-face with her closeted life as a mechanic in multiple award-winning Miller & Son, while Asia-Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance 2019 winner A Gift (Kado) portrays a young trans boy’s struggle to please societal expectations and feel comfortable in his own skin.

They’re joined by a trans woman celebrating finally legally changing her name but still can’t shake one negative voice in Fee, transgender performers – including Zackary Drucker (Transparent) and Angelica Ross (Pose) – recreate long-buried 1950s medical research interviews with trans people in Framing Agnes, and a mother’s earnest wish to make a Danish religious ceremony inclusive of her trans son in The Confirmation.

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

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

Tu Me Manques | Australian Premiere
Sat 15 Feb, 6pm & Wed 19 Feb, 8:30pm
at Event Cinemas George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-tmm

Based on a play that started a revolution in Bolivia, Tu Me Manques is an innovative film which turns a deeply personal story into a universal call for love and acceptance. Sebastian and Gabriel are two Bolivian men living in New York City falling in love, the complicated issue of Gabriel coming out to his family back home starts to drive a wedge in their fairy tale life stateside.

L.A. Outfest 2019 Winner Grand Jury Award Outstanding Screenwriting

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-tmm

Presented with Sydney Latin American Film Festival

Walking with Shadows | Australian Premiere
Wed Feb 19 8:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Shadows

Walking With Shadows portrays the impossible weight of living in the closet and the terrifying freedom of being out.

In the conservative nation of Nigeria, Adrian Njoko has created a life that fits the expectations of society and his family. However, it all comes crashing down when his sexuality and past is exposed to his loved ones.

This film is based on Jude Dibia’s 2005 novel of the same name, the first Nigerian novel cited to “humanise” a gay character. The empathy that permeates the novel is rich within this film. Ozzy Agu brings an aching yearning to the role of Adrian as he struggles to find the right thing to do for himself and his family.

Walking with Shadows explores the damage done by being forced to hide your true self and the strength it takes to move forward.

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

Circus of Books | Sydney Premiere
Thu Feb 20 6:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-cob

In acclaimed documentary Circus of Books, director Rachel Mason turns the camera on her parents, Karen and Barry to tell their unlikely tale of running the most successful gay adult bookstore in West Hollywood.

In the early 1980s, the couple desperately needed an income to support their young family and took over a local gay bookstore, renaming it Circus of Books. The store became a haven for the gay community to mingle and meet, as well as offering customers a wealth of erotica. In the mid-1980s, the strait-laced couple branched into film, becoming the largest distributors of gay video porn in the USA and even faced prison time in the conservative Reagan era!

The arrival of the internet sounded the death knell for Circus of Books, and the business’ bittersweet final days are depicted in this fascinating and personal film, which features stories and interviews with former patrons and employees including drag superstar Alaska Thunderfuck, adult film legend Jeff Stryker, and publishing titan Larry Flynt.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-cob

Presented with The Bookshop Darlinghurst

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

Monsoon | Australian Premiere
Sun 16 Feb, 6:00pm & Thu 20 Feb 7:00pm
Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Mons

Crazy Rich Asians’ sexy leading man Henry Golding stars in this poetic film from director Hong Khaou
(MGFF15’s Lilting) about a man who returns to his native Vietnam from the UK to distribute his
parents’ ashes. As part of his journey, he hooks up with an American, Lewis (Parker Stevens) who has
his own personal connection to the country – their liaison offering both men a sympathetic ear. Asking questions about home, place and identity, this beautifully-shot film, with the dreamy Golding at its heart, finds that the answers can sometimes be wondrously elusive.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Mons

Bonnie & Bonnie | Australian Premiere
Thu Feb 20 8:30 PM at Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-bnb

A modern-day Bonnie & Clyde set on the “wrong side of the river” in Hamburg. Seventeen year old Yara is trapped in a world dictated by cultural obligations to her strict Albanian family. When she meets Kiki, a free spirited bartender and petty thief, she is presented with a life she never expected. While Yara discovers an unfamiliar freedom in the new relationship, Kiki learns to belong to someone for the first time.

But when her secret is discovered by her domineering older brother, and becomes a shameful viral video, Yara is forced to make a life-changing decision. A thriller about the consequences of our actions, and the risks of being true to yourself even in the face of adversity.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-bnb

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
Sat 15 Feb 8:30pm
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

And Then We Danced | Sydney Premiere
Fri 21 Feb, 7:00pm & Tue 25 Feb 8:30pm
Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Danced

One of the most acclaimed LGBTIQ+ films of 2019, And Then We Danced is a powerful film about rivalry, desire and defiance. Goal-oriented Merab (an astonishing Levan Gelbakhiani) wants nothing more than to dance with the National Georgian Ensemble and has trained most his life for the honour. But all this is thrown into chaos when he falls for the carefree and rebellious newcomer Irakli (Bachi Valishvili). Levan Akin’s film sparked wild scenes of protest outside cinemas in conservative Georgia when it screened and is a mesmerising film that’s not to be missed.

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

A perverse cyberthriller about corporate espionage, data and hardcore pornography from one of France’s best contemporary filmmakers.

Up-and-coming executive Diane (Connie Nielsen) lets nothing stand in her way when it comes to landing the lucrative Tokyo Anime contract for the Volf Corporation, guaranteeing worldwide exclusive rights to the latest in cutting-edge hentai. Despised by her assistant (Chloe Sevigny) and engaged in a risky game of corporate espionage, her ruthless ambition meets its match in Elaine (Gina Gershon), the charismatic representative of an American Internet pornography site called Demonlover. However, Demonlover is only a front for an online portal to the Hellfire Club, a site which gives its users control over the next big thing in interactive extreme pornography: real women, tortured according to subscribers’ whims, in real time.

An astoundingly prescient exploration of data hoarding, surveillance capitalism and violence, director Olivier Assayas’ (Personal Shopper, Irma Vep) fascinating slice of cyberpunk realism preempts the state of contemporary pornography distribution and the abhorrence of the dark web.

“…as one of the few examples of a film confronting contemporary media, its portrayal of a world inundated by visual demons is frightening, confusing, and very, very real.” – Michael Joshua Rowin, Reverse Shot

Directed by Olivier Assayas | 129 minutes | R 18+
Country: France
Year: 2002
Language: French, English, Japanese

Note: Contains scenes of actual sexual activity and dramatised depictions of sexual violence.

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

The Shiny Shrimps – Encore Screening
Fri Feb 21 8:45 PM at Hayden Orpheum, Cremorne
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Shrimps

A massive box office hit in France, The Shiny Shrimps is a feel-good sports comedy, and unabashed escapist entertainment.

After Matthias, a hot-headed swimming champion at the end of his career makes a homophobic slur on national television 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.

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

Spiral | Australian Premiere
Fri Feb 21 9:00 PM at Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Spiral

In 1995, gay couple Malik and Aaron move from Chicago to small-town America with their teenage daughter, but there’s something unnerving about their overly friendly new neighbours.

After someone breaks in and spray-paints homophobic graffiti on their wall, and he witnesses a strange party next door, Malik is forced to reckon with past traumas as he tries to prove Rusty Creek is not what it seems. But how far is he willing to go to unravel the truth and protect his family, as his own life begins to spiral out of control?

Featuring a star-making performance from Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman (UnREAL, American Horror Story), and co-written by Colin Minihan (writer-director of What Keeps You Alive), Spiral is a spine-tingling exploration of what people will do in the name of fear and prejudice. A chilling and timely addition to the queer horror canon about the dangers of not learning from the past.

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

Static Vision and Film in Revolt are proud to present a special screening of Dan Schoenbrun’s fantastic Slenderman video essay, A SELF-INDUCED HALLUCINATION (IFFR 2019), followed by a panel on video editing and filmmaking hosted by festival programmers Conor Bateman (whose video essays Runtime and Hollow Jungle were featured on Sight and Sound’s “best video essays of 2019” list) and Felix Hubble.

Social media and digital folklore intertwine in this unique exploration of collective delusion and the Slenderman mythos. An assemblage of fractured YouTube clips – with sources ranging from corporate news services to virtually unknown vloggers – charts the impact of the infamous creepypasta’s reach both online and, more disturbingly, in reality. Unsettling and often hilarious, Schoenbrun’s documentary challenges us to consider how our personal experience influences our understanding of authority and truth on the internet.

“…a quietly ambitious marvel of editing, one that attempts to locate the contours of a new narrative structure within the cacophony of the internet. Yet for all its timeliness, its power lies within something much more elemental: the human need to tell stories.” – International Film Festival Rotterdam

Directed by Dan Schoenbrun | 74 minutes | 15+
Country: United States of America
Year: 2018
Language: English

For They Know Not What They Do | Australian Premiere
Sat Feb 22 1:30 PM at Event Cinema, Georges St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-For

With a focus on four gay and transgender Americans and their devout Christian families, this moving documentary shines a light on the love and acceptance possible within faith, while profiling the continued struggles for acceptance at the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, politics, and religion.

Without shying away from the sometimes devastating impact homophobia and transphobia can have on the most vulnerable in our community, For They Know Not What They Do is ultimately about the importance of resilience, family, and making amends for past mistakes.

As religious freedom is increasingly used as an excuse to target the LGBTIQ+ community here in Australia, director Daniel Karslake’s poignant follow-up to For the Bible Tells Me So (2007) is both timely and hopeful for the future.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-For

Presented with MCC Sydney and Equality Australia

An investigation of racial persecution in the form of a YouTube collage about a modern NFL legend.

Culling more than 700 video clips and placing them in dramatic, rapid, and radical juxtaposition, author David Shields explores the silence deployed by nonconformist NFL star Marshawn Lynch as a form of resistance. A powerful political parable about the American media-sports complex and its deep complicity with racial oppression.

“I couldn’t turn it off—smart, alive, brilliantly arranged, utterly fascinating.” – Guy Maddin

Directed by David Shields | 85 minutes | 15+ | Australian Premiere
Country: United States of America
Year: 2019
Language: English

Are You Proud? | Australian Premiere
Sat Feb 22 2:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-ayp

Witness the bold, vivid history of the UK Pride movement in Are You Proud?

This vital documentary tracks the rise of UK Pride from its beginnings through to the diverse range of Pride celebrations that exist today. It brings a thorough history of Pride to the screen, featuring interviews with some of the trailblazers of the 1970’s Gay Liberation Front, as well as present-day community leaders who are continuing the fight for equal rights.

Are You Proud? isn’t just a historical recount. It embraces intersectionality and the nuance of identity and experience to explore Pride with a breadth that reflects the complexity and diversity within theLGBTIQ+ community. At a time when the international stage is fraught with political battles for human rights, Are You Proud? shows us where we’ve come from and leaves us with the question of how to move forward.

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

Olivia
Sat Feb 22 3:30 PM at Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Olivia

“Does your heart beat when you see her? Does it stop when your hands touch? Does your throat close up when you speak to her?”

This 1951 French lesbian classic offers a tantalisingly strange portrayal of infatuation between a girl and a woman. Set in the 1800s, in a flamboyant French boarding school, Olivia tells the archetypal story of a forbidden attraction between student and teacher.

The pupils at this all-girls French boarding school are hopelessly devoted to one of two alluring teachers – Miss Julie or Miss Cara. When English schoolgirl Olivia arrives, tensions escalate as the new girl’s feelings for one teacher blossom and begin to grow. Based on the 1949 novel by Dorothy Bussy, Olivia is both surprisingly sexual, and expectedly understated.

The antics of the students (and the teachers) create a bizarre mixture of desire, scandal, flamboyance and morality. This 4k restoration offers a tantalising insight into the cultural mores surrounding representations of lesbianism in the 1950s.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Olivia

Presented with Cinema Reborn

A gonzo film diary about alienation set in Hong Kong’s contemporary art world.

Upon realising that the objective survey he intended to make about Art Basel Hong Kong – now the leading international art market in Asia – isn’t going according to plan, Andrew Hevia (co-producer of Moonlight) shifts focus, creating a personal and comedic study of heartbreak, culture shock, loneliness and the contemporary art world.

“Part travelogue, part essay film, and, in one surprising moment, part karaoke musical, Hevia’s doc is on-the-fly filmmaking that mirrors the all-encompassing attitude of its maker.” – Erik Luers, Filmmaker Magazine

Directed by Andrew Hevia | 69 minutes | 15+ | Australian Premiere
Country: United States of America
Year: 2019
Language: English, Cantonese

Asia Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance Shorts
Sat Feb 22 4:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-apqffa

Representing some of the best short films from the region, these Asian Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance (APQFFA) shorts highlight queer characters performing defiant resistance against cultural norms in their own unique ways.

Alongside APQFFA Best Short Film 2019 winner A Gift (Kado), about a young Indonesian trans boy’s struggle to please societal expectations and feel comfortable in his own skin, it also includes a slow-burn romance between a Maharashtrian single mother and her son’s school teacher in U for Usha, and the heartfelt tale of a Taiwanese supreme court justice who receives a letter from her estranged son on the eve of an important vote in From the Other Side.

It also features Military Dog from Taiwan, about a submissive soldier caught up in a kinky relationship; The Booth from India, about two women having secret rendezvous in a mall security frisking booth; and Rani from Pakistan, about a trans woman who discovers an abandoned baby in the streets and vows to raise them despite society’s prejudices.

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

A model/sex worker deconstructs their identity through film and social media.

Digital celebrity Eva Collé left a conservative hometown in Italy at 17 in search of freedom, winding up an eternal subletter in Berlin like so many pseudo vagabonds that have come before. Broadcasting virtually all aspects of their life online, Collé quickly built an audience captivated by an honest approach to their body, sex work, and drug use. To Collé’s Tumblr and Instagram followers, Collé’s unconventional life is like an inspiring film – one which has more plot strands and climaxes than any daily soap opera. An auto-biographical collaboration partially funded by Vice, Searching Eva sees Pia Hellenthal and Collé probing the distinction between persona and performance.

“As in Adina Pintilie’s Touch Me Not, in Searching Eva the audience’s boundaries, prejudices and tastes are most certainly challenged.” – Ola Salwa, Cineuropa

Directed by Pia Hellenthal | 84 minutes | 18+ | Australian Premiere
Country: Germany
Year: 2019
Language: English, German, Italian

Note: Contains scenes of actual sexual activity, intravenous drug use and references to sexual violence. Since completing the project, Adam – the subject of the film – has transitioned.

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

Los Fuertes | Australian Premiere
Sat 22 Feb 6:30pm & Mon 24 Feb 6:30pm
Event Cinemas, George St

BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Fuertes

This Chilean romantic drama is set against a stunning backdrop of crashing waves and rolling fog. Whilst visiting his sister in a remote south-Chilean town Lucas meets Antonio, an attractive local fisherman, and their chemistry is instantly palpable. But when their simmering sexual tension boils over and an intense romance blossoms, both men have major decisions to make as Lucas’ planned move abroad edges ever closer. Los Fuertes is about finding the inner strength to be yourself instead of bowing to expectations.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Fuertes

Presented with SBS and Sydney Latin American Film Festival

A uniquely digital musical that’s Perfect Blue by way of machinima.

Set in a smoke-and-mirrors realm of fantastical architecture, sentient drones and snow-deluged jungles, AIDOL revolves around the long and complex struggle between humanity and Artificial Intelligence, telling the story of a fading superstar, Diva, who enlists an aspiring AI songwriter to mount a comeback performance at the 2065 eSports Olympic finale.

“…cyborgian imaginary, exaggerated Orientalist reveries, and the poetics of gaming culture cohere into an intensely compelling psychodrama.” – Michael Eby, The Brooklyn Rail

Directed by Lawrence Lek | 83 minutes | 15+ | Australian Premiere
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2019
Language: English, Mandarin

HalloKween Shorts
Sat Feb 22 8:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-Hallo

Prepare for chills, thrills, and kills from this spine-tingling set of shorts. From a zombie trans woman to a gay wannabe serial killer, a lesbian monster in the closet and some seriously queer transformations are just a few of the things haunting this wonderfully weird collection of tales, drawing on the unique horrors, anxieties, and desires concerning LGBTIQ+ people.

Featuring Queer Palm 2019 nominee Jeremiah, about an Asian-American footballer who’s convinced he’s being watched as he grapples with his crush on another player, it’s joined by the humorously awkward serial killer romance of Killer Date, and a girl making a disturbing discovery during her first sexual encounter in the award-winning Switch.

Rounded out by a straight couple facing their privilege in Eat Rich, the magical infatuation of Tentatrice, a teenager tackling her monstrous fears in Something in the Closet, and a confrontation between tokenisation and jealousy – with the help of a bloody stapler – in The Office is Mine, this often hilarious yet spooky package is a must for genre fans.

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

The Ground Beneath My Feet
Sat Feb 22 8:30 PM at Event Cinema, George St
BOOK TIX: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-gbmf

Lola, portrayed with impeccable iciness by the exceptional Valerie Pachner, is torn between two German cities.

Rostock for high pressure consultancy work and an illicit, hotel-room-bound affair with her boss, Elise. And Munich, as guardian for her unstable and suicidal older sister, Conny.

When Conny makes another suicide attempt and is hospitalised, Lola throws herself even further into her work, to the point where she begins to question even her own sanity thanks to a series of mysterious, distressing calls from Conny that may not be as they appear.

Combined with the pressure of sleeping with her boss, aggressively climbing the corporate ladder and making the decision to care for her sister in-house, Lola is on a one-way track to oblivion, and even she isn’t sure she’ll make it out the other side. The stark environs and nuanced performance from Pachner serve up a tense, careful and provocative film.

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

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

A digital slacker double feature straight from America’s underground – a DIY proto-desktop film and the lo-fi/no budget answer to Good Time.

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0s & 1s

A loser’s life is thrown into disarray when he loses his laptop, in this proto-desktop film from the director of Spree (Sundance 2020) and Wobble Palace .

James Pongo has a cushy job, a busy social life and an alluring love interest, all the click of a mouse away. But when he wakes up after a night of reckless partying to discover that his computer is missing, James’ hyper-connected reality takes a humiliating nosedive. Pre-empting the rise of desktop cinema, incorporating animated elements into its contemporaries’ more formally pure aesthetic, Kotlyarenko’s debut feature is a unique, prescient and above-all hilarious look at the ways in which technology has irrevocably trans/disfigured our lives.

“Kotlyarenko sees the ubiquity of the computer screen as a chance to redefine the language of cinema.” – Dylan Schenker, Vice

Directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko | 83 minutes | 15+ | International Premiere
Country: United States of America
Year: 2011
Language: English

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Jobe’z World

A rollerblading drug dealer discovers the power of viral video in this throwback to VHS-era trash cinema.

Jobe (Jason Grisell), a mysterious middle-aged rollerblader, spends his days selling drugs to an eclectic mix of downtown weirdos. When he gets the call to make a special delivery to his favorite actor (Theodore Bouloukos) he’s completely starstruck. What starts off as an exciting encounter with an A-list celebrity quickly devolves into a nightmarishly comedic trainwreck.

“Jobe’z World was obviously made on a shoestring; nonetheless, it features an independent-cinema all-star team of performers and crew members who’ve worked on a large and loosely linked series of films over the past decade…” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Directed by Michael M. Bilandic | 67 minutes | 15+ | Australian Premiere
Country: United States of America
Year: 2018
Language: English

A filmed social experiment that begins to resemble an internet comments section.

A renowned method of experimental social psychology is put to the test when artist Leigh Ledare takes a diverse group of twenty-eight participants (representing a cross-section of Chicago), as well as ten psychologists trained in the method, and asks them to study themselves—an abstract “task” that pushes the participants to examine their identities, roles, desires and biases. Far more revelatory than a standard documentary, this high concept art project/film hybrid speaks to the state of contemporary socio-political discourse

“…a two-hour glimpse of what happens when ‘people stop being polite and start getting real’—or at least, when they think they do.” – Steve Macfarlane, BOMB Magazine

Directed by Leigh Ledare | 118 minutes | 15+
Country: United States
Year: 2018
Language: English

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

No Box For Me. An Intersex Story | Australian Premiere
Sun Feb 23 1:00 PM at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-NoBox

The story of four different young people in France and Switzerland, all of whom also happen to be intersex.

The documentary is framed through a growing friendship between Deborah, who is writing her dissertation on the experience of being intersex, and M, who is struggling with acceptance both internally and externally.

Through intimate interviews and footage, we are given a careful, thought-provoking and informative window into their lives, along the way, opening up a viewpoint that is rarely spoken about and for generations has been seen as taboo by society in general. With a mixture of warmth and intelligence, we are given insights and come to new understandings that pave the path for a brighter, braver and more diverse future.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-NoBox

Presented with Intersex Human Rights Australia and Human Rights Watch

Two Japanese micro-influencers have a disappointing holiday abroad.

Missing phones, rooftop noise gigs, and a sudden dance sequence await two friends who win a trip to Singapore, as they get lost amongst the country’s tourist traps and urban sprawl. A departure from Daisuke Miyazaki’s low-key dramas about Japanese youth (Yamato and the upcoming Videophobia), Tourism is an amusing riff on materialism, alienation, and shopping centre design.

“Tourism isn’t a romantic comedy, rather it’s an exceedingly simple road movie that is no less entrancing for its lack of dramatic ambition” – Sean Gilman, MUBI Notebook

Directed by Daisuke Miyazaki | 77 minutes | 15+ | Australian Premiere
Country: Japan
Year: 2018
Language: Japanese, English, Malay

Gay Chorus Deep South | Sydney Premiere
Sun Feb 23 3:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-gcds

* This screening will be preceded by a performance by Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir *

MGFF20 audiences will be moved by Gay Chorus Deep South, an award-winning and uplifting documentary that hits all the right notes.

David Charles Rodrigues’ film follows the marvellous San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus on their 2017 Lavender Pen Tour of America’s Bible Belt, devised in response to the increase in faith-based anti-gay laws introduced following the divisive presidential election of 2016.

The chorus’ 300 singers travel from Mississippi, through Tennessee and Alabama to the Carolinas – states with some of America’s most restrictive anti-discrimination laws. Along the way, they attempt to reconnect with the churches, communities and family members that previously rejected them, with their soaring vocals providing a rousing gospel soundtrack to their journey. As they complete their tour, the singers soon come to realise that the things that divide can be set aside by the power of music, humanity and of course, a little drag.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-gcds

Presented with Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir

An intimate look at the lives of Ghanaian internet scammers.

Uncovering the secret lives of Ghanaian con-artists who trawl dumped e-waste for data, this intricate and meditative documentary centers on those who catfish unsuspecting Americans and Europeans as a means of escaping extreme poverty. A hyper-real aesthetic complicates Ben Asamoah’s exploration of his desperate subjects, as the film begins to resemble a narrative feature.

“Sakawa is compassionate without resorting to maudlin, one-dimensional sympathy, as dignifying of its subjects as it is willing to show some indelicate realities.” – Beatrice Loayza, MUBI Notebook

Directed by Ben Asamoah | 81 minutes | 15+ | NSW Premiere
Country: Belgium, Netherlands
Year: 2018
Language: Akan, English, Ewe

Masterclass with Omar Zúñiga | MGFF 2020
Sun Feb 23 4:00 PM at Event Cinemas Set Bar
90 Mins

This is a FREE event, bookings essential:
http://bit.ly/MGFF20-free

Join the writer and director of Los Fuertes and San Cristóbal (MGFF16) for an immersive master class on what it takes to direct a personal story.

Omar holds an MFA from New York University’s Graduate Film Program. He premiered his short San Cristóbal at the Berlinale in 2015, where it won the Teddy Award. His debut feature film Los Fuertes is currently taking him worldwide! He is a founding partner in Cinestación, a production company that creates bold auteur filmmaking in Chile and Latin America.

This is a FREE event, bookings essential:
BOOK NOW: http://bit.ly/MGFF20-free

Lesbian Shorts
Sun Feb 23 4:00 PM at Event Cinemas, George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Les

Capturing the experiences of women caught at a crossroads in life, these shorts reflect how even small decisions can affect others. Offering insights into the worlds of women from across this globe, this package explores the multiplicity of lesbian life, both serious and hilarious.

Beginning with the beautiful My World in Yours, about a Palestinian asylum seeker caught between the life she’s built with her girlfriend in Sweden and the woman she left behind, it’s followed by two Muslim women having some overly familiar pillow talk after a hook-up in I Know Her, an older woman reminiscing about her first love during her Catholic school days in Adeline, and a conflicted woman going through IVF treatment in The Conrads.

They’re joined by a couple dissecting their jumbled breakup in After You Left, a student finding the magic secret to getting her mind off of her straight girl crush in Misdirection, and the antics of a busy-body thirteen year-old girl named Gracie who’s hellbent on “saving” the soul of an agnostic lesbian in the hilarious and moving God’s Gracie.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Les

Presented with Star Observer

Fabulous | Australian Premiere
Sun Feb 23 5:30 PM at Dendy Cinemas Newtown
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-Fab
Presented with BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation

Follow the legendary Lasseindra Ninja, founder of the House of Ninja in Paris, on her triumphant return to French Guiana.

Lasseindra left for NYC at a young age to spread her wings and discover who she was. There she discovered the underground ballroom scene, and the rest is history. She returns home to bring the art of voguing to the young LGBTIQ+ community who still have to contend with cultural attitudes toward masculinity and homosexuality. Voguing isn’t just dance moves, it’s attitude.

Together, Lasseindra and her young crew set about demonstrating their authenticity with love, pride and pure fabulousness.

“[Fabulous is] a tale of love and optimism that is spread not by some well-meaning stranger, but by one of their own. Lasseindra’s own humility is another reason that this journey of hers makes for such compelling viewing” – Queer Guru

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-Fab

An email to Miranda July kickstarts an amusing road trip in this Canadian quasi-doc.

When a Québécois filmmaker decides her creative practice needs a fresh start, she emails Miranda July out of the blue and, before getting any response, drives to Los Angeles with her cinematographer (Isabelle Stachtchenko, the film’s actual cinematographer). More than just a travelogue, Sophie Bédard Marcotte’s film is a playful take on documentary clichés (landscape film, op doc, the ‘cowboy film’) and a gently moving film about creative partnerships.

“Combining techniques of video installation art and documentary investigation, L.A. Tea Time is more than just a journey to meet a hero, or a journey to find one’s self; it’s a subtle process of finding the means to make sense of all the weird ideas we have rattling around our brains.” – Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Screen Anarchy

Directed by Sophie Bédard Marcotte | 82 minutes | 15+ | Australian Premiere
Country: Canada
Year: 2019
Language: French, English

15 Years | Australian Premiere
Sun Feb 23 6:00 PM at Event Cinemas George St
BOOK TIX: bit.ly/MGFF20-15y

Ruggedly handsome Yoav (Oded Leopold) is having a midlife crisis. Everything around him reminds him of his age, from the wrinkles on his face, his fifteenth anniversary with boyfriend Dan (Udi Persi), to seemingly everyone in his life having kids, including best friend Alma (Ruti Asarsai). The last thing he wants is to be a daddy – in either sense of the word – but when it becomes clear he and Dan want different things, Yoav must confront his inner demons as his life begins to unravel around him.

As he finds himself drawn further and further down a path of self-destruction, Yoav must grapple with his own insecurities, while Dan and Alma pick up the pieces in his wake. Exploring the fallout one person’s decisions can have on the lives of those around them, 15 Years is a compelling drama about learning to let go of the past – and knowing when to hang on.

BOOK NOW: bit.ly/MGFF20-15y

Presented with Dayenu Sydney