In 1981 Vito Russo adapted his travelling lecture The Celluloid Closet into a book of the same name. The lecture and the book represent the first concerted effort to look at the history of cinema from a queer perspective. Years later the book was (…) Continue Reading »

Kaleem Aftab is a freelance journalist. He writes primarily for the Independent and is a contributing editor to Interview Magazine, film editor of VS Magazine and editor-at-large for www.the-talks.com. He also regularly contributes to Filmmaker, The National (UAE) and Indiewire. How did you became a film critic? Before I went to university to study law, I interned at the Morning Star in (…) Continue Reading »

Out To Win is a pumped-up documentary, primed to convince sports fans of the need to address homophobia within various games and to praise and support LGBT players brave enough to come out. Whether it converts non-believers into sports fans is another matter. I found the opening montage of out-and-proud athletes strutting their stuff (in a sporty way) to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ to be rather (…) Continue Reading »

In a documentary with a deliberately suspect premise – one man seeks to de-gay his voice – that quickly gives way to a fun and enlightening delivery, David Thorpe uses voice as a hook to examine gay male identity – or is it gay? It turns out that 40% of male voices perceived to be gay belong to men who identify as straight and vice-versa. One explanation offered by one of the language experts (…) Continue Reading »

A film described as ‘unflinching’ is of course one that makes you flinch. The four shorts and one music video in BFI Flare’s ‘Dark Rivers of the Heart’ programme all deliver on those face-screwing, look-away-can’t-look-away moments. Kai Stänicke’s eye-catching promo for The Hidden Cameras’ Carpe Jugular features a sexually democratic dance floor where everyone gets off with each other, except (…) Continue Reading »

Whatever you do, you will always be some man’s bitch. This is an observation coolly relayed by a female character in Céline Sciamma’s five-act drama, set in the outskirts of present day Paris and centring on a sixteen year old girl. Every scene (…) Continue Reading »

BFI Flare: fiveFilms4freedom FiveFilms4freedom (say it ten times) is a showcase of short films selected from this year’s BFI Flare festival to be promoted by the British Council and hosted online via the BFI player. On Wednesday 25th March 2015 the two organisations are asking people from more than 50 countries and regions to participate in the simultaneous viewing of the programme. This (…) Continue Reading »

Burroughs: The Movie, directed by Howard Brookner, is a compilation of film footage, photographs, and sound recordings collected in St Louis, New York, Colorado, and London during 1978-1983. Aaron Brookner, the director’s nephew, raised funds to restore and rerelease the documentary on the occasion of Burrough’s 100th birthday in 2014 (Howard Brookner died in 1989, Burroughs died in 1997). On (…) Continue Reading »

The team’s films to watch - Still Alice, Hyena, Dream Catcher Continue Reading »

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is ‘the final part of a trilogy about being a human being’, divided into over 30 self-contained scenes. In his note of intention, director Roy Andersson lists his influences: Bruegel the Elder’s painting ‘Hunters in the Snow’, in which four birds seem to observe a village scene from above; the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) art movement, (…) Continue Reading »