Mardi Gras Film Festival 2012

17 Feb-03 Mar ,

Gay & Lesbian

The festival of queer cinema looks to the future

First published on 18 Jan 2012. Updated on 4 Mar 2012.

This event has finished

Coming out stories: they’re old hat, says Queer Screen director Lex Lindsay. “We aren’t focusing on coming out and the struggles of being gay anymore, but rather more rounded stories that happen to include gay characters in pivotal roles and this is where we believe mainstream cinema is going.”

This year's Mardi Gras Film Festival opens with the Australian premiere of Dirty Girl. It’s a quirky movie about two outcasts in high school; the teenage “dirty” girl and the young fat gay boy that everyone ignores. Another featured film is the documentary called Hollywood to Dollywood, about two twin brothers who adore Dolly Parton and follow her around America in their RV, Jolene.

American actor Jesse Archer, who has appeared in a number of very popular queer films over the past ten years, will present his film Going Down in La-La Land. There are special forums on lesbian science fiction and homophobia in the film industry.

To close the festival, German film Romeos is the story of a young transgender person who is in the process of transitioning into a man. It follows his process and how he finds himself being attracted to a closeted gay man. “It is completely hope filled and just ends the festival on this really kind of gorgeous sense that ‘this is the future’,” says Lindsay. “We’ve stopped caring about who is who and who does what, and started to experience loving relationships openly.”

Both sessions of “Hollywood to Dollywood” (Wed 22 Feb at Dendy Newtown and Sat 25 Feb Cinema Paris) are proudly presented in association with Time Out so make sure you grab a free copy of Time Out when you go and see Dolly!

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Words by Kelsey Colt