The Pride Queer Film Festival will be returning from 3rd – 9th March 2021, and they’ve just announced their massive line up of films.
With support from Film Freeway, and a range of independent film makers, the festival will be screening 6 feature films and 42 short films. These films will showcase the very best of International Queer Cinema, premiering in Western Australia across seven days of the festival, with proceeds going to Pride WA.
After a very complex 2020, Film Festival Artistic Director, Mark Reid was keen to see what level of films would be submitted for the 2021 festival. “It was really exciting to see the number of amazing films that were submitted for consideration, and it made the task of putting the program together a real pleasure.” Reid said.
The festival also has some new initiatives this year including a filmmaking master-class and an expansion to the Mid-West region.
“2021 promises to be an exciting year for PQFF as we grow and expand and determine who and what we are. This year we will venture to Geraldton with some of our films in May and are thrilled to take the Festival to regional Western Australia.” Reid said.
“We will also for the first time be holding a Masterclass for queer film makers featuring John Sheedy, the director of H is for Happiness, Erin Good, award winning writer and director, and Adam Noviello, writer, producer and star of last year’s opening night film Spencer.” Reid said.
“When developing the Festival for 2021, we wanted to offer Perth audiences films that were thought provoking, emotional, funny and captivating. We are also growing and developing our local queer filmmakers with the full day Masterclass and expanding our audience as we head to regional WA.”
Appearing on RTRFM 92.1’s All Things Queer on Wednesday morning Reid chatted to hosts Leigh Hill and Kieran Trembath and shared some more information about the popular festival including how it was started as a project at the WA AIDS Council, where Reid was a staff member for many years.
“I saw there was a need for a queer film festival, a lot of the other states in Australia have had them for a number of years, but we’ve never been able in Perth to create a festival that brought new films to Perth.”
After learning how other prominent LGBTIQ focused film festivals were managed and developed, Reid went about setting up a festival for Perth.
One of the big steps of putting on a film festival is deciding which films will be part of the program, Reid revealed that over 250 works were submitted for 2021, and he and his team had to watch all the submissions.
“Once they’re submitted it’s a process of going through them all and watching them, and making a decision about which are the right ones, making a list of what we think for a festival will be interesting for an audience in Perth.” Reid said.
The festival director said he was particularly excited about the nights that focused on films about how Pride is celebrated around the world, and the works that explored different perspectives of being transgender.
“One of the things that I was really excited about this year was the amount of trans filmmaking that’s been done in the last twelve months, there’s some beautiful films that have been done that are both documentary and film based that tell some really interesting stories,” Reid said.
The full program for this year’s Festival is out now. See more below and head to the bottom of the article for ticket links.
PRIDE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL
Wednesday 3 March, 7.30pm (8.00pm Film)
QUEER OPENINGS
A Skeleton in the Closet (Argentina) Nicolas Tete
Leeway (New Zealand) Roberto Nascimento
Meta (United States) Sydne Horton
Thursday 4 March, 6.30pm (7.00pm Film)
QUEER PRIDE
We Are Not Who We Say We Are (Honduras) Manu Valcarce
Out of the Closets, into the streets (Australia) Jary Nemo
The Gaytriarchy and why we need PRIDE (Australia) TJ Narula
March for Dignity (UK/Russia) John Eames
Friday 5 March, 6.30pm (7.00pm Film)
QUEER LOVE
Love, and Other Tragedies (US) Nicholas Swatz
Pastry (UK) Eduardo Berreto
Buono Notte (Italy) Piergiergio Seidta
The Last Gift (US) Alex Preston
Kapana (Namibia) Pillipe Talavera
Saturday 6 March, 3.30pm (4.00pm Film)
QUEER TRANS
Fairyocious (France) Fabien Ara
Kapaemahu (US) Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe WIlson
Satan’s Tears (US) Andrew Lush
My Friend Artemis (Norway) Mads Sterri Nilsen
Traviatas (Mexico) Manueal Alejandro Villalabos Gonzalez
Tuesday Morning (US/France) Amber Chilton
Crossings (France) Amandine Le Goff
Saturday 6 March, 6.30pm (7.00pm Film)
DARK QUEER STORIES
Irreversible (Italy) Matteo De Libertaro
Any Given Night (Spain) Juanlu Moreno Some
Sparks (Israel) Netta Shalef
Proprio ‘Self’ (Brazil) Rafael Thoaseto
Fresh Meat (Brazil) Marcus Neto
Sunday 7 March, 3.30pm (4.00pm Film)
QUEER MEN
Mall (Germany) Jerry Hoffman
Only Human (Slovakia) Likas Vizner
Iftah (Israel) Moti Rachamim
Octopus and Moray (Germany) Sebastian Husak
Sunday 7 March, 6.30pm (7.00pm Film)
QUEER WOMEN
The Breath of Celia (Spain) Miguel Angel Barrosso
The Rendezvous (Germany) Mo Jaeger
Halwa (US) Gayatri Bajpai & Nirav Bhakta
In Orbit (Ireland) Katie McNeice
Fight For Love (Canada) Maude Robillard
Procreare (Brazil) Alice Stamato
Fallen (Germany) Julian Weinert
Roadkill (US) Aliza Brugger
Love X Bites (Myanmar) M. Noe & Yupar Morno
Monday 8 March, 6.30pm (7.00pm Film)
QUEER STORIES
Rapsodia (Italy) Dario Lauritano
Monsieur (France) Thomas Ducastel
Plastic Boy (UK) Sam Plommer
Tuesday 9 March, 6.30pm (7.00pm Film)
QUEER AUSTRALIA
Bender Alex Cardy
Face the day Angela Blake
Statement Lex Middleton
Hush Darling Saara Lamberg
Yesterday, my dead boyfriend messaged me on Grindr Curtis Lee
Christian in the Closet Joel Stephen Fleming
The Nearing of Jordyn Simmons Jeremiah Nickols
The Test Jessica Smith
Bad Lesbian Michelle Douglas
Sparkles Jacqueline Pelczar
The Backlot Perth is at 21 Simpson St, West Perth. Head over to TryBooking.com or search for PRIDE Queer Film Festival to secure your tickets today.
OIP Staff
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