Mardi Gras Film Festival

cover image from teenage kicks

words by o.k.glynn

Sydney has a lot to be proud of; the bridge, the opera house, the fact that we successfully turned an old sewage disposal area into a world famous beach…and really, the list does go on.

But one thing Sydney can also add to the ever-growing mix of fab is that it plays home to the Mardi Gras Film Festival hosted by Queer Screen, one of the world’s largest platforms for queer cinema.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; we are making progress in our march toward equality, but there is something so beautifully poignant about this upcoming festival.

Teenage Kicks hits the Travelling Film Festival #Toowoomba this Sunday at the The Strand Cinema. Come along!

A post shared by Teenage Kicks (@teenagekicksmovie) on Oct 6, 2016 at 10:17pm PDT

It gives a chance for members of the LGBTQI community to get across their stories and experiences through the medium of film, allowing everyone to understand and respect the difficulties that can be faced in a matter of moments when people find out things about you that, really, should be fine, but perhaps aren’t.

There is a huge and beautiful line up of films across many different cinemas, and of course, there will be a strong political undertone to really jam your teeth into.

You’ll pack in the popcorn and the malteasers, but don’t be surprised if you hardly take a bite; in the words of Sydney-based Director Craig Boreham, “The experience of gender and sexually diverse communities is so varied and evolving. It’s fantastic to have a place to be able to come together and share the lived experiences of our community around the world.”

Each of these films will present a tiny cross-section of what it means to truly follow your heart and live as unapologetically as you dare.

To slide in my picks of the festival, I’d highlight the broodingly sexy first-time feature film of Boreham called Teenage Kicks, playing at Event Cinemas on George Street on Tuesday 21st of Feb.

An intricate and honest foray into the world of burgeoning sexuality, it will pull at your emotions like cotton on barbed wire.

Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) has an entry this year on Saturday, February 18th at Event called The Wedding Banquet, exploring the world of pretending to be what is expected of you on the surface in an effort to minimise familial discourse.

There are movies that explore long-term relationships and the inevitable effects of temptation in Me, Myself and Her, and what it is to be an upper-class teenager battling with his parents over his desire to dress in women’s clothing in Don’t Call Me Son.

It can be expected that these films will deal with serious and life-changing issues, as they are made in an effort to display the LGBTQI community as it truly is and the struggles they face in their lives and in love.

But there will be wit and satire and a lot of laughter too, especially in the shape of Women Who Kill, when a crime podcast host lets her work creep into paranoia in her real life relationships.

For the full list of movies, times and places, head over HERE and secure your tickets! They’re selling like hot little buns, because everyone loves a good story; and this festival is full of the most beautiful and heart stirring real-life stories that you could hope to find, straight from the source.