Drag: Full of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent
Drag. What started as an acronym for “dressed as a girl” in recent history has grown to be one of the most powerful tools for queer expression, queer joy, and motivating political change.
Category: Issue 4: Pride
Cannes 2022: The Life Cycle of a Film
On the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival, a friend was beside me and said, “It’s like I’m just getting used to and familiar with it all, and it’s coming to an end”. During our three brief days at the festival, in addition to watching the films themselves, we …
Cannes 2022: The Last Picture Show (1971)
It was surprising to watch The Last Picture Show (1971) as the last picture show on the beach at Cannes. It was a fantastic experience to simultaneously enjoy the seascape and an excellent film. Jun 17, 2022
Cannes 2022: Broker (2022)
Broker (2022) is another example of director Koreeda’s personal style. Controversial characters – such as baby traders and mothers who abandon their children – are sympathetically portrayed in his film, with warm humanity. Jun 17, 2022
Review: The Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps (2022)
When The Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps (2022, dir. Cedric Le Gallo and Maxime Govare) opens with a chorus of men in drag lip-syncing to Hit Me Baby One More Time, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were about to watch a light-hearted, camp comedy. Which you are but, the …
Review: The Birdcage (1996)
“It’s Like Riding a Psychotic Horse towards a Burning Stable.” Mike Nichols’ 1996 film The Birdcage is extremely ahead of its time as a queer film. Jun 17, 2022
Review: Modern Love Mumbai (2022)
Love, food and music have always been intertwined and Modern Love Mumbai’s “Baai” episode perfectly encapsulates this. It reminds me of a quote from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, that says “If music be the food of love, play on; / Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, / The appetite may …
Feminist Ways of Subversion
In classical Hollywood films, “A woman’s attempt to be both subject and object of the gaze has backfired” (Balsom, 2020). In patriarchal culture, female characters can only be gazed at, they don’t have the same right to gaze as the male ones do. Jun 17, 2022
Visions of Gideon
Our previous issue – The Gaze – was about the act of looking and many of our contributors turned to Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire. While reading their pieces, I was reminded of another successful queer film: Call Me By Your Name (2017, dir. Luca Guadagnino). The …
Female Gaze in Portrait of a Lady on Fire
With the modernization of society and the surge in feminist and LGBTQ+ movement, we’ve seen more and more lesbian stories moved to big screens, either represented correctly or falsely. Jun 17, 2022
Heartstopper: Pulling at the Heartstrings of the Queer Community
The new smash hit Netflix production Heartstopper was released on the 22nd of April, 2022. In the short time span since its release however, it has won the affections of not only the queer community, but the world. Jun 17, 2022
Queer Cinema: A Personal Memoir
Growing up as a creative teenager in Dundee in the early 1970s wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, and I’m fond of saying that my life didn’t begin until I went to university in Glasgow in 1975 and landed feet-first in the explosion of culture that was the city …
“That’s me!” Representation in Velvet Goldmine (1998)
Halfway through Todd Haynes’ glam-rock biopic Velvet Goldmine (1998), teenage Arthur (Christian Bale) sits with his parents in their suburban living room, watching a televised press interview with glam rock icon, Brian Slade (Jonathan Meyers). As Slade languidly expounds his views on marriage and sexual orientation – “Most people are …
Refusing the Gaze
If we are used to Ang Lee’s straightforward portrayal of bodily exposure in Lust, Caution, then the gay-focused Brokeback Mountain could be described as an atypical Ang Lee-style queer film. The sexual images that receive the gaze in Lust, Caution are that refuse the gaze in Brokeback Mountain, which uses …
Translation: New Visions Short Film Competition
Our Chief Editor, Niamh Carey-Furness (she/her) sat down with Andrew Campbell (he/them), Youth and Events Manager at Edinburgh International Film Festival, to talk about New Visions Short Film Competition. New Visions is a youth-focussed short film competition created by the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF). Running since 2018, the competition …
New Visions Short Film Competition
Our Chief Editor, Niamh Carey-Furness (she/her) sat down with Andrew Campbell (he/them), Youth and Events Manager at Edinburgh International Film Festival, to talk about New Visions Short Film Competition. New Visions is a youth-focussed short film competition created by the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF). Running since 2018, the competition …
