We are introduced to Eulalia as she sits in front of a luminated screen in a dark room. She scrolls through messages shared with her son dating back years, left unread or responded to. As she scrolls further and further back, the flurry of words blur until we reach one message. “I’m so disappointed in you”. Director Jorge Pelicano takes a look at the relationship between a mother and her son who are at odds over his profession as a pornstar in Until Porn Do Us Part (Até Que o Porno Nos Separe) which focuses on the way in which a family can become strained and look to rekindle the love for each ..read more

The last few years have seen an influx of biographical films focusing on popular figures who have had to navigate around a rapid rise to stardom. Perhaps, rather ironically, it is in these biopics wherein the public is given insight into the toxicity and pressures that accompany fame, especially when entangled with life’s complexities. From Alan Turing, Colette, and Elton John, the telling of these stories are also becoming a way of reviving suppressed queer history. Austrian musician and filmmaker Reinhold Bilgeri explores the fascinating story of Erik Schinegger, a man who was once a world c ..read more

Love Is Strange follows a same-sex couple, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina), who live in New York City and decide to get married after spending 39 years together. Despite their initial wedded bliss, trouble looms ahead, as George works as a music teacher at a Catholic school. When news of his same-sex marriage arrives at the archdiocese’s office, George loses his job, forcing him and Ben into unpleasant living circumstances as they can no longer afford their living space, and have to seek refuge in the homes of their friends and family. Ben ends up staying with his nephew and his ..read more

Galore directed by Lazlo Tonk and Dylan Tonk documents an extraordinary year of change for Sander den Baas. Adopting the drag name Lady Galore, Sander is a prominent name within the European drag community. Despite her success, Sander is longing for change, particularly in regards to his health and lifestyle, but he is worried such changes will have detrimental effects on Lady Galore’s career. In just over an hour, we see Lady Galore travel the world to perform for anticipating fans and Sander implementing the positive life changes he wants to achieve; intertwining them to make an inspiring st ..read more

Director Leon Le paints a beautiful, intimate story of desire set during 1980’s Saigon. By taking tradition and modern ideals, Song Lang is able to find a sensitive medium between two opposing worlds and two very opposing lead characters. Screening this December at the Merlinka Festival, Song Lang may be one of the most serene, most impactful the festival will have to offer. Following the life of Dung “Thunderbolt’ (Lien Binh Phat) , an underground debt collector who spends his days working and his nights at his rundown home, playing video games. He seems caught in the same daily routine unti ..read more

Mark Saxenmeyer’s documentary The Queens accounts the history of the coveted Miss Continental crown, an acclaimed annual female impersonation pageantry in Chicago with winners including RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni, Naysha Lopez and Brooke Lynn Hytes. Founded by Jim Flint in 1980, the new year will welcome its 40th year as well as its 40th crown winner. While chronicling the history of the pageant itself, Saxenmeyer focuses on the most important part of the competition: the Queens. The film begins two months before the pageant, the time leading up to the pageant is used to divide the film into se ..read more

With a glimmer of hope for a more accepting world, Serbia has gone to great lengths to lessen the pressure of it’s questionable past regarding LGBTQ issues. Long periods of great pressure are what it takes to produce diamonds, of course, and the International Queer Film Festival Merlinka is one such gem. Named for Vjeran Miladinovic Merlinka, a transgender sex worker who was murdered 16 years ago, this festival now proudly showcases dozens of queer and LGBT themed films, including over 100 short films. Many of these works have also screened at some of the largest and most prestigious festivals ..read more

All of a sudden, there is an unexpected resurgence of interest in the work of Emily Dickinson within pop culture. Two years ago, Terrence Davies released his long gestating passion project A Quiet Passion, which seems to have initiated a newfound interest into digging deep into the poet’s life, beyond the oft-repeated claims that she was a recluse with limited success while alive. Apple launched their new streaming service with Dickinson, a blackly comic teen drama that imagines the poet’s younger years as an alienated, struggling writer that’s far closer to a comedy like Booksmart than a stuf ..read more

With the rise of right wing politics and discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws across the southern states of America in recent years, it is no surprise that groups have decided to take action to try to counter the hate. Following the journey of conductor Tim Seelig who brought together a group of gay performers from all walks of life to perform across the Deep South. Director David Charles takes us along on this journey that sees members of the group face old demons and deal with troubled pasts. The film has already been shown across America and is soon to be premiering in Belgrade, Serbia at the int ..read more

Walk on Water follows Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi), an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, who works as a hitman to neutralize enemies of his country. After his wife commits suicide, his superiors decide to place him on a less challenging case, to take out an elderly Nazi war criminal. In order to do this, Eyal befriends the criminal’s grandchildren under the guise of a tour guide. Although he doesn’t forget his responsibilities, he finds true friendship in Axel (Knut Berger) and Pia (Caroline Peters), the grandchildren, who help to show him that most Germans in modern times no longer h ..read more