Films about the LGBTQ experience in all its shadings and dimensions, and sharing that experience in a darkened cinema with kindred spirits, is an event still rare enough to leave the house for. No festival knows this better than Boston’s Wicked Queer Film Festival, which has for 39 years programmed a diverse lineup of LGBTQ comedy, drama, documentary and shorts from around the world for area audiences.
This year’s Wicked Queer runs March 31 to April 9 and screens films in four venues: the Brattle Theatre, the Paramount Center, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art.
“My goal, always, is to bring to light stories you don’t often hear,” says Wicked Queer Executive Director Shawn Cotter. To that end, audiences will get to see 24 features including many fresh from the major festival circuit and 12 different programs of short films including works from first time filmmakers, trans-themed films and a popular program of shorts that explore being queer and Muslim. There’s even a program of shorts that defy categorization called “GTFO.”
Among the buzz-worthy feature films is “Joyland,” Pakistani director Saim Sadiq’s acclaimed debut about a young married man and the trans woman he meets after secretly joining an erotic dance theatre. “Joyland” received a standing ovation when it premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and won the coveted Jury Prize and the Queer Palm prize. But the global attention caused religious groups in Pakistan to demand that the government ban the film. Although the ban has since been reversed, it has made it difficult for audiences to see this groundbreaking love story in their native country.
Another acclaimed international title is “A Place of Our Own” from India. It’s the second feature following 2017’s “Checkmate” from the Ektara Collective, an independent collaborative of filmmakers creating films about and with marginalized and disenfranchised communities.
Set in Bhopal, in the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh, “A Place of Our Own” follows trans women Laila (Manisha Soni) and Roshni (played by the single-named Muskaan) as they seek housing after their landlord evicts them without notice. The drama highlights the daily harassment and discrimination they face but it is ultimately a hopeful film about survival, friendship and joy.
“Blue Jean,” the debut feature from British filmmaker Georgia Oakley. made a splash at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Giornate degli Autori People’s Choice Award and was acquired for US distribution by Magnolia Pictures. The story is set in 1988 England after Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government adopted the infamous anti-gay Section 28. Jean (Rosy McEwen), a gym teacher whose sexuality is a secret from her colleagues, immediately feels the threat of being exposed at work and losing her job. She clashes with her girlfriend Viv (Kerrie Hayes) who is boldly out and takes a more active role in opposing the anti-gay law. When a new teenage girl at Jean’s school becomes the target of bullies, Jean is challenged to take action or remain silent.
American writer-director Matthew Fifer, who made his feature debut with “Cicada” which played at Wicked Queer in 2021, returns with “Treatment,” an LGBTQ-themed psychological horror film about a gay millennial played by Cole Doman who moves back home following a breakup only to discover that the town is shrouded in a violent, homophobic past.
A hit at the recent Provincetown International Film Festival, writer-director-star Todd Flaherty’s “Chrissy Judy” is a dark comedy about a pair of friends and drag performers in New York City whose relationship abruptly changes. When Chrissy (Wyatt Fenner) gives up performing to settle down with a boyfriend, Judy (played by Flaherty) is left to go it alone and questions his choices and his life as a queer artist.
From director-writer Scout Durwood comes her debut feature “Youtopia.” In this scrappy sci-fi comedy, Durwood plays herself, taking stock of her life after her girlfriend suddenly dumps her. She inadvertently becomes the leader of a hipster millennial cult that deals with the multiverse and aliens. As members of the cult start to disappear and the end of civilization hangs in the balance, Scout is forced to reckon with her own journey and self-discovery.
Another unexpected hit at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival was “The Blue Caftan,” director Maryam Touzani’s feature about a love triangle between a Moroccan dressmaker, his dying wife and his young male apprentice. The film was Morocco’s official submission for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards.
Cotter says he aims at each Wicked Queer festival to convey a sense of history for younger film audiences. This time, the throwback film is “Daddy and the Muscle Academy,” director Ilppo Pohjola’s 1991 documentary about Tom of Finland, the pseudonym of Finnish gay erotic artist Touko Laaksonen. Made shortly before the artist’s death in 1992, the film charts his contributions to erotic art and queer culture. It screens April 9 at the MFA and will include a panel discussion.
Find complete schedule and more here.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
