“Alice Júnior” Review: The Trans Girl Coming-of-Age Romcom of My Dreams
Stop what you’re doing right now and watch Alice Júnior on Netflix.
Film
Wonder Woman’s Star-Spangled Butt Has Always Been a Canvas for Feminist Hope and Male Misogyny
Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon were not, of course, the first men to use Wonder Woman’s body — and especially her butt — as a blank page onto which they could project their feelings about Wonder Woman, specifically, and women, generally.
“Bloodsisters”: A Timeless Exploration of Leatherdyke Culture
Michelle Handelman’s Bloodsisters, a documentary about a group of San Francisco leatherdykes, is celebrating its 25th anniversary at NewFest. More than just whips and chains, the film spotlights a culture that focuses on political activism and sexual imagination that has rendered it timeless.
Viola Davis Is Iconically Queer Again in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”!
The “Ma Rainey” Trailer Drop is THEE most important Black queer pop culture news this week, and I’ve broken down 5 reasons why… then I shall be proceeding directly to my fainting couch.
Is “Imagine Me & You” Even Good? I Don’t Know, But I Keep Rewatching It
Arranging flowers is gay — you heard it here first.
“Desert Hearts” Remains One Of Cinema’s Greatest Lesbian Love Stories
Donna Deitch’s queer love story is set in the ’50s and was filmed in the ’80s, and is still, in 2020, a radical piece of filmmaking.
Newfest 2020 Preview: Trans Teens, Jewish Funerals, and So Much More
If you live in the US you can watch the films! Even if you’re not in New York!
Jenni Olson’s Films Are Now On Criterion — Butch Dyke Longing For the Moment
When Jenni Olson made these films, she wasn’t thinking about pandemics or quarantines or anything else this year has wrought, and yet there has never been a better time to revisit these five movies.
“Chutney Popcorn” Is the South Asian Dyke Rom-Com I Always Wished “Bend It Like Beckham” Had Been
I wish I could go back and show this film to my baby gay self.
Yes, “Loving Annabelle” Is Problematic — But it Was a Vital Film in My Own Queer Journey
There’s a reason forbidden romances like this spoke to me as a closeted person!
“Antebellum” Forgot That Black Women Can’t Save the World From Fascism, We Only Must Save Ourselves
Seeing as the modern police force is an evolution of slave catchers, for a film trying to make a point about how the horrors of the past still exist in the present — it comes across as both ahistorical and like a serious misstep.
“Kissing Jessica Stein” Is a Classic of Queer Jewish Anxiety
I hope those of you who celebrate had a relatively joyous Rosh Hashanah. And now please join me in the High Holy Day of revisiting a Jewish queer woman classic.
“The First Time”: Drew Gregory Made a Movie in Quarantine and it’s 15 Minutes of Pure Queer Bliss
The First Time is everything I’ve come to love about Drew’s writing over the last several years: smart hilarious, powerful, and deeply generous. And just heckin’ gay and trans.
“The Handmaiden” Dares You to Look
This movie is simultaneously sexy and fucked-up, and its paradoxes mesmerize.
Find Yourself In The Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival
When I was younger and even admittedly sometimes now, I excused the lack of representation on the screen. Last weekend I attended the Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest and got to spend the entire time looking at fully realized, multiple versions of myself on my television. You can do that too, this weekend!
Ìfé Writer and Director Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim on Decolonizing Nigerian Storytelling and Queer Love Stories
“Ìfé is a story that not many queer people have seen come out of Nigeria. I’m really hoping that, apart from everything else that it does – normalizing the queer experience and being a great source of representation – I’m really hoping that it brings joy to the LGBT community.”
“Set It Off” Is the Queer Tribute to Black Women’s Friendship We Deserve After a Summer of Black Mourning
As Cleo, Queen Latifah had never been better. Young, mighty, unadulterated, sweet to her friends, sexy in the way that only studs can be — an energy that radiates beneath the pores and melanin, the quiet, intoxicating confidence that comes from truly owning your shit.
Isabel Sandoval on “Lingua Franca,” Sex Scenes, and the Trans Female Gaze
“There’s a certain undeniable assertion of identity and personhood in seeing a woman think.”
“Lingua Franca” Is a Masterpiece — Written By, Directed By, and Starring a Trans Woman
Not only is this film more than its labels because Sandoval sees her character’s humanity — it’s more than its labels because Sandoval is so good in all her roles. This is a patient and artful film, nuanced in its writing and direction, and filled with stellar performances.
“Ammonite” Trailer: Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” Meets “Gentleman Jack”
This Mary Anning biopic has all the hallmark of a lesbian classic, including forbidden touches, longing glances, and a frantically erotic violin.
Throwback to Shakedown: LA’s Black Lesbian Strip Club
In Los Angeles in the early 2000’s (I’m talking 2002, 2003 when J Lo released her Glo perfume) and long before social media could tell you where to go out, Shakedown was a famously hot party for the Black lesbian community. Even after LAPD shut down Shakedown in 2004, we came out and supported Leilah Weinraub to finish a documentary on the scene and carve out a piece of history.