Queer Screen Goes to Cannes for a second year and will be packing five productions to represent at the acclaimed Marché du Film, occurring in conjunction with the 77th Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera this month.
Seven festivals from across the globe were invited by the Marché du Film to showcase their selection of five original feature titles looking for sales agents, distributors, and festival programmers during the prestigious Cannes season.
This year sees Queer Screen, producers of Sydney’s Mardi Gras Film Festival and Queer Screen Film Fest, returning to the invitation-only line-up for a second year as the ‘Goes to Cannes’ program’s only LGBTQIA+ partner.
Queer Screen’s festival director, Lisa Rose, said the return invitation is an enormous honour and a testament to the organisation’s international standing. “We are thrilled about being invited back,” she said.
“Last year’s participation significantly bolstered the presence of Queer Screen and Mardi Gras Film Festival on the global stage, but more importantly, as the only LGBTQIA+ film festival involved, it provided invaluable opportunities for filmmakers championing queer content.”
This year’s selection showcases narratives spanning the spectrum of gay, lesbian, pansexual, bisexual, and transgender experiences and includes three Australian and two international projects.
Arms of a Man – Sabar Bonda (India/UK/France)
A thirty-year-old city-dweller compelled to spend ten-day mourning of his father in the rugged countryside of Western India tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, he must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress. Director: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade | Producers: Neeraj Churi | Production Companies: Lotus Visual Productions
From All Sides (Australia)
A multiracial bisexual married couple and their teenage children find themselves beset from all sides as they navigate work, school, sex, friendships, romances, and their colourful neighbours in the outer suburbs of Sydney.
Director: Bina Bhattacharya | Producers: Bina Bhattacharya and Alexander McGhee | Production Companies: Gemme de la Femme Pictures Pty Ltd
Heart of the Man (Australia)
A young boxing prodigy coming to terms with his sexuality must battle between fulfilling his father’s dream and becoming his own man. Director: David Cook | Producer: Blake Northfield | Production Company: Bronte Pictures
Strange Creatures (Australia)
Two estranged brothers are forced back into each other’s lives when they’re tasked with scattering the ashes of their recently deceased mother in the country town where she grew up. Director: Henry Boffin | Producers: Rachel Forbes & Riley Nottingham | Production Company: Strange Creatures Pty Ltd, Humdrum Comedy Pty Ltd, Sweetshop & Green
Under the Influence (U.S.A)
When a struggling digital artist has her work appropriated by a popular art curator, will she remain a victim, or become the perpetrator of an even more villainous crime? Director: Bryn Woznicki (Director); Lauren Neal (Technical Director) | Producers: Jill Bennett, Katie Hall | Production Company: Lion & Lamb Studio, Team Stillwell, Fair Play Films
Queer Screen’s selections will be shown on Saturday 18 May 2024 at Palais K, with filmmakers pitching in person. The film extracts and pitches will also be available online for Marché du Film attendees to view the following day.
For more information about Queer Screen’s Goes to Cannes initiative, visit: www.queerscreen.org.au for details.
Image: Heart of the Man (film still)