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Inside Out · 2022

Inside Out 2022

Features

Programme

38 films · 18 reviews

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Beyond Ed Buck

Review preview for Beyond Ed Buck

Beyond Ed Buck will make many viewers uncomfortable, as it should, and will make for distressing viewing for others, but it’s an important watch.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary which follows the tragic murders that took place at the hands of a well-known Democratic political donor.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Jayce Baron, Hailie Sahar; Writer: Jayce Baron, Hailie Sahar; Stars: Hailie Sahar, DeMarco Majors, George M Johnson, Kalyn Rivers, Gregory Canillas)

Full review

Blooming On The Asphalt

A documentary about Jack, a young Brazilian trans man whose life is dramatically changing as his country faces a global pandemic and an intolerant government.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Coraci Ruiz, Julio Matos)

Camila Comes Out Tonight (Camila Saldrá Esta Noche)

Camila’s life is turned upside down when her single-parent mother moves the family to Buenos Aires. Enrolled in an educational establishment that is worlds away from the liberal institution she previously attended, the politically-minded Camila is like a breath of fresh air amongst the elite student body, soon drawing the attention of popular boy Bruno and fun-loving Clara.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Inés Barrionuevo; Writer: Andrés Aloi, Inés Barrionuevo; Stars: Nina Dziembrowski, Maite Valero, Diego Sanchez)

Compulsus

Review preview for Compulsus

There’s a self-consciousness about the film which sometimes allows style to overwhelm substance.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Women who have experienced misogynistic violence decide to take justice into their own hands.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Tara Thorne; Writer: Tara Thorne; Stars: Koumbie, Lesley Smith, James MacLean, Hilary Adams, Kathryn McCormack)

Full review See: Interview with Tara Thorne and Lesley Smith about Compulsus

Death And Bowling

Review preview for Death And Bowling

It never quite tips over into surrealism, but Kash lets events play out without too much explanation, plunging us into this world and then leaving us to find our own way.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
In a fictional meta-critique on trans representation, a transgender actor struggles with what it means to be seen after the beloved captain of his lesbian bowling league dies and a mysterious stranger shows up at the funeral.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lyle Kash; Writer: Lyle Kash; Stars: Will Krisanda, Tracy Kowalski, Faith Bryan, Leontine White Foster, Denise Turkan)

Full review See: Interview with Lyle Kash about Death And Bowling

The Divide (La Fracture)

Review preview for The Divide

Corsini agilely combines elements of cinéma verité and farce.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Two women on the verge of a breakup, in a hospital, are further stressed on the night of a big demonstration by the overwhelmed staff and by angry, injured protestors who land up besieging the building.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Catherine Corsini; Writer: Catherine Corsini, Agnès Feuvre, Laurette Polmanss; Stars: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Marina Foïs, Pio Marmaï, Jean-Louis Coulloc'h)

Full review

The Empress Of Vancouver

A cinematic and intimate collision of drag, queer history, and performance art, a musical and genre bending irreverent documentary which follows trans icon Oliv Howe as she prepares for the 40th anniversary of her coronation.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Dave Rodden Shortt; Writer: Joella Cabalu, Jessica Hallenbeck, Jordan King; Stars: Oliv Howe)

Fiona Clark: Unafraid

When Fiona Clark, a young queer photographer exhibits her photography of the LGBTQI community in 1975, she and her friends face the systemic backlash of an oppressive New Zealand society.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2022; Director: Lula Cucchiara; Stars: Fiona Clark)

Fire Island

A pair of best friends set out to have a legendary week-long summer vacation with the help of cheap rosé and a group of eclectic friends.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Andrew Ahn; Writer: Joel Kim Booster; Stars: Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Margaret Cho, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully)

The First Fallen

New Year’s Eve, 1983. Suzano has returned from his studies in Paris to spend time with his sister and nephew. Rose, a trans performer, prepares for her latest show at a party. And Humberto, recently arrived in the city, documents it all on shaky camcorder. The future looks bright for them all. But eight months later, all three friends find themselves early victims of the AIDS epidemic.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2021; Director: Rodrigo de Oliveira; Writer: Rodrigo de Oliveira; Stars: Johnny Massaro, Renata Carvalho, Vitor Camilo)

Framing Agnes

Review preview for Framing Agnes

For such a studiously artificial work...it is profoundly moving.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
After discovering case files from a 1950s gender clinic, a cast of transgender actors turn a talk show inside out to confront the legacy of a young trans woman forced to choose between honesty and access.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Chase Joynt; Writer: Chase Joynt, Morgan M. Page; Stars: Angelica Ross, Jen Richards, Silas Howard, Zackary Drucker, Chase Joynt, Max Wolf Valerio, Stephen Ira Cohen)

Full review

Friday I'm In Love

Bars and nightclubs have long been an essential gathering place for queer communities and Numbers nightclub was one such place for LGBTQ patrons in Houston, Texas.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Marcus Pontello)

Gateways Grind

A journey through lesbian London to uncover the history of the Gateways club and the women who drank, danced and loved inside it.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Jacquie Lawrence; Stars: Lu Corfield, Victoria Broom)

Girls Girls Girls (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girl Picture)

Review preview for Girls Girls Girls

The performances are all first class, with any one of the three leads capable of carrying a film on her own.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö are girls at the cusp of womanhood, trying to draw their own contours. In three consecutive Fridays two of them experience the earth-moving effects of falling in love, while the third goes on a quest to find something she’s never experienced before: pleasure.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2022; Director: Alli Haapasalo; Writer: Ilona Ahti, Daniela Hakulinen; Stars: Oona Airola, Mikko Kauppila, Elias Westerberg, Linnea Leino, Henrikki Haavisto, Fathi Ahmed, Jantsu Puumalainen, Oksana Lommi, Aamu Milonoff, Cécile Orblin, Yasmin Najjar, Amos Brotherus, Pablo Ounaskari, Pietu Wikström, Eleonoora Kauhanen)

Full review

Homebody

Review preview for Homebody

A tender-hearted comedy with a deep understanding of what it feels like to be a child.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Nine-year-old Johnny sends his spirit into his babysitter Melanie and gets to be a woman for a day.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Joseph Sackett; Writer: Joseph Sackett; Stars: Maria Dizzia, Colby Minifie, Tre Ryder)

Full review

In From The Side

When an injured player from the A-team is selected to play with the Bs as part of his recovery, tensions are already high. Initial suspicion turns to physical lust for two of the team members and personal loyalties are stretched as they try to conceal the affair, not only from their own partners but also their teammates.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Matt Carter; Writer: Matt Carter, Adam Silver; Stars: Alexander Lincoln, Alexander King, Will Hearle)

Jeannette

Review preview for Jeannette

By focusing on just one person and her day to day struggles, Curran throws the US gun crisis into sharp relief.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A survivor of the Pulse Nightclub massacre recalls and reflects on the experience.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Maris Curran; Stars: Yvens Carrenard, Jennette Feliciano)

Full review

Lonesome

A country lad running from a small-town scandal, finds himself down and out in big city Sydney, where he falls in with a similarly lonely stranger.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2022; Director: Craig Boreham; Writer: Craig Boreham; Stars: Josh Lavery, Daniel Gabriel, Anni Finsterer, Ian Roberts, Ally Morgan)

Mars One (Marte Um)

Review preview for Mars One

Essentially an old fashioned tale in which the pursuit of dreams needs to be balanced by learning to appreciate what one has.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
In Brazil, a lower-middle-class Black family of four tries to keep their spirits up and their dreams going in the months that follow the election of a right-wing president, a man who represents everything they are not.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Gabriel Martins; Writer: Gabriel Martins; Stars: Rejane Faria, Carlos Francisco, Camilla Souza, Cícero Lucas)

Full review See: Interview with Gabriel Martins about Mars One

Moneyboys

Fei works illegally as a hustler in order to support his family, yet when he realises they are willing to accept his money but not his way of life, there is a major breakdown in their relations.

(Country: Austria, France, Belgium, Taiwan; Year: 2021; Director: Chen Yilin Bo; Writer: Chen Yilin Bo; Stars: Yufan Bai, Kai Ko, Zhexi Lin, Chloe Maayan)

Nana's Boys

A look at the intimate life of a couple who are confronted with the fact that their relationship is not as solid as they thought.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Ashton Pina; Writer: Ashton Pina; Stars: David J Cork, Jared Wayne Gladly, Ashton Pina, Malika Nzinga)

Neptune Frost

Review preview for Neptune Frost

Set in a futuristic Rwanda, the themes are as old as the hills - with colonialism, identity and self-determination chief among them.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The love story between an African intersex runaway and a coltan miner, and the virtual marvel born as a result of their union.

(Country: US, France, Rwanda; Year: 2021; Director: Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams; Writer: Saul Williams; Stars: Eliane Umuhire, Eliane Umuhire)

Full review

Out In The Ring

A documentary exploring the rise and history of LGBTQ+ professional wrestlers and representation in the sport.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Ry Levey)

Pat Rocco Dared

Review preview for Pat Rocco Dared

Filmed during the last months of Pat’s life, when he was gradually losing his sight, this film features extensive interviews with the man himself.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In this colourful trip back in time, filmmaker and activist Pat Rocco shares his incredible life story as one of Hollywood's original boundary pushing gay pioneers.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Morris Chapdelaine, Bob Christie; Writer: Bob Christie; Stars: Pat Rocco, Charlie David, Phyllis Diller)

Full review

Phantom Project

A young actor who dreams of starring in a film has to work as a simulated patient in medical schools and in unlikely sessions of alternative therapies in order to pay the bills.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2022; Director: Roberto Doveris; Writer: Roberto Doveris; Stars: Juan Cano, Ingrid Isensee, Violeta Castillo, Fernanda Toledo, Fernando Castillo)

Private Desert (Deserto Particular)

Review preview for Private Desert

A potent rejoinder to the hypermasculine, explicitly transphobic values of the Bolsonaro regime.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Daniel has been suspended from active police work and is under internal investigation for violence. When Sara, his internet love affair, stops answering his texts he decides to drive north in search of her.

(Country: Brazil, Portugal; Year: 2021; Director: Aly Muritiba; Writer: Henrique Dos Santos, Aly Muritiba; Stars: Antonio Saboia, Pedro Fasanaro, Luthero Almeida, Thomas Aquino, Laila Garin, Sandro Guerra, Otavio Linhares, Zezita Matos, Cynthia Senek, Antonio Saboia, Pedro Fasanaro, Luthero Almeida, Thomas Aquino, Laila Garin, Sandro Guerra)

Full review

LA QueenCiañera

Bamby, a transgender activist, hosts a 50th birthday celebration attended by the people who made her.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Pedro Peira; Writer: Pedro Peira; Stars: Patricia Arquette, Rosario Dawson, Barbara Jacobs, Bamby Salcedo)

Sirens

Review preview for Sirens

A fascinating watch.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East's first all-female metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.

(Year: 2022; Director: Rita Baghdadi)

Full review

So Damn Easy Going (Så Jävla Easy Going)

While desperately trying to find ways to get her ADHD medication, 18-year-old Joanna is trying to figure out her newfound feelings towards her classmate Audrey, but also towards herself.

(Country: Sweden, Norway; Year: 2022; Director: Christoffer Sandler; Writer: Christoffer Sandler, Lina Åström, Jessika Jankert; Stars: Tuva Albino, Emil Algpeus, Mats Blomgren, Gorki Glaser-Müller, Nikki Hanseblad, Annelie Hansson)

Stupid For You

The story of a love sick teen who reunites her mother's dysfunctional band to win over a punk rock fan girl.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Jude Klassen; Writer: Jude Klassen, Brett M Butler, Jason G. Butler; Stars: Mikhael Klassen-Kay, Caylin Turne, Jude Klassen, Mia Rodne, Steve Kasan)

Sublime

Review preview for Sublime

What really lights up the film is the chemistry between the boys and their wider circle of friends.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A teenager in a rock band falls for his best friend, who is also one of his bandmates, while acting as his confidante and listening to his plans to impress girls.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2022; Director: Mariano Biasin; Writer: Mariano Biasin; Stars: Martín Miller, Teo Inama Chiabrando, Azul Mazzeo)

Full review See: Interview with Mariano Biasin about Sublime

Tramps!

Review preview for Tramps!

What could have been just another exercise in nostalgia instead emerges as a valuable picture of a grassroots creative movement.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Rising from the nihilistic ashes of the punk movement in the late 1970s, a fresh crowd of flamboyant fashionistas, who would later be christened the New Romantics, began to materialise on the streets of London.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Kevin Hegge; Stars: Judy Blame, Duggie Fields, Princess Julia)

Full review See: Interview with Kevin Hegge about Tramps!

Unidentified Objects

Review preview for Unidentified Objects

A quirky yet moving character piece full of absurdist comedy, with an optimistic streak which is rare in cinema today.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A lonely dwarf and his unstable, alien-obsessed neighbour are thrown together on an impossible road trip that will alter their strange friendship (and their sense of reality) forever.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Juan Felipe Zuleta; Writer: Leland Frankel, Juan Felipe Zuleta; Stars: Sarah Hay, Roberta Colindrez, Matthew Jeffers, Hamish Allan-Headly)

Full review See: Interview with Juan Felipe Zuleta, Matthew Jeffers and Sarah Hay about Unidentified Objects

Wake Up, Leonard

A man strives for wellness while failing miserably to stay on his vibe.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Kat Mills Martin; Writer: Nigel DeFriez, Kat Mills Martin, Kira Pearson; Stars: Nigel DeFriez, Kira Pearson, Kanoa Goo, Dominique Toney, Kat Mills Martin)

We Don't Dance For Nothing

The story of a young domestic worker who plans to run from Hong Kong towards her dreams of love with another woman, independence and freedom.

(Country: Hong Kong, US, Philippines, Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Stefanos Tai; Writer: Stefanos Tai; Stars: Miles Sible, Gratiano Wong, Xyza Cada, Bianca Lo, Miss Powers)

We Will Never Belong (Nunca Seremos Parte)

After the failed marriage of her parents and the discovery of her mother's sexual orientation; Emi arrives in complete solitude at an adolescence flooded with doubts about her own sexual preferences and her family nucleus.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2022; Director: Amelia Eloisa; Writer: Amelia Eloisa; Stars: Verónica Langer, Andrea Portal, Alex Pimienta)

Wildhood

Review preview for Wildhood

Trust in strangers is a big theme in this sweet-natured film.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Link does his best to protect his younger half-brother Travis from their father’s violent rages. But one night he discovers a dark family secret and realises that he must leave his father, who symbolises the violent cultural evisceration of European colonisation.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Bretten Hannam; Writer: Bretten Hannam; Stars: Philip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick, Avery Winters-Anthony)

Full review See: Interview with Phillip Lewitski and Joshua Odjick about Wildhood

With Wonder

Review preview for With Wonder

The film has been made with a specific audience in mind: one whose members rarely see themselves on the big screen.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An intimate look at the journey of members of the Queer, Christian community of colour and their attempts to answer the question: Can you be both Christian and Queer?

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Sharon Lewis)

Full review