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Outfest Los Angeles · 2022

Outfest Los Angeles 2022

Documentary Features

Programme

18 films · 9 reviews

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All Man: The International Male Story

Review preview for All Man: The International Male Story

There are a lot of interesting ideas swirling around in this film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A peek behind the pages and personalities of International Male, one of the most ubiquitous and sought-after US mail-order catalogues of the Eighties and Nineties.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Bryan Darling, Jesse Finley Reed; Writer: Peter Jones; Stars: Matt Bomer, Carson Kressley)

Full review

Art And Pep

On Halsted Street in Chicago sits Sidetrack, a behemoth gay club that draws a large crowd, serving up slushy drinks and showtime singalongs on Sundays. Art Johnstone and Pepe Peña, partners in life and in love, opened it as a single storefront with no sign and beer cases as seating in 1982. This is their story.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Mercedes Kane; Stars: Arthur Johnston, José Pepe Peña, Cleve Jones, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Greg Harris, Mike Simmons)

The Cockettes

The story of the uproarious, gender-subversive Hippy drag troupe that became one of the ultimate countercultural happenings of the San Francisco.

(Country: US; Year: 2002; Director: Bill Weber, David Weissman; Writer: David Weissman)

The End Of Wonderland

From the outside, comics writer and mechanic Emory’s home looks just like any other rural American property. However, inside it’s an ultra-kitsch sex fetish film set, with flying starships, giant robots and exploding dildo machines.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Laurence Turcotte-Fraser)

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

It Runs In The Family (Lo Que Se Hereda)

A queer filmmaker discovers that she’s related to a long-forgotten pioneer of Caribbean cinema.

(Country: Dominican Republic, US; Year: 2022; Director: Victoria Linares; Writer: Guillermo Zouain, Wendy Muñiz, Victoria Linares; Stars: Victoria Linares)

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

Loving Highsmith

Review preview for Loving Highsmith

Vitija rarely gets distracted from her approach, and this is a strength – not easy to achieve with so much material to pull together.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary portrait of the enigmatic novelist.

(Country: Switzerland, Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Eva Vitija; Writer: Eva Vitija; Stars: Gwendoline Christie, Annina Butterworth)

Full review See: Eva Vitija in conversation on Loving Highsmith, Patricia Highsmith, and the film adaptations

Make Me Famous (The Brezinski Project)

Review preview for Make Me Famous

In telling the story of a man hitherto forgotten by history, director Brian Vincent captures a side of that celebrated scene never seen before, putting all the rest in context and exploring the nature of fame from an unusual perspective.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A madcap romp through the 1980s NYC art scene amid the colorful career of painter, Edward Brezinski, hell-bent on making it.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2021; Director: Brian Vincent; Stars: David McDermott, Marguerite Van Cook, James Romberger, Peter McGough, Frank Holliday, Claudia Summers)

Full review See: Interview with Brian Vincent about Edward Brezinski and Make Me Famous

Manscaping

Devan Shimoyama is an Afrofuturist painter who focuses on the barbershop as a social space, Jessie Anderson runs a queer barbershop in Vancouver, and Australian Richard Savvy gets his kit off as The Naked Barber.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Broderick Fox; Stars: Devan Shimoyama, Jessie Anderson, Richard Savvy)

Nelly & Nadine

Review preview for Nelly & Nadine

The love story is remarkable in its own right but the film also shows the way these sorts of histories could be hidden in plain sight.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of two women who fell in love whilst imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp.

(Country: Sweden, Belgium, Norway; Year: 2022; Director: Magnus Gertten; Writer: Magnus Gertten)

Full review

Passion

After a destructive relationship, the rituals of BDSM and Christianity provide consolation and healing.

(Country: Sweden, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Maja Borg)

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

Prejudice & Pride

A journey through the history of Swedish LGBTQ+ cinema.

(Country: Sweden, Finland, Iceland; Year: 2022; Director: Eva Beling; Writer: Eva Beling; Stars: Harriet Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Bruce LaBruce, Stina Ekblad, Levan Akin, Andrea Weiss, Ella Lemhagen, Björn Elgerd, Daniel Humphrey, Jan Göransson, Laura Horak, Björn Elgerd)

A Run For More

Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe is running for City Council in San Antonio. With 23 years of political activism under her belt, a husband who served in Afghanistan, and a successful corporate track record, it’s hard to see why she might not be a popular choice. But Frankie is a proud, Latinx, trans woman, and in Texas, it makes an uphill political battle something vastly more personal

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Rsy Whitehouse; Stars: Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe, Jeff Wolfe)

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

Stay On Board: The Leo Baker Story

A documentary following competitive skating icon Leo Baker, who in the lead up to the 2020 Olympics, is questions whether or not he should transition to become his truest self while competing on the international stage at the highest level of the sport he loves.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Nicola Marsh, Giovanni Reda; Stars: Leo Baker)

Uýra - The Rising Forest (Uyra - The Rising Forest)

Review preview for Uýra - The Rising Forest

Brilliantly made.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
Indigenous artist Uýra harnesses the interconnecting power of their native, queer, and trans identities to blaze a trail of ecological activism and LGBTQ+ pride through the villages and cities of the Amazon.

(Country: Brazil, US; Year: 2022; Director: Juliana Curi; Writer: Juliana Curi, Martina Sönksen; Stars: Uýra Sodoma, Zahy Guajajara)

Full review See: Interview with Juliana Curi about Uýra – The Rising Forest