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Outfest Los Angeles · 2023

Outfest Los Angeles 2023

Documentary Features

Programme

10 films · 4 reviews

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1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture (1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture)

Review preview for 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture

This isn’t a plea for people to swap one source of authority for another. The focus is on encouraging us to think for ourselves.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
The mystery of how theology, history, culture, and politics led to a Biblical mistranslation, the man who tried to stop it, and the impassioned academic crusade of the LGBTQIA+ Christian community driven to discover the truth.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Sharon Roggio; Writer: Jena Serbu, Jill Woodward; Stars: Kathy Baldock, Ed Oxford)

Full review

Acsexybility (Assexybilidade)

Review preview for Acsexybility

There’s a knowing humour to it which will resonate with disabled viewers … but other people should see the funny side too, and will, one hopes, not be too nervous to laugh along.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary which aims to break open the conversation around sexual life in the disabled community.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2023; Director: Daniel Gonçalves; Writer: Daniel Gonçalves; Stars: Giovanni Venturini, Lelê Martins, Estela Lapponi, Luca Munhoz, Cida Leite, Amanda Soares, Dudé, Clara Sasse)

Full review

Break The Game

Eighteen minutes and ten seconds. That’s how long it took Narcissa Wright to complete The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time in a record-breaking speed run. Over 18,000 viewers tuned in to watch her make history, but after coming out as trans, the subscriber count slowly dwindled down and interview requests stopped. As she struggles to reclaim her digital throne, hope comes in the form of a blossoming romance.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jane M Wagner; Writer: Jane M Wagner; Stars: Narcissa Wright, Alex Eastly)

Coming Around

When a queer PhD student’s relationship with a cis man becomes more serious and she feels internal and external pressure to have an Islamic wedding before they move in together, she worries that her mother will never understand who she really is.

(Year: 2023; Director: Sandra Itäinen; Writer: Chelsi Bullard, Sandra Itäinen; Stars: Eman Abdelhadi, Fatten Elkomy)

Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)

Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

Review preview for Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

A thorough, well-told tale intertwined with many of the key social and artistic movements of that century – and dotted with its luminaries – Hidden Master brings Lynes back out into the light.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary about the fashion photographer whose rare artistic vision became apparent when he focused his attention on male nudes.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Sam Shahid; Writer: Sam Shahid, Matthew Kraus, John MacConnell; Stars: George Platt Lynes)

Full review

It's Only Life After All

With forty years of making music as the iconic folk rock band Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have made their mark as musicians, songwriters, and dedicated activists. This film catches up with them today.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alexandria Bombach; Stars: Amy Ray, Emily Saliers)

Opponent (Motståndaren)

Review preview for Opponent

It’s a tremendously challenging role, in which Maadi excels.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Iman, an Iranian, lives with his family in Sweden in an ever-changing succession of refugee hostels. To increase his chances of obtaining residence permits for them all, he resumes his career as a wrestler – and is confronted with the reason he had to flee.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2023; Director: Milad Alami; Writer: Milad Alami; Stars: Payman Maadi, Marall Nasiri, Björn Elgerd, Ardalan Esmaili, Arvin Kananian)

Full review See: Interview with Milad Alami about Opponent

Queendom

Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, dresses in otherworldly costumes made from junk and tape, and protests the government on the streets of Moscow. Born and raised on the harsh streets of Magadan, a frigid outpost of the Soviet gulag, Gena is only 21. She stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2023; Director: Agniia Galdanova)

Truth Be Told

A documentary about the reckoning between the LGBTQ+ community and the Black church in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Nneka Onuorah; Stars: Billy Porter, Meagan Good, Cedric The Entertainer, David Mann, Tamela Mann, Kev on Stage)