Author: Screen Queens
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INTERVIEW: Alice Parsons from Bradford Queer Film Festival Talks Queer Cinema and Indie Film Culture
The UK city of Bradford is premiering its first Queer Film Festival this year. A spin-off of the established Bradford Queer Film Club, the Bradford Queer Film Festival (BQFF) offers an array of new and cult screenings across diverse genres, ranging from documentary to horror and Bollywood cinema. With a programme of 75 films out…
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‘Eileen’ Is A Wild Thriller With A Vintage ‘Carol’-esque Aesthetic (Just In Time For Christmas) – Review
Known for her feral female protagonists, Ottessa Mosfegh’s debut novel Eileen is the first of her oeuvre to make it to the big screen. Set in the dead of winter in 1960s Massachusetts, the eponymous girl (Thomasin Mackenzie) works in a juvenile correctional facility. It is clear that she doesn’t belong; between the jaded adults…
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How Comedy-Led Horror TV Helped Me Navigate My Pandemic Worries
For a long time, I wouldn’t have identified as a horror fan. It’s not that I’m afraid of blood, guts, or a suspenseful moment — rather, the inescapable darkness of the genre sometimes proves too much for me. I don’t always want to see the dark underbelly of humanity exposed. So it came as something…
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‘Daughters of the Dust’: A History Rescued from the Margins
Every underrated work from decades past survives in a space where its literary origins or individual stamp on voyages through history and nations is bound to be rediscovered. 1991’s Daughters of The Dust is one such monument to the manner in which aesthetic storytelling can be achieved without reliance on artistic grandeur. An elemental tale…
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4K Remaster of ‘Cry, The Beloved Country’ is a Crisp Revisit to an Empathetic Classic
Just three years after the novel it was based on, Cry, The Beloved Country (1951) reflects on the early years of apartheid from the perspective of a British director. Now, in this 4K restoration, the moral complexity and lens on race relations remains as timely as ever. Paralleling the lives of neighbours Reverend Stephen Kumalo…
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Five Films #DirectedbyWomen to Look Out for From BFI London Film Festival
LFF 2023 has just wrapped up and so many female directors have graced the festival circuit this autumn. From Kitty Green’s continuing partnership with Julia Garner in The Royal Hotel, to Sofia Coppola’s foil to Elvis with Priscilla, and after her controversial debut Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell has released the blistering Saltburn. But as…
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The Spiritual Death of Miranda Hobbes: When a Queer-coded Feminist Icon Becomes the Punchline
In recent years, queer representation has been one of the hottest topics when it comes to writing new media. Today more than ever it has become necessary for its social importance, but with time this has made room for marketing strategies. Along with pink-washing and superficial inclusivity, depictions of queer-baiting, clichés and stereotypes swarm film…
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Tense Thriller ‘Accused’ Explores Mistaken Identity in a Racially Divisive World
In the last decade, there has been a growing effort for better representation of South Asian people in mainstream media. The fallout of 9/11 in addition to growing anti-Islamic sentiment in Western countries was compounded, in the early 00s, by the launch of social media allowing uncensored posts and images from anyone around the world.…
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SQIFF’23 – Gregg Araki’s Cult Classic ‘Nowhere’ is Like a Bad Bisexual Acid Trip
Programmed as part of the Queer Classics strand at the Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQUIFF), the unfairly forgotten 1997 coming of age film Nowhere showcased its rough edges for all to see. It’s not hard to see why it deserves the title of queer classic, as the film begs the question, what is more…
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Liminality and Labour in Jessica Hausner’s ‘Hotel’ (2004)
Jessica Hausner is an acquired taste. Her films are often dry and deliberately stagnant, forcing the audience to lean in and pay attention because the emotional core is often elusive, hiding in the dark, attainable if you’re willing to let it consume you. As her singular directing credit in the horror genre, Hotel is a…
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