Out Takes

For this Out Takes, we celebrated the recent success of Leela Varghese at the 2026 AACTA Awards for  ‘Lesbian Space Princess’ and ‘I’m The Most Racist Person I Know’ (which were two of our favourite queer films of 2025) by revisiting our interview with her from last year along with our review of LSP which is available to watch locally on Netflix now. We also reviewed ‘Christy’, the latest film from Aussie director David Michôd that stars Sydney Sweeney in the lead role that chronicles the rise of former professional boxer Christy Martin and her incredibly tumultuous life in and outside of the ring, including accepting her sexuality, along with her abusive and coercive relationship with her coach that led to an attempted murder on her life. We also had an encore presentation of an excerpt from our interview from March 2025 with actor Arka Das and the founder of the Indian Film Festival and film producer Mitu Bhowmick Lange to discuss ‘My Melbourne’ which features four unique stories that celebrate diverse voices and talents from four Indian filmmakers who worked with emerging creatives from underrepresented backgrounds to create a multicultural Australian film about identity and belonging based on authentic migrant experiences and is available to watch now on SBS on Demand.

The post Christy, Lesbian Space Princess, I’m the Most Racist Person I Know and My Melbourne appeared first on Out Takes.

Now that we’re well in to this new year, we’re starting to see the return of some of our favourite film festivals and we were excited to take a closer look at the fifth edition of the Europa! Europa Film Festival which is back in cinemas across Australia and New Zealand  from February 19 to March 19. To take a deep dive in to the program, we welcomed back the festival’s Artistic Director Spiro Economopoulos to tell us more about the 43 films on offer and some of his personal recommendations too.

We also reviewed one of the highlights of this year’s program called ‘Maspalomas’, a beautiful Spanish film that tells the story of Vicente who came out as gay at the age of 50, leaving his wife and daughter back home in San Sebastián, to enjoy the sun-drenched gay resort town of Maspalomas in the Canary Islands After recently splitting up with his partner Esteban in his mid-seventies, Vicente is making the most of his newly single life until one night he suffers a stroke and ending up in a coma. Upon waking up, Vicente finds that he’s been moved to a care home by his estranged daughter and to make matters worse, he finds himself back “in the closet”, since he hasn’t told anyone at the home about his sexual identity.

We ended the show with a recap on the recent award nomination announcements for the GLAAD Media Awards, the 98th Academy Awards and the BAFTA’s including some of the LGBTQIA+ nominees we’re hoping to see pick up a win this award season.

The post 2026 Europa! Europa Film Festival  appeared first on Out Takes.

For this Out Takes, we were excited to introduce you to ‘From All Sides’, a new Australian feature film that is having a special Q&A screening at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville on Friday January 30 that is described as a subversive, sexually frank drama about a seemingly average suburban middle-class, multiracial family that features a strikingly original fusion of steamy bisexual orgies, extramarital hookups, and dazzling classical Indian dance sequences. We wanted to know more about this exciting local queer film so we went straight to the source and spoke to its writer and director Bina Bhattacharya. This wonderful interview covered many important topics including her journey as a filmmaker, her passion for Western Sydney and importance of using it as a backdrop to tell modern Australian stories, the impact of racism on her storytelling and more.

We concluded the show by looking at ‘Blue Moon’, the latest from award-winning director Richard Linklater that stars Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott and is set in New York City in 1943. It follows the gay and closeted musical genius Lorenz Hart as he reflects on himself on the opening night of Oklahoma!, a new musical by his former colleague Richard Rodgers. We thoroughly enjoyed watching Ethan Hawke in this transformative role which has seen him nominated for a Golden Globe and Academy Award.

The post ‘From All Sides’ featuring special guest Bina Bhattacharya, plus ‘Blue Moon’ review appeared first on Out Takes.

It’s no secret we love a film festival and with the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival returning  this February, we took the opportunity for this show to spotlight the fantastic Mardi Gras Film Festival and many of the top tier queer films on offer in this year’s program. Queer Screen’s 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival runs from 12-26 February 2026, presenting outstanding LGBTQIA+ cinema from around the world. Alongside film premieres, audiences can enjoy panel discussions and networking events celebrating global queer storytelling and connection. We wanted to know more about this incredible line up, so we went straight to the source and heard from Andrew Wilkie, the Queer Screen Programming and Industry Manager, about many of the highlights in this year’s program and more.

We also revisited our interview from August last year with the director of one of the highlights in this year’s MGFF program. ‘We Are Faheem and Karun’ is the latest film from Onir, the gay Indian writer, film and television director, editor, screenwriter and producer who is best known for his film My Brother…Nikhil which at the time was one of the first mainstream Hindi films to deal with AIDS and same-sex relationships. He also won the National Award for his film I Am and with his latest film ‘We Are Faheem and Karun’, he creates the first ever queer Kashmiri love story, set in Kashmir itself, and in the Kashmiri language, with local actors. He’ll be a guest at this year’s Mardi Gras Film Festival for a special Q&A screening and as part of the Industry Panel & Networking event so book your tickets now as this session and screening not to be missed.

The post Mardi Gras Film Festival 2026 appeared first on Out Takes.

With Melbourne’s premiere queer arts and culture festival a.k.a. Midsumma 2026, kicking off on January 18, we dedicated this program to celebrating two fantastic LGBTQIA+ film related events that are coming your way that will leave you entertained and engaged. First up, we always know that the Melbourne Queer Film Festival brings a great selection of films for Midsumma and 2026 is no exception. One of our favourite returning guests, MQFF’s Program Director Ro Bright, joined us to take us through the great line up of films on offer for their 2026 MQFF Midsumma series. Then we turned our attention to a workshop that will help to nurture and inspire the next generation of local queer filmmakers forward with their own projects. Lead by Melbourne based Kiwi born independent filmmaker Lousie Lever, ‘There’s a story in you: a Queer filmmaking workshop’ is on January 24 – 25 with a goal to empower participants to connect with likeminded creatives and learn more about the process of filmmaking. Show your support for these fantastic events and have a very safe, happy, and queer Midsumma!

The post Midsumma 2026 – MQFF with Ro Bright, and There’s a story in you: a Queer filmmaking workshop with Louise Lever appeared first on Out Takes.