Out Takes

We know that ‘Best of’ lists can be problematic but with the end of the year fast approaching we wanted to share with you some of our favourite queer films and television shows for 2025. In no particular order, we offered up three picks each that reflected some of the best shows and movies this year that showcased representation from a LGBTQIA+ perspective on our big and small screens or was just something that brought us some joy and that we loved watching in a very challenging year. Let us know if you liked our selections, think we made a mistake or missed one of your faves by dropping us an email or messaging us on our socials. Happy holidays and here’s to a very queer 2026 for us all! The post Out Takes Best of 2025 appeared first on Out Takes.

The year was 2016 and two weeks out from Christmas, a new show started on JOY that promised to bring you the best in queer film and television every week… and on Monday December 15, Out Takes celebrated 10 years on air and on podcast and everyone was invited! For this very special live show from the JOY studios at the Victorian Pride Centre, we were joined by some very special guests, including Cinema Nova CEO and friend of the show Kristian Connelly, along with a shout out from our London-based international correspondent Dion. We also had some great giveaways courtesy of Eclipse Cinema and Cinema Nova plus we reminisced on some of the many highlights and memorable moments from our last decade bringing you the best in queer film and television. Thank you for your support and for listening! The post Out Takes celebrates 10 years on air! appeared first on Out Takes.

For this Out Takes, we decided to get into the festive season by looking at two new Christmas themed films that explore queer stories within the family dynamic that is often overlooked in these genre. First up we took a look at ‘The Christmas Writer’ from Tello Films which is the first network dedicated to telling stories featuring and about lesbian/queer women and is the world’s longest running LGBTQ+ streaming platform with the biggest library of sapphic holiday films available anywhere. Their latest sapphic holiday-themed film follows Noel, a bestselling lesbian Christmas author who loses her holiday muse and experiences writer’s block, so she returns to her quaint hometown in search of renewed inspiration. What she finds is an unexpected love story that even she couldn’t have written… We really enjoyed this film and jumped at the chance to speak to Christin Baker, the film’s director and CEO of Tello Films, and Stacey Lee Powell, her real life partner and one of the stars of ‘The Christmas Writer’, from their homebase of Nashville. We covered a lot in this two-part interview, including the intent behind Tello Films, the importance of representation in lesbian and sapphic series, movies, and shorts plus the all-important question, what makes a great queer Christmas movie. We then moved on to ‘Oh.What.Fun.’, the new Christmas film streaming now on Prime Video, with an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Denis Leary, Chloe Grace Moretz, Felicity Jones, Danielle Brooks, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, Maude Apatow and Joan Chen. We had high hopes for this one, especially with a queer character in the mix, so listen to our review to see if it lives up to the hype. The post ‘The Christmas Writer’ with special guests Christin Baker and Stacey Lee Powell plus ‘Oh.What.Fun.’ appeared first on Out Takes.

For this special Out Takes episode, we headed back in time then back to the future in honour of JOY 94.9’s 32nd on-air anniversary and World AIDs Day 2025. We started off by using the 1993 December 1st start date for JOY to reflect on what was happening in queer film and television during this period and also check in on where we were at on our specific queer journeys and what we were watching at the time. We then caught up with Cal Hawk from Thorne Harbour Health and one of the hosts of Well, Well, Well on JOY to discuss the importance of World AIDs Day, the history of HIV and AIDS activism in Melbourne, and some of the seminal films and TV programs that have shaped the discussion around HIV/AIDs over the years. We then finished up with some television and film recommendation’s that we have previously discussed focusing on HIV/AIDS that are available to listen to now in the Out Takes podcast archive. The post JOY’s 32nd anniversary and World AIDS Day 2025 appeared first on Out Takes.

As is our way at Out Takes, we literally had something for everyone this week! The highly anticipated second film of the most talked about movie musical in years, the return of a fantastic local documentary to a local streaming service, a queer Christmas radio play from one of our own that is on around Melbourne for a limited run, and a review of a new psychological drama that is in Aussie cinemas from November 27. First up, we discussed our return to Oz with the release of ‘Wicked: For Good’ and had our say on whether it’s a perfect part 2 to one of the biggest films of last year or left us wanting more. Needless to say, it’s a celebration of diversity and queerness that we need more than ever, and we love seeing Cynthia, Ari and Jonathan belting it out on our big screens. We then welcomed back Sue Thomson, the local filmmaker whose delightful documentary ‘The Coming Back Out Ball Movie’ is heading to DocPlay this month. Following its release in 2018 at the height of the marriage equality debate, this wonderful celebration of LGBTQIA+ elders is an incredible legacy piece that is well-worthy of a re-watch plus we hear more from Sue around her memories from that time, her thoughts on the current landscape for Australian documentaries and more. Our second interview for the show was with one of our very-own as Demetra told us all about her latest creative venture that is having three special performances around Melbourne in the lead up to Christmas. Billed as a live queer radio play, “Coming Out for Christmas” is the story of a queer young Greek-Aussie woman, who brings her Aussie girlfriend home for her family’s Christmas lunch and discovers her conservative family is hiding from everyone. This is a comedy about family, community, and living your truth. Our final review for this show was ‘Lurker’, a new film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and screened at MIFF this year where it garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews. The film follows Matthew as he manages to infiltrate the inner circle of a rising pop star, Oliver, and glories in his new status as an indispensable member of the entourage. But when Matthew realises how easy he is to replace – or even worse, that he is not as important as he believed – he will go to any lengths to stay relevant to Oliver and his crew. The post Wicked: For Good, Coming Back Out Ball Movie, Coming Out for Christmas and Lurker appeared first on Out Takes.