Out Takes

For this Out Takes, we went global reviewing films from Greece, Italy and a filmed staged production from the West End in London. We kicked off with the 31st Greek Film Festival which returns from October 13 – 25 in Melbourne, continuing its mission of celebrating the richness, creativity and diversity of Greek cinema while connecting Australian audiences with compelling stories from Greece and the Greek diaspora. Our first review was the powerful and touching ‘Mahi’ which tells the story of an 80-year-old trans woman who was a former military officer who became an acclaimed singer. Half a century later, she returns from Germany to Greece to reconnect with her daughter and rebuild their relationship while confronting their secrets and fears that led them to leaving their former life behind. We followed that with another highlight from the Greek Film Festival called ‘Maya & Samar’, a tense and engaging Greek – Canadian production that tells the story of Samar, a queer Afghani women who lives in Athens, dancing in a strip club for cash, following an escape from the Taliban. After meeting Maya, a Canadian journalist, at a rave, their worlds collide in an affair that exposes their conflicting cultures. As the story unfolds, we see Maya’s professional ambitions collide with her strong feelings for Samar who is caught between two worlds with no clear future ahead of her without some drastic action on her part. We then left Athens and traveled to Rome for the chaotic and highly enjoyable ‘Love Divine’ which is screening in this years St Ali Italian Film Festival. The film chronicles the romantic destinies of eight people across the course of four seasons from varied walks of life who are linked together by love, loss, passion, and betrayals, forming a network of entangled relationships and chaotic emotions. We finished up by heading to the National Theatre in London for the latest staged modern adaptation of ‘The Misanthrope’ from the National Theatre. Award-winning actor Sandra Oh plays Alice, the title role in this razor-sharp reimagining of Molière’s classic dark comedy. Telling the truth isn’t always that simple. Alice, a brilliant novelist, despises the carefully constructed lies of modern society. But the more she challenges those around her, the fiercer the backlash becomes. Soon, she must confront the price of speaking her truth in a world that would rather silence her. This production is exceptional as are the performances plus we are begging for someone to please release a clothing line based on the costumes in this play!

The post Greek Film Festival, Love Divine and NT Live: The Misanthrope appeared first on Out Takes.

For this Out Takes, we featured two interviews and a review that highlighted local and international queer content and excellence on on our big and small screens. Our first interview was with the very talented and engaging Jesse Lewis IV, a US based gay black actor who has been working in film and television for over 20 years and is back on our small screens in ‘Route 187’ where he plays Ms Stu, a formidable neighbourhood matriarch who shelters the broken and the hunted. As a male actor portraying a transgender woman, Lewis said he approached the role with an awareness of the responsibility involved and that his goal was to move beyond imitation and build a complete human being whose femininity is only one dimension of her identity. In this two part interview, we discussed his career, his experiences in the industry and more. Our second interview was with a local podcast duo that review local and international LGBTQIA+ cinema and TV shows. Brett and Lee are not only the hosts of Rainbow Popcorn but they are also siblings who are queer which brings a fun and fresh take on the regular film and TV review format. Over the next few months, they are hosting ‘Origins Series’ which are monthly events at Eclipse Cinema with local filmmakers that feature a screening of a local queer short film on the big screen, a live interview and audience Q&A with the filmmaker and a screening of the cult, classic or queer film that inspired their work. They describe it as an an opportunity for audiences to discover exciting local talent while gaining a unique insight into the creative process. And with Celebrate Bisexuality+ Day on September 23, our review for this program was ‘The Bisexual’, a six part series from director, writer and actor Desiree Ahkavan that follows New Yorker Leila who lives in London in a seemingly perfect decade-long lesbian relationship with her girlfriend and business partner Sadie. However, cracks start to appear in their lives and when her personal relationship with Sadie is put on hold, Leila starts to explore the fact that she is actually bisexual and begins to explore her orientation. As she struggles to come out to her friends, Leila makes some major life decisions that lead to quite a few unexpected consequences. This show is ambitious, funny and a much needed piece of Bi-representation on our television screens.





The post ‘Route 187’ with Jesse Lewis IV, Rainbow Popcorn Origin Series and ‘The Bisexual’ appeared first on Out Takes.

For this Out Takes, we dived back into the witchy world of Practical Magic (the original and the recently released sequel) to see if this beloved sisterly tale of curses, loss, love and family stood up after all of these years and whether the sequel was as magic as we hoped. With the reunion of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman back on our big screens together after 28 years and the introduction of openly gay actor Lee Pace as a mysterious magical figure and potential love interest, our hopes were high so take a listen to see if it cast a spell on us. We also checked out ‘Dang!’, a new adult animated series that  follows two messy, aimless siblings in New York City whose chaotic lives are turned upside down when their high-achieving older sister crashes their routine after her own life blows up. Created by Andrew Law, the series stars Law alongside Stephanie Hsu and Poppy Liu and is very funny, very silly and super queer. We finished up this show by revisiting our interview with Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, the delightfully quirky gay duo behind ‘Dicks” The Musical’ which is streaming now and shares a lot of DNA with ‘Dang!’ including the fact that both of them voiced characters in the series.

The post Practical Magic 2, Dang! and Dicks The Musical appeared first on Out Takes.

For this Out Takes we went to Italy and then back to Victoria with a pit stop in Adelaide and Barcelona to speak to two of our guests about a brilliant book they’ve collaborated on with a group of academics to explore LGBTQ+ diversity and social change in Aussie film and television. First up we celebrated the return of the St Ali Italian Film Festival across Australia this September by reviewing ‘Armani and the Birth of Italian Fashion‘, a new documentary that traces the rise of Italy’s style empires through the story of the legendary families that have been ruling it for decades and have defined an era: Armani, Versace, Gucci, Valentino, Missoni, Zegna, Ferragamo, Prada and more. Set against Milan’s lavish and exclusive fashion sanctuaries, the film explores creative rivalries, personal stories and the enduring love affair between Hollywood and Italian designers. Next we headed to regional Victoria to look at ‘Constructing Change’, a wonderful short documentary from Alex Riches who joined us to discuss the film, its upcoming screenings this September plus the importance of women and gender-diverse representation in the construction and film industries. We finished up this program featuring a two part interview with media scholars Rob Cover and Stuart Romeo-Richards who are two of the authors behind ‘Australian Queer Screens’, the first book-length study of Australia’s rich history of LGBTQ+ film and television, covering histories, production, screen representation and audience identities.

The post Australian Queer Screens, ‘Armani and the Birth of Italian Fashion’ and ‘Constructing Change’ short documentary appeared first on Out Takes.

For this program, we decided to follow the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid!) and feature a selection of reviews and recommendations for TV shows and films that we have recently enjoyed and wanted to make you all aware of too. Up first, ‘On the Road’ is an intense drug, violence and sex-fuelled Mexican thriller directed by David Pablos that introduces us to Veneno, a young hustler who makes ends meet by sleeping with drivers at truck stops in exchange for cash or drugs. He seemingly has no family nor long-term plans; so, when one of his clients stiffs him, he decides to hitch a ride to the other side of the country. Enter Muñeco, a hardened forty-something trucker estranged from his wife and kids, who offers Veneno a seat in his 18-wheeler. As the men drive across northern Mexico, walls come down and feelings develop – but can the pair outrun the demons from Veneno’s past? The film won the Queer Lion at Venice as well as the festival’s Orizzonti Award for Best Film and is a great addition to the line-up of excellent queer films we’ve had hit out big and small screens in 2026. Then we moved on to ‘The Invite’; directed by Olivia Wilde from a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, this very funny, intense, and heartbreaking feature is an English-language remake of the 2020 Spanish film ‘The People Upstairs’ and stars Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. Our next pick was ‘Ride or Die’, a new TV series that was created by Tessa Coates and stars Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham, who also serve as executive producers. The story follows two long-time friends who have to go on the run from a mysterious enemy, and it turns out that one of the friends is secretly a highly trained assassin. We finished up by revisiting our interview from March with AP Pobjoy, the writer and creator of ‘Homebodies’, a brilliant local series that came out in March of this year via SBS, that celebrates trans visibility and Australian queer storytelling. ‘Homebodies’ stars Claudia Karvan, Luke Wiltshire, and Jazi Hall, and follows Darcy, a trans man who reluctantly returns to his regional hometown to care for his estranged mother, Nora. But home isn’t as he left it. Nora has been living with a secret housemate: Dee, the teenage ghost of Darcy’s pre-transition self. As old wounds resurface, Darcy must confront the parts of himself he tried to leave behind or risk losing himself entirely. It’s must-see Aussie TV for many reasons including Claudia Karvan’s Silver Logie award winning performance for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama series.

The post Out Takes Recommends: On The Road, The Invite, Ride or Die and Homebodies appeared first on Out Takes.