Out Takes

For this Out Takes, we put the spotlight on two queer filmmakers whose films are featured in this year’s Sydney Film Festival. The 73rd edition of the festival will showcase the very best in contemporary cinema from June 3 to 14 and features an incredible selection of films from around the world,

Our first guest was L.A. based filmmaker, writer, and multimedia artist William D. Caballero who is known for blending documentary, animation, and miniature world-building into visually inventive, emotionally grounded storytelling. ‘TheyDream’ is his debut feature film in which William returns home to be with his mother as they navigate the loss of their family members. Together, they draw on family audio and video, and step into the roles of their relatives – reimagined through vivid animation. We spoke with him in the lead up to his visit to Australia to present his film at the Sydney Film Festival and we discussed his career, his storytelling process, how his bisexuality was a key part of shaping this story and much more.

We were then joined from Sydney by Dean Francis whose latest film ‘Body Blow’ is described as a neon-noir exploring sex, power, and queer identity starring Tim Pocock, Tom Rodgers, Paul Capsis and Sacha Horler in a genre defining Aussie film that is unashamedly queer and chaotic. We caught up with the writer, producer and director in the lead up to the highly anticipated screenings of his film at the Sydney Film Festival and we got to discuss his career as an all-rounder in the industry, his inspirations for this bold slick erotic thriller, how he landed on this incredible cast plus we discuss the films brilliant marketing campaign that includes collector cards, t-shirts and limited edition cock cages!

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We went around the world for this Out Takes, featuring some of the latest queer films on offer this May from Chile, Germany and the UK . With the 2026 HSBC German Film Festival back on in Melbourne until May 28, we had the opportunity to speak with director Faraz Shariat about their film ‘Prosecution’ which is one of the featured Australian Premieres in this year’s festival. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2026 Berlinale, ‘Prosecution’ is described an engrossing tale of good versus evil that cleverly combines legal drama and thriller for a powerful and urgent story about the realities of Germany’s judicial system. Our exclusive interview with Faraz Shariat saw us cover a wide range of topics related to the film and its exploration of queerness for the main character.

We also reviewed ‘The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo‘, an intense and at times fantastical drama written and directed by Diego Céspedes that is streaming now on Mubi. The film unfolds in the early 1980’s in Chile in a dusty mining town nestled in the Atacama Desert, where eleven-year-old Lidia is the only child raised in a household of queer performers working at a local cantina. With his widely acclaimed feature debut, Céspedes emerges as a distinctive cinematic voice, crafting a poetic vision of love and resilience that also reflects the marginalisation and violence faced by queer communities today. Our final review for this program was ‘Mother Mary’, directed by David Lowery and featuring an incredible all female ensemble cast including Michaela Coel, Anne Hathaway, Hunter Schafer, Kaia Gerber and FKA Twigs, the film explores the complicated professional and personal relationship between iconic pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) who reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance. ‘Mother Mary’ is in cinemas now and features original music written and produced by Charli XCX, FKA Twigs and Jack Antonoff and sang by Anne Hathaway.

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For this Out Takes, we turned our spotlight on to one of the retrospective highlights in a new Aussie focused cinema celebration screening right through May at Cinema Nova, plus we reviewed Jodie Foster’s latest film that is one for the Francophiles.

First up, we took a look at ‘Going Down’ from the early 80’s, a film about four young women living in a share house in Sydney that after its initial release was deemed a cult classic but all but disappeared until a copy showed up in the US a few years ago which started a chain reaction that has lead to it being restored, resurrected and back in cinemas across Melbourne this May. This film is bold, brash and an incredible time capsule of the uncontrolled excess in inner-city Sydney for many young people during the early 1980s and who better to discuss it in-depth than its director Haydn Keenan who provided some great insight into the making of the film and the importance of preserving our local cinematic history.

We also took the opportunity to review  the latest film from Jodie Foster. ‘A Private Life’ (Vie Privée) premiered to great acclaim at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and is described as a frisky, feminine, film noir about psychoanalysis, sex and more.



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For this Out Takes, we turned the spotlight on to another great local film festival that is taking over the Northside this month plus we revisited one of our favourite interviews from earlier this year to celebrate its inclusion in a new Aussie focused cinema celebration coming to Cinema Nova this May.

First up we took a deep dive into the Brunswick Underground Film Festival (a.k.a BUFF) with festival director Felix Hubble. When it was announced that BUFF was coming back from May 14 to 17, we knew we were in for a brilliant collection of local and international underground, independent, cult, trash and schlock films but we’re also pleased to report that there is a great selection of queer content in the mix too. Felix took us through many of the highlights in the lead up to the festival and also shared with us what makes the festival underground, Needless to say, we’re pumped for this program and looking forward to getting (into) BUFF this May!

Another highlight for this May was the recently announced G’day May program from Cinema Nova which pays tribute to Australian cinema with a selection of curated anniversary classics, new features and special events celebrating Australia’s rich movie culture. One of the highlights in the program is ‘From All Sides’ which we reviewed in January and had the pleasure of speaking to its writer and director Bina Bhattacharya at the time so we thought this was the perfect time for an encore of that chat to encourage you all to get your tickets for this limited run before they sell out.

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For this Out Takes, we celebrated the return of two local film festivals that are bringing fantastic queer cinema to big screens across Melbourne and Geelong over April and May. First up, we dived into this year’s TILDE which is the trans-led international film festival that is in its 12th year showcasing the work of established and emerging trans and gender diverse artists. In 2026, TILDE is getting out and about with eight sessions across six days in venues that support and highlight Melbourne’s diverse arts and cinema scene. We are always keen to find out more about the festival, so we went straight to the source and one of our favourite returning guests a.k.a TILDE CEO Ro’ Bright, for more details on this year’s theme, the program and more.

Then we caught up with another friend of the show, Louise Lever, this time in her capacity as Festival Director for the Geelong Pride Film Festival which is back for its ninth year from April 30 to May 10. This year’s program is jam-packed with contemporary and classic LGBTIQ+ themed films along with a series of special screenings and events, so we had Louise fill us in on all of the details. She also reminded us that with free public transport across Victoria until the end of May that there’s never been a better time to head on over to Geelong for some great queer cinema and to show some support for this fabulous festival.

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