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Wednesday
May172023

QUEER SCREEN FIRST LGBTQIA+ FESTIVAL INVITED TO MARCHE DU FILM GLOBAL FEST SIDEBAR

Queer Screen will be representing five work-in-progress productions at the international marketplace Marché du Film, in conjunction with the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

Each year the Marché du Film offers renowned festivals the chance to showcase their selection of original work-in-progress feature titles to sales agents, distributors and festival programmers as part of the ‘Goes to Cannes’ initiative. 

Queer Screen, producers of Sydney’s Mardi Gras Film Festival and Queer Screen Film Fest, will join Festival de Málaga, Hong Kong Industry’s Asia Film Financing Forum, Spanish Screenings and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in the marketplace. Their presence will represent the first ever LGBTQIA+ and Australian partner in what will be the eleventh edition of the event.

Queer Screen’s festival director, Lisa Rose (pictured, right), said the invitation is an enormous honour and a testament to the organisation’s international standing. “We are thrilled about being chosen,” she said. “To be the first ever Australian and the first ever LGBTQIA+ film festival involved is something we are very proud of and I can’t wait to champion these films.”

Marché du Film attendees can view an extract from the films and see pitches from the filmmakers, at an in-person event and online.

Rose has hand-picked four Australian and one international production to showcase, including SUNFLOWER, a gay coming of age drama from Melbourne filmmaker Gabriel Carrubba. “Earlier this year we gave Sunflower $15,000 from our completion fund,” Rose explained. “It’s the most we have ever awarded for a single project. To give emerging talent like Gabriel this opportunity on the global stage is very exciting.”

CLOSING NIGHT from filmmaker Timother Despina Marshall is a queer psychological horror that received $8,000 from the Queer Screen Completion Fund in 2021. “Tim is a Mardi Gras Film Festival alumni,” Rose said. “Three of his films have been finalists in our My Queer Career short film competition, with Gorilla winning the 2013 Iris Prize, the largest in the world for LGBTQIA+ shorts.”

Dark comedy-drama TRIPLE OH! is a mid-length film/episodic featuring a superb Brooke Satchwell (pictured, left). “It’s funny and sexy,” Rose said. “I loved it when I saw it, and it's so great to see director Poppy Stockell seamlessly deliver compelling narrative work after a much awarded factual career.”

Rounding out the Australian selections is ONE PERSON PROTEST from director Christopher Amos. It is the only documentary of the five films selected and is about Australian activist Peter Tatchell. 

The international project THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS comes via Canada and Pakistan from writer/director Fawzia Mirza, who’s making her feature directing debut after having many of her shorts screened at Queer Screen’s festivals over the years. It tells the story of a Pakistani Muslim woman, and her Canadian-born daughter coming of age in two different eras.

“Fawzia was a guest at our most recent festival in February and I knew she was toiling away in post while she was here, so I jumped at the chance to offer her this opportunity, as we don’t see enough queer Muslim stories on screen,” Rose said.

Queer Screens selections will be shown on Saturday 20 May 2023 at 4:30pm at Palais K, with filmmakers pitching in person or via recorded video. The film extracts and pitches will also be available online for Marché du Film attendees to view the following day.

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