Out Takes

For this Out Takes, we looked at some of the films on offer in this years Melbourne Women in Film Festival including the opening night film ‘We Were Dangerous’, a powerful story of hope, rebellion and the celebration of female friendships; and ‘Artrageous’, a collection of experimental and avant-garde shorts from the 1990s and early 2000s that explore the era of Australian third-wave feminism, riotgrrl, and the 90s surrealist revival. We also heard from Dr Janice Loreck, a Lecturer in Screen and Cultural Studies at The University of Melbourne and one of the curators for the festival, who shared her thoughts on the importance of showcasing the work of women and gender diverse filmmakers and storytellers.

We also caught up with Mitch Nivalis, the director of ‘Equal The Contest’, which we originally reviewed and featured in March 2024. 12 months on, the film is now streaming on SBS on Demand and we find out the latest with Mitch and this wonderful documentary as it continues to play a key role in educating and entertaining audiences about the importance of inclusion in sport.

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We love celebrating local films that highlight diversity and representation and ‘My Melbourne’ is one worth celebrating. Themed around four pillars – sexuality, gender, disability, and race – the anthology film ‘My Melbourne’ 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. We spoke with the film’s producer Mitu Bhowmick Lange and one of the lead actors Arka das about their roles in this wonderful production and the importance of sharing these stories here and around the world. We also checked in with Dr Sian Mitchell, the Festival Director for the Melbourne Women in Film Festival, on this year’s program and the festival’s mission to elevate the voices, stories and creativity of women and gender diverse people on and behind the screen.

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For this Out Takes Extra, Demetra spoke to Tara Thorne, the writer / director of ‘Lakeview’ which is screening as part of the QueerScreen Mardis Gras FIlm Festival On Demand program until March 10. ‘Lakeview’ is about a queer friend group that unites for a girls’ weekend. Packed with delicious Sapphic drama and plenty of wine drunk antics, ‘Lakeview’ is an unforgettably hilarious venture through the unique dynamics of queer female friendships in all of their messy glory. Demetra caught up with Tara recently to discuss the film, navigating the world of independent cinema and more.

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For this Out Takes, we dedicated the entire show to the 97th Academy Awards a.k.a. the 2025 Oscars! It’s no secret that we love the international film award season and it was another interesting take on the ‘best’ in cinema over the past 12 months and recognising what that means in the film industry but as always, we had our favourites and so it was great to take the time to dissect and discuss who won, who we wanted to win and who was snubbed. If you watched it then let us know if you agreed with us on any of our takes on the ceremony and if you didn’t see it then use this as a guide to get you through the inevitable discussions you’ll have with your cinema loving friends about what should’ve won, why you’re so happy they won and who won the award for best dressed (it’s Colman Domingo, it’s always Colman Domingo).

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The on demand program kicks off soon for the 2025 Mardi Gras Film Festival so we looked at two of the fabulous films on offer that will be available to stream nationally from February 28 to March 10.

First up was ‘Unusually Normal’, a heartwarming documentary spanning eight decades that follows the lives of two lesbian grandmothers, four lesbian mothers and one lesbian granddaughter, all in the same family. Through interviews, archival footage and viral TikToks, this extraordinary family shares their journey from hidden relationships to living proudly and openly, highlighting the similarities (and differences) between three generations of gay women. Then we reviewed ‘Drive Back Home’, a dark comedy road movie showcasing the distance that can grow between two brothers amidst the vastness of the Canadian countryside. In 1970s Toronto, Perley (played by festival favourite Alan Cumming) is arrested for having sex with a man in a park. His estranged brother Weldon (Charlie Creed-Miles) is called on to bail him out. With only each other for company, the quirky Perley, his stoic brother and a taxidermied pug are trapped in a car together as they drive cross country back to small town Stanley. Inspired by a true story, this heartfelt film is about reckoning with the past and learning to forgive.

With special screenings of ‘Moonlight’ coming to IMAX this February, we took the opportunity to revisit our interview with the film’s co-writer and director Barry Jenkins. In 2017, Out Takes was in its first year on JOY and we were offered the opportunity to review a new queer independent film from the U.S. that was generating a lot of buzz in the lead up to the 2017 Academy Awards. ‘Moonlight’ is the searing story of a young black man from Miami struggling with his identity and trying to find his place in the world that Rolling Stone called ‘a masterpiece’ and Vanity Fair called it ‘timely and timeless’.  We loved this film and knew it was something special so we were honoured to speak with its very talented writer and director in January 2017 about his ground breaking film and some of its more critical themes: representation, identity and masculinity.

We also announced a special giveaway for our Aussie listeners to win a double pass to the hilarious comedy ‘One of Them Days’ starring Keke Palmer and SZA , in cinemas March 6. Check out Out Takes on Instagram and Facebook for more details. #OneOfThemDays © 2025 CTMG. All Rights Reserved.

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For this Out Takes it was a mixed bag of reviews and interviews to celebrate the arrival of a new Aussie series based on a much loved queer coming of age novel, the latest release from Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino and the return of the Australian International Documentary Conference. First up we reviewed ‘Invisible Boys’, the new LGBTQ coming-of-age Australian series set in the unforgiving Western Australian coastal city of Geraldton, with the 2017 plebiscite on same-sex marriage as the backdrop, It follows a quartet of gay young men trying to figure out how to navigate family, friends and the expectations put on them and is adapted by director Nicholas Verso from Holden Sheppard’s award-winning 2019 novel of the same name. We always love shining a light on new local queer productions and it’s fair to say this latest offering is a promising start to the year ahead for local LGBTQ content on our small screens. Next up we turned we’re turned our attention to ‘Queer’, which is directed by Out Takes favourite Luca Guadagnino and based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American expatriate played by Daniel Craig who becomes infatuated with a much younger man played by Drew Starkey and it features Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville in supporting roles. Director John Waters ranked Queer second on a list of his favourite movies of 2024, writing that Craig “may be queerbait for taking on the gay beatnik role of William Burroughs’s alter ego, but I’m all for it’ – we couldn’t agree more! Finally, we welcomed back the return of the Australian International Documentary Conference aka AIDC which is back on in Melbourne in early March. The 2025 AIDC program includes over 40 sessions, more than 115 speakers and 90 industry decision makers and is inspired by the theme “Future Telling: New Horizons in Documentary & Factual Storytelling”. One of the key elements of delivering a successful conference is the program and we were delighted to be joined by AIDC Programmer Alice McShane to get the full scoop on how they’ve pulled together this phenomenal line up for 2025 and some of the many highlights on offer at this year’s conference.

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For this Out Takes, we’re going back to the Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival to look at ‘I’m Your Venus’, a powerful film from the U.S. that is described as a vital companion piece to Jennie Livingston’s legendary 1990 ballroom documentary ‘Paris Is Burning’. One of the iconic trans stars of that seminal film, Venus Xtravaganza, was murdered before its release and thirty-five years later, her two families – the biological Pellagattis and ballroom Xtravaganzas – unite to honour her legacy and seek justice. Old wounds are reopened as her cold case is reexamined, amidst a fight to posthumously amend her birth certificate to finally reflect her actual name and gender. Overflowing with love for its subject, this cathartic documentary is a moving ode to Venus’ life and impact, and the power of the ballroom community. We were honoured to be joined by the films director, New York based trans filmmaker Kimberly Reed, and two of the executive producers on the film, Jonovia Chase and Dominique Jackson, to discuss their involvement with the film and the importance of continuing to tell Venus’s story and the importance of ballroom on queer culture. We also reviewed ‘Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All’, a comprehensive documentary about the Grammy-winning folk-rock duo that explores their lives, music, and activist projects over the course of their incredible 40+ year career.

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It’s no secret that we love highlighting local film festivals and the talent behind it and for this Out Takes we were delighted to welcome back Artistic Director Spiro Economopoulos to tell us about the 2025 Europa Europa Film Festival which is returning for its 4th year in Melbourne and Sydney from February 12 to March 12. Spiro shared many of the program highlights including three queer films on offer with one being ‘Sebastian’ which we gave the full Out Takes review treatment too and agreed it is one to check out at Europa Europa and at the Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival. We also continued our reviews for this years Mardi Gras Film Festival with a look at the fabulous new documentary ‘Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story’ that is having it’s Australian premiere this February in Sydney and is a dazzling profile of an enduring gay icon and Hollywood survivor. We concluded the program with reviews of three new releases that we’ve been very much looking forward to for very different reasons – Babygirl, Maria and Companion.  We also gave you a big update about the future of Out Takes; it may come as a shock to you but this is the last time you will hear the show live on a Saturday… because we’re moving to Monday nights! We’ll still be bringing you the latest in queer film and television reviews, interviews and more but in a new time slot on JOY.94FM, DAB+ and online at 8pm on Mondays so spread the word and thanks for listening!

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For this Out Takes, we welcomed the return of the 2025 Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival which is now in its 32nd year in Sydney from February 13 to 27 with highlights from the program available on demand around the nation from February 28 to March 10. We caught up with Festival Director Lisa Rose to discuss this year’s program, her career highlights in the lead up to her delivering her final program as Festival Director and more.

We also delivered an encore presentation of our interviews with incredibly talented local filmmaker Demetra Giannakopoulos (who also happens to be one of our very own Out Takes crew) and the stars of her film ‘Love Rewind’, Maria Papas and Ruth Katerelos, in the lead up to two very special events celebrating the film at this year’s Midsumma Festival.

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The latest release from award winning Irish film and theatre director John Crowley is called ‘We Live in Time’, starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, which is in cinemas now. These two incredible actors are brought together to tell the story of Almut and Tobias, two young Londoners who are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots of their life together – falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family – a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their deeply moving love story takes them on.

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