Out Takes

She is commonly referred to as the Queen of Pop But across her six decade long career, Cher has also garnered an Emmy Award, an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and a Cannes Film Festival Award.

So this week on Out Takes, as Melbourne prepared to open its arms to the most famous chanteuse of our times, we turned the spotlight on the controversial, kitsch, award winning film career of the one and only Cher: from her on-screen debut in GOOD TIMES (1967) to her recent turn in MAMMA MIA: HERE WE GO AGAIN.

For this Out Takes, we turned the spotlight on to A KID LIKE JAKE, the powerful new film from producer Jim Parsons and director Silas Howard.

Our guest was A KID LIKE JAKE screenwriter Daniel Pearle, who developed the script from his similarly titled 2012 stage play. We hear from Daniel about his delicate new film and its authentic representation of trans and gender diverse experience.

We also welcomed Miranda Sparks from JOY’s own THE GENDER AGENDA to the Out Takes studio. We spoke with Miranda about the political and filmic milieu surrounding A KID LIKE JAKE and why the on screen representation of the trans experience is so important.

This week on Out Takes, we smashed taboos and turned our attention to incest in queer cinema: think Brazilian heart wrencher FROM BEGINNING TO END or English period piece SISTER MY SISTER.

Our guest was senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne and prolific writer Lauren Rosewarne, whose thesis Part-Time Perverts explores the incest trope in western pop culture. We spoke with Rosewarne about why so many queer films stake their plots on the representation of this taboo.

We also reviewed a range of queer films which deal with the incest trope, including Pascal-Alex Vincent’s 2008 French road movie GIVE ME YOUR HAND and Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial THE DREAMERS. 

This week on Out Takes, we pointed the spotlight at documentaries about famous queer luminaries: think I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, the first major documentary to spotlight James Baldwin and new documentaries about two of Britain’s most well known and respected gay men in their fields.

Out guest was Peter Ettedgui, the director of MCQUEEN, which is now in cinemas. MCQUEEN explores the life of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who gained notice as designer for Givenchy before launching his own label.

We also took a look at MCKELLEN: PLAYING THE PART, the much anticipated new documentary about Sir Ian McKellen. MCKELLEN: PLAYING THE PART hits cinemas later this month.

This week on Out Takes, to coincide with the Queer Screen Film Festival (QSFF) in Sydney, we explore the tension between religion and sexuality in short format films.

Our guests were Omar Al Dakheel and Mojan Nourbakhsh, who both have films screening at the QSFF. Omar is the director of ABLUTION, which charts the relationship between a disabled Muslim father and his gay son. Mojan stars in MASKS, which tells the story of an Iranian Jewish Lesbian caught in a shooting at a gay club.

We also reviewed a number of other short films that deal with the tension between religion and sexuality, including WREN BOYS and SALAMGAN, which both deal with the tension between homosexuality and Catholicism and screen at QSFF later this month.

QSFF kicks off in Sydney later this month. For more information head to queerscreen.org.au

This week on Out Takes we celebrate the theatrical release of THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, the heart-warming, award winning new film from Desiree Akhavan.

THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST charts the journey of a teenage girl forced into gay conversion therapy by her conservative guardians. It opens nationally this September.

Our guest is MISEDUCATION director, Desiree Akhavan, who propelled herself onto the international stage with her debut feature film: APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR. In an exclusive Out Takes interview, we chat with Akhavan about her poignant new film and the importance of sexual diversity in mainstream cinema.

We also take stock of the broader genre of gay conversion therapy films in which MISEDUCATION locates itself: think I AM MICHAEL, BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER, and the up-coming, much anticipated, BOY ERASED.

This week on Out Takes, we survey a breadth of films to look at representations of sex on screen.

Our guests are author and senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Lauren Rosewarne, and emerging film maker Bec Peniston Bird, who recently moderated a similarly themed panel discussion as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

We speak with Rosewarn and Peniston Bird about the difference between sex in cinema and pornography, the didactic dimensions of on-screen sex, and the key to depicting on-screen intimacy with authenticity and originality.

We also review a range of ground breaking and sexually charged films, which charted new territory in their on-screen depictions of sex: think SHAME, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR and UN CHANT D’AMOUR.

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is in full swing and this week we’re celebrating by taking stock of some of our Festival favorites so far.

MIFF is the leading film festival in Australia and one of the world’s oldest film festivals. It presents a curated global program of innovative screen experiences and the world’s largest showcase of exceptional Australian filmmaking.

MIFF is also home to an annual line up of formidable LGBT themed films. This program includes reviews of some of our favourites from this year’s program, including:

* A Kid Like Jake (USA, Dir. Silas Howard)

* Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion & Disco (USA, James Crump)

* Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot (USA, Dir. Gus Van Sant)

* Hard Paint (Brazil, Dir. Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon)

* Girl (Netherlands, Dir. Lukas Dhont)

* McQueen (UK, Dir. Ian Bonhôte)

* Sorry Angel (France, Dir. Chrisophe Honeré)

We’re also joined by Adrian Wootton OBE, CEO of Film London & The British Film Commission, who is in town for MIFF. We chat with Adrian about his ties to the Festival, the importance of cross-cultural relations in the film industry, and what the industry can do to promote on-screen diversity.

For this Out Takes program, we celebrated films that are fat and fabulous: think John Water’s original Hairspray and Camp.

Our guest was film maker and radical body politics activist Kelli Jean Drinkwater. We chatted with Drinkwater about her new documentary, ‘Nothing to Lose’, which screens as part of the Queer Screen Film Fest next month. ‘Nothing to Lose’ charts the production of the similarly titled stage performance, which sought to give choreographic language to larger bodies.

We also spoke with Drinkwater about the representation of fat bodies in film. We know that representation matters; that seeing ourselves on screen is important. So why are there so few larger bodies on our screen? We unpacked this loaded question as we celebrate films that are fat and fabulous!

Essential viewing: Hairspray (Dir. John Waters, 1988)

Hungry for more: Camp (Dir. Todd Graff, 2003)

In what has become an annual event, the Out Takes crew once again plunged head first into this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), which runs from August 2 to 19.

MIFF is the leading film festival in Australia and on of the world’s oldest film festivals. It presents a curated global program of innovative screen experiences and the world’s largest showcase of exceptional Australian filmmaking.

We spoke with incoming MIFF Artistic Director, Al Cossar, about this year’s formidable line up, which features over 360 films! We also turned our attention to some of the more notable LGBT themed films screening at this year’s Festival, and some of our top picks.

One of those picks is director Sue Thomson’s The Coming Back Out Ball, which screens as the closing film of this year’s Festival. We spoke with Thompson about her important new documentary.  The Coming Back Out Ball follows a group of older LGBTI+ people, who have been invited to attend a ball celebrating their gender and sexual identity.