Out Takes

We know that ‘Best of’ lists can be problematic but with the end of the year fast approaching we wanted to share with you some of our favourite queer films and television shows for 2025. In no particular order, we offered up three picks each that reflected some of the best shows and movies this year that showcased representation from a LGBTQIA+ perspective on our big and small screens or was just something that brought us some joy and that we loved watching in a very challenging year. Let us know if you liked our selections, think we made a mistake or missed one of your faves by dropping us an email or messaging us on our socials. Happy holidays and here’s to a very queer 2026 for us all!

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The year was 2016 and two weeks out from Christmas, a new show started on JOY that promised to bring you the best in queer film and television every week… and on Monday December 15, Out Takes celebrated 10 years on air and on podcast and everyone was invited! For this very special live show from the JOY studios at the Victorian Pride Centre, we were joined by some very special guests, including Cinema Nova CEO and friend of the show Kristian Connelly, along with a shout out from our London-based international correspondent Dion. We also had some great giveaways courtesy of Eclipse Cinema and Cinema Nova plus we reminisced on some of the many highlights and memorable moments from our last decade bringing you the best in queer film and television. Thank you for your support and for listening!

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For this Out Takes, we decided to get into the festive season by looking at two new Christmas themed films that explore queer stories within the family dynamic that is often overlooked in these genre.

First up we took a look at ‘The Christmas Writer’ from Tello Films which is the first network dedicated to telling stories featuring and about lesbian/queer women and is the world’s longest running LGBTQ+ streaming platform with the biggest library of sapphic holiday films available anywhere. Their latest sapphic holiday-themed film follows Noel, a bestselling lesbian Christmas author who loses her holiday muse and experiences writer’s block, so she returns to her quaint hometown in search of renewed inspiration. What she finds is an unexpected love story that even she couldn’t have written… We really enjoyed this film and jumped at the chance to speak to Christin Baker, the film’s director and CEO of Tello Films, and Stacey Lee Powell, her real life partner and one of the stars of ‘The Christmas Writer’, from their homebase of Nashville. We covered a lot in this two-part interview, including the intent behind Tello Films, the importance of representation in lesbian and sapphic series, movies, and shorts plus the all-important question, what makes a great queer Christmas movie.

We then moved on to ‘Oh.What.Fun.’, the new Christmas film streaming now on Prime Video, with an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Denis Leary, Chloe Grace Moretz, Felicity Jones, Danielle Brooks, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, Maude Apatow and Joan Chen. We had high hopes for this one, especially with a queer character in the mix, so listen to our review to see if it lives up to the hype.

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For this special Out Takes episode, we headed back in time then back to the future in honour of JOY 94.9’s 32nd on-air anniversary and World AIDs Day 2025. We started off by using the 1993 December 1st start date for JOY to reflect on what was happening in queer film and television during this period and also check in on where we were at on our specific queer journeys and what we were watching at the time. We then caught up with Cal Hawk from Thorne Harbour Health and one of the hosts of Well, Well, Well on JOY to discuss the importance of World AIDs Day, the history of HIV and AIDS activism in Melbourne, and some of the seminal films and TV programs that have shaped the discussion around HIV/AIDs over the years. We then finished up with some television and film recommendation’s that we have previously discussed focusing on HIV/AIDS that are available to listen to now in the Out Takes podcast archive.

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As is our way at Out Takes, we literally had something for everyone this week! The highly anticipated second film of the most talked about movie musical in years, the return of a fantastic local documentary to a local streaming service, a queer Christmas radio play from one of our own that is on around Melbourne for a limited run, and a review of a new psychological drama that is in Aussie cinemas from November 27.

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For this Out Takes, we welcomed the return of Melbourne’s very own queer film festival with a selection of reviews, took a look at a new local show that promises to be a feisty feminist murder mystery plus we checked in on Eclipse Cinema, the latest independent cinema to open in Melbourne’s Northside.

First up, with the 35th Melbourne Queer Film Festival under way, we let you know about a few of the films we’ve seen that you can check out in this year’s programs, including In Transit, She’s The He, Hot Milk and 300 Letters.

We then moved on to ‘He Had It Coming’, a new Aussie series coming to Stan on November 20 that bills itself as a feisty feminist murder mystery that has an impressive international cast set against the backdrop of a fictional university in Adelaide.

We finished up by turning the spotlight on to a new independent cinema that has opened up in the heart of Melbourne’s Northside. Eclipse Cinema is found in Collingwood’s former Sherrin factory and is now home to a single-screen cinema that’s pairing new and recent films with classic must-sees. We caught up with Mark Walker, the owner and operator of Eclipse Cinema, to find out more about his love of cinema, how he decides on what to screen each week and more.

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For this Out Takes, we kept it eclectic by discussing the latest all-star female focused series from Ryan Murphy that the internet cannot get enough of, a documentary about one of the most respected and queer friendly world leaders, and we welcome the return of Melbourne’s very own queer film festival.

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For this Out Takes the theme of the show was ‘eclectic’ with a delightful mix including our review of JLo’s latest film (and her first ever movie musical), an update from our London-based international correspondent on the latest releases coming our way soon and we catch up with two special guests to discuss the power and importance of queer music videos.

First up, we took a look at ‘Kiss of the Spiderwoman’. It started life as an award-winning novel. Then, a groundbreaking drama in the 1980s that won the late William Hurt a Best Actor Oscar. In the 90’s, it was transformed again – this time into a record-setting Broadway musical that bagged seven Tony awards. Now, nearly half a century on, the web’s being woven all over again with Jennifer Lopez taking one of the lead roles in this movie musical that is in cinemas now.

Next up we welcomed back Dion Blackler, our UK correspondent and one of the co-hosts of the ‘In The Mood For Film’ podcast, to discuss the recent BFI London Film Festival which highlighted some of the queer films coming down under soon including the much anticipated ‘Pillion’ and ‘The History of Sound’ plus some of the many highlights from this year’s festival.

To celebrate the launch of the 115th Issue of Senses of Cinema, we spoke with not one, but two doctors – Dr Patrick Kelly and Dr Stayci Taylor, who joined us to discuss their special event ‘My Formative Queers: Stories of the Music Videos that Made Us Queer’. Both will be on the panel for this free ticketed event so they gave us a taste of what to expect and explained what makes a classic queer music video.

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For this Out Takes, we went on a global cinematic trip looking at films and filmmakers from Britain, Iran, and the U.S.A.

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For this Out Takes, we reviewed two new films from gay directors that explore the queer experience in vastly different ways and environments, plus we celebrated the return of The Other Film Festival and MQFF who are collaborating on a special inclusive cinema event this November.

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