GAZE to showcase best of queer cinema with unmissable 2023 programme

GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival has launched its 2023 programme, and it's jam-packed with an unmissable and diverse lineup of screenings and events.

Events . Written by Han Tiernan.

The image shows a split screen of three stills from films in the 2023 GAZE programme. On the left is a photo of a person wearing a green wig and red jacket. Their face has white makeup with a black band across the eyes. In the middle is a female-presenting person. They have long braids in their hair and have their eyes closed with their hands resting on their shoulders. On the right is an person wearing a black wig in a bob cut and a silver dress. They are swinging their head so the hair is flying.
Image: GAZE.ie

GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival has just launched its programme for 2023, and everyone here at GCN is super excited about the incredible lineup. 

Returning to the August Bank Holiday Weekend, this year’s festival is the perfect way to while away those summer days with the very best in LGBTQ+ cinematic culture. 

Whether you’re suffering from a post-Pride slump and seeking your next fix of queer camaraderie or just looking to get lost in LGBTQ+ storytelling on the silver screen, look no further.

Together with Assistant Programmers James Hudson and Alice Linehan, Festival Director Greg Thorpe has pulled together a stunning programme for 2023. It not only honours the GAZE ethos of representing a diverse and inclusive range of voices in cinema, but this year, the team has extended its partnerships with organisations representing marginalised members of the community. 

Screening across the Light House Cinema and the Irish Fim Institute (IFI), as well as an online selection, the weekend boasts a plethora of amazing feature films and shorts screenings curated in partnership with an array of incredible organisations.

The festival opens on Thursday, August 3, with the incredible taut character-driven French/Belgian gay drama La Paradis by Zeno Graton. Contrasting the restless claustrophobia of a young men’s detention centre with the boundless thrills of first love, and young fantasies of the future, this beautiful film presents a story that is filled with yearning, complexity and humour.

Ensuring there’s everyone feels comfortable and catered for at this year’s festival, the GAZE team has worked with Neuro Pride Ireland to introduce a ‘relaxed screening’ of the Irish Shorts programme.

Furthermore, along with Red Umbrella Film Festival, GAZE will also host a series of shorts followed by a conversation focusing on the issues faced by current and former sex workers.

There will be additional shorts blocks, programmed in partnership with the likes of Queer Lisboa Festival, the Iris Prize, and the return of the ever-popular AEMI selection.

GAZE has also continued its partnership with the Small Trans Library to present The People’s Joker – after it was pulled from last year’s festival at the last minute.

The GAZE 2023 programme will also be diversifying the lineup of events with a not-to-be-missed one-off live performance by this year’s special guest, the inimitable David Hoyle. On Friday, August 4, the living legend, queer icon and performance art maestro will bring his critically-acclaimed live show, The Ten Commandments, to Project Arts Centre for its Dublin premiere. 

David will also feature in Afterparty, part of the Mighty Real shorts selection and will join film director Jen Heyes and Festival Director Greg Thorpe in conversation following a screening of Hedda (After Ibsen).

 

Following up on his commitment to uncovering the GAZE archive, Thorpe has managed to return a long-lost gem to the festival. First screened at GAZE in 2002, The George, directed by filmmaker Clark Harding, will receive only its second-ever screening at this year’s festival.

The documentary focuses on the regulars of one of Dublin’s favourite LGBTQ+ bar as a starting point for a wider exploration of the city’s changing queer scene and life in the capital. With fantastic footage of the Alternative Miss Ireland drag pageant and an already unrecognisable Dublin, this will be an unmissable trip down memory lane.

Clark will also be joining some of the original cast all the way from Los Angeles for a post-screening conversation about the scene and nightlife then and now. 

The GAZE programme 2023 also features an exciting special screening of Charles Bryant & Alla Nazimova’s 1923 masterpiece, Salomé, based on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name, in the luxurious settings of the Stella Cinema in Rathmines on Sunday, August 6. 

With the gorgeous Australian rom-com/drama Of An Age perfectly closing out the five-day festival on Monday, August 7, all that’s left to ask is, “What are you going to go see”?

To download the full GAZE 2023 programme and to find out more about ticketing, go to gaze.ie.

 

© 2023 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

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