And that’s a wrap… or is it?
For anyone who missed this year’s GAZE International LGBTQ+ Film Festival 30th anniversary celebrations, fear not. Like any discerning 30-year-old, this one’s mad to keep the party going… and going… and going!
The last five days saw a feast of the best queer films hitting not one but two of the capital’s cinemas and dear readers, I don’t mind telling you, I for one gorged myself with no regrets.
From the opening film Wildhood, introducing the voice of Canadian Two-Spirit director Bretten Hannam, up until the closing Finnish coming-of-age flick, Girl Picture, portraying a true expression of today’s queer youth culture, the festival captured the length and breadth of the LGBTQ+ experience in all its spectacular glory.
Whether you had the pleasure of buttering your popcorn in front of the big screen or salted it with your tears as you sat at home missing all the fun, there’s still a chance to catch a few of the weekend’s highlights and some new gems with the GAZE Online programme.
For one week only, IFI@Home will host a selection of specially selected films available to rent from anywhere in the country as part of the GAZE 30th anniversary programme. The programme features screenings which can be streamed individually at just €7.50 each or €30 for access to all twelve.
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Among the online selection is the sensational Jimmy in Saigon which won the festival’s Jury Award for Best Documentary. Shot over a decade, the film sees director Peter McDowell lifting a veil on family secrets to uncover the story of his brother Jimmy who died in Vietnam when he returned as a civilian after his US military service.
GAZE Online also sees four newly programmed features which festival goers won’t have had the pleasure of catching over the weekend; Easy Tiger, Man Scaping, Surviving Pulse: Life After a Mass Shooting, and When the Dawn Comes.
And in true GAZE style, shorts get a special look in with three uniquely and imaginatively themed ‘Threesomes’; Bury Your Gays, Delete Your Apps, and Find Your Family. But no GAZE programme, online or otherwise would be complete without an Irish Shorts programme, so be sure to get your fix at IFI@Home until Saturday, October 8.
But if the heating bills are too high to be staying at home, the fab folks at GAZE have thought of everything with a two-week programme of free – yes you heard me correctly – FREE screenings!
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A brand new initiative to mark the 30th anniversary sees the festival step out of the cinema and into the gallery with the GAZE at The Complex programme.
From Tuesday, October 4 to Saturday, October 8, GAZE will present ‘Terrain’, an exploration of shorts responding to “the ground that we walk on, the way that we thread, and the things that we move through.”
In week two, Tuesday, October 11 to Saturday, October 15, GAZE at The Complex presents ‘Voice’. Underpinned by hearing, speaking, listening, and story-telling, these films express a diverse range of forms and queer experiences to excite and entrance. Also, not to be missed in week two are Whispers, winner of the Best Irish Short and MUTYA, winner of the Best International Short.
The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 5.00 and Saturday 12.00 to 5.00, with a range of in-conversation events also taking place across the two weeks.
So whether you’re having withdrawals after a fab weekend or looking to get your first fix of queer culture, GAZE has you covered.
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