Good, Gay, and New in Town: Sundance 2023
Your guide to the queer titles playing online for this year's Sundance Film Festival
Dear Readers,
Congratulations! You made it to 2023! Yes, we may be living in the worst timeline but at least we have each other and this dinky newsletter to keep the engines burning. I’m just kidding, I would never put that much pressure on myself.
In an extraordinary turn of events, I once again have the opportunity to provide you with a little queer film listicle incredibly early in the year, already fulfilling my “one gay diatribe about film distribution per calendar year” quota. The reason for the season is: Sundance Film Festival! I’ll be covering a few titles out of the esteemed snowy slopes from the comfort of my couch, and once again, you have a chance to be part of their virtual audience!
One of the only good things wrought by an inability to attend this PR megalopolis due to Covid was a relaxation on stringent in person-only festival screenings. I’ve said it before and will again, but film festivals are some of the best places to catch queer titles that may take a long time to get proper distribution elsewhere, answering your perennial question: where can I even watch this??? These are often international, independently-produced, and offbeat narratives that have only limited theatrical releases in New York and Los Angeles before they come to VOD months or years later, because various executives have no confidence that they’ll make any sort of money. With our ever-narrowing theatrical landscape, an online festival is a perfect opportunity to take a chance on a queer film that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. In an added bonus, these usually come with Q&As with the film teams and a chance to watch a film before any sort of hype has built.
Several of my favorite queer films from the last few years have come through Sundance specifically, including Kajillionaire, Mars One, La Leyenda Negra, and Ema. Several of my least favorite releases have also come through Sundance, but those are redacted because I have chosen peace today. Versatility! For that reason, I’m giving you a short list of feature narratives and documentaries that will hopefully result in you finding a director, actor, or screenwriter you’ll fall in love with and champion for years to come. Of course, I’m projecting my experience; you might just find a movie that fucks you up and you can’t wait to foist on other people, and that’s a gift, too.
Unfortunately, now that we’re “past” the “peak” of “Covid-19” (absurd and incorrect take) some distributors are still refusing to make their films accessible online for audiences. A few of Sundance’s bigger queer titles fall into this, but I’ve just asterisked and included those at the end of this newsletter so you have some releases to keep an eye out for in the coming year.
FEATURE NARRATIVES AVAILABLE ONLINE
Fancy Dance - Written and Directed by Erica Tremblay
Logline: Following her sister's disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child's white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.
I’m particularly excited for Fancy Dance because writer/director Erica Tremblay is an alum of one of the best TV shows of recent years, Reservation Dogs, and this is her feature debut!
Joyland - Written and Directed by Saim Sadiq
Logline: As the Ranas, a happily patriarchal joint family, yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theater and falls for an ambitious trans starlet. Their impossible love story illuminates the entire family's desire for a sexual rebellion.
Kokomo City - Directed by D. Smith
Logline: Four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves while confronting issues long avoided.
This could technically be listed under doc as well, but it seems to be a bit of an experimental hybrid, and a gorgeously-shot and creatively produced one at that; its stills already have me intrigued and hoping for a Looking for Langston-esque piece of poetry and innovation.
Mutt - Written and Directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
Logline: Over the course of a single hectic day in New York City, three people from Feña's past are thrust back into his life. Having lost touch since transitioning from female to male, he navigates the new dynamics of old relationships while tackling the day-to-day challenges of living life in between.
By Hook or By Crook’s Silas Howard is an exec producer on this flick, which makes me especially excited and nervous for a fast-paced NYC adventure spiral.
Shortcomings - Written by Adrian Tomine, Directed by Randall Park
Logline: Following Ben, Miko, and Alice as they navigate a range of interpersonal relationships and traverse the country in search of the ideal connection.
Slow - Written and Directed by Marija Kavtaradze
Logline: Dancer Elena and sign language interpreter Dovydas meet and form a beautiful bond. As they dive into a new relationship, they must navigate how to build their own kind of intimacy.
One of the few films tagged specifically for asexuality!
The Persian Version - Written and Directed by Maryam Keshavarz
Logline: When a large Iranian-American family gathers for the patriarch's heart transplant, a family secret is uncovered that catapults the estranged mother and daughter into an exploration of the past. Toggling between the United States and Iran over decades, mother and daughter discover they are more alike than they know.
FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES AVAILABLE ONLINE
The Stroll - Directed by Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker
Logline: The history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights.
I was lucky enough to see a Work in Progress version of this, and I would highly recommend it simply for the stories that the wealth of talking heads - Ceyenne Doroshow and Cecilia Gentili among them - share with us.
Going Varsity in Mariachi - Directed by Alejandra Vasquez
Logline: In the competitive world of high school mariachi, the musicians from the South Texas borderlands reign supreme. Under the guidance of coach Abel Acuña, the teenage captains of Edinburg North High School’s acclaimed team must turn a shoestring budget and diverse crew of inexperienced musicians into state champions.
High school mariachi!!!!!!!! Need I say more.
Little Richard: I Am Everything - Directed by Lisa Cortés
Logline: This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Through archival and performance footage, the revolutionary icon’s life unspools with all of its switchbacks and contradictions.
The Disappearance of Shere Hite - Directed by Nicole Newnham
Logline: Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?
Nicole Newnham is the co-director of Crip Camp, which was a super successful archival doc, so I’m hoping this is similarly well-done!
IN PERSON ONLY, NARRATIVES AND DOCS*
Eileen - Written by Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh, Directed by William Oldroyd
Logline: Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path. Based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s award-winning novel.*
Anne Hathaway is the glamorous new counselor! This is going to be fucking dark and laden with twisted seduction and delusion! I’m reviewing it for Paste Magazine, so hopefully there will be much to report.
Fairyland - Written and Directed by Andrew Durham
Logline: Set against the backdrop of San Francisco's vibrant cultural scene in the 1970s and '80s, chronicling a father-daughter relationship as it evolves from an era of bohemian decadence to the heartbreaking AIDS crisis. Based on the best-selling memoir Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott.*
My Animal - Written by Jae Matthews, Directed by Jacqueline Castel
Logline: Heather, an outcast teenage goalie in a small northern town, falls for newcomer Jonny, an alluring but tormented figure skater. As their relationship deepens, Heather’s growing desires clash with her darkest secret, forcing her to control the animal within.*
Starring Amandla Stenberg and Bobbi Salvör Menuez, I am so excited for all the teenybopper horror fans in my life to enjoy this when it goes wider.
Drift - Written by Susanne Farrell and Alexander Maksik, Directed by Anthony Chen
Logline: Jacqueline, a young refugee, lands alone and penniless on a Greek island where she tries to survive, then to cope with her past. While gathering her strength, she begins a friendship with a rootless tour guide and together they find the resilience to forge ahead.*
The headliners here are Cynthia Erivo and Alia Shawkat, so I have no idea how this is going to turn out. Exciting!
Cassandro - Written by David Teague, Roger Ross Williams, and Julián Herbert, Directed by Roger Ross Williams
Logline: Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, rises to international stardom after he creates the character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.” In the process, he upends not just the macho wrestling world, but also his own life.*
Not only is this cast absolutely stacked (Gael García Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, and Raúl Castillo among others), it takes us into the historically gay as shit art of wrestling. Hoping they find a theatrical release expediently! I’ll also be reviewing this for Paste!
birth/rebirth - Written by Laura Moss and Brendan J. O’Brien, Directed by Laura Moss
Logline: A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead.*
Passages - Written by Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, Directed by Ira Sachs
Logline: An intimate examination of attraction and emotional abuse between men and women.*
Ira Sachs why must we wait to see Adèle Exarchopoulos in a torrid love affair again.
Rotting in the Sun - Written by Sebastián Silva and Pedro Periano, Directed by Written by Sebastián Silva
Logline: After filmmaker Sebastián Silva goes missing in Mexico City, social media celebrity Jordan Firstman begins searching for him, suspecting that the cleaning lady in Sebastián's building may have something to do with his disappearance.*
It’s Only Life After All - Directed by Alexandria Bombach
Logline: Blending 40 years of home movies, film archives, and intimate present-day vérité, a poignant reflection from Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of iconic folk rock duo Indigo Girls. A timely look into the obstacles, activism, and life lessons of two queer friends who never expected to make it big.*
Indigo Girls doc I repeat Indigo Girls doc!!!!!
Slow looks so good my dude