It seems that the SXSW Film & TV Festival gets more and more queer as each year passes. For nine days, the festival in Austin, Texas serves a buffet of media and ideas from tech to music to film & TV and this includes a diverse array of LGTBQ projects, creators, artists, and professionals further proving that the queer community is filled with varied experiences and perspectives.
In the film & TV space, Tommy Dorfman’s feature directorial debut, I Wish You All the Best bowed at the fest, giving audiences an adaptation of Mason Deaver‘s novel of the same name. The movie follows Ben DeBacker (Corey Fogelmanis), a non-binary teen who is thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah (Alexandra Daddario), and her husband, Thomas (Cole Sprouse). Struggling with anxiety, Ben tries their best to navigate the rough waters of their new school but finds a confidant in their art teacher Ms. Lyons (Lena Dunham). While getting adapted to a new home life and high school, Ben meets Nathan (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) who takes them under their wing along with a new group of friends to a brand new — happier life.
Directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, the documentary Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story brightens the spotlight on the titular trailblazing Black trans soul singer Jackie Shane. A contemporary of Little Richard and soul singers of the time, the docu dives deep into the life of the seldom-talked-about Shane. Through her voice and never-before-heard phone conversations, Any Other Way reminds many of and introduces a new generation to Shane, making her overlooked no more.
Also preserving queer history on celluloid is director Brian J. Smith‘s A House is Not a Disco, which documents a year in the life of the queer oasis known as Fire Island Pines. With newer generations of LGBTQ people converging with queer pioneering residents of the area, the documentary paints a modern-day portrait of The Pines and its influence and impact it has had on the LGBTQ community.
With it’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? charm, the Roshan Sethi-directed rom-com A Nice Indian Boy delighted the audience with Karan Soni starring as Naveen, who introduces his new white boyfriend Jay (Jonathan Groff) to his parents who are still trying to get used to him being gay. The twist? Jay was adopted by Indian parents. Sethi and Soni, who are a real-life couple, recently spoke to GLAAD about working together on the film. “It is a very loving thing, to just be able to see your partner’s talent – it’s not something everyone gets to experience,” said Sethi.
Other LGBTQ films included Brian Crano and David Craig‘s dark comedy I Don’t Understand You starring Andrew Rannells and Nick Kroll as a couple who take a trip to Italy before they adopt a baby. What starts as a relaxing getaway quickly turns into an unhinged vacation. And in a different movie, director David Lambert injects humor and a little bit of sadness into the lives of a couple (played by Dave Johns and Olivier Gourmet) who are struggling to stay in love with each other with the dramedy Turtles.
If you’re looking for something a little more lovelorn and existential, High Tide directed by Marco Calvani and executive produced by Marisa Tomei (who also stars in the film). Set in another queer utopia, Provincetown, undocumented Brazilian immigrant Lourenço (Marco Pigossi) waits for his lover to return. While doing so, he develops a relationship with the charming Maurice (James Bland) and his carefree friends who help him navigate his journey to find his purpose.
SXSW also included a handful of projects that aren’t necessarily LGBTQ-focused but have a strong queer presence or are queer-coded. This included the LARPing (live-action role-playing) documentary We Can Be Heroes as well as We Were Dangerous, a drama set in 1954 New Zealand following a group of rebellious girls, majority of indigenous descent, in a remote detention center.
The fest also premiered the forthcoming docuseries Black Twitter: A People’s History which premieres on Hulu on May 9. With Joie Jacoby as showrunner and Prentice Penny as director, the three-part series is based on Jason Parham’s Wired article “A People’s History of Black Twitter”. Among those interviewed in the docuseries are writer and activist Raquel Willis, comedian Sam Jay, and writer and The Read co-host Kid Fury.
Universal Pictures’ Monkey Man (out in theaters April 5) made its world premiere at SXSW. Star of the film Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with the John Wick-esque hardcore action pic produced by Jordan Peele‘s Monkeypaw Productions. In a surprising bit of queer representation, amidst all the action-packed bone-breaking, and bloody hyper-violence, the movie includes hijra culture which may have different terms in different regions of South Asia. Some may say these characters are trans or gender-fluid. Hijra seems to be similar to mahu or “third gender” in Hawaiian culture, which encompasses masculine and feminine energy. It’s only touched on in the movie, but the hijra characters are folded into the narrative in a way that makes them crucial to the film.