Fans of LGBTQ cinema may experience a new sensation at this year’s Tribeca Festival: They might smile while they watch queer programming.
Lucy Mukerjee (the festival’s senior programmer) said that “we’re so used, as queer viewings, being triggered [by the stories we’re seeing] and seeing so many negative content.” “So I wanted to ensure that mainstream audiences could see positive representations of our experiences.
She said, “None the characters are coming out of their identities; they’re just going on with their lives.”
This year’s Tribeca Film Festival will include more than films. It will also feature podcasts and star-studded panels. The program runs from Wednesday through June 19.
Festival highlights include the world premiere “Three Headed Beast”, the first feature film by filmmaking duo Fernando Andres (24-year-old Austin natives) This poetic drama explores the intimate relationship between a Texas-based bisexual couple. When the foundation of their relationship begins to crumble, the couple is about to end their relationship.
Ruth Cadeli’s fourth feature “Petit Mal,” which focuses on the highs, lows, and joys of a polyamorous marriage, is another film. It follows three charismatic women, Martina, Laia, and Anto, who are in a “throuple.” Martina and Anto discover unexpectedly that their love for each other as a couple is not what they had hoped for when Laia leaves for a long-term assignment.
Mukerjee stated that stories about white gay men have been telling us the stories we need to hear, at the expense stories about queer people or non-binary people. It’s time for those stories to be heard, and it feels radical to show films about polyamory at a mainstream festival. It feels good. I’m excited.”
According to Mukerjee Lesbians will “love” the international premiere of “Attachment,” an upcoming horror romance film directed and written by Gabriel Bier Gislason. Maja, a Danish actor who has been unsuccessful, falls in love with Leah, a young Jewish academic from London. Leah suffers a mysterious seizure which turns the story into a tragic one. Leah’s health scare forces them to move to London to live with Leah, Leah’s overbearing and sinister mother.
Intersectionality is another theme LGBTQ film lovers can expect at this year’s festival, according to Shakira Remos (associate programmer of documentary films for the festival).
Remos stated that there is often a single way to be gay or black. However, this year’s event shows that that’s not the case. There are many ways to be Black or queer.
Programmers will show “Set It Off,” a 1996 film about four Black women, starring Kimberly Elise and Jada PinkettSmith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox — Searching for peace and freedom within a harsh ’90s-era South Central Los Angeles.
Festivalgoers will also be able to participate in a panel entitled “The Power of Black Women’s Imagination: Dedicated to Bell Hooks”, which will provide insight into the creation of bell hooks’ best-selling book, “All About Love. New Visions”.
A panel will provide an insider’s look at Katori Hall’s career. This Tony-nominated playwright is behind Starz’s television series “P-Valley.” It follows several Black dancers working at a Mississippi strip club. Festivalgoers will also be able to hear from Nicco Annan (P-Valley) who plays Uncle Clifford, a nonbinary manager of a strip club.
Queer cinema fans can also view Bryan Darling’s feature documentary “All Man: The International Male Story” by Jesse Finley Reed. Matt Bomer is the actor who narrates “All Man,” which takes a deep dive in the International Male Catalog — or as festival programmers put it, the “secret handshaking” between closeted gay men during the 1980s. It also explores the influence of media and fashion on the modern gay rights movement.
