The Seattle Queer Movie Competition is again this week with each in-person and digital screenings by way of October 20. Following final yr’s spectacular lineup, which made it one of many pageant’s best possible, this yr has a shorter in-person part, operating for simply 4 days versus 10. However it nonetheless boasts some stable programming from world wide, with movies which are unhappy and attractive and foolish (generally all on the similar time!) and tales that embrace sensual sky-flirting and murderous dinner events.
Passes and a full schedule can be found right here. That can assist you bounce in, I’ve rounded up 5 highlights you received’t wish to miss:
Energy Alley (Levante)
Brazil/France/Uruguay, 2023, 99 min., dir. Lillah Halla
Kicking issues off is a considerate slice-of-life drama in regards to the younger Sofia, performed with actual presence by Ayomi Domenica Dias. Sofia is a gifted volleyball participant residing in São Paulo and she or he desires of utilizing the game to get a scholarship in Chile. However when the 17-year-old will get pregnant and makes an attempt to get an abortion, she finds herself focused by a merciless conservative group that may cease at nothing to regulate her life. The movie turns into a narrative in regards to the neighborhood that Sofia kinds together with her crew—together with a newfound romance together with her teammate—and the way they assist her when few others will.
The movie is directed with persistence in its most intimate moments and incisive vitality within the rebellious ones, mixing the triumphs of the crew with the ache of the world they’re caught in. That it’s director Lillah Halla’s first function is kind of outstanding as she confidently crafts a portrait that’s as light as it’s grounded, by no means glossing over the repressive realities that the younger athletes face whereas discovering moments of grace that endure by way of all of it.
Fri Oct 11 at 8 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 – Theatre 2
Excessive Tide
United States, 2024, 105 min., dir. Marco Calvani
Excessive Tide is a targeted function debut that sneaks up on you. Written and directed by Marco Calvani, with a delicate, quietly shifting lead efficiency by Marco Pigossi, the movie is all in regards to the methods the attractive, queer vacation spot of Provincetown, Massachusetts is just not at all times so easy for many who dwell there. Particularly, the lonely Lourenço (Pigossi), a Brazilian immigrant whose life is knowledgeable by precarity as his visa is expiring. As if looking for a technique to keep in the US wasn’t sufficient, Lourenço can also be coping with a sudden breakup that motivates him to determine what he desires in his life. When he connects with Maurice (James Bland), an enthralling and assured man with secrets and techniques of his personal, their chemistry crackles and lights up the display. As this meet cute turns into extra melancholic, the movie juxtaposes lovely landscapes with the extra fraught feelings contained therein. Simply as importantly, it finds an understated resonance in each small element, from photographs of a face shifting in emotion to a determine being left behind within the distance. It ensures you, too, will probably fall in love with Lourenço and Maurice, although the movie’s magnificence is available in figuring out that it may possibly’t final.
Sat Oct 12 at 2 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 – Theatre 1. Not obtainable as a digital screening.
Gondola
Georgia/Germany, 2024, 82 min., dir. Veit Helmer
In Director Veit Helmer’s Gondola, the characters converse not a phrase, however it nonetheless shouts from a world above the rooftops with vibrant cinematic pleasure. The story follows cable automotive conductors Iva (Mathilde Irrmann) and Nina (Nini Soselia) as they zig and zag their approach throughout the sky within the mountains of western Georgia. What begins with a sport of chess, proving as soon as extra it is probably the most romantic of all board video games, quickly evolves into flirting, serenading, and sharing probably the most sensually charged exchanges to ever happen on a gondola. The strongest a part of the expertise is attending to see the duo’s shenanigans within the sky develop more and more artistic. The extra Gondola it retains its head excessive up within the clouds, the extra we get swept up within the journey.
Sat Oct 12 at 8 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 – Theatre 1. Obtainable to display nearly beginning Oct 14.
The Astronaut Lovers
Argentina/Spain, 2024, 116 min., dir. Marco Berger
Movies constructed round deception are widespread, however belief me once I say you may have by no means seen one like Marco Berger’s ambling but affectionate The Astronaut Lovers. This dramedy revolves round Pedro (Javier Orán) and Maxi (Lautaro Bettoni), two childhood pals who at the moment are adults and haven’t seen one another in years. Over the course of only some summer season days at a stunning Argentina getaway, the 2 begin to participate in a sport the place they fake to be a pair. Pedro is brazenly homosexual, however Maxi appears to be doing it on a lark to see what his now ex-girlfriend will make of all of it. No less than initially. As they proceed to spend time with one another, the conversations shift from gleeful sexual teasing to severe reflection as they ponder their connection and what it’s they’re in search of. The story has relaxed pacing, although the chemistry of Orán and Bettoni injects it with emotional electrical energy. It’s a movie that makes loads of cheeky intercourse jokes about house whereas exploring a complete host of deeper concepts about attraction, efficiency, and societal expectations, managing to blast off simply because it sticks the touchdown.
Solar Oct 13 at 2 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 – Theatre 1. Not obtainable as a digital screening.
Mom Father Sister Brother Frank
Canada, 2024, 85 min., dir. Caden Douglas
Final however undoubtedly not least is probably the most darkly absurd movie of the pageant. Trapping us in a chaotic household dinner to finish all household dinners, the scrappy comedy Mom Father Sister Brother Frank begins out with a suburban gathering the place everybody has a secret. After an surprising visitor comes knocking, the night takes a violent flip, and this dysfunctional household should come collectively to take care of the bloody aftermath. It’s a movie that, very similar to the disruptive character at its middle, is at all times in peril of overstaying its welcome however remains to be simply intelligent sufficient to get away with it. With every escalation and swerve it serves up, the dedication of the solid, in addition to a intelligent script, ensures it stays mild on its ft, at the same time as its characters always stumble over what to do. It’s a foolish but substantive meal of a film value seeing with the entire household so you’ll be able to all struggle about it afterward.
Solar Oct 13 at 4 pm at AMC Pacific Place 11 – Theatre 1. Not obtainable as a digital screening.
