QUEER NORTH FILM FESTIVAL

June 15-18, 2023

SCREENING VENUE

Screenings take place at Sudbury Indie Cinema- 162 Mackenzie St. Laneway/side entrance and Main Branch -Greater Sudbury Library- 74 Mackenzie St.
Free parking at both venues.

where diversity meets acceptance

Queer North Film Festival has become one of the largest LGBTQ- themed film festivals in Ontario, and is currently the only queer film festival in Northern Ontario. Queer North celebrates the diversity of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & two-spirited communities through quality cinema. In this our 7th edition, Queer North spans 4 days in June drawing attendees for an in-person in-theatre festival experience with film premieres, artists talks and socials that focus squarely on queer-themed films & videos from Canada & around the world. To enhance Queer North Film Festival’s impact, audience & jury awards are an important component.

All-Access Passes and Tickets HERE.

Full festival schedule, with showtimes, auxiliary events and individual tickets on sale by June 1st. Shorts Programme selections announced June 3rd.

Download 2023 Screening Schedule HERE

Queer North Film Festival proudly accepts entries for narrative and doc shorts and mid-length documentaries via FILM FREEWAY the world's #1 submission platform. For 2024, the regular deadline is mid-May / Late Deadline is early June.

Festival Opening Feature

SOFT

by Joseph Amenta

Thursday June 15 7:00pm

2022 | Canada | Drama | 84 min.

Roaming wild on the streets of Toronto, three queer adolescents hone their survival skills and scheme to run amok in a gay club. Julien (Matteus Lunot), a brash runaway, serves as pack leader, with timid Otis (Harlow Joy) and buoyant Tony (Zion Matheson) following in his wake. When some impetuous petty crime admits them into the promised land (and ushers in exhilarating depictions of beat-driven youthful abandon), it also imperils Dawn (Miyoko Anderson), Julien’s de facto guardian. Once Dawn fails to return home, the guilt-ridden kids form a search party that ultimately uncovers darker realities.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

BLUE JEAN

by Georgia Oakley

Friday June 16 6:45pm

2022 | UK | Drama | 97 min.

35 wins/nominations including Winner of the Audience Choice Awards at Venice.

One of the year’s finest debuts, Georgia Oakley’s riveting drama follows a young teacher balancing work life with her sexuality as Thatcher’s draconian Clause 28 comes into effect. Jean is a PE teacher living in the north-east of England, at a time when the Conservative government fostered renewed aggression against queer people. Despite carving a vibrant social life for herself, Jean is closeted at work and must temper her identity in the face of growing hostility. But this is compromised when Lois appears in her class. Awkward, troubled and bullied by the duplicitous Siobhan, Lois’s vulnerability shines a dangerous light on Jean’s own – not least when she shows up at a bar one night. Here, Oakley’s narrative transforms into a subtle portrayal of how power, fear and vulnerability can distort the truth and imperil the deepest part of ourselves.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

PASSAGES

by Ira Sachs

Friday June 16 8:30pm

2023 | France | Drama | 91 min.

Passages is a 2023 French romance drama film directed by Ira Sachs starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos. It depicts a long-time male couple one of whom has an affair with a woman.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

THIS PLACE

by V.T. Nayani

Saturday June 17 1:45pm

2023 | Canada | Drama | 87 min.

In Canadian director V.T. Nayani’s feature debut, starring Devery Jacobs and Priya Guns, is a queer love story about two young women — one Iranian and Kanienʼkehá꞉ka, the other Tamil — living in Toronto and dealing with difficult family legacies.

Kawenniióhstha and Malai, both daughters of refugees, find one another in a Toronto laundromat. With a spark and a missing notebook, their love story begins. However, big life events involving their respective fathers threaten to keep them apart.

With dialogue in Mohawk, Persian, Tamil, French, and English, This Place is a unique love story with universal elements that will resonate beyond language and communities.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

Golden Delicious

by Jason Karman

Saturday June 17 3:15pm

2022 | Canada | Drama | 119 min.

Everyone wants something from high school senior Jake: his father is pushing him to try out for the basketball team – an abandoned dream of his own – and his girlfriend wants to take their relationship to the next level. But it’s not until Aleks, an openly gay teen with a love for basketball, moves in across the street that Jake begins to struggle with his own desires. To get closer to Aleks, Jake devotes himself to making the basketball team – only to realize it’s not basketball he really wants. Meanwhile, Jake finds out that his father is having an affair, which leaves him questioning his entire family foundation. Distraught and confused, Jake pulls away - until he’s finally outed as gay. With the truth in the open, Jake and his father come to terms with the reality of their relationship and expectations for each other. At last able to find the courage to be himself, Jake is ready to face the future with his family and friends by his side.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

L’immensita

by Emanuele Crialese

Saturday June 17 7:00pm

2022 | Italy | Drama | 97 min.

Clara (Penélope Cruz) and her emotionally distant husband Felice (Vincenzo Amato) relocate to Rome to raise a family. Even though the paint is fresh, and the appliances are new, the crushing expectations around marriage, desire, and gender in the early 1970s remain as traditional as ever. Their children Andrew (played by newcomer Luana Giuliani), Gino, and Diana are likewise poised at a precipice, on the verge of adolescence, with nothing but their imaginations to defuse family tensions. The eldest child, Andrew (nicknamed Adri by his parents), yearns for another life – an outsized, vibrantly-realized vision of a world where he gets to live as the boy he knows himself to be. Without an accepted vocabulary for talking about his transgender identity, Andrew tells adults that he’s an alien from another galaxy and makes a habit of running away to pursue a local Roma girl who accepts his boyhood at face value. As an outsider ostracized for her own eccentricities, Clara instinctively strives to protect her son despite not fully understanding him. An effortlessly moving film about growing up, fitting in, and breaking the mold, L’immensita is as freewheeling and creative as its central characters, mixing genres and staging musical numbers out of thin air.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

MONICA

by Andrea Pallaoro

Saturday June 17 8:45pm

2022 | USA | Drama | 114 min.

Monica marks a major first foray into North American theaters for filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro, a fresh new voice in Italian cinema who has been making a stir with audiences overseas. A collaboration between breakout star Trace Lysette (Transparent), Academy Award Nominee Patricia Clarkson, and Emily Browning, the film stood out at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Lion, Queer Lion, and won the Arca CinemaGiovani Award for best Italian Feature bfeore eventually competing in competition at major film festivals in Chicago, Annecy, and Warsaw.

Monica is an intimate portrait of a woman who returns home after a long absence to confront the wounds of her past. Reconnecting with her mother and the rest of her family for the first time since leaving as a teenager, Monica embarks on a path of healing and acceptance. The film delves into Monica's internal world and state of mind, her pain and fears, her needs and desires, to explore the universal themes of abandonment and forgiveness.

NORTHERN ONTARIO PREMIERE

1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED CULTURE

by Sharon Roggio

Sunday June 18 1:00pm

2022 | English | Documentary, History, Lgbtq+ | 92 min.

1946 is a feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946. It chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations, and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice. Featuring Commentary from prominent scholars as well as opposing pastors, including the personal stories of the film's creators, and original music by Grammy winning artist Mary Lambert, 1946 is at once challenging, enlightening, and inspiring.

Festival Closing Feature / Northern ONtario Premiere

GLITTER & DOOM

by Tom Gustafson

Sunday June 18 5:30pm

2023 | USA/Mexico | Drama/Romance/Musical | 116 min.

Ride along on a surreal, glittery musical romance, all set to the hits of the iconic, Grammy Award-winning Indigo Girls. Serious musician Doom (Alan Cammish) and free-spirited circus kid Glitter (Filipino musical superstar Alex Diaz) start a budding summer relationship filled with camping trips, late-night conversations, and plenty of song and dance. Their relationship is put to the test as they deal with trying to make it in the music biz, their mothers (Ming-Na Wen and Missi Pyle), and finding what feeds each of their souls and dreams.

Filmed in Mexico City, director Tom Gustafson mixes in a variety of visually creative performances throughout Glitter & Doom. Don’t miss this dazzling queer musical romance which showcases a star-studded queer supporting cast featuring the likes of Lea DeLaria, Tig Notaro, Kate Pierson of The B-52s, Drag Race alum Peppermint, Broadway star Beth Malone, and even the Indigo Girls themselves, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers.

Free Event

Invisible No More

Voices from the Queer community

Saturday June 17 11:00am (Main Branch)

Join us to hear local stories and insights from members of Sudbury's Queer community through video storytelling. The 13 short animations feature local stories of trauma, resilience, and hope for safe spaces and programs and services that are inclusive and accepting of the Queer population. This collection is the result of a research collaboration between Public Health Sudbury & Districts and Laurentian University, however, now the work to address queer health inequities continues on the ground level. A brief discussion will follow the 50 min. of videos, including some participants, and former staff working on the health study.

Hosted by: SQUAD (Sudbury Queers United Around Diversity)

Queer Shorts 1

Gender Reels

Saturday June 17 at 12:30 pm

Apayuq

Zeppelin Zeerip (USA) 16 min.

Apayauq Reitan's journey of gender, mental health, and purpose on her way to become the first out transgender woman to complete the legendary Iditarod sled dog race across Alaska.

Virtual GIRL

Connie Ellen Glachan (Canada) 5 min.

Aqua Venus provides a personalized fever dream to help YOU discover what being a woman means!

Transpassing

Fiori van Rijswijk (USA) 14 min.

The road to becoming a self-made man comes with its own set of self-made problems.

Nailing of an Older Woman

Holly Anstey (UK) 10 min.

During COVID, Maria, a nail technician embarks on a business venture to do call-out appointments.

Code Switch

Davis Alexander James & Micha Lyric Borneo (USA) 5 min.

Codeswitch follows a Black trans person as they navigate the barbershop, illuminating the complexity and dynamism of gender expression.

Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie

Nicole Bazuin (Canada) 10 min.

A surrealist exploration of dissociative identity disorder (DID) based on the lived experience of a Black, nonbinary, disabled artist and former sex worker.

The Minute I Was Born

Sina Moazzenizadeh (Canada) 5 min.

MK MERYK questions middle eastern radical approach to queer community.

Tranny Faggot

Lou Conrad, Karthikeyan Arumugam (USA) 15 min.

A coming-of-age horror flick set at a summer camp.

Queer Shorts 2

The Male Gaze

Saturday June 17 at 1:45 pm

G Flat

Peter Darney (UK) 17 min.

An 84 year old cellist who has lost his ability to play to a debilitating stroke connects through an app with a violist.

Aikane

Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson (USA) 14 min.

An island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world.

Sin Zero

Adán Aguilar (Spain) 15 min.

Ivan, 32 years old, lives in a town where everything remains the same, and begins to question his identity.

The Signal

haichuan xu (France) 11 min.

Two teenage boy accidentally shared their first intimate experience together in a summer afternoon.

Together/Apart

David Amberg (USA) 7 min.

Two years after a gaybashing, Michael and Alex are still feeling the aftershocks in their relationship.

Ninth Floor to the Right

Andrea Romano (France) 19 min.

Lorenzo is getting ready to receive Marvin for the first time, who shows up at his door with Thomas, a homeless man he met on the street looking to have a shower.

Queer Shorts 3

Lez-Bi-Friends

Sunday June 18 at 11:15am

This programme showcases both International and local shorts with queer and trans themes, from drama to doc, from political to playful including nonbinary, trans, lesbian, and drag!

Skádja

Eili Bråstad Johannessen

An indigenous lesbian story from Sápmi about reclaiming one's inner witch.

First Position

Mallory Clarke

Someone who hates all their clothes struggles to decide what to wear to a house party.

Microcosm

Joe Ingham

Maureen Duffy published The Microcosm in 1966, turning her probing gaze to London's first and infamous lesbian hang out.

Ninja

Maria Reinup

Keity and her girlfriend Kristel organise a complicated and life-threatening motorcycle stunt to set a world record.

Magic Trick

Chris Lennox-Aasen

A queer meet cute with a touch of magic.

Weren't it Clearer in the Haze

Kathryn Webb

For the queer, the questioning, and the chances we never took.

Dancing Heart

Amaranta R. Saavedra

Lesbian love has always been a rebel act.

IN YOUR POCKET

Sunday June 18 at 1:00 pm

This collection of shorts celebrates queer sexuality in all its dramatic, beautiful, and comedic glory. The pandemic and its requirements forced many of us into isolation without physical contact. As lockdown measures lift, this program aims brings the sexy back into our lives and imaginations. In Your Pocket is a smartphone film series commissioned and curated by RT Collective.

Girlhood

Molly Johnson

Conversation Between Two Apps

Drew Lint

Double Portrait

Manolo Lugo

Obsessions

Apathy Club

Bedroom Artist

Mee Rose

Diary of a Feminist Pornographer

Kami Chisholm

Criminal

Thom Vernon

IRL

Drasko Bogdanovic & Mikiki

Quota Filler

Emily Eymundson

Ocean Floor

Oliver Skinner

Necromantic

Mark Pariselli

Leave Yourself Behind

Julius Manipul

In Tow

Robert Kingsbury

Un Deux Twat

Angela Smith & Roberta Smith

Love & Activism

Fabian Orejarena

18+ EVENT

Best of Queer Shorts

Sunday June 18 3:15pm (The Indie)

Join us for a dynamic programme of shorts curated by the Queer North Programming Team from amongst submissions to this year’s festival from around the world. VIP filmmaker guests-in-attendance. A moderated Q&A to follow.

Tranny-Faggot

by Lou Conrad, Karthikeyan Arumugam (USA) 15 min.

A coming-of-age horror flick set at a summer camp.

Queen of Pain

by Cecil Carbone (France) 24 min.

A telephone operator in a suicide prevention center, Charlotte recognizes the voice of an ex-girlfriend, Lucile, whose determination to end her life is confronted with feelings that are soon rekindled by their reunion.

Vegas

by Anna Wheeler (Canada) 10 min.

When a disillusioned artist turned taxi driver, picks up an unassuming stranger, things take a drastic turn.

Stay

by King Louie Palomo (Canada) 22 min.

On their last night in town, Kaleb– known more commonly by the stage name Ivy Diamonds– meets Ryan (Riley Davis), an artist from Vancouver. The few hours they spend together before Kaleb heads back to his tumultuous relationship bring him an unexpected sense of clarity.

Monochrome

by Dan N (Switzerland) 13 min.

While Elise and Marius are flirting during a night out with friends. Juan is drawn into the introspection of a wicked game, and must regain control of their body to access their desires.

Tête à Tête

by Florence Sobieski (Canada) 25 min.

Gabrielle, a famous comedian with strong ties to Toronto's LGBTQ2S+ community, and Mathilde, a high-profile well-established corporate lawyer in New York City, discover they share a similar fear of losing their status over living their true sexual identity.