As entries now open for this year’s LGBTQ+ Iris Prize film festival, there’s still chance to catch some intriguing and thought-provoking short films from the Iris Best of British Shorts 2020, showing on Channel 4’s all4 .
Dungarees features a transgender boy and his CIS male friend in a playful and engaging miniature tale which involves toenail painting as a sort of cross-over ritual.
The Passing is an altogether more sombre piece. At first I thought the female protagonist was a pathologist, preparing to carry out a post-mortem on a covered-up corpse. But it becomes clear that she is in fact an undertaker, preparing the body – beautifying it – ready for its ultimate presentation . The bigger surprise awaits when she draws back the shroud.
Pompeii kind of eluded me for a storyline and seems largely to be simulating phone camera antics, including gay sex in a nightclub toilet cubicle and wild party going, but it’s intriguing .
The Scene also opens enigmatically with a young black guy X-boxing his time away. The arrival of his ex-husband leads to hair-cutting and other intimate rituals – all apparently to prepare for a long-delayed re-entry into the gay world, and back onto the scene of its title.
For me the most intriguing of the collection is Better – a futuristic scary tale about the need to conform forced on a young boy who’s bullied by his schoolmates, grows his hair, plays with girls, and again paints his toenails in a trans kind of ritual. Taken by his mother to a clinic where he can be made “ better “ in an unspecified operation, it’s sobering and thought-provoking.
Finally Mandem is a journey by two London-based Jamaican drug-dealers which seems matter-of-factly scarily ordinary – until they kiss. To view go to all4.
LGBTQ+ film distributors Peccadillo Pictures’ latest offering is due out on 18 January. Are We Lost Forever focuses on the emotional break-up of two lovers Adrian and Hampus. Can they be reconnected or is the film’s title prophetic ? Watch out for my Scene magazine review. Details at peccapics.com
The new Sony Movies Classic channel is a chance to see some great movies of yesteryear free of charge . They include Psycho and The Graduate – check the list on most platforms including freeview, freesat and Virgin.
A Miracle of Miracles is a fascinating documentary about the creation of the stage and film musical Fiddler On The Roof . It looks at the story’s roots and goes behind the scenes at various productions . It’s a great watch and is on demand at Amazon Prime and Vimeo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmVF3u0_T30
Michael Sheen and David Tennant are making a triumphant return in season 2 of their lockdown comedy drama Staged. Written by Simon Evans , who also features, it centres on a possible US version of the series – but will our heroes be wanted ? It’s on BBC 1 and iplayer.
The world premiere of British musical The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was slated for live performances at Southwark Playhouse , but lockdown 3 now means it’s transferred to pay-per-view streaming from 26 January to 14 February. Look out for my review. Written by Richard Hough and Ben Morales Frost, it’s directed by Charlotte Westenra. It centres on a father and daughter who try to rescue through magic a small town nestling under the Northern Lights. Tickets at tsamusical.com
Happy watching.