Northern Ontario's sole festival of queer films returns to Sudbury for its second incarnation June 15-18.
The Queer North Film Festival, a project of the Sudbury Indie Cinema, aims to celebrate the diversity of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and two-spirited communities through cinema.
The four-day festival draws from a large region and features award-winning films from Canada around the world, including premieres, artist talks and social events.
Beth Mairs, the managing director of Sudbury Indie Cinema — and by extension, the Queer North Festival — is proud that the city hosts the only film festival in the region dedicated to LGBT programming, but says it's a sign that there's still work to be done.
“We're not bragging when we say we're the only queer festival in the North,” Mairs said. “It's wonderful that Sudbury can support a festival like this, but certainly we'd like to see others.”
The festival opens on June 15 at the McEwen School of Architecture with the Northern Ontario premiere of David France's “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson”, a documentary that premiere earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Framed as a whodunit, the film recalls the death of Marsha P. Johnson, a legendary transgender activist in New York City's gay ghetto. Johnson founded a transgender activist group in Greenwich Village, but was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992 — an apparent suicide, according to the NYPD, which as always been disputed by the queer community.
Following that screening, Fromagerie Elgin will host a launch party for the festival.
On June 16, the noir comedy “Women Who Kill” by Ingrid Jungermann screens at McEwen.
The film follows Morgan and her ex-girlfriend Jean, a pair of true crime podcasters obsessed with female serial killers. When Morgan's eyes turn to a mysterious woman named Simone, it's up to Jean to try and convince her that the new object of her infatuation may not be what it seems.
June 17 sees a full-day of programming including the International Shorts program at the Sheridan Auditorium at Sudbury Secondary School, the documentary “This is Gay Propaganda” about LGBT activists in Ukraine during the Euromaiden revolution and an artists talk featuring respected queer filmmakers.
That evening, the Sheridan Autorium will screen “A Date for Mad Mary”, a romantic comedy that sees Mary trying to readjust to life following a short stint in prison.
Meanwhile, McEwen hosts the only 18+ screening of the festival: the French film “Theo & Hugo.” The eponymous characters meet at a famed Paris sex club and end up having unprotected sex. Since one of them is HIV positive, they rush to a hospital to be checked sparking a romance, and ultimately, love.
An after-party follows at Zig's bar.
Following that, a Spanish drama “I Dream in Another Language” about a young linguist seeking to document a dying language deep in a Mexican jungle.
And, on Sunday, a special 20th anniversary screening of "Maman et Eve," a documentary filmed in Sudbury in 1996, will be shown at McEwen. It follows four mothers who leave their conventional homes to live out a new adventure. It's a quest for a love they can call their own — a lesbian relationship.
Complete festival programing and ticket information can be found on the Sudbury Indie Cinema website.
