Unspooling are films by Ira Sachs, Leah Nelson, Pedro Almodóvar, Jane Schoenbrun, Sally Potter, the Wachowskis and João Paulo Ferreira Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Portugal’s preeminent Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival kicked off Friday with a vast program showcasing the latest in LGBTQ cinema, from established filmmakers to new voices, and a look back at the underground counterculture and revolutionary works of activist filmmakers on both sides of the Atlantic. Lisbon’s oldest film festival, Queer Lisboa launched in 1997 at the Cinemateca Portuguesa as the Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, opening with the 1950 short film “Un chant d’amour,” the only film ever directed by French novelist and playwright Jean Genet, whose works included “Querelle de Brest,” famously adapted by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The festival’s origins at the Portuguese Cinematheque is one of the factors that has distinguished it from other queer festivals across Europe, Queer Lisboa artistic director João Ferreira tells Variety.
So I think it’s a very particular case for a queer festival in Europe. It was certainly not the case with some festivals that started more or less at the same time, like Madrid or Paris. We were interested in a queer gaze at the world.
We were interested in a camp aesthetic. So we were looking for very different kinds of films that could fit in this idea.” It was a view that shaped what the festival ultimately became, he adds. Boasting a strong lineup that includes some of the year’s top LGBTQ titles, the festival opens with the Portuguese premiere of Rami Malek-starrer “The Man I Love” from Ira Sachs, whose previous films, “Passages” and “Peter Hujar’s Day,” likewise screened in Lisbon.
Leah Nelson’s acclaimed animated drama “Tangles” closes the event. With nearly a dozen sections, including five competition categories and six non-competitive sidebars, the festival offers a broad showcase. New this year is Queer Family, dedicated to kids and their families, with a focus on culturally enriching independent films that explore themes of inclusion and identity.
Two Brazilian features make up the program, Allan Deberton’s Berlinale award-winner “Gugu’s World” and Priscilla Kellen’s animated “Papaya.” It’s been a long-standing goal to attract younger audiences, says Ana David, programmer and director at Queer Lisboa. The new section is aimed directly at families and the festival has already received positive feedback from interested parents. It’s important for us to work with young audiences who will also become the adult audiences of the festival in the future,” David says.
The new section also provides the opportunity for parents and their children to have an intergenerational experience and to even talk about things after the screening, she adds. The festival has already sold a large amount of tickets for the Queer Family screenings. With the increasing growth and appeal of LGBTQ cinema, Queer Lisboa has sought to find a balance between popular mainstream works, new discoveries and the more radical experimental films that have long defined queer cinema.
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