Canada’s premiere LGBTQ film festival Image+Nation is bringing 11 days of remarkable international queer cinema to Montreal from November 24th until December 4th.
Echoing the maturation of LGBT culture and filmmaking, image+nation 29 moves well beyond the classic coming out tale and delivers an impressive roster of queer realities and accomplished storytelling. This year’s impressive lineup includes award-winning features, powerful documentaries and beautiful short films – offering something for the curious and queerious alike. With cinematic flavours ranging from light-hearted comedies and love stories to deeper dramatic tales and social issue works, Image+Nation 29 is not to be missed!
5 Reasons to Attend Image+Nation 29
IRISH QUEER CINEMA FOCUS
Stemming from a fortuitous meeting at London’s BFI Flare Festival in May, image+nation has embarked on a programming exchange with GAZE, Dublin’s LGBTQ Film Festival. To reciprocate GAZE’s curation of a Québec Queer Cinema Focus at their festival this past July, everything’s coming up Irish at Image+Nation 29! From Handsome Devil, the spectacular Opening Night Film by author and director, John Butler, to The Queen of Ireland, a timely documentary chronicling the country’s path to their popular vote for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality through an eloquent drag queen spokesperson. And capping off the Focus, i+n29 presents a program of the best and brightest contemporary Irish shorts. i+n29 is pleased to welcome John Butler and actor Andrew Scott (Moriarty in the BBC’s Sherlock) and GAZE programmer, Roisin Geraghty, to this year’s festival.
QUEERMENT QUÉBEC SERIES / @ PHI CENTRE
Each year the Festival celebrates Montreal talent with Queerment Québec, a shorts program featuring the work of local filmmakers. This year Queerment Québec will be held at the Phi Centre. A full evening of film, fun and festivities on Monday, November 28, the evening will also host the launching of image+nation’s newest endeavour, LGBToujours / #partagezvoshistoires. Funded by the Ministère de la Justice, comité de lutte contre l’homophobie this online project strives to make LGBTQ lives and stories every day stories – creating a more diverse cultural landscape through making Québécois LGBTQ-authored films available to all online.
Addicted to Fresno
Jamie Babbit 2015 United States 85min English
This quirky, dark comedy from director Jamie Babbitt (But I’m a Cheerleader) is a mix of A and B-list actors, and one that we cannot miss. Lead character Shannon (played by Judy Greer) is a sex addict whose life is rapidly falling apart thanks to her extracurricular activities (psst: she plays a teacher, and yes – things get messy). This film also features Orange is the New Black actress Natasha Lyonne as the sister, who is trying to help Shannon get her life back on track. Oh, and you can also expect to see Aubrey Plaza, who plays Shannon’s aerobics instructor (we giggled too!).
Closet Monster
Stephen Dunn 2015 Canada 90min English
Closet Monster is a “distinctively offbeat and emotionally striking coming-of-age story about a creative teenager who is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.” Lead charachter Oscar Madly (Connor Jessup) witnessed a brutal gay bashing, which leads to subsequent trauma throughout his upbringing. Ten years later, Oscar is a sexually confused high school student living with his bitter, alcoholic father. His support system mainly consists of his close friend Gemma, and receives sage advice from his pet hamster, Buffy (voiced by the wonderfully eccentric Isabella Rossellini). Love and romantic confusion ensues.
Balancing elements of fantasy and drama with well-placed and well-paced humour, Stephen Dunn’s debut feature marks the arrival of a bold and bright new directorial talent on the Canadian film scene.
Handsome Devil
John Butler 2016 Ireland 95min english
The toast of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Handsome Devil, Irish novelist John Butler’s second feature film is a winningly funny, music-drenched coming-of-age story with a wry streak of visual invention. With his shock of red hair, proclivity for old rock songs, and general oddness, Ned (Fionn O’Shea) is a certified outcast in his rugby-crazy, all-boy boarding school. Ned doesn’t even dislike rugby, but that doesn’t stop him from being an easy target. His mind is set on expulsion or escape, until the arrival of a new English teacher (Andrew Scott, Sherlock) and a new roommate, Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a surprisingly sensitive rugby player with more than a few secrets, sets Ned on a path towards finally allowing himself to be heard. Gorgeously shot, Handsome Devil reminds us that bravery and loyalty are not innate traits. They’re qualities we earn under pressure. Ned and Conor both make mistakes, but in the end, what truly matters is that each learns to speak in his own voice.
Ticket Prices
single ticket 12,75 $
special events 13+ $
cinephile pass 10@120 $
student/ 65+ ticket* 9,75 $
*limited availability; student id / proof of age required; one ticket per person per screening
cash only
For more information and for cinema etiquette (timing your arrival arrival), location info and where to pick up programmes, visit the Image+Nation box office online.
Hope to see you there!
