DOCUMENTARY FEATURES OUT OF COMPETITION

Robbie Lawlor was diagnosed with HIV at 21 and became one of the youngest people to come out on Irish television. Enda McGrattan, also known as Veda, promised to keep their HIV status a secret for a decade but eventually broke free by releasing a song. And a group of Irish and migrant women, who cannot show their faces, found creative ways to have their voices heard… In this compelling film, directors Anna Rodgers and Shaun Dunne use documentary, performance and genre-blurring storytelling techniques to communicate a powerful message. The stories in this film move between bodies of young men, migrant women, drag artists and activists.

Greek cinematographer/filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou humorously describes herself as “a double lesbian… a woman who grew up on Lesbos and is also a lesbian” in this illuminating, nostalgic, and kaleidoscopic portrait of the sun-soaked village of Eressos on the idyllic island of Lesbos in the Northeast Aegean Sea, where women who love women from around the world have been gathering since the late 1970s.

From 1974-1994, Studio One and its adjoining live music venue, The Backlot, became symbols of hope and community for gay men during tumultuous times. Amidst the rise of gay rights, disco’s heyday, and the devastating AIDS crisis, the club offered sanctuary from rampant homophobia and police oppression. Fast forward 26 years, and as West Hollywood faces the demolition of this iconic building, a community uproar emerges to preserve its history. Through personal accounts, the documentary delves into Studio One’s story against the backdrop of a progressing gay liberation clashing with 80s conservatism and the escalating AIDS nightmare.

Fun, satirical and a pastiche of the chaotic, brash, self-deprecating and clueless 1990s/2000s British reality TV, Tops sees TV’s Amy Pennington delve into the lives of four individuals who’ve had TOP surgery in a desperate attempt for the presenter to make their first-ever trans friend. These four interviewees include a powerlifter and gay-games Olympian hopeful, a housing-officer-come-actor, an Essex filmmaker, and an equality diversity & inclusion specialist-slash-occasional model. They open up their lives, homes and, in one case, bag of dicks, to the invasive, neurotic and yet loveable Amy Pennington.