QFest Part 1 offers Queer Shorts, Documentaries, and Narrative Films

Presented by Cinema St. Louis, from April 29 through May, the 15th Annual QFest offers thirty-five films from thirteen countries. In-person screenings take place at the Galleria 6 Cinemas with a half dozen streamed programs available throughout the festival. All selections achieve Qfest’s goal: for “contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the lives of LGBTQ people and to celebrate queer culture.”

Among the selection from seventeen shorts, nine narrative, and six documentary features I previewed, I come away impressed with the thematic, affirmative presentations with some stylistic reservations. In all the works I screened, the endorsement of diverse lifestyles and identify choices is as uplifting as it is important.

The fest launches Friday, April 29 with a shorts program, followed by Todd Haynes’ 1991 iconic, innovative “Poison,” awarded Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize. Drawing ideas from Jean Genet, Haynes interconnects three tales: one a shocking patricide and subsequent flight; the second chronicling a sex experiment, catalyst for a disfiguring plague; and the third focused on two claustrophobic, obsessive inmates. “Poison” has lost none of its power to shock, perplex, and prompt profound insights.

Next, Saturday afternoon, Travis Fine’s “Two Eyes” also entwines three stories, these separated by time but intimately interrelated. Shoshone, Wyoming, 2020; Helena, Montana 1869; and Barstow, California, 1979: each location and time period finds several individuals struggling to accept their own gay or binary identity. The title, “Two Eyes,” expresses the idea that effectively one eye looks out as a woman, the other as a man. Saturday evening, Spanish director Marc Ferrer’s “Cut!” watches Barcelona director Marcos become entangled in his own slasher horror film punctuated by drag queen performances.

There is so much more, with films from Lebanon and Japan, Mexico and Spain, France and Belgium, among other countries. This year’s Qfest provides an exceptional opportunity to watch a diverse array of films. The Qfest mission is to produce an event that “will excite, entertain, and enlighten audiences of all identities.” And it does. As needed, English subtitles will accompany films. For more information, you may go to the Cinema St. Louis Qfest website.