While the award site is still down, news were released via Yagg, that also sponsors the award. Believe that organizers wanted to shock everyone as there are some HUGE news for this year that will make no sense to many BUT -of course- makes a lot of sense for me: this year the jury is 100% female!!!Logic says that IF there are only females in the jury, the award SHOULD go to a lesbian interest film; which will a FIRST in the Queer Palm short history as ALL Queer Palms has been given to gay interest films. Sigh. Unfortunately I know my reasoning is just wishful thinking as jury members cinema professionalism will prevail, sigh.
Nevertheless there is still a possibility that a film by Todd Haynes gets the award, the only issue stopping the probabilities is the story as IF remains loyal to book, then does not reflect the objectives of the award.
The Queer Palm poster this year showcases jury member Laëtitia Eïdo along with Christophe Paou, we saw him in L’Inconnu du lac, and Sandor Funtek, who was in La Vie d’Adèle. Nicolas Menu took the quite nice photo.
Feature Films
Main Competition
Carol, Todd Haynes, USA and UK (L)
Marguerite et Julien, Valérie Donzelli, France
Midnight Screenings
Amy, Asif Kapadia, UK (documentary)
Love, Gaspar Noé, France
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
Dope, Rick Famuyiwa, USA (L)
Much Loved, Nabil Ayouch, Morocco and France
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France, Germany and Turkey
Semaine de la Critique
Les Deux amis, Louis Garrel, France
Ni le ciel, ni la terre (The Wakhan Front), Clément Cogitore, France and Belgium
L'ACID
De l'ombre il y a, Nathan Nicholovitch, France
Pauline s'arrache, Emilie Brisavoine, France (documentary)
La Vanité, Lionel Baier, Switzerland and France
Short Films
Le Repas Dominical (Sunday Lunch), Céline Devaux, France 13' - Short Films Competition
Locas Perdidas (Lost Queens), Ignacio Juricic Merillán, Chile, 28' - Cinéfondation (G)
Victor XX, Ian Garrido López, Spain, 20'- Cinéfondation
Kung Fury, David Sandberg, Sweden, 30' - Quinzaine
Rate Me, Fyzal Boulifa, UK, 15' - Quinzaine
The Fox Exploits the Tiger's Might, Lucky Kuswandi, Indonesia - Semaine (G)
Ramona, Andrei Cretulescu, Romania
As happens every year, there could be more feature and/or short films considered once they have been screened. This year social media is questioning the selection of some films, but after five years I know better to trust my research skills and LGBT radar, to help me discover the specific interest each film has -or does not-. As soon as I confirm will add the interest to each of the above films.
Jury
President: Desiree Akhavan, actress and director, USA
Ava Cahen, journalist, France
Elli Mastorou, journalist, Belgium
Nadia Turincev, producer, France
Laëtitia Eïdo, actress, France
The award ceremony will be on May 23 at 10pm at Silencio Club and the night event this year is called Vertigo. For the first time there will be a Queer Market on May 17 that will allow film professionals interested in LGBT themes to meet.
