Queer Screen Mardi Gras Fest Unveils Goes to Cannes Showcase

In its second collaboration with the Marché du Film’s Goes to Cannes showcase strand, Australia’s Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival will unveil four projects and a finished film, all looking for global sales, distribution, top-up financing and festival selection. 

The five projects to be pitched May 18, will vie for the first €10,000 ($10,700) Goes to Cannes Award.
“We set out to curate a selection that embraces a rich tapestry of stories and identities, while also giving prominence to Australian talent,” says festival director Lisa Rose about her program, which “showcases narratives spanning the spectrum of gay, lesbian, pansexual, bisexual, and transgender experience.”

For instance, “From All Sides” fearlessly tackles queer sexuality, “a rarity in cinema originating from Western Sydney, says Rose, who also cites “Strange Creatures” and its story about two brothers, one of whom identifies as pansexual, as “a perspective rarely centered in film.”
As fresh in its take, the third Australian pic, “Heart of the Man,” “delves into the intersection of First Nations and queer identities, a theme seldom explored in Australian narrative cinema,” says the festival honcho.
In a fine example of a queer perspective from another part of the world, the ambitious Indian-U.K./French co-production “Arms of a Man” (“Sabar Bonda”) tells of a city-dweller who falls for a young farmer while grieving his father in rural India. 

Inspired by award-winning writer-director Rohan Parshuram’s own experience, the project was developed as part of Venice’s Biennale College Cinema and garnered industry attention when first pitched at the Film London Production Finance Market 2021, Film Bazaar’s NFDC Coproduction Market 2022 and Venice Production Bridge 2023.

From the U.S., “Under the Influencer” toplines actor and technical director Lauren Neal, named best emerging talent at L.A. Outfest 2020 for “Healing Me.” Producer Jill Bennett says the pic from an entirely queer, all-female core creative team, “easily passes the Bechdel, Vito Russo, and DuVernay tests while interrogating the role of art, ownership, and identity in modern culture.”
“Made for an infinitesimal fraction of the cost of the average indie, it’s  an examination of the classic artist-mentor relationship, only this relationship involves two women with a racialized power differential,” she adds. 

A long-time champion of queer talent development and support via Queer Screen, Australia’s foremost LGBTIQ+ cultural venture, Rose hopes this year’s Goes in Cannes will equally draw attention on her organization and the selected filmmaking teams. 

“Several projects from last year experienced tangible benefits, securing deals and festival selections as a result of their participation. Additionally, the three teams who attended in person, made their debut at the Marché du Film and had an extraordinary professional development experience, extending beyond the projects we showcased,” she notes.

Here’s a rundown of this year’s five titles:

“Arms of a Man,” (“Sabar Bonda”, Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, India/UK/France)

This semi-autobiographical story by Kanawade (winner of the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award at the London Indian Film Festival with “U Ushacha”) turns on city-dweller Anand who spends a ten-day mourning period in the rugged countryside of his late father’s ancestral village, where he bonds with his unmarried childhood friend, an itinerant goat herder. Shot in Marathi, the film is produced by Neeraj Churi of U.K.-based Lotus Visual Productions, with India’s Taran Tantra Telefilms, Dark Stories, in co-production with Bridge PostWorks, Moonweave and France’s Arsam International. Delivery is slated for July.

“From All Sides,” (Bina Bhattacharya, Australia)
The story turns on a multiracial bisexual married couple, in an open relationship, and their teenage children, as they find themselves beset from all sides while navigating work, school, sex, friendships and romances, in the outer suburbs of Sydney. “I’m proud to have made a film on the cutting edge, that will spark conversations and challenge people, with characters that are simultaneously sympathetic and questionable,” says Bhattacharya about her feature debut. In post-production, the project is produced by Gemme de la Femme Pictures’ Alexander McGhee with co-producer Daisy Montalvo. Screen Inc. holds distribution rights for Australasia.

“Heart of the Man,” (David Cook, Australia)
In his debut as a writer-director, actor Cook turns on a young boxing prodigy (rising Australian actor Parker Little) forced to come to terms with his sexuality, while battling between fulfilling his father’s dream and becoming his own man. “The film was so important for me to make, as it touched on many of my personal experiences growing up. I wanted to create something that hopefully resonates with people on a deeper level,” says the filmmaker, who also stars in the film and produces for New Dream Productions, together with Blake Northfield of Bronte Pictures. The film was released last February by Screen Inc in Australia to solid reviews.

“Strange Creatures,” (Henry Boffin, Australia)
From the creators of “Metro Sexual”, the first Australian sitcom with an all LGBTQI+ lead characters. Actor and producer Riley Nottingham of Humdrum Comedy says the darkly humorous road trip “examines how toxic masculinity develops across differing microcosms.” Two estranged brothers from opposite worlds are forced to face their own vulnerabilities, while reunited to scatter the ashes of their recently deceased mother. Rachel Forbes produces with Nottingham; Julia Adam and Gal Greenspan serve as exec producers. Bonsai Films and Nine Network Australia hold rights for Australia/New Zealand.

“Under the Influencer,” (Bryn Woznicki, Lauren Neal, U.S.)
Cutting edge tech-driven thriller drama in which a struggling digital artist has her work appropriated by a popular art curator. In an act of revenge, the artist plots a psychological showdown against her exploitative mentor. Woznicki is directing alongside tech director, editor and lead actor Neal, with Jill Bennett and Katie Hall serving as producers. The pic, in post-production, is the first title coming out of Fair Play Films, a new banner from the “Under the Influencer” team focused on high quality micro-budget content for niche audiences.