AustLit

'Held primarily at Palace Nova in the CBD’s Eastend, the Adelaide Film Festival was one of only a few festivals in Australia that were able to hold in-cinema events in 2020. The festival took extra precautions to hold a COVID-safe festival, something Variety dubbed a “pre-pandemic experience.” While there were post-film Q&As, red carpets and parties, there were also social distancing in theatres, hand sanitisers throughout the venues and strictly no dancing.' (Introduction)

'This essay looks at the critical reception of Australian queer cinema demonstrating the difference in reviews of queer Australian films. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Elliot, Stephan. 1994. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Sydney: Roadshow Distribution) and The Sum of Us (Dowling, Kevin, and Geoff Burton. 1994. The Sum of Us. Sydney: Southern Star) will be compared to films that came later in the 1990s, notably Love and Other Catastrophes (Croghan, Emma-Kate. 1996. Love and Other Catastrophes. Sydney: Fox Searchlight), The Well (Lang, Samantha. 1997. The Well. Sydney: Southern Star) and Head On (Kokkinos, Ana. 1998. Head On. Melbourne: Umbrella Entertainment). These later films managed to generate buzz on the queer film festival circuit as well as at general international film festivals. Their queerness attracts international LGBTQ audiences while, secondly, genre-related elements have the potential to attract a wider cinephile audience. I will utilise paratextual elements, particularly reviews during their film festival and theatrical runs, to demonstrate how they cross-over to wider audiences. In investigating their framing and reception, these films increasingly engage audiences through their genre signifiers. This essay demonstrates that the discourse around Australian queer cinema has matured to offer multi-faceted perspectives.' (Publication abstract)

'Creating something original – let alone poignant – within the genre of romantic comedy is no easy feat. But with Top End Wedding, Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) has managed to achieve a unique Australian story with a genuine, emotional payoff for its audience.'  (Introduction)

'I always try my hardest to go into every film with an open mind and not write off anything before I see it. This was particularly hard to do with Joel Edgerton’s Boy Erased. I was trepidatious about going to see the film. Call me cynical, but I am always wary when a queer film directed by a straight filmmaker receives Oscar buzz. I’m looking at you Danish Girl, Dallas Buyers Club and The Imitation Game.'   (Production summary)

'A good friend and I would often binge episodes of Rizzoli and Isles on our days off. It’s an incredibly straightforward police procedural that would feature a murder investigation each episode. Once the murder occurred, we would have a competition by predicting who killed the victim and why. The clues were often obvious and the twists so heavily foreshadowed that this wasn’t a hard task, even when the crimes were delightfully ridiculous. (And a full disclosure, my housemate would win on a regular basis).' (Introduction)