There’s more Australian LGBTIQ stories available to watch than ever before this Mardi Gras season.
ABC’s “Love Bites”, which premiered on the iView streaming platform today, is a collection of 10 short documentary films telling a range of queer local stories.
Fez tells the story of Samoan-Australian entertainer Fez Fa’anana, who co-founded Brisbane burlesque group Briefs Factory (pictured), while Beyond the Mirrorball asks what comes next for the over-50s generation of the LGBTQI community moving on from the party scene.
Monsta Gras explores the radical Sydney queer art parties of the same name and Wicked Women delivers an account of the subversive 80s and 90s magazine that turned lesbian Australia upside down.
Tonight, the highly-anticipated Sydney Mardi Gras TV movie Riot will screen on the ABC at 8:30pm.
Meanwhile, the “Queer for Short” series by SBS features six more shorts from emerging LGBTIQ filmmakers around Australia.
Joy Boy explores the impact of evangelical religion on a man’s emerging sexuality, while Tomgirl centres on young Australian-born Filipino man Justin who is introduced to Filipino gay culture by migrant Norman.
Both Cherry Season and Disco Dykes tell the stories of young women coming to terms with their identities, and Concern for Welfare follows Ali in her job as a queer Lebanese-Australian police officer.
During SBS’ coverage of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Sunday, March 4, host Patrick Abboud will present special interviews and retrospectives with the surviving original Mardi Gras protesters the ’78ers.
NITV’s documentary Black Divaz, airing this Thursday, March 1, takes viewers behind the scenes with a group of fierce Indigenous drag queens during last year’s inaugural Miss First Nations pageant in Darwin.
On March 8, the Brisbane Queer Film Festival will return to New Farm Cinemas with a diverse selection of comedies, documentaries and dramas including Hollywood romance Love, Simon and a new restoration of seminal Australian documentary Witches, Faggots, Dykes & Poofters.
The “Queer for Short” series is now available to stream on SBS On Demand, and the ABC’s “Love Bites” shorts can be watched on ABC iView now.
(Top photo by Briefs Factory)
