Love & Pride Film Festival
The 14th edition of the festival brings five LGBTQ-focused titles to the festival aimed at fostering acceptance and connections among loved ones in the LGBTQ+ community and its allies.
Opening film Blue Jean (2022, R21, 97 minutes, various timings) is a British drama set in the 1980s. Jean (Rosy McEwen) is a teacher at a secondary school. She is a lesbian at a time when the Conservative government under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is passing legislation aimed at curbing what it felt were activities that promote homosexuality. New student Lois (Lucy Halliday) threatens to reveal Jean’s secret life, the one she keeps hidden from her school and family.
Written and directed by British film-maker Georgia Oakley, the film has earned near-universal critical acclaim as well as a Bafta nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Oakley.
Where: GV VivoCity, 02-30 VivoCity, 1 HarbourFront Walk; GV Funan, 05-01 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road; GV Suntec City, 03-373 Suntec City Tower 4, 3 Temasek Boulevard
MRT: HarbourFront/City Hall/Promenade
When: Thursday to Nov 5, various timings
Admission: $16 for members, $18 for standard ticket prices
Info: str.sg/iGMp
German Film Festival x KinoFest 2023
The 26th anniversary of one of Singapore’s longest-running film events will feature its first collaboration with KinoFest, a new regional film festival initiated by German cultural centre Goethe-Institut.
The drama Elaha (2023, M18, 110 minutes, screens on Nov 3 at 8.30pm) tells the story of the titular Kurdish-German woman played by Bayan Layla. The 22-year-old will soon be a bride. In her culture, women hoping to pass as a virgin can opt for hymen restoration surgery. Elaha cannot afford to pay and her frustration leads her to question her beliefs.
Kurdish-German writer-director Milena Aboyan’s feature debut was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was a nominee for Best Film in the Compass-Perspektive Award category.
Where: The Projector, 05-00 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
MRT: Nicoll Highway, Lavender
When: Till Nov 4, various timings
Admission: $15 for standard ticket prices
Info: theprojector.sg/germanfilmfest
It Lives Inside (NC16)
99 minutes, now showing, 3 stars
Smart and popular Indian-American high-schooler Samidha (Megan Suri), who goes by “Sam” and chooses to hang out with the white kids, is stalked by a malevolent demon that feeds on human flesh and bad vibes.
This horror work is the feature debut of India-born American film-maker Bishal Dutta, who based it on his grandfather’s encounter with a girl carrying a mysterious jar. Sam has to battle a demon from the old country, a spirit threatening to abduct everyone close to her.
Dutta adds a South Asian voice to the recent immigrant-experience-as-horror sub-genre, and ends his urban legend with unsettling ambiguity.
