Concrete Playground

Perhaps you're not the parade type. Maybe you're not into public displays of affection and/or glitter coated abdominals. Perhaps you're more like me and happier to sit, eyes agog in a darkened cinema for a few hours. The annual Sydney Mardi Gras festival is all about being out and proud and loud and fabulous, but you can still be out and proud indoors, if that's what you're into. Though many say size doesn't matter (who are they kidding?!), the Mardi Gras Film Festival, presented by QueerScreen grows in length, variety, and err, girth. Meaning more for your team, more for my team, more for any old team that likes popcorn and a choctop/bottom.

This year, the festival's supersized cup runneth over with new features, classics, shorts and special events. One special event (listed as a feature but oh well) is Robert "veg vamp" Pattinson donning a moustache (and little else?) as Salvador Dali in Little Ashes. Another is Light Gradient from Germany, a film with a synopsis that includes the phrase "restorative nude swimming", and the recent Norwegian trip back to 1989 The Man Who Loved Ynge that promises to feature "synthpop and communal showers."

For all the ladies, independent, there's a lot to choose from too. There's a queer take on Thelma and Louise called Drool (say no more) from the USA, To Faro from Germany about a girl who likes boys who falls for a boy who was born a girl but (sounds like a Blur lyric) is now a Latino hunk called Miguel. The one I'm hanging out for however is the recent American film by E.E. Cassidy We Are The Mods (pictured), focussing on tomboy Sadie's LA arrival and navigating of the mod scene by way of falling for a beautiful girl named Nico. The trailer makes it look like a coming of age, queer(er) take on Blow-Up.

Credit where its due comes in the form of a few classics. The closing night of the film is An Englishman in New York, John Hurt's film about Quentin Crisp, the man who has a quip for every occasion. Then there's the real piece de resistance of the festival: a screening of the incredible 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, an extraordinarily up-close portrait of the African American "vogue-off" Harlem Ballroom scene.

For full program details and tickets, visit the official website.