Diverse bill of queer films

Queer production house Stickybeak Films — aka filmmakers Tonnette Stanford and Katherine Wilkinson — will screen a selection of their award-winning work at Hoyts Cinema Paris in Moore Park on November 5.

With the films covering documentary, high-camp soap opera, musical comedy and dance, the one common thread to Stickybeak’s work seems to be that there is no common thread.

“It’s a retrospective of all the films we’ve made together, and they’ve all screened around the world to queer audiences and won prizes, so they’ve really had the seal of approval from our fellow queers,” Wilkinson said.

She explained that the diversity of the duo’s work was a product of their differing tastes and their commitment to telling a variety of LGBT stories.

“Tonnette is great with comedy, and she has the brain of a gay man — Slut: The Musical was her baby. I’m more into the documentary side of things. I think it works because we end up making something for everyone.”

As well as the aforementioned Slut: The Musical (“a musical about embracing your inner slut, with some very hot boys in it”), viewers will be treated to the catfights and campery of soap opera parody The Vicious and the Delicious. Comedy fans should also find much to love in Frontbum Dancin’, the tale of two girls and their ‘unusual’ style of dance.

Documentary fans should enjoy Ready or Not, a compendium of three short true stories about queer life, and the night’s feature presentation, Holding Hands. The film lays bare what really happened when Sydney couple Craig and Shane suffered a hate crime, and follows their lives over a year as they pick up the pieces.

The night is a fundraiser for the duo’s next project, a 3D animation short about a pair of gay penguins who want to raise a chick. The Holding Hands DVD, packed with special features, will also be launched and will be available to buy on the night.

INFO: Queer Film Extravaganza, Cinema Paris Moore Park, 7.30pm, November 5. Tickets $20 from www.stickybeakfilms.com