REEL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL
THURSDAY 8/8-SUNDAY 8/11. STUDIO THEATRE. $25-$125.
In honor of its 10th year, the Kaleidoscope Film Festival is rebranding itself as the Reel Queer Film Festival, a name that puts its identity as a celebration of LGBTQ+ moviemaking front and center. In addition to a slew of shorts, many of which come from Arkansas-connected filmmakers, this year’s lineup includes feature-length films like “The People’s Joker,” a stylistically inventive parody that uses familiar superheroes to explore gender identity (director and star Vera Drew will be present for a Q&A as well!); “If I Die, It’ll Be of Joy,” a French triptych documentary portrait of three elderly people reckoning with the intersections of their queerness and aging; “Big Boys,” a tenderhearted camping trip flick about a clumsy 14-year-old boy who’s harboring a crush on his older cousin’s boyfriend; and “Sebastian,” a drama about an aspiring novelist in London who’s secretly moonlighting as a sex worker in order to do research for his debut novel. Find weekend passes and tickets for individual showings as well as a full schedule of screenings, meet-ups and panels here.
