The festival will include screenings at cinemas such as Event in George Street, Parramatta and Hurstville, and the Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne. . . Before touring to the Blue Mountains and Canberra in March.
If you're feeling more like staying home to take in the talent, that's an option too.
“We understand there is on-going uncertainty in the community regarding the Omicron outbreak in Sydney and are delivering a hybrid festival to ensure the programme is as accessible as possible and adheres to our COVID-19 safety plan,” Festival Director Lisa Rose says.
This year's event presents 119 films including 32 narrative features, 15 documentaries, 4 episodics, a retrospective and 9 programmes of shorts from all around the world – 37 different countries in fact!
'Pure Grit'
There's a Focus On First Nations programme as well as one focusing on Rebels With A Cause.
The festival's Opening Night film, part of the Focus On First Nations, is 'Wildhood', set in Canada's Atlantic Provinces where two-spirit youth Link runs away from his abusive white father in search of his mother. Link meets Pasmay, a pow wow dancer, and they journey toward community, identity and love.
Elsewhere in the First Nations focus there's 'Pure Grit', a thrilling tale of extreme sport and an intimate love story, plus 'Finlandia', a magical realist drama set in rural Mexico where a group of muxes – the Indigenous Zapotec peoples 'third gender' – come together to create and to heal.
Rounding off Focus On First Nations is 'Querencia', an episodic about two Indigenous queer women who find each other and connect in a big city.
Rebels With A Cause begins with documentary 'Denise Ho: Becoming The Song', about the Canadian-born, Hong Kong-based pop singer and activist arrested in December 2021 for sedition.
'Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution And Islam' documents a female imam's fight for the modernisation of Islam from her mosque in Berlin, where there is no gender segregation. 'Keith Haring: Street Art Boy' features previously unheard interviews with the artist, his friends and collaborators.
'Keith Haring: Street Art Boy'
'Rebel Dykes' follows a radical community of lesbians in 1980s post-punk London.
On Closing Night is 'B-Boy Blues', an adaptation of the 1994 novel by James Earl Hardy about a journalist who falls for a courier. It's a cinematic celebration of African-American gay men.
Throughout the rest of the festival, expect to see local colour like 'Romp', shot in New Town about three housemates looking for love, and 'Manscaping' featuring Oxford Street's Naked Barber. Award winners like 'A Distant Place', 'Ma Belle, My Beauty' and 'The Divide' will also be screened, and much discussion will come from the likes of the sex-positive 'Bliss (Glück)', the gripping 'The Novice' and the slick 'Boulevard! A Hollywood Story'.
Check out the full programme here. Tickets are on sale now.
Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 is on from 17 February-3 March.
