Accessibility and Inclusion at MGFF24

Queer Screen welcomes all visitors to our screenings and events, and this is your guide to access and inclusion at the 31st Mardi Gras Film Festival!

Find out about our inclusive ticketing options including the three Queerability films which offer $12 DND Tix (for anyone who identifies as d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent), our five $10 Community Screenings, and our Supportix and Youth Ticket programs.

You can also read about our first ever Relaxed Screening, and what films offer Open Captions, Auslan Interpreting, Audio Description, Subtitles and Closed Captions (On Demand Australia-wide from 1-11 March).

All festival venues are Wheelchair Accessible and all screenings and events accept Companion Cards and Assistance Animals. Queer Screen is also a proud supporter of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower.

For further  venue-specific access information, our Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) in various formats and other accessibility and inclusion information please click here.

Supportix Program

Queer Screen recognises that there are many barriers our community faces when it comes to attending our events, so we have created the Supportix program, supported by American Express. Supportix is intended for those who are facing social or economic barriers to accessing film festival tickets and enables Queer Screen to give 2 free tickets to those unable to buy their own.

Youth Tickets

Aged between 15 -25? Head to the Queer Screen box office 1 hour before the film you’d like to watch for $10 Youth Tickets. Only available at the Festival Box Office for any non-sold out session. Excludes events at Westpac OpenAir and the Sydney Opera House.

$12 DDN Tix

$12 DDN Tix are available at the following screenings, to anyone who identifies as d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent, as part of Queer Screen’s commitment to accessibility. Standard price tickets also available.

When Time Got Louder

Screens with Open Captions and Auslan Interpreter for Intro and Q&A

Fri 16 Feb, 8:300pm
Event Cinemas, George St

This coming-of-age drama explores the deep and enduring bond between a college student (Willow Shields, The Hunger Games) and her non-verbal autistic brother as they both strive for independence – and she explores her sexuality. But when a shocking incident occurs she and her family are forced to reassess everything.

Writer-director Connie Cocchia and actor Piper Curda in attendance for Q&A. Screens with Australian short Neuromance, about a 23 year-old living with Autism as he navigates the brutal Sydney gay dating scene.

All the Silence

Screens with Open Captions and Auslan Interpreter for Introduction

7:00pm, Sat 17 Feb
Event Cinemas, George St

Miriam has two passions: teaching sign language and acting. As a CODA (a Child of d/Deaf Adult) who lives with her deaf girlfriend, her hearing is central to her entire outlook on life. When she starts to lose her hearing, she’s forced to confront her own identity and relationships with those she loves.

Also available On Demand Australia-wide from 1-11 Mar, with Closed Captions. Screens with short film The Device That Turned Me Into a Cyborg Was Born the Same Year I Was, trans masc actor Chella Man’s cyborgian exploration into how cochlear implants have both liberated and constrained him.

In the Room Where He Waits

Screens with Open Captions and Auslan Interpreter for Intro and Q&A

6:00pm Sunday 26 Feb
Event Cinemas, George St

Director Timothy Despina Marshall delivers a claustrophobic tale of grief and abandonment in the unforgettably chilling psychological thriller, about a queer theatre actor Tobin (out disabled actor Daniel Monks, Sissy) who’s forced to confront all that he has repressed when he returns to Australia in the lead up to his father’s funeral.

Writer-director Timothy Despina Marshall and producer Bec Dakin in attendance for Q&A. Followed by an Australian Showcase after party in the Johnnie Walker Festival Bar. Film-only tickets are also available.

Relaxed Screening

Relaxed Screenings are screenings where the environment of the cinema is altered to be more welcoming and accessible to people with additional needs, including but not limited to those living with dementia, autism, or other neurodiverse people.

The Harvest

1:45pm Sun 25 Feb
Dendy Cinemas, Newtown

An estranged son returns home to help out his Hmong-American family after his father falls ill, but his secret threatens to unravel the family entirely. This film is a thoughtful look at the tensions between tradition and change, and the secrets we choose to keep from family.

This is a $10 Community Screening. Also screening 8:30pm Tue 27 Feb at Ritz Cinemas, Randwick with standard price tickets.

$10 Community Screenings

Queer Screen is committed to removing barriers preventing people from attending the Mardi Gras Film Festival with these $10 Community Screenings, supported by Allianz.

The Queen of My Dreams

7:00pm Thu 22 Feb
Event Cinemas, Hurstville

This celebration of classic Bollywood cinema seamlessly weaves the tales of a queer Muslim student in 1990s Canada with her mother’s journey of self-discovery in 1960s Pakistan, in this moving exploration of grief and cultural identity, starring Amrit Kaur (The Sex Lives of College Girls).

Also screening 7:00pm Wed 21 Feb at Event Cinemas, George Street with standard price tickets.

Summer Qamp

Screens with Open Captions

4:30PM Sat 24 Feb
Dendy Cinemas, Newtown

At a time when LGBTIQ+ youths’ mere existence is under public debate, Summer Qamp offers an increasingly unrepresented voice a crucial spotlight, in this joyous and affirming documentary about the goings on of a queer youth summer camp.

Summer Solstice

Screens with Open Captions

6:20PM Wed 28 Feb
Ritz Cinemas, Randwick

Aspiring actor Leo struggles to find roles with the limited options offered to trans masc actors. When Leo reconnects with his old friend Eleanor, who only knew him pre-transition, they uncover old secrets and new challenges in this touching and amusing exploration of friendship through change.

Isla’s Way

Screens with Open Captions and Audio Description

2:00PM Sat 24 Feb
Event Cinemas, George St

Isla is a rebellious, sharp-shooting octogenarian farmer who won’t be pigeonholed by anyone, while living in a small regional South Australian community. Witness her love for her girlfriend, her children and her horses in this heartwarming and hilarious documentary.

Free tickets also available for anyone 65 or older.

Other Films with Open Captions and Auslan Interpreter

F.L.Y.

Screens with Open Captions and Auslan Interpreter for Intro and Q&A

6:30pm Fri 23 Feb
Ritz Cinemas, Randwick

Trent Kendrick and Rafael Albarran take on writing, directing and lead-acting duties in this comedy set in the all-too-familiar past. They play exes forced to live together when the pandemic hits. It’ll put their relationship (and some high heels) to the test.

Writer-director-star Rafael Albarran in attendance for Q&A. Also available On Demand Australia-wide from 1-11 Mar, with Closed Captions.

Shape

Screens with Open Captions and Auslan Interpreter for Intro and Panel

3:30pm Sun 25 Feb
Dendy Cinemas, Randwick

An important Australian documentary exploring how social media, advertising, hook-up apps and the clubbing scene can foster an unhealthy pressure to have a “hot” body in the gay community, featuring interviews with a diverse range of subjects and experts.

Screens with Australian short FA(C)TS, which celebrates diversity, champions self-love, and works towards destigmatising bodies deemed “fat”.

Followed by a panel discussion expanding the conversation to include other members of the LGBTIQ+ community. Moderated by journalist Mon Schafter (ABCQueer), they will be joined by producer, director and performer Demon Derriere (Big Thick Energy, FA(C)TS); writer and peer worker Reece Georgas (Butterfly Foundation), and director and producer Roger Ungers (Shape).

Other Films with Open Captions

Cora Bora

Screens with Open Captions

7:00pm Fri 16 Feb
Event Cinemas, George St

and

6:30pm Sat 24 Feb
Dendy Cinemas, Newtown

Hacks scene-stealer Meg Stalter takes on her first lead role as Cora, an awkward LA musician who finds her world thrown off its axis when she returns to her hometown. This brilliant queer comedy is also surprisingly touching, and the perfect vehicle for the hilarious Stalter.

Polarized

Screens with Open Captions

6:30pm Sun 18 Feb
Event Cinemas, George St

Opposites attract in this subtle and beautifully composed sapphic romance from writer-director Shamim Sarif (I Can’t Think Straight), between women from a conservative Christian family and a Palestinian Muslim family. While racial, religious and cultural tensions simmer, Lisa and Dalia form an attraction that prompts both of them to consider what is worth sacrificing in the journey to be themselves.

Also available On Demand Australia-wide from 1-11 Mar, with Closed Captions.

Playland

Screens with Open Captions

6:30pm Mon 19 Feb
Dendy Cinemas, Newtown

An eclectic ensemble of queer performers star in this experimental documentary-narrative hybrid queer collage, focusing on a temporal night at the Playland Café, Boston’s oldest gay bar. It weaves together a tapestry of personal and community anecdotes from across the renowned venue’s existence.

Mutt

Screens with Open Captions

6:30pm Tue 20 Feb
Dendy Cinemas, Newtown

Featuring a Sundance Special Jury prize-winning performance from non-binary heartthrob Lio Mehiel, Mutt follows twenty-something trans man Feña as he’s thrown into an eventful 24 hours in New York City where he reconnects with his ex-boyfriend, sister, and father for the first time since coming out.

Also available On Demand Australia-wide from 1-11 Mar, with Closed Captions.

The Mattachine Family

Screens with Open Captions

7:00pm Thu 22 Feb
Event Cinemas, George S

Enjoy a thoughtful – and funny – look at the path, and the people, we choose in life in this tale of photographer Thomas (Nico Tortorella, Younger) who finds his ideas of parenthood challenged when his foster son returns to his birth mother. Also stars Schitt’s Creek’s Emily Hampshire as his lesbian best friend.

Also available On Demand Australia-wide from 1-11 Mar, with Closed Captions.

Films with Subtitles

All foreign languages in films are subtitled in English unless otherwise noted. This does not include full open captions. Check out the full list of films offering subtitles for all spoken dialogue below.