A Queer Review of the Austin Film Festival (2023)
Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.

Sang-ho and Sun-ja are kidnapped by someone and live in brutal abuse while performing acrobatics in a circus troupe called the "77th Dan". One day their uncle comes to visit them and they try to escape, but when Sun-ja is captured by the circus, a black hooded person suddenly appears to help them.
Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.
From the cinematography to the script to the acting, Sorry, Baby is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year.
What are we willing to walk through to see our dreams come to pass? Our minds might be so wholly alive with the passions we carry and the plans we make to see these things become all we wish them to be, yet life doesn’t always want to come alongside. Instead, obstacles arise, both physical and mental, which attempt to dissuade us or even prevent us from moving forward, stalling or stagnating the momentum to achieve what we desire. The age-old question remains….can we overcome? Or will we BE overcome?
Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is an iconic family favorite with a multi-talented biracial lead that will remain fresh and magical for years to come.
What seems like such a simple story of survival is so much more than that—it’s a story of family, and of war, and of destruction. It’s painful to watch, but not in a bad way. It makes its audience reflect on their own actions, and in how they are complicit in the sufferings of others as the adults in this film are. Grave of the Fireflies does not hold back from being heartbreaking, and it shouldn’t. It tells a message that needs to be heard decades after the war, and a story that cannot be forgotten by history.