Highlights from this year's virtual festival include David Bowie biopic Stardust, Canadian dark comedy Shiva Baby, and horror film Spiral starring Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Ari Cohen.
By Pahull Bains
Date October 1, 2020
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Toronto’s Inside Out festival—the largest LGBTQ+ film festival in Canada—is going virtual for 2020. From October 1 to 11, its lineup of 150 films and 9 episodic series will be available to stream across Ontario.
To figure out its virtual strategy for 2020, Inside Out delayed the festival by a few months (it typically runs in May). In addition to online streaming, this year the festival is also doing a limited run of screenings at drive-in theatres across the province. The festival’s opening night gala is a drive-in screening of Stardust, a highly-awaited David Bowie biopic starring Johnny Flynn, at the RBC Lakeside Drive-in in Toronto.
?? We've released one final batch of tickets for tonight's screening of Stardust at the @RBC Lakeside Drive-In at @OntarioPlace! Grab them while you still can at https://t.co/v8hpyVCbwo#Toronto
— Inside Out (@InsideOutTO) October 1, 2020
Other drive-in screenings this year include: Jump, Darling, about a rookie drag queen and his relationship with his ailing grandmother in Prince Edward County, at the RBC Lakeside Drive-in in Toronto, and Ahead of the Curve, a documentary about iconic lesbian magazine Curve, at the Wesley Clover Parks drive-in Ottawa.
Canadian films at the 2020 Inside Out festival include No Ordinary Man, a profound and moving documentary about 1940s jazz musician and trans icon Billy Tipton; Shiva Baby, about an excruciating but hilarious afternoon one queer Jewish woman spends with her family at a shiva; and Spiral, a horror film starring Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Ari Cohen.
Spiral is a suspenseful commentary on the prejudice in a small town and the sinister traditions that accompany it | Watch Spiral from director @KurtHarder for FREE thanks to our partners at CBC, part of our Spotlight on Canada! Tickets (Oct 1 – Oct 11) at https://t.co/ywfYMdJ4Pzpic.twitter.com/68EIZYqWvu
— Inside Out (@InsideOutTO) September 29, 2020
In addition to locally made projects, Inside Out also features a wide selection of international films. This year’s selection includes Breaking Fast, about a gay practicing Muslim trying to figure out his place in West Hollywood; Monsoon, which sees Kit (played by Henry Golding) return to his native Ho Chi Minh City following his parents’ death and strike up a romance with a handsome expat; and Dating Amber, an Irish film about two teens who stage a relationship in order to stop everyone speculating about their sexuality.
Get your tickets to the 2020 Inside Out Film Festival here.