The old joke is that the Inside Out Film Festival used to be so small that it could be held in a closet. (It’s an old joke; we didn’t say it was a good joke.) Since 1991, however, the festival has grown into the largest event of its kind in Canada and one of the top five LGBT film events in the world. Here’s a look at some of this year’s highlights:
Paris 05:59
This drama kicks off with an explicit gay orgy scene that is bathed in red light and which clocks in at 18 minutes or so, but filmgoers will more likely get off on the darling romance of Theo and Hugo, a couple who spend an early morning in Paris loving each other at first sight. (May 27, 9:15 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox)
Hurricane Bianca
Watchers of television’s RuPaul’s Drag Race – and really, you should be a watcher of television’s RuPaul’s Drag Race – will know Bianca Del Rio as a winning drag queen on that show. Here, Del Rio stars as a fired teacher who borrows shtick from Tootsie and Mrs. Doubtfire to get the job back. The forecast calls for high winds and higher jinks, with a supporting cast that includes Rachel Dratch, Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho and Bianca Leigh. (June 3, 7:45 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox)
Kiki
Often compared to Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston’s colourful 1990 documentary on drag balls), this Sundance hit from Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordeno is an all-access look into the vogue-happy scene of youth LGBT ballroom dancing in New York, with much help from one of the doc’s subjects, Twiggy Pucci Garçon. (June 5, 7:30 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox)
Inside Out runs May 26 to June 5, at various venues.