HAMNET left @amuredda.bsky.social and me dry-eyed, so we dug into why it didn’t work, how it adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, and why some passing knowledge of Shakespeare might hinder rather than help your appreciation of the film:
seventh-row.com/2025/12/12/e...
The Long Take is a space for deep, layered film conversations about film with the same small group, over 4 months.
🎟️ Space is capped at 20 — save your seat before we start Nov 2.
seventh-row.com/the-long-take
🎬 What if talking about movies felt more like improv?
Not “being clever on cue” improv.
But listening closely.
Picking up on what someone just noticed.
Adding something new.
Discovering something together.
That’s the spirit we bring inside The Long Take.
seventh-row.com/the-long-take
Today at 2pm ET → join the finale of Living Out Loud:
🎬 A 2017 British queer short
📜 A lost 1950s gay script
📂 Queer archives brought to life
💬 A live discussion to unpack it led by @bwestcineaste.bsky.social
👉 Register free: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
📜 A lost 1950s gay script.
🎬 A queer short film that mixes archives + fiction.
💡 And a live discussion to unpack it.
Join us tomorrow (Sunday, Oct 5 | 2–4pm ET) for the finale of Living Out Loud.
👉 Register free: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
🌈 Living Out Loud starts this Friday!
A 3-day FREE online summit exploring queer + trans stories and histories on screen (and beyond). Each day builds on the last — you’ll get the richest experience if you join for more than one, but you’re welcome to drop in.
seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
💡 Expect rich, interactive conversations about how we remember queer and trans lives — and the role film, theatre, TV, and archives play in telling these stories. And yes, you’ll get to join in, too with your own questions and ideas.
🔗 Free registration: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
✨ Dr. Anamarija Horvat — Author of Screening Queer Memory, which examines how film/TV shape our collective memory of queer + trans histories.
✨ Angelo Madsen — filmmaker (North by Current, A Body to Live In) whose work explores personal archives
Register to attend: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
I’ll be joined by:
✨ Dr. Emily Garside (@emilygarside.bsky.social) — whose PhD explored how theatre became both activism and record during the AIDS crisis
✨ Dr. Elspeth Brown — Historian who leads projects preserving queer + trans oral histories
Register to attend: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
❓ Which queer + trans histories get remembered — and which are erased?
❓ How do film, theatre, and archives help us reclaim them?
❓ How do filmmakers work with (or create) archives for their films?
On Friday, our panel will dig into these questions and more!
seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
🌈 Tomorrow we kick off Living Out Loud — a free, 3-day online summit on queer + trans cinema and history.
Day 1 (Friday, Oct 3, 2–4pm ET): Reclaiming Queer + Trans History
How do film, TV, theatre, and archives reclaim LGBTQ+ history?
Register FREE to join us: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
thrilled to be joining such a fab group of folks (@cjprince.bsky.social, Lena Wilson, and the terrific @bwestcineaste.bsky.social) to talk about queer and trans cinematic storytelling for @seventhrow.bsky.social's Living Out Loud weekend for Day 2! come through!
seventh-row.com/living-out-l...
💬 Why show up live?
✨ Ask questions in real time + meet the panellists
✨ Share ideas that shape where the conversation goes
✨ Be part of a discussion that only happens once, with this group
💻 Free + online ft. @cjprince.bsky.social @tylekurner.bskysocial
Register: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
On Saturday, Oct 4 (2–4pm ET), join us for Day 2 of Living Out Loud: Queer + Trans Stories Today.
We’ll dig into:
✨ Why so many queer films fly under the radar
✨ Which stories get told — and which don’t
✨ How context + history shift the way we watch
✨ How queer + trans stories can connect deeply
🌈 What makes a story queer or trans? Depends who you ask — and when it was made.
Is it about LGBTQ+ characters or filmmakers?
Or something else entirely?
How we define it shapes how we assess the state of queer + trans cinema today.
Join us Saturday to discuss: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
If you like thinking out loud, testing ideas, and discovering connections together — this is your chance.
💻 Free + online — register via link in bio
🔗 Register: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
Why show up live?
✨ Experience the film and discussion in real time — not just hear about it afterwards.
✨ Shape the insights that emerge
✨ And yes: it’s the kind of facilitated film discussion I usually host inside paid programs, but this one’s free and open to all.
🎬 On Sunday, Oct 5 (2–4pm ET), Living Out Loud wraps up with a queer short film screening + live group discussion.
We’ll watch the film together, then unpack it with me facilitating — connecting it to the themes from Days 1 + 2.
seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
And if you'd like to continue the conversation about...
✨ How we define queer + trans stories
✨ How films document the systemic barriers that shape and constrain queer + trans lives
✨ The breadth of queer + trans stories on screen today...
Join me at Living Out Loud: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
Ep. 183, I dig into Nicholas Hytner's THE CHORAL, which is about a queer character and made by queer creatives...but is it a queer film? Is it even trying to be one?
I dig into this + a little fangirling over Hytner (he directed my fave Hamlet) and Fiennes. #TIFF50
seventh-row.com/2025/09/18/e...
In Ep 181, I talked about BETWEEN DREAMS AND HOPE, about a trans man seeking gender-affirming care in Iran.
I also compare it to two other queer films from Canada & France that are also about how patriarchy, class, and legal + medical systems shape survival.
seventh-row.com/2025/09/09/e...
I podcasted on two of the queer/trans films I saw at #TIFF50
They got me thinking about what kinds of stories we get about queer and trans lives in different parts of the world — and how those stories are told.
(Questions we'll keep exploring at Living Out Loud next week!)
Some thoughts 🧵
Oh, and yes — I do fangirl a bit over Nicholas Hytner and Ralph Fiennes.
But even with all my admiration, I left THE CHORAL a bit disappointed.
(It's not that it was trying to be a queer film and failed. It wasn't. It's that it flattens the stories of all of the characters, queer or otherwise.)
This ties into Living Out Loud, a free 3-day online summit I’m hosting (Oct 3–5) on queer + trans storytelling.
We’ll be exploring what makes a story queer or trans — and how context shapes our understanding of it. (Among many other things!)
🎟️ Register for FREE: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
It’s beautifully made. It hits emotional notes.
But it's not very interested in queer perspectives or what it would have been like to be queer during WWI.
What does it mean when queerness is there, but feels sanitized?
🎧 Listen: seventh-row.com/2025/09/18/e...
THE CHORAL (which had its world premiere at #TIFF50 and stars the always excellent Ralph Fiennes) has queer characters and queer creatives.
But is it a queer film?
That’s the question I unpack in Ep. 183 of the Seventh Row podcast.
seventh-row.com/2025/09/18/e...
Film plays such an important role in documenting queer and trans lives.
At Living Out Loud, we'll unpack how queer + trans stories on screen are shaping our understanding of 2SLGBTQ+ lives — and how context helps us access the films.
🎟️ Join us Oct 3–5 (FREE): seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
What does it take to be “approved”?
How does care come with conditions?
And how do these stories shape what we understand as queer survival?
🎧 Listen: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/1...
In Between Dreams and Hope, a trans man in Iran seeks gender-affirming care.
The film quietly reveals how systems — not people — create the friction: waiting, explaining, proving.
🎧 Ep. 181 explores how this shows up in other films too.
seventh-row.com/2025/09/09/e...
BETWEEN DREAMS AND HOPE at #TIFF50 got me thinking about how bureaucracy shapes queer + trans lives — especially in medical contexts.
I unpack that in Ep. 181 of the podcast, alongside two other films.
🧵 (And yes, it connects to Living Out Loud 👇)
seventh-row.com/2025/09/09/e...
