This enforced autumnal move for the annual film festival celebrating Irish and international LGBTQ+ film-making feels right. Its usual August bank holiday timing, possibly owing to cinema availability, felt oddly timed.
It opens with The Novice which follows an obsessive novice rower in pursuit of excellence in spite of familiar college distractions. It straddles the psychological-thriller territory and marks a directorial debut by Lauren Hadaway.
Rebel Dykes celebrates the London lesbian scene, Shame//Less is an experimental feature anchored by our own Stefan Fae and filmed in the Boilerhouse sauna, Beyto has the good old-fashioned hot lads in a pool image attached while the festival closes with No Straight Lines, a documentary charting the rise of pioneers in the US comics scene.
IFI & Lighthouse cinemas, September 29 – October 3
