PURPLE HOUR

cinema from a queer lens and canted angle

sam ahern
'Supporting emerging filmmakers has become a really important part of GAZE': Sam Ahern, GAZE festival director
CURATOR TALKS: We chatted with the Dublin event's new festival director to learn about past, present, and future of queer and trans Irish cinema—and beyond.
Still from 'Love Letters' by Alice Douard
The Gaze Always Leads: 'Love Letters' (2025) by Alice Douard
FRAMELINE50: With her feature debut, the César-winning French filmmaker makes her mark: rhythm, a camera that follows, and a story that's close to home.
the holy boy
A Smothering Embrace: 'The Holy Boy' (2025) by Paolo Strippoli
KARLOVY VARY 2026: The young Italian filmmaker moulds a new face for folk horror in his newest work, which ties the monstrous to the act of repression.

PURPLE HOUR RECOMMENDS

Some of our favourite films of the moment.

Still from 'Love Letters' by Alice Douard
amy-jenkins-adam-sieswerda-adam's-apple
'Black Burns Fast' director Sandulela Asanda
Virages directors - Aline Suter & Céline Carridroit
Still from 'Elephants in the Fog' by Abinash Bikram Shah
teenage-sex-at-camp-miasma
Rose Markus Schleinzer 1
Still from Urška Djukić's 'Little Trouble Girls'

REVIEWS

Still for Mate Ugrin's 'Petty Thieves'
The Trespass of Intimacy: 'Petty Thieves' (2026) by Mate Ugrin
Still from 'Love Letters' by Alice Douard
The Gaze Always Leads: 'Love Letters' (2025) by Alice Douard
the holy boy
A Smothering Embrace: 'The Holy Boy' (2025) by Paolo Strippoli
Hiam Abbass and Eya Bouteraa in 'In a Whisper'
Retracing Our Steps: 'In a Whisper' (2026) by Leyla Bouzid
Mélanie Thierry and Léa Drucker in 'A Woman's Life'
In the Mundanity of Understanding: ‘A Woman’s Life’ (2026) by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
Still from Shan Jiang's 'Ephemera'
In Our Own World By Night: 'Ephemera' (2026) by Shan Jiang
Still from 'Elephants in the Fog' by Abinash Bikram Shah
A Fragile Sanctuary: 'Elephants in the Fog' (2026) by Abinash Bikram Shah
Still from SUMMER DRIFT by Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter
Oh, What Beautiful Machinery: 'Summer Drift' (2026) by Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter

INTERVIEWS

sam ahern
'Supporting emerging filmmakers has become a really important part of GAZE': Sam Ahern, GAZE festival director
Profile_Viv Li_Claudia Hausfeld
'People who do not eat well are not to be trusted with artwork': Viv Li on 'Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest'
sullivan-lepostec-midpoint
‘Fiction becomes a great way to externalise and understand these issues’: Sullivan LePostec, MIDPOINT Focus Queer lead tutor
introduction-to-the-film-chica-checa
'It’s a story we’ve seen before in some ways, but never here and never about us': Šimon Holý on 'Chica Checa'
Nader Saeivar KVIFF
'If we look from this point of view, I can say that this might be my first film': Nader Saeivar on 'Hijamat'
aung phyoe crystal globe fruit gathering
'I believe there is something special about queer desires, whether tenderness or brutality': Aung Phyoe on 'Fruit Gathering'
Photo credit: KVIFF
‘While we were exploring the characters, we also found space for a bit of ambiguity’: Mate Ugrin on ‘Petty Thieves’
frameline-kate-bove-interview
'There’s this effort from queer and trans filmmakers to really look at the media that’s shaped us': Kate Bove, Frameline associate director of programmes
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