Out Takes JOY 94.9 - LGBTI, LGBTIQA+, LGBTQIA+, LGBT, LGBTQ, LGB, Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Intersex, Queer Podcasts for all our Rainbow Communities

‘Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero’ is the latest in a long line of music documentaries that in this instance turns the spotlight on full to one of the biggest queer hip hop and popstars in the game. Zac Manuel is an award–winning, New Orleans bred-and-based filmmaker and his work in documentary and music video explores intimacy, Black masculinity, class, identity and inheritance. Zac was our special guest on the show to discuss his role as the co-director of this film, his insight in to the world of Montero Lamar Hill a.k.a Lil Nas X and much more.

We also revisited our interview from May 2022 with Bradley & Pablo, the directors of ‘Charli XCX: Alone Together’ which covered the production of Charli XCX’s 2020 quarantine album “How I’m Feeling Now” which was created in 40 days during the COVID-19 pandemic, including its semi-collaborative nature with her community of online fans.

For this program, we looked at the latest iteration of a revamped vampire classic from Anne Rice and also celebrated the return of the German Film Festival in Melbourne this May and June. We were joined by special guest Claire Burger, the acclaimed French film screenwriter and director whose latest film ‘Langue Étrangère’ is screening direct from the Berlinale and is the centrepiece film for this year’s German Film Festival.

We also did a deep dive into the fascinating history of ‘Interview With A Vampire’ in the lead up to the second season of the television adaptation coming to AMC from May 12. We discussed the original novel by Anne Rice from 1976 that went on to a successful but controversial film adaptation in the 1990’s, then on to the current television series that commenced in 2022. This latest version has embraced the original storyline of the intense relationship between Louis and Lestat and new characters in season 2 that directly explore the very queer world that they now inhabit in and around the Théâtre des Vampires in Paris and across Prague and New Orleans.

For this show, we turned the Out Takes spotlight on Goran Stolevski, one of the most talented openly gay screenwriters and directors on the rise in Australia and worldwide. ‘Housekeeping for Beginners’ is Goran’s third feature film and explores the universal truths of family, both the ones we’re born into and the ones we find for ourselves.  We were delighted to welcome Goran back for his third time on the show to discuss the film plus check in on how he has been spending his time on the festival circuit and travelling around the US with his husband too.

For this Out Takes, we took a look at two very different projects that highlighted our interest in independent cinemas and quality Aussie TV; ‘The Sweet East’, a wildly original US indie film that has been described as Alice in Wonderland in the upside down world featuring an incredible cast including Jacob Elordi and Ayo Edebiri, and ‘Swift Street’, a new local television series from SBS that shines a spotlight on diversity and representation through a fast paced action packed crime drama that also deals with young love and family friction in inner city Melbourne.

We were joined by special guests Bernie Van Tiel, who plays the very cool and very queer Aisha in ‘Swift Street’, and Nick Pinkerton, the US based screenwriter of ‘The Sweet East’ who was in Australia when we spoke for a series of special screenings and Q&A’s across the country.

As the heading states, this program was all about ‘Challengers’, the latest film from Luca Guadagnino (two times Out Takes guest and one of our favourite filmmakers) which is set in the world of professional tennis and focuses on an unconventional, dysfunctional and highly explosive love triangle.  Along with our very comprehensive review, we also heard from the three stars of ‘Challengers’ – Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor and Zendaya – from their recent media conference in Sydney where they officially launched the film and started a global press tour which saw Zendaya serving major looks on red carpets around the world. There was also quite a few tennis puns used in this one so you have been warned and it’s fair to say we loved this film a lot so that’s game, set and match to Luca, Zendaya and the boys for this one!

For this Out Takes, we’re heading back to high school with the cool kids from Hartley High to look at season 2 of Heartbreak High which is on Netflix now.  We explored the entire HH universe, including ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ movie from 1993 and the spinoff original TV series that ran for seven seasons, on to the re-boot that dropped on our screens in late 2022 and introduced a whole new cast of crazy, cool and very queer kids navigating modern teen life in Western Sydney on to our screens.

All of your favourite characters are back plus a few new editions to the crew and there is a whole lot of new drama, laughs and chaos along the way.  We bring you our season 2 reviews and recaps (with no spoilers) plus a plea to the TV goddesses to bless us with a third season soon!