#queer-romance

#queer-romance

I grew up in a hockey town where there was no escaping Canada's beloved sport. Our suburban streets doubled as rinks; the choppy slap of tennis balls reverberating against hockey sticks a constant sound. As pre-teens, my friends and I would put on lip gloss and tight jeans to hang out at the Friday night junior hockey games. I still find comfort in the sound of skate blades slicing across ice and that sweaty, chemical odour of public arenas.

Enter Heated Rivalry (Saturday 10 January, 9pm, Sky Atlantic), a Canadian queer romp so hot it threatens to scorch the ice it skates upon. Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are star players from Montreal and Moscow respectively, mysteriously drawn to each other on the rink, in the full glare of the media. Well, not that mysteriously. The co-leads get down to business almost immediately, with a not-quite meet cute in a shower room.

Trouble is fermenting in the febrile heat of Rome. Violent political struggles are breaking out between militant neo-fascist, far-left organisations and the Italian state. Amid this tense unrest, Federico Fellini makes his opulent masterpiece, Casanova, and Pasolini makes his final film, Salò, an eviscerating and prophetic parable about the dangers of fascism. Olivia Laing's novel The Silver Book is a compelling noir thriller and queer romance, taking us into the heart of Rome's famous Cinecittà studios - Italian cinema's dream factory.

Queer writer/director Julia Jackson ( Bonus Track) has crafted a stylish and clever queer romance with 100 Nights of Hero. The film, opening in area theatres December 5 and adapted from Isabel Greenberg's graphic novel, The One Hundred Nights of Hero, is set in a fictional medieval land where a woman's place is to marry and have sons, not to read or write.

"What you can expect from the sequel is a glimpse into Alex and Henry's life after the confetti has finished falling from the first movie."

Sex is notoriously difficult to write. Some authors avoid it entirely; even those who have been called great can come a cropper.