Cherry B. Diamond

Midnight sharp. Two radio journalissts host a dull cultural program. Lights are switched off. A gang of women invades the studio to broadcast a message: “One, two... One, two... This is a coup!” Venus Retrograde explores an erotic, queer coup d’etat through a campy aesthetic and futuristic themes.

Tarek Lakhrissi’s futuristic narrative Out of the Blue takes place at a radical moment in time, when a politically conservative era is suddenly coming to an end. Lakhrissi avoids traditional apocalyptic narratives to meditate instead on the nature of transition itself. In the final scene, the film’s central character delivers a thoughtful speech exploring ideas of freedom and liberty, self-determination and queer futurity.