Sat Mar 9 — 7 pm

Closing Party 6 pm

1hr 41min
Romance

Preceded by:

Reviving the Roost

Closing out our festival, drag queen Connie Smudge will perform extravagantly.

Solo follows Simon, a rising star of Montreal drag queen scene who is simultaneously facing the disappointment of two impossible loves — one of a passionate but destructive crush with Oliver, and the other of a cold and distant relationship with his mother Claire, who has returned home after a 15-year absence. Set in Montreal’s drag scene, director Sophie Dupuis constructs an intimate portrait of love and the toxic relationships that are hard to break. Simon (Théodore Pellerin) is a talented makeup artist by day, but his creative side shines brightest when performing in drag on stage at a local bar show.

Solo celebrates love within the queer community, and it does so beautifully. But what’s even lovelier about Solo is that it’s a film about finding that love within yourself first. That’s challenging for anyone but particularly amongst queer people — we are far too often told that we are unworthy of love and that something is inherently wrong with who we are. But finding that love within yourself has a power as transformative as drag itself.

Winner of the Best Canadian Feature Film Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Solo is a film that earns its emotional beats. Dupuis avoids many of the familiar tropes audiences might expect from a film set within the world of drag. Instead of focusing on trauma and hate, she allows her characters to simply exist as regular people trying to make sense of the confusing nature of love. A vibrant and emotionally rich tale, it’s a reminder that one is never alone when you learn to love yourself.