An added bonus is that it thoughtfully transports you to a culture 9,000km south of Canada, effectively working as an alternative to our non-existent winter travel schedules. Essentially a Chilean spin on Andrew Haigh's Weekend, The Strong Ones also impressively shares that film's naturalism, intimacy and sexiness. But things quickly get complicated when he falls hard for dreamy local boatswain Antonio (Antonio Altamirano). The film follows Lucas (Samuel González), a man who travels to a remote town in southern Chile to visit his sister before he heads to Montreal for grad school. If you missed it at one of those festivals, now is definitely a good time to warm up a winter night with this Chilean import. Queeries is a weekly column by CBC Arts producer Peter Knegt that queries LGBTQ art, culture and/or identity through a personal lens.Īs we all struggle to figure out what's left for us to watch (or what we feel emotionally capable of watching) during this our 10th month of pandemic existence, may I make a romantic suggestion: Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo's feature directorial debut The Strong Ones, which was just released digitally this week. One of the highlights of last year's mostly virtual LGBTQ film festival circuit, the film won the top prize at L.A.'s Outfest, Montreal's Image+Nation and Miami's OUTShine Festival ( among many others).
