“Matthew Fifer’s sexy debut feature examines buried traumas, cultural divides and religious stigma with dark humor and tender introspection&helip;A sexy and searing act of gay self-analysis.”

— Jude Dry,

“Signals the arrival of a thrilling new queer filmmaking voice. It's set to be one of the year's best.”

“[Cicada] could easily become a quiet and contemplative queer classic, like Andrew Haigh’s Weekend or Ira Sachs’s Keep the Lights On”

— Alim Kheraj,

“‘Cicada’ is good and tender on feelings, but also on flesh and bodies…[with] unaffected, spontaneous demonstrations of human connection, hostility and erotic desire.”

— Guy Lodge,

“The film effectively shows what it’s like to hold onto trauma and how easy it is to let it fester.”

— David Oliver,

“Evocative…Compelling.”

— Stephen Saito,

“It would be easy to describe Cicada as a romance about an interracial relationship, but boiling this evocative directorial debut down to that one aspect feels severely limiting.”

— Michael Cuby,

“It's sexy, honest, and moving.”

— Joey Moser,

“Reminiscnt of intimate queer romances like Weekend.”

“Beautifully explores the messy, nonlinear process of healing.”

— Angela Morrison,