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Adam, a computer science instructor at a luxurious private school, beds and boozes his way through London’s vibrant gay scene after work. Following another tryst-and-shout encounter with a beautiful stranger, Adam finds himself embroiled in a scandal of possibly royal proportions. After being dredged from the Thames, Adam discovers his fatal trick was the debonair Jake Raven, a high-society photographer – and estranged son of a Fleet Street media magnate. A prime suspect, Adam enlists his ex-girlfriend, his father – and a mysterious confidant, as his shadowy enemies become increasingly violent. Artfully dodging constant surveillance and death threats, Adam evolves from watched to watcher – but can Adam evade his pursuers long enough to prove his innocence? A brisk, enervating treat for queer conspiracy enthusiasts and royal watchers, Paul Oremland’s post-7/7 London riffs off BBC’s runaway hit series, Spooks. Melding cinéma-vérité techniques and surveillance footage with contemporary themes, Oremland adroitly captures a Britain where a tradition of fair play and stiff upper lips is undermined by a pervasive sense of paranoia. – BP

An online hookup illuminates the complexities of a domestic relationship.

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As we look back on 20 years of image+nation, we centerpiece the Festival with a new masterpiece by André Téchiné (Roseaux sauvages) that also delves back some 20 years in history. Nominated for a Golden Bear award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Les témoins sees a set of characters bear witness to the start, and become part of the war that entails, the AIDS crisis. One evening in 1984 Paris, 50-something gay doctor, Adrien (Michel Blanc), cruises the park and picks up a stunningly cute teenager, Manu (Douches froides’ Johan Libéreau). Adrien’s impulse is sexual, but hoping for something deeper, he restrains himself and begins a platonic courtship. Adrien introduces the provincial lad to his close friend Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart), a writer, and her partner Mehdi (Sami Bouajila, Drôle de Félix), a police inspector, and the quartet vacation together on the French Riviera. During a swim, Manu almost drowns, prompting Mehdi to deliver mouth-to-mouth – an act that inspires an awakening. They begin a secret, intensely sexual affair, while Sarah endures her own personal crisis: she’s a new mother who, deep down, hates children. Adrien learns of Manu and Mehdi’s hijinks and his jealousy inspires rage, but all the juggling balls drop when a strange, deadly new illness rears its head. Broken into three chapters, from a summery, sexy start to terse dramatic middle to heartbreaking yet hopeful close, Les témoins is a profound and complex, expertly acted (Libéreau will break your heart!) masterwork – of sexualities, emotions, relationships, honesty, and life during a wartime that still endures today. – LF

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Gwen Haworth, a filmmaker who makes her home in Vancouver, turns her camera at herself for this simple, down-to-earth documentary that follows her transition from male to female over the course of several years. This thoughtful film is less a detailing of surgeries and more a meditation on family ties – a mapping of the transitions that take place within Gwen’s blood relationships, friendships and love over a time of great personal transformation. Through one-on-one interviews as well as photographs, letters and phone messages, she gives plenty of space for her mother, father, sisters, wife and best friend to tell their stories and share their reactions to the ongoing process of her transition. Their words are at times painful to hear, but the sheer honesty of Gwen’s family in recounting their fear, anger, understanding and support provides an exceptional snapshot of one family’s journey in coping with change and learning to love Gwen as she is – much as she learns to do the same. – AZ

In June 2001 Belgrade lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and trans people organized a Pride event in celebration of the new era of democracy and tolerance that was believed to have come to Serbia. About 40 people came to celebrate. Several thousand counter-demonstrators organized, showed up and brutally beat them. This crucial documentary serves as a reminder that LGBT existance is not safe and sound, and human rights should never be taken for granted.

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La révolution du désir explores the nebulous circumstances that birthed the sexual liberation movement in France, and interrogates its transformation from a grassroots rebellion to an effort to normalize homosexuals. Referencing the work of impassioned activists and intriguingly titled essays – Le rapport contre la normalité (“A Report Against Normalcy”) and Trois milliards de pervers (“Three Billion Perverts”) –, the film sketches the lives of Guy Hocquenghem and Françoise d’Eaubonne, brilliant intellectuals and unconditional supporters of the “revolution of desire.” We meet philosopher René Schérer, MLF photographer Catherine Deudon, militant filmmaker Carole Roussopoulos, Guy’s brother Joani Hocquenghem, historian Marie-Jo Bonnet, the Panthères roses and numerous other key players. La révolution du désir is a rare and valuable document that explores the past but more importantly questions the present. With eloquent testimonials to our history, it is a documentary not to be missed.

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An imaginative and thoughtful film Martin Weisz’ (The Hills Have Eyes 2) Butterfly : A Grimm Love Story is no fairy tale. An interpretation of the real-life Armin Miewes and Bernd Jürgen Brandes case of consensual cannibalism, it was banned in Germany for possibly infringing Miewes’ personal rights. American Katie Armstrong (Keri Russell) is an obsessive and pensive research student in criminal psychology in Germany. Curious about the extreme measures undertaken by Oliver Hartwin (Thomas Kretschmann, The Pianist) and Simon Grimbeck (Thomas Huber) to ‘be understood, to finally feel safe,’ she begins investigating their stories. Butterfly : A Grimm Love Story won Best Director and Best Actor awards for both male leads at Festival de Cine de Sitges. A largely neutral exploration of radical, unusual impulses, it offers multi-layered, psychologically complex sketches of two gay men longing to become one. Brief nods to Hansel and Gretel and Nosferatu are served on a colour-drained platter. A disturbing movie about our yearning for complete understanding by and of another person, Butterfly : A Grimm Love Story reminds us that sometimes intimacy is simply a matter of taste. - BP