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BEYTO
Gitta Gsell | Switzerland | 2021
Beyto has the good job, stellar English marks, and athletic talent to make any parent proud. But Beyto’s parents aren’t just any parents. They are struggling immigrants trying to make a living in Switzerland while supporting family members in their former village, and their prejudiced views on homosexuality turn to full-on panic when their only child is spotted at a Pride Parade kissing Mike.
BLISS (GLÜCK)
Henrika Kull | Germany | 2021
Bliss takes us behind the closed doors of a Berlin brothel and inside private, domestic spaces where Maria and Sascha are free to define pleasure on their own terms. However, used to catering to the specific needs of clients, they are less adept at articulating their own. Writer-director Henrika Kull articulates a candid vision that is at once a conventional workplace drama as well as a poetic fever.
CELTS (KELTI)
Milica Tomović | Serbia | 2021
It’s 1993, and as Serbia’s wars in Croatia and Bosnia are being fought off-screen, they are felt figuratively and concretely at the party, which combines youthful angst and gamesmanship with adult drinking, drugging, and political discussion. The partygoers include everyone from a fiery-haired actress to an anarcho-punk, three women in a love triangle to two men both hungry, simply, for a kiss.
DOWN IN PARIS
Antony Hickling | France | 2021
Midnight in Paris meets Alice in Wonderland in this rewarding, wildly imaginative redemption tale. Overwhelmed by directorial duties and unnerved by a recent death and corrosive relationship, a panic attack sends Richard fleeing onto the nighttime Paris streets, where he convenes with sages and lost souls across the social and generational spectrum.
A DISTANT PLACE
Kun-Young Park | South Korea | 2020
Long-time lovers Jin-Woo and Hyun-Min look for peace in Hwacheon, where Jin-Woo spends his days tending to farm duties and his niece, and Hyun-Min finds work teaching the art of poetry to locals.. Along with the ranchers with whom they share a home, they forge an unconventional family. That is until Seol’s mother comes to reclaim her once abandoned daughter.
FIREBIRD
Peeter Rebane | Estonia | 2021
On Haapsalu Air Force Base in Soviet-occupied Estonia, Sergey is swept off his feet by Roman, a dashing and kind lieutenant, while fending off the romantic assumptions of his female comrade and friend, Luisa. Firebird has the real-life drama of Cold War-era history and the swooning romance of a love relegated to the shadows, always threatening to burn through the dark.
THE HILL WHERE THE LIONESSES ROAR
Luàna Bajrami | Kosovo/France | 2021
With the unforced confidence of Sofia Coppola, Bajrami trains her rarely blinking camera on three fluid young women: Li, Jeta, and Qe. Each is ambivalent about the love-hate relationship they have with their deceptively serene hometown, never quite certain of the freedoms it affords. When hopes for their future at university are dashed by institutional prejudice, they turn to more criminal activities...
JUMP DARLING
Phil Connell | Canada | 2020
The über-talented Thomas Duplessie plays Russell, a “tempestuous” Pisces with a family history of giving up and an enduring love of drag performing, opposite the legendary Cloris Leachman as his ailing grandmother, who might be more lucid than her senility implies. Grandma, and an queer-friendly townie bar, could end up redeeming Russell when he needs it most. The heart of the film underscoring how family – and drag – can save your life, even as it seems to be ending.
LEADING LADIES
Ruth Caudeli | Colombia | 2021
Five queer, female protagonists named after the actresses who play them; five very different perspectives: impulsive Ana, workaholic politician Diana, inconsistent germaphobe Ana María, cagey Marcela, and reckless Silvia. Like a classic murder mystery, they all descend upon a single house, sly and sexy, edgy with guilt. As we relive the party through each woman’s eyes, every offhand comment takes on new colour, every stray touch and wine glass tipped back careening them toward a point of no return.
LES FELUETTES (LILLIES)
JOHN GREYSON | CANADA | 1997 | 95 MIN
Greeted with acclaim upon its 90s release, Lilies has lost none of its luster. Summoned by a supposedly dying prisoner, a local bishop (Marcel Sabourin) is confronted by his childhood friend, Simon (Aubert Pallascio), and transported through the power of theatre and a Romantic imagination to rustic Roberval, Quebec in 1912 to witness his past misdeeds.
LOVE, SPELLS AND ALL THAT
Ümit Ünal | Turkey | 2019
Eren is drawn back to the gorgeous Turkish island where she grew up by a trove of discovered letters from her past with Reyhan. Though not usually prone to superstition, Reyhan blames Eren’s attraction on a spell cast by an islander with “incredible powers,” and she will stop at nothing to reverse it so she can go back to her conventional life with her boyfriend.
KISS ME KOSHER (KISS ME BEFORE IT ALL BLOWS UP)
Shirel Peleg | Germany/Israel | 2020
Israeli Shira is besot with her German girlfriend, Maria. The trouble is it turns out that Shira has a history of loving hard and leaving easily. This dramedy about an Israeli woman, her German girlfriend, and their two very different families growing – and clashing – together reveals the realities and romanticisms with which we structure our identities.
MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY
Marion Hill | United-States | 2021
Is Bertie more whole when she shares her heart solely with her husband in their country house in the south of France? Or is their relationship improved with their former ex, Lane, in the picture? The answers continually surprise in this film tackling the layered realities of attraction, connection, and polyamory as Bertie struggles in search of her authentic voice.
THE MAN WITH THE ANSWERS
Stelios Kammitsis | Greece/Cyprus/Italy | 2020
Victoras’ has cared for his grandmother alone so, upon the hospital-bound woman’s death, he sets off in an old clunker with no other plan but to get to Bavaria. Along the way, he sees a man stealing a sandwich, who soon wheedles his way into hitching a ride. Mathias is a German student with a sense of adventure, convincing Victoras to forego his single-mindedness.
MASCARPONE
Alessandro Guida & Matteo Pilati | Italy | 2021
In this sensual journey, a freshly dumped Antonio is guided by his very sex positive roommate and very attractive boss at a bakery. The whiff of independence wakes Antonio up to many delicious possibilities (and the film’s delightful diversions). As hot as it is heartwarming, Mascarpone is a Rome-flavoured treat that celebrates unexpected bonds and the special taste of making it on your own.
METAMORPHOSIS
J.E. Tiglao | Philippines | 2019
Jose Enrique Tiglao’s boundary-pushing feature debut finds an intersex high schooler in the wake of menstruation, feeling for what fits and pursuing pleasure. His unlikely friendship with sex-worker Angel, the seeming affections of a male doctor, and Adam’s father’s insistence on a "gender-normalizing operation" teach him about the complexity of gender and the power of choice.
I CARRY YOU WITH ME (TE LLEVO CONMIGO)
HEIDI EWING | MEXICO & USA | 2020
The instant chemistry in an underground gay bar between Iván Garcia and Gerardo Zabaleta (embodied by the real-life men in the present and actors Armando Espitia and Christian Vazquez in flashbacks) turns into a harrowing tale of complicated timing and seizing opportunity, which eventually ‘crosses over’ from Puebla, Mexico to New York City.
MY FIONA
Kelly Walker | United States | 2020
After Fiona’s death, Jane, her long-time bestie, begins to act as a substitute for her in increasingly discomfiting ways, leading Jane to question many things, including her sexuality as she becomes enmeshed in the life of Fiona’s widow, Gemma. As Jane and Gemma clash over the care of Fiona’s son and desperately look for someone to blame, a paradox emerges: they are growing both closer and further apart.
NIMBY - NOT IN MY BACKYARD
Teemu Nikki | Finland | 2021
Mervi thinks that the most outrageous thing to happen on her trip home will be introducing her “hillbilly” parents to her Muslim girlfriend, Kata. She didn’t count on her ex being taken under the wing of a local Nazi and for the unexpected arrival of Kata’s mother, a prominent Muslim politician, to spark a life-or-death hostage situation. Teemu Nikki’s topical film pulls no punches concerning two taboos of polite company: religion and politics.
POPPY FIELD
Eugen Jebeleanu | Romania | 2021
Inspired by real-life protests at a Bucharest cinema, Poppy Field recounts the visit from Cristi's openly gay, French Muslim boyfriend and an escalating homophobic incident while at work as a gendarme (a specialized Romanian officer who deals with high-risk situations) sending him into a tailspin. Risking his career, Cristi gives in to his impulses and paces the edge of danger, like a tiger in a cage.
POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA
Wes Hurley | United States | 2020
We begin in USSR, in 1985, where the sketchiness of memory is reflected in painterly sets and theatrical acting. After an awkward Potato and his mother secure two tickets to America when she becomes a mail-order bride, the film’s style and main actors shift, and we are transported into a hyper-realized Seattle, where Potato and his mother must outmaneuver her strict new religious husband.
STUPID FOR YOU
Jude Klassen | Canada | 2021
Like mother like daughter. Punk rock one-hit wonder Dani Destroyer and her punk-playing daughter Kat (played by a real-life mother-son duo) transform their angst into lyrics, as they navigate intimacy issues and the tendency to ruin perfect moments in their search for true love. This music-inflected movie centers around two twisty love triangles.
SWAN SONG
Todd Stephens | United States | 2021
Leaving behind his nursing home – but keeping the Velcro shoes – former hairdresser Pat Pitsenbarger embarks on a Wizard of Oz-like quest. He must gather beauty supplies in time to style his estranged friend before her funeral to secure a $25,000 commission. Along the way, Pat will contend with rivals, convene with ghosts of the past, and bear witness to the incredible kindness of strangers.
SWEETHEART
Marley Morrison | United Kingdom | 2021
AJ, her mother, her two sisters, and her older sister’s partner arrive to enjoy the British seaside. The family vacation has come at a time of AJ questioning everything: the future of the planet, the unspoken reasons of her parent’s divorce. Gender. Even when it comes to Isla, with her sun-kissed curls and killer smile, AJ hides behind her tinted aviators, bucket hat, and Billie Eilish-aloofness.
THE SWIMMER
Adam Kalderon | Israel | 2021
For Erez, swimming runs in the family and his father is old friends with his homophobic coach. This legacy – and Erez’s latent homosexuality – adds undue pressure. He’s teased about his intense relationship with Nevo and veers between infatuation and sabotage. Immersed in the tinted red of his goggles, he channels Madonna, but the sport is asking him to change.
TOVE
Zaida Bergroth | Finland/Sweden | 2021
In this impeccably designed biopic, we can feel every emotional texture of Moomins creator Tove Jansson’s lived experience as she goes from struggling painter to a celebrated comics strip creator for the biggest newspaper in the world, while burning with desire for worldly theatre director Vivica Bandler. Actress Alma Pöysti impeccably portrays her creative energy and changeable moods.
TWO
Astar Elkayam | Israel | 2020
Bar and her partner Omer are in love. Opting to conceive, they must contend with the knotty ramifications of their wish. Astar Elkayam’s unpredictable directorial debut is about what happens when passion becomes practicality, focusing equal attention on two fascinating women – their aspirations and worries, their individual career trajectories – as they continue to wonder: will two ever become three?
WET SAND
Elene Naveriani | Georgie/Suisse | 2021
When Tbilisian Moe arrives in the little Black Sea village, she is labelled as “just like Eliko,” her grandfather whom she is there to bury. She is assisted by Amnon, the owner of the Wet Sand bar, and his one employee, Fleshka. To maintain their personal dignities, these misfits must challenge the hatred of the townspeople and contend with a police officer whose allegiances are yet to be determined.
WILDHOOD
Bretten Hannam | Canada | 2021
Délinquant et perdu, Link is rude and quick to anger. But along with his increasing closeness with Pasmay, who unlike Link is proud of his Mi’kmaw identity, comes an awareness of his self and sexuality. They follow clues on the trail of Link’s long absent mother – a “proud” woman who might not want to be found. All the while, poisonous past lessons still cling on.
ALL TOGETHER
Marco Simon Puccioni | Italy | 2021
Marco Simon Puccioni’s 2012 film, Prima di tutto, documented the birth of his twin boys, David and Denis, and now he is back with a second chapter, chronicling three years in his sons’ lives, marking political and personal milestones and letting the boys speak for themselves. All Together allows the boys’ lived experiences and candid reactions dictate who they are and how they feel about their rainbow family.
BEING BEBE: THE BEBE ZAHARA BENET DOCUMENTARY
Emily Branham | United States | 2021
This profile turns the spotlight on drag performer Marshall Ngwa, a.k.a BeBe Zahara Benet, who immigrated to the United States with dreams of a better life, and became the first winner of the now-iconic reality show, RuPaul’s Drag Race. From his upbringing in homophobic Cameroon all the way to award-winning American television this close-up chronicles the ups and downs of a creative artist.
EMERGENCE: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Vinay Giridhar | Canada | 2021
For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to, and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Yet, they’ve emerged. Tender, thoughtful and teary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows explores the taboo topic of being gay or lesbian in Vancouver’s South Asian community, telling a poignant story of family rejection, self-discovery and ultimate transformation.
FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK
Bobbi Jo Hart | Canada | 2020
Fanny: The Right to Rock rights a historical wrong when it reveals the untold story of Fanny, a California garage band started by two queer, Filipina American teenagers (Jean and June Millington) and their friends Brie Darling, Alice de Buhr, Nickey Barclay and Patti Quatro. Soon the band morphed into the ferocious group Fanny, the first all-women’s rock band to release a major record label LP.
NORTH BY CURRENT
Angelo Madsen Minax | United States | 2021
After the inconclusive death of his young niece, filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown, preparing to make a film about a broken criminal justice system. Instead, he pivots to excavate the depths of generational addiction, Christian fervor, and trans embodiment. Lyrically assembled images, decades of home movies, and ethereal narration form an idiosyncratic and poetic undertow that guide a viewer through lifetimes and relationships.
NO STRAIGHT LINES: THE RISE OF QUEER COMICS
Vivian Kleiman | United States | 2021
Comics legends Alison Bechdel, Rupert Kinnard, Jennifer Camper, Mary Wings, and “the godfather of queer comics” Howard Cruse (who died in 2019) are joined by the slew of queer Next Gen Comics they inspired, in order to colour in the history of diverse thinking that flouted the often “bland vision” of mainstream production.
P.S. BURN THIS LETTER PLEASE
Michael Sligman & Jennifer Tiexiera | United States | 2020
A box of hundreds of letters dating back to the 1950s becomes a blueprint to a lost history of female impersonation (as described at the time) and trans awareness, and we tag along on a cross-country house call of the U.S. to hear from those who tore up the once “hotter than a firecracker” NYC club scene through sit-down interviews, archival footage and narrated letters.
RAW! UNCUT! VIDEO!
Ryan A. White & Alex Clausen | United States | 2021
Legendary leatherman Jack Fritscher met Mark Hemry in 1979 at Harvey Milk’s birthday party – and the two fell head over heels in love. When the AIDS epidemic swept through San Francisco, the couple left the city to begin a new venture: turning a rural ranch in Sonoma County into a safe-sex porn studio that offered viewers new sexual possibilities in an age of plague.
REBEL DYKES
Harri Shanahan & Siân A. Williams | United Kingdom | 2021
“We weren’t lesbians, we were dykes.” This defiant statement represents just one of a whole myriad of empowering sneers as we’re dropped into the epicenter of the struggles, misunderstandings, and dialogues between punk and mainstream modes of feminism and queer identity during London’s conservative Thatcher 80s. That, and a whole lot of guitar and good times.
SEDIMENTS
Adrián Silvestre | Spain | 2021
Six very different trans women arrive in Magdalena Brasas’ childhood hometown in the Province of León, in northern Spain, and laugh and argue their way towards mutual understanding. Finding Leon to be an incredibly welcoming place full of natural and cultural wonders, they heal and look to the future. Sharing a house, they settle in, trading filthy jokes and stories of personal triumphs and travails.
STOLEN KISSES (BACI RUBATI)
Gabriella Romano & Fabrizio Laurenti | Italy | 2020
This patchwork portrait of Fascist Italy conveys “the spirit of the times” through (in)famous literary passages, impassioned letters often written in code, and archival footage of glistening bodies: sailors, soldiers, bathers, lovers. A film celebrating the efforts of reading between the lines. As modernity clashes with Fascism, so-called “pederasts" and “hermaphroditic virgins" embrace love, sex, and their “crazy desire to live.”
SOMEONE LIKE ME
Sean Horlor & Steve J. Adams | CANADA | 2021
Leaving everything he knows behind, Drake, a vibrant 22-year-old gay man from Uganda, aspires to the universal freedoms everyone deserves: to be who he is and love whomever he chooses without fear of discrimination, persecution, or violence.
YES I AM -THE RIC WEILAND STORY
Aaron Bear | United States | 2020
“With great wealth comes great responsibility”: the personal motto of Ric Weiland, one of Microsoft’s first employees who was pivotal in the progress of the Gay Rights Movement, and AIDS research. Filmmaker Aaron Bear, narrator Zachary Quinto, and Bill Gates introduce us to the brilliant, yet troubled Weiland, who pursued personal fulfillment more than “quick money.”
PATIENCE, MON AMOUR (PATIENCE, MY LOVE)
Camille Duvelleroy | France | 2021
Alice has wanted a child for a long time. Gabrielle just never thought about it. After seven years together they are finally getting started. Appointments are made, treatments are taken. After Alice suffers some disappointing results in Barcelona, the tables are turned and Gabrielle decides to go through with the artificial insemination process.
QUERENCIA
Mary Galloway | Canada | 2021
Teka, a young Indigenous woman, has just broken up with her boyfriend and left home for the first time to follow her dream of becoming a dancer. The big city, and the talent she competes with at auditions, have left her feeling very lonely. Enter: dating apps. When Teka mistakenly selects "women seeking women" on her profile, she meets Abe, a struggling musician who needs to move on from her ex...
BOY CULTURE: THE SERIES
Q. Allan Brocka | United States | 2021
Boy Culture reunites us with now-aged escort “X” and his now ex, Andrew, as they try to navigate living together, Andrew’s romantic interests, and X’s hustling. Not to mention Chayce “with a y”, a young, tech-savvy pimp with sass – and abs – to spare. The series stretches over six confession-based chapters named after clients, each of whom teaches X something about himself.
U-HAULING
Dani.ka Vermette | Canada | 2021
A queer culture expression, “U-Hauling” refers to newly formed lesbian couples moving in almost straight after they get together.The sweet romance often turns nightmarish if the couple splits up, which ultimately leads to a sudden, often drama-filled move out. “U-Hauling is much more than a story about breakups, it’s a story about community and chosen families.” - Dani.ka Vermette, writer & director
BECOMINGS
94 minutes
Explorations and evolutions, these quietly powerful stories all strive towards a similar goal: becoming one's full, true self.
DECLARATIONS
93 minutes
Queer in your face with NO apologies. These are declarations: bold gestures, attestations and political actions in very powerful forms.
DOCUMENTS
101 minutes
When we talk to each other, we talk to ourselves. An exploration of queer lives and living; sometimes painful, sometimes joyful, always complicated and ALWAYS real.
ENCOUNTERS / AMOUR
93 minutes
First meetings lead to love (or do they?). Encounters ripe with both longing and (hopeful) fulfillment. What happens when we step into the murky territory of “amour”?.
FRANCE un
78 minutes
In partnership with the Consulat général de France à Québec, selection of the best and brightest queer French shorts of the year.
FRANCE deux
74 minutes
In partnership with the Consulat général de France à Québec, selection of the best and brightest queer French shorts of the year.
FUTUR/E/S QUEER UTOPIAS
72 minutes
Let’s imagine a queer utopia! These are poignant predictions of futur/e queer spaces and future-casting queer stories that envoke both hope and caution.
INDIGIQUEER / VOIX AUTOCHTONES
63 minutes
2Spirit and Indigiqueer perspectives and experiences. These proud and loud voices use both narrative and documentary strategies to share their stories, their spaces and their realities.
ITALIAN SHORTS
83 minutes
Celebrating our first collaboration with the Instituto Italiano di Cultura in Montreal, a collection of dramas, comedies and animation that bring the spirit of queer Italy to Montreal.
MADE AU CANADA
92 minutes
Canadian queer stories from coast to coast to coast. These rich, humour-filled narratives and affecting documentary reflections tease out a myriad of Canadian queer identi(ties).
QUEERMENT QUÉBEC
79 minutes
Our annual celebration of Québécois queer content; unique perspectives proving Quebec is truly a hotbed of queer storytelling talent.
FAMILY FUN FOR EVERYONE
69 minutes
Fun-filled shorts made especially for queers and their kids. Suitable for all ages, these colourful, characterful animations and feel-good comedies entertain both the kids and the kid in you.