Big Expectations (2024)

Matthias & Maxime

Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.

The Wings

The story is that of a conniving countess coming between a gay sculptor, Claude Zoret, and his bisexual model and lover, Mikaël, ultimately leading to Zoret's death in a raging storm at the base of a statue of Mikaël as the mythological Icarus. The film is missing 19 minutes of run time.

Maybe... Maybe Not

The heterosexual man Axel is thrown out of his girlfriends home for cheating and ends up moving in with a gay man. Axel learns the advantages of living with gay men even though they are attracted to him and when his girlfriend wants him back he must make a tough decision.

Volver

Raimunda, a working-class woman living in Madrid, is dealing with the aftermath of a fire that killed her parents in her native village in La Mancha. Raimunda's life is further complicated when her deceased mother, Irene, returns as a ghost to resolve unfinished family business, including a murder and other buried truths.

Pepper

Today is a big day, it's Pepper's estranged son's birthday. He disowned her 20 years ago for becoming a drag queen. A chance meeting with Charlie, an eight-year-old boy, reminds her the importance of family and doing the right thing.

Paper Boys

A ragtag bunch of teenage door to door salesmen wreak havoc and spread the news of their coming of age in this summer before they begin their college lives. It centers around Sean, a sexually confused and drug afflicted teen who just can't seem to shake off his dysfunctional family history. Paper Boys is an adventure into the psychology of sales as a metaphor for life as these young "Glengarry Glen Ross" wannabes terrorize a suburban neighborhood near everyone!

Transamerica

A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.

Wild Things

When teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan and troubled bad girl Suzie Toller accuse guidance counselor Sam Lombardo of rape, he's suspended by the school, rejected by the town, and fighting to get his life back. One cop suspects conspiracy, but nothing is what it seems...

Requiem for a Dream

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Let's Be Tigers

Avalon’s not ready to process the loss of her mother, but when she's put in charge of a 4-year-old for one night, she finds more comfort than she ever could have expected.

The Little Prince(ss)

When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.

So Vam

After being kidnapped by a predatory old vampire, Kurt becomes part of a gang of rebellious vampires who feed on bigots and abusers. As a vampire he finally knows empowerment and belonging, but his maker is still out there and until Kurt faces the monster, he will never truly be free. But this time he won’t face it alone.

Along Came Love

1947. On a beach, Madeleine, a waitress in a hotel restaurant, mother of a little boy, meets François, a rich and cultivated student. The force of attraction that pushes them towards each other is commensurate with the secrecy that each carries. If we know what Madeleine wants to leave behind by following this young man, we discover over time, what François is desperately trying to flee by mixing Madeleine's fate with his.

Boys On Film 5: Candy Boy

Boys On Film 5: Candy Boy features nine award-winning short films. Boys will be boys in Pascal-Alex Vincent's FAR WEST and CANDY BOY, where a farmyard and an orphanage get a gay makeover. GO-GO REJECT sees Flashdance obsessive Daniel aim for the stars, as SWEAT has Holby City's David Paisley infiltrating a bath house with unexpected results. Meanwhile, love proves to be timeless when LAST CALL unites past and present, but TWOYOUNGMEN, UT. hints at an uncertain future. Looking back on the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, BLOCKS focuses on the sexual awakening of a peeping Tom. Two more young boys, a confused JAMES and mute DAVID, both reach out for an experienced hand, but will they find what they are looking for?

Alaska is a Drag

Leo's dreams of being an international drag superstar are hard fought working in a fish cannery in Alaska.

Campfire

A married dairy farmer travels to a gay campground in rural NE Pennsylvania to search for the man he fell in love with 30 years before -- and discovers the past is not done with him yet. A narrative/doc hybrid film.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.

Chasing Pavement

Chasing Pavement stars Remy Mars as Elijah Young, an 'urban' porn star who is preparing to leave the adult entertainment industry and start a new career as a chef. His new roommate, Takeshi, played by Tokio Sasaki, is a Japanese immigrant who is looking for a new start in the information technology field. Takeshi, who feels completely invisible in the United States, becomes obsessed with his extremely visible flatmate. Takeshi's obsession culminates in a violation of boundaries that brings the two together for a moment of intimacy that neither will soon forget. The movie also stars Antonio Biaggi as Bryson Colon, a man with a troubled past who frequently hires Elijah as an escort, but wants much more.

Femme

Jules is a drag artist in London who withdraws into himself and loses his career after a horrific attack. Months later, he recognizes one of his assailants in a gay sauna and quickly realizes he has the perfect opportunity to get revenge.

Chabuca

The story of Ernesto Pimentel’s life, raised humbly after losing his mother, inspires him to create the iconic character La Chola Chabuca, an Andean figure who captivates all of Peru with her colourful skirts and high spirits.

Other People

David, a struggling comedy writer fresh off from breaking up with his boyfriend, moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Living with his conservative father and much-younger sisters for the first time in ten years, he feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother’s health declines, David frantically tries to extract meaning from this horrible experience and convince everyone (including himself) that he's "doing okay.”

Hair

Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.

Bringing Down the House

Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.

Far from Heaven

In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife's life is upended by a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in society.

Brittany Runs a Marathon

Hilarious and outgoing, Brittany Forgler, is everybody’s best friend ― except her own. Her partying, underemployment and toxic relationships are catching up with her. She receives a startling wake-up call when a visit to the doctor reveals how unhealthy she is. Motivated to lose weight, but too broke for a gym and too proud to ask for help, Brit is at a loss, until her neighbor pushes her to run one sweaty block. Soon, she sets an almost unthinkable goal: the New York City Marathon.

The Dare Project

A popular high school hunk Johnny takes a late-night dip with cute loner Ben. Fifteen years later, these two men — who haven’t seen each other since a late-night tryst in high school — bump into each other unexpectedly.

Tattoo

Paulete, the star of a daring theater group, is visited by his military brother-in-law, the young Fininha. A torrid relationship arises between the two, and now the soldier must deal with the prevailing repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship.

101 Reykjavik

Thirty-year-old Hlynur still lives with his mother and spends his days drinking, watching porn and surfing the net while living off unemployment checks. A girl is interested in him, but he stands back from commitment. His mother's Spanish flamenco teacher, Lola, moves in with them for Christmas. On New Year's Eve, while his mother is away, Hlynur finds out Lola is a lesbian, but also ends up having sex with her. He soon finds out he and his mother are sharing more than a house. Eventually he must find out where he fits into the puzzle, and how to live life less selfishly.

Farewell My Concubine

Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.

Wonder Boys

Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.

Test

San Francisco, 1985. Two opposites attract at a modern dance company. Together, their courage and resilience are tested as they navigate a world full of risks and promise, against the backdrop of a disease no one seems to know anything about.

Dying Briefly

Sebastián is accepted into an important dance company so he decides to leave his family. When Arsenio joins the company, they begin a torrid romance.

Cabaret

Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.

Water Lilies

Set during a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronized swimming team, but is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma, and the two leads, capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama of the angst of coming-of-age.

The Basketball Diaries

A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.

Loev

When hot shot, Wall Street dealmaker Jai thinks of putting some pleasure into his 48 hour business trip to Mumbai, Sahil, his young, music-producer friend, drops everything, including his reckless boyfriend Alex, to help him execute the perfect getaway. Hiking the hills and canyons of Maharashtra, amidst half-attempted conversations and sudden silences, business calls and old jokes, the friends discover there is more than just time-zones keeping them apart. Things take another turn when Alex shows up with a new male-companion at his side, throwing up old conflicts and bringing unanswered questions to the fore.

A Stormy Night

When a heavy storm threatens the city of New York, two complete strangers –a cynical documentary filmmaker from Spain and an idealist app programmer– find themselves sharing shelter, questioning each other’s understanding of life, happiness and love.

Isaac

Two childhood friends, Denis and Nacho, meet again years after having an intense relationship as teenagers. Now with their respective partners, the couples grow close and end up fulfilling each other's needs while breaking rules to discover their truths in the process.

Love Is All You Need?

Set in a world where homosexuality is the norm, a small Indiana town is rocked to its core when Jude, the star quarterback of the local university football team, strikes up a love affair with Ryan, a sports journalism major. When the straight couple is outed, the community’s powerful religious leader begins a vitriolic crusade against all heterosexuals.

Who Am I Now?

New friends Erin and Alex discover a mutual attraction that neither of them have ever felt before. While Alex tries to navigate her feelings, Erin refuses to acknowledge that she might be gay and heads down a path of self-destruction. Faced with Erin's denial, Alex must decide whether to follow her own path, or fight for the first person she's ever loved.

Love Tasting

It's the last week of school in a small polish town's junior high school. Waiting for the final party, several students pass the time at a city pool, as if anticipating the emotional whirlwind they are about to experience. The action takes place somewhere in Poland, where ‘LGBT free zones’ are a reality in 2020. It’s a story about young people, their problems and romantic endeavours in the era of the Internet and social apps, when creating genuine relationships is unnaturally difficult.

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

As Noah and Wade prepare to marry in Martha's Vineyard, the personal problems of their friends - and the unexpected arrival of rapper Baby Gat - threatens to permanently end their relationship.

Troublemaker

A humanity student, Lucien is active in various extracurricular activities. Recognized by his peers, he represents other students in their challenge of college rules and the settlement of the fate of an incompetent professor. He ends up being thrown out of the school. After his mother's death, even though he dates Lise, a young woman with whom he does acting, he has to resist the advances of a homosexual whose death he will accidentally cause.

A Skeleton in the Closet

Manuel goes back to his hometown for his parents’ wedding anniversary, but he actually wants to ask money to move to Denmark with his boyfriend. Last time he saw his family, he came out of the closet. Since then, their relationship became tense. Manuel’s plans get ruined when his boyfriend dumps him.

Happy Together

A gay couple from Hong Kong takes a trip to Argentina in search of a new beginning but instead begins drifting even further apart.

Tired of Kissing Frogs

A romantic comedy about a young interior decorator who, as a result of a romantic disappointment, becomes the female counterpart of Don Juan. The misadventures of the manizer make her rediscover the value of love.

Tempting Hearts

Tempting Hearts is a romantic comedy that tells the love story between Zhou Qiwen (Jerry Yan), the disgraced founder of a gaming company and the creator of a blind dating app called Chen Ran (Ren Suxi). Forced into bankruptcy by the “playboy” comments about him, Zhou Qiwen confronts the instigator, an employee for a blind dating app for an explanation. Signing up to join the dating app might not have been such a bright idea, that is, until Qiwen is matched with the creator of the app herself, Chen Ran. Throughout their dating shenanigans, the pair gradually lose their hostility towards each other, thus begins the start of something that could be wonderful if only they dare to open their hearts to each other. Inspired and Based on Jeff Chang's hit song of the same name from 27 years ago.

Papi Chulo

A lonely TV weatherman strikes up an unusual friendship with a middle-aged Latino migrant worker.

Desire Will Set You Free

Desire Will Set You Free is a feature film that explores life in contemporary Berlin with an often critical and sometimes humorous eye. Based on a true story, the plot follows the relationship of an American writer of Israeli/Palestinian descent and a Russian aspiring artist working as a hustler, offering access to the city's vibrant queer and underground scenes while examining the differences between expatriate and refugee life. Our characters travel through Berlin's layered history and unique subcultural landscape; on their adventures they discover influences and remnants of the Weimar Republic, WWII, the Bowie years, and punk.

All the Fires

Bruno, a misunderstood teenager, has developed an obsession with burning objects, recording them, and uploading videos to the internet to deal with his father’s death. When his lonely mother starts dating another man, Bruno escapes from home. He goes to another town to live with Daniela, a young pyromaniac he met online and with whom he has an epistolary relationship. During the painful separation from his mother and his best friend Ian, he begins to question his sexuality and capacity to overcome his father’s loss.

Gayndr II

In this short film the audience is confronted by one young man and his reaction to text messages received from other guys on different gay dating apps. It explores communication between gay men today and the use of dating apps.

East Side Story

Diego is a gay but closeted Hispanic chef living in East Los Angeles who works in the restaurant operated by his grandmother. Frustrated by the secretive lifestyle he shares with his similarly closeted lover, Pablo, Diego finds himself attracted to Wesley, one of the openly gay Caucasian men he feels are gentrifying his neighborhood. Their relationship pushes Diego to consider the possibility of a life he had never imagined.

Dog Tags

Raised in a single parent family by his mother Nate Merritt, develops a friendship with a gay man whilst on leave from the US marines.

In Cold Blood

After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.

Cor Petit

Gael, a young aspiring actor, will do everything possible to star in the next play by theater director Luca Rossi. During the rehearsals, a series of strange events will begin to occur while Luca's suspicions about Gael increase.

Bend It Like Beckham

Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

7 Virgins

Tano is 16-years-old and is already sitting in jail. In 48 hours he’s a free man and off to the wedding of his brother. In the two days he recounts his neighborhood in a section of Sevilla.

Fire

In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.

Cora Bora

Cora senses her open relationship is on the rocks. When the struggling musician and messy millennial goes home to Portland to win her girlfriend back, she realizes it’s much more than her love life that needs salvaging.

Lie with Me

An author returns to his hometown of Cognac for the first time in 35 years to help promote a distillery. Once there, he meets his first love’s son, Lucas. Memories come rushing back to him: irrepressible attraction, bodies becoming one in the heat of desire, a passion that can never be revealed… His first love’s name was Thomas. They were 17.

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

An Affirmative Act

"An Affirmative Act" is pro-gay marriage film, starring Charles Durning, Eric Etebari, Costas Mandylor, Rachael Robbins, and Blanche Baker, about a lesbian couple where one pretends to be a man in order for the two to get married and equal benefits. A slice of life of a young, professional married couple with their darling baby turns a sharp, dark corner when the pair are arrested and charged with several counts of fraud. The reason: Terry and Samantha Succi aren't the man and woman that they purported to be... Terry and Samantha married under false pretenses, ignoring state law that discriminates against homosexual partners and prohibits them from receiving the same rights and benefits as their straight counterparts.

Minyan

In a rapidly changing New York of the 1980s, a Russian Jewish teenager wrestles with his identity, faith, and sexuality, all of which seem irreconcilable until he befriends two closeted men in his grandfather's senior housing complex.

Dry Wind

The area around Catalan in Brazil’s state of Goiás is dry, very dry. Sandro’s life here is somewhat monotonous. He works in a fertiliser factory, goes swimming and spends his evenings doing jigsaw puzzles of landscapes. When Maicon, a man straight out of a Tom of Finland illustration, shows up in their small town and flirts with Ricardo, Sandro’s burgeoning feelings of jealousy set a change in motion.

Open

OPEN is a hallucinogenic journey through gender, identity, the body, love and how those can be shared by two people. The film consists of interlocking stories lines- the first about two trans women in a pandrogynous relationship in which they simultaneously receive plastic surgery treatments to mirror each other's features to ideally form into a single person. The second story follows a trans man and his new (cisgender) boyfriend as they run away from home and push against their own personal boundaries while dealing with his unexpected pregnancy.

Looking: The Movie

Patrick returns to San Francisco for the first time in almost a year to celebrate a momentous event with his old friends. In the process, he must face the unresolved relationships he left behind and make difficult choices about what’s important to him.

Amusement Park

Anonymous figures pass through the gates of a park at night, seeking adventure in its dark alleys. An amusement park is ruled by the laws of desire.