Picking You Up (2023)

Sal

James Franco's Sal chronicles the final hours of the life of actor Sal Mineo, one-time teen idol and star of the blockbuster films Rebel Without a Cause and Exodus.

When the moon is on the wane

In a tilting and subsiding town, everybody has left. Jae-ah is still waiting for her brother to come back. She lives in the shadow of fear, as her house begins to tilt.

La León

Deep in the lush river jungles of Argentina, Alvaro lives a solitary existence fishing and harvesting reeds. What sets him apart from the rest of his village is that he is gay. There are no other gay men in his world, his only means of expression is with the occasional outsider who passes through. Most of these men come via the river taxi El León, whose captain El Turu is a mean man with a homophobic streak and a secret. When illegal loggers appear in the jungle El Turu accuses Alvaro of aiding them, a dispute which leads both men towards confrontation.

Nerd in Love

Daniel meets with friends on the weekends to play Warhammer 40k in the back of a game shop. Måns, one of his buddies, makes him feel different though. Despite the lack of confidence, Daniel tries to figure it out what to do about it.

Bleach

Gay and lonely, Lloyd is on a Grindr-addicted, shame-fuelled spiral into tragedy.

Sleeping with the Fishes

Sonja lives a lonely life as a fishmonger, more at ease with her fish than her customers, until one day a delivery man turns up who looks like a rainbow trout.

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Kenji is overjoyed when his usually thrifty boyfriend takes him on a trip to Kyoto for his birthday, but the trip ends up uncovering a painful topic.

Supermarket

Willi is 18 years old and lives on the street. Without a goal in his life he walks around the city and meets several people, helping but also cheating him. When he meets a girl, Monica, he realizes that there are people out there whose lives are even more desperate than his. So he's trying to help her (and him) by planning a great robbery on a supermarket's money transporter.

Bulldog in the White House

"Bulldog in the Whitehouse" takes political satire to obscene new heights: portraying the Bush administration as a cabal of lustful and traitorous gay men who are too busy having sex to notice the empire crumbling down around them. An explosive and darkly comic adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel Dangerous Liaisons, the film's web of sex and deceit centers on Bulldog, a hustler who seduces his way into the Washington press corps to gain access to the halls of the political elite. At the bidding of his puppet master, a corpulent and power mad Karl Rove, Bulldog engages in manipulative trysts with Whitehouse hotties like the demure press secretary, the religious leader and the confused, imbecilic good ol' boy president himself.

Fangs

After a man dons a pair of fake vampire teeth for a Halloween party, he soon comes to find that he can't take them off again.

Five Times Two

As young French couple Gilles and Marion officially separate, we see, in reverse order, the milestone moments in their relationship: Gilles revealing his unfaithfulness at a tense dinner party; Marion giving birth to their premature son while Gilles is elsewhere; Gilles and Marion's joyous wedding; and, finally, the fateful moment when they meet as acquaintances at an Italian beach resort, and their love affair begins.

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

In the 1960s, British painter Francis Bacon surprises a burglar and invites him to share his bed. The burglar, a working class man named George Dyer, accepts. After the unique beginning to their love affair, the well-connected and volatile artist assimilates Dyer into his circle of eccentric friends, as Dyer's struggle with addiction strains their bond.

Before Night Falls

Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Respiro

After months of unconditionally taking care of his ill father, Fernando has to choose whether to continue with his confinement in his own house or retake control of his life

Letters to Claudia

Claudia is a young woman who spends her days working in an old bookstore. One day, after finding a forgotten letter in a book, she starts an adventure to deliver it.

Brotherly Love

A poetic and melancholic short film about two brothers with different intentions. A personal struggle involving obsession, abuse, and guilt.

I Am My Own Woman

The life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived the Nazi reign as a trans woman and helped start the German gay liberation movement. Documentary with some dramatized scenes. Two actors play the young and middle aged Charlotte and she plays herself in the later years.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends.

Labyrinth of Passion

An array of outrageous people, including a desperate nymphomaniac and a terrorist with an acute sense of smell, seek love and happiness in Madrid.

Mascarpone

Antonio is a 30 year old family man, whose life finds an unexpected twist when he's suddenly dumped by his husband, whom he depends both psychologically and economically: he needs to find a new place to stay, a job and a new purpose in life. Antonio finds a room in an apartment owned by Denis and starts to work in a bakery owned by Luca, while attending pastry school. Through this process he discovers that it was wrong of him to give up his independence for the sake of his relationship in the past.

Brothers of the Night

Soft boys by day, kings by night. The film follows a group of young Bulgarian Roma who come to Vienna looking for freedom and a quick buck. They sell their bodies as if that's all they had. What comforts them, so far from home, is the feeling of being together. But the nights are long and unpredictable.

The Beginning

Biel and Aina confront the final conversation about the breakup of their relationship, the first one of both, before she returns with train to her home, making the breakup official. In spite of Aina seemingly having assumed it, Biel wants to fight for the relationship, something that will make her hesitate.

Kelly

A young girl comes to terms with her life in foster care.

Lonesome Cowboys

Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.

When Night Is Falling

Camille is a professor at a Protestant college and is in a long-term relationship Martin, a respected minister and fellow professor. When Camille meets Petra, a bold and flamboyant performer in a circus troupe, she is inexplicably drawn. Pursuing Petra, Camille throws her whole conservative life into disarray.

In Self Defense

A doctor receives a call in the early morning. Álvaro, his neighbor, asks him to go urgently because an incident has happened. Upon entering the neighbors' kitchen, he discovers a wounded young man and Álvaro still pointing at him.

The Way Things Go

A lifetime of loneliness ends when Elise meets a kindred spirit, finally finding understanding and friendship in an unexpected encounter.

X. La mise en croix

Part 10 of Alexandre Promio's Passion Play, in which Jesus is nailed to the Cross.

The Page Turner

Mélanie Prouvost, a ten-year-old butcher's daughter, is a gifted pianist. That is why she and her parents decide that she sit for the Conservatory entrance exam. Although Mélanie is very likely to be admitted, she unfortunately gets distracted by the president of the jury's offhand attitude and she fails. Ten years later, Mélanie becomes her page turner, waiting patiently for her revenge.

Don't be late, Myra

Ten-year old Myra is forced to walk home alone, dodging men harassing her on the streets of Lahore. Soon things escalate in this thriller where a sinister turn quietly awaits her.

Purebred

During a heatwave in Belfast, transgender man Owen returns to the flat of his on-off-again lover Seán after taking a pregnancy test.

CHORUS

After missing his wife's phone call goodbye on the morning of September 11th, a now listless and brokenhearted music teacher must harmonize with his increasingly desperate fourteen-year-old son.

Twittering Birds Never Fly: Don't Stay Gold

Anime adaptation of the short story "Don't Stay Gold", to be included in volume 7 of the manga.

Irreversible

A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.

The Rabbit Hunters

A deceased filmmaker experiences a posthumous dream in which he attempts to reunite with his wife. (Homage to Italian film director Federico Fellini in the year of the centennial celebration of his birth.)

Threesome

At a sizable public college, high-minded student Eddy is forced to room with the slovenly Stuart, but the pair strike up a surprising friendship. When attractive co-ed Alex is assigned to live with the two male students because of her gender-neutral name, a roundabout love triangle ensues. Eddy secretly yearns for Stuart, who wants Alex, but she prefers Eddy. The complex situation leads to sexual experimentation and strained relationships.

As You Like It

A modern-day, all-male re telling of Shakespeare’s comedy classic about lovelorn lads, vengeful men, shameless hussies and mind games. Set in the contemporary American west, with original language.

At the End of the Day

A conservative professor at a Christian college finds himself in a gay support group to stop their launch of an LGBT homeless youth shelter in their small town.

Fish Tank

When a college student goes to his first hook-up with a mysterious older man, he must determine if his anxieties point to a darker truth about his host for the night.

Mona Lisa Smile

Katherine Watson is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Determined to confront the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them, Katherine inspires her traditional students, including Betty and Joan, to challenge the lives they are expected to lead.

Negative Two

Devin is a young architect navigating dating in New York. His online exchange with a writer, Nico, increasingly turns to fixation. As their virtual conversation goes deeper, this film by directors Micaela Durand and Daniel Chew invites us into a dynamic state between sexual tension and eagerness to feel desired.

Agony

On the 3rd of October a twenty-four-year-old student from Vienna kills his lover and chops up her corpse. Her torso is found in a dumpster, other body parts and the head are missing. There is no clue about the motive of the murder. A silent chronology of the events.