Desire Lines (2024)

In Between

The film captures the daily duality of three young Palestinian women in Tel Aviv, caught between hometown tradition and big city abandon, and the price they must pay for a lifestyle that seems obvious to many: the freedom to work, party, have sex, and choose.

The Pleasure in Pain

A short film that follows key figures of the London kink scene on an exploration into BDSM and the notorious fetish event Klub Verboten. The film touches upon themes of psychology, trauma, LGBTQ+ rights and black representation.

Les corps aqueux

An experimental film exploring gender identities excluded from the binary system. By constructing a theatrical space including fabricated sets and props, invented radio interviews, vignettes of archival footage, as well as overlays, the film explores the relationship between body and self. In this in-between space, uncertainty can finally have free rein.

Sunset Park, Warehouse

Miguel, a community college student, encounters his ex-lover Boris, a Russian warehouse truck driver, at an industrial area in Sunset Park, Brooklyn through Grindr. After hesitations, they reconnect.

Goodbye Seventies

In the 1970s, the golden age of gay pornography in New York City, a promising chorus boy is injured and told he will never dance again. Distraught and unimpressed with the "art" films playing seedy Times Square theaters, he gets his friends and lovers together and they start making their own hardcore movies. Against all odds the films are wildly successful until drugs, AIDS and cheap video technology bring it all crashing down

Kapana

In Namibia, a country where sodomy is still a crime and gay relationships are stigmatized against, two lives intersect: George, a middle-class insurance broker living in central town, Windhoek, and Simeon, a kapana seller who lives in Katutura, Windhoek's township. Two secrets. One unlikely meeting in a bar.

Flowers of the Field

A man in crisis attends a reparative therapy retreat.

Truth or Dare

The truths and consequences of the actions of two siblings.

4 Days

College friends Derek and Mark slowly realize they mean more to each other than either had initially imagined. In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, their friendship blossoms into something much more enduring as time goes on - which challenges both to question who they thought they were and who they truly want to be.

Sex and Revolution

In the early ‘70s, in Argentina, a group of homosexuals decided to confront the status quo. With testimonies from its survivors as its denouncement source, Sex and Revolution brings back the voices of those who thought in order to be recognized as political actors in a society that wasn’t prepared for them.

Pastel

Elisabeth catches her son James kissing a young man. As she now faces a life struggle, Elisabeth decides to fight for what she believes in and cure her only son from his presumed homosexuality. While James in subject to conversion therapy, Elisabeth begins to realize that appearances can be deceiving.

Papilio Buddha

A band of displaced untouchables in Western Ghats of India embrace Buddhism in order to escape from caste oppression.

Hedon

On the hunt for an emotional spark, Fynn sets out to lose himself in various sexual encounters of the night. As day is dawning he stumbles across young Tom, but by this point he wonders if he is still in control of his bodily impulses.

Warsha

A Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.

Jacques Maritain: The Amorous Philosopher

This film tells the story of Jacques Maritain, a highly respected French philosopher, teacher and writer in the 20th century, who was a principal exponent of Thomism and an influential interpreter of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

The French Boys

With their flair for engaging storytelling and a renowned love and respect for literature and the arts, the French Boys have something for everyone. Featuring five captivating stories set among rolling hills, village squares and the rooftops of Paris - the birthplace of cinema has never looked this inviting. The short films are: Beauty Boys (2020); Freed [Baltringue] (2019); So Long, Paris! (2020); Sunset Cemetery [Extérieur crépuscule] (2020); Vincent Before Noon [Vincent avant midi] (2019).

Cabalerno

A young videographer is fascinated with filming a hunky skateboarder.

Alkali, Iowa

On his family's farm in rural Iowa, young Jack Gudmanson is wrestling with his sexual identity, not an easy thing to do in the macho world of the Midwest. But things become clearer for him when he discovers via a rusty old lunch box filled with gay magazines that his father, killed in Vietnam, led a double life down on the farm. But as liberating as the discovery is for Jack, it is painful for his grandfather and mother, who have tried for years to keep it a family secret. Now Jack must decide whether to share this new information with his younger sister or allow it to remain buried a while longer.

A Kiss in the Snow

When a new boy moves into the area Cecilie and Peter's friendship is changed.

I Love You Phillip Morris

Steven Russell leads a seemingly average life – an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie, and a member of the local police force. That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he’s gay and he’s going to live life to the fullest – even if he has to break the law to do it. Taking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to cons and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to the State Penitentiary where he meets the love of his life, a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris. His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con after another.

Starfuckers

An intimate evening between a film director and an escort is disrupted when a familiar face arrives.

Gone West

It's been one year since Xander was dealt a sudden and tragic loss - the loss of his friend Tobin. Now, he must confront the people from his life he has since pushed away.

The Prince

Chile, 1970. During a night of heavy drinking, Jaime, a lonely 20-year-old young man, is sentenced to prison. There, he meets “The Stallion”, an older and respected man in whom he finds protection, and from whom he learns about love and loyalty. But as their relationship grows stronger, “The Stallion” faces the violent power struggles within the prison.

Johnny

Johnny is an alcoholic, Johnny is fatalistic, Johnny is tormented, Johnny isn’t able to behave, Johnny is impetuous, Johnny is moody, Johnny believes in nothing, Johnny is footloose, Johnny isn’t brave. But Aurélien doesn’t care because first and foremost Johnny is radiant.

Rain Beau's End

A prominent lesbian couple adopts a child who gets diagnosed with a genetic predisposition for violence, and they must contend with their hard-lined stance on acceptance while attempting to raise the perfect family in the spotlight.

Raja Bro

A sensitive heart-warming story of an Indian transman's acceptance, by himself and his family. Merlin, born as a girl, felt right from his childhood that he was trapped in the wrong gender.

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.

On My Way

The unexpected arrival of a Nigerian migrant in the Belgian countryside shakes up the fragile daily life of two men living a secret relationship.

Wilde

The story of Oscar Wilde, genius, poet, playwright and the First Modern Man. The self-realisation of his homosexuality caused Wilde enormous torment as he juggled marriage, fatherhood and responsibility with his obsessive love for Lord Alfred Douglas.

Loving Highsmith

The story of the life, loves and work of US writer Patricia Highsmith (1921-95), told through her unpublished diaries, her own voice and that of those who knew her, both family and close friends.

Hypochondriac

A young potter’s life devolves into chaos as he loses function of his body while being haunted by the physical manifestation of his childhood trauma.

Some of My Best Friends Are...

Regulars gather at The Blue Jay, a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, to celebrate Christmas Eve 1971 with people they consider family.

Stoma

The film follows an emotionally harrowing journey endured by young gay photographer Alex, after he is diagnosed with peritoneal cancer. Abandoned by his brother and his on-again, off-again lover, Alex is forced to face his mortality and the loss of his sexual identity through sheer resilience. A devastating, but ultimately hopeful story of survival and resolve.

Coming Out with the Help of a Time Machine

When coming out to his traditional parents, Sid uses his time machine to reset the day trying to make sure everything goes perfect.

Handsome Devil

A music-mad 16-year-old outcast at a rugby-mad boarding school forms an unlikely friendship with his dashing new roommate.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.

My First Summer

Isolated on a remote property, 16-year-old Claudia finds her world transformed when a spirited girl named Grace wanders into her garden.

Hello, Thanks

Filmmaker Andy Blubaugh documents a year spent looking for love in the personal ads.

Lost Angel

When a young Dutch tourist gets stranded at the start of his US vacation, he finds help from an unlikely stranger.

From Here to There

Two college boys were so closed to each other that they had to escaped from their relation after graduating from college. They met again in a wedding banquette ten years after that, sitting next to each other again, as in the past. Jae drove drunken Him to Him's far away home. The trip was long enough for them to review their relationship, but not good enough to repair it? Maybe the best distance for them to love each other is from wedding banquette to home.

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.

Old Narcissus

74-year-old Yamazaki, having been handsome as a young gay man, grows narcissistic of his beauty and is unable to bear his own aging. One night, Yamazaki meets a young and beautiful man named Leo. Having loved only himself during his long tumultuous life, Yamazaki falls in love with another person. Through this love, he finally begins to forge the relationships he failed to carve during his youth with his friends and family.

May

A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.

Beautiful Thing

Set during a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.

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.

Brother Mary

To understand a mysterious man in a Victorian gown, who sings praises to God on the streets of contemporary Vancouver, we meet the people who claim to be closest to him.

Psychonaut

Enabled by a mysterious futuristic machine, Max, a young woman, dives inside the mind of her dying girlfriend, trying to find the essential memory that could save her life, all the while being hunted by a man they presumed to be dead.

Lesvia

Since the 1970s, lesbians from around the world have been drawn to the island of Lesvos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. When they find paradise in a local village and carve out their own queer lesbian community, tensions simmer with the local residents. With both groups claiming ownership of lesbian identity, filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou—a native and lesbian herself—is caught in the middle and chronicles 40+ years of love, community, conflict, and what it means to feel accepted.