The Male Gaze: Risk Appeal (2023)

The Inspection

Ellis French is a young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. But even as he battles deep-seated prejudice and the grueling routines of basic training, he finds unexpected camaraderie, strength, and support in this new community, giving him a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape his identity and forever change his life.

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.

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.

Latter Days

Christian, a hunky, 20-something, West Hollywood party boy gets more than he bargains for when he tries to seduce Aaron, a sexually confused Mormon missionary who moves into his apartment complex.

Boy Culture

A successful gay male escort describes in a series of confessions his tangled romantic relationships with his two roommates and an older, enigmatic male client.

Love & Human Remains

In a Canadian metropolis, failed actor David shares a place with the bookish Candy, whom he dated before coming out as gay. While David, who now waits tables, pursues an aimless romance with a younger coworker, Candy dabbles in both same-sex and heterosexual affairs. As David and Candy's odd assortment of friends — including a telepathic sex worker and an ill-tempered yuppie — pass in and out of their beds, a serial murder stalks the city's women.

Adored

South of France: Riki Kandinski and his elder brother Fredrico, come back to their family castle for their father's funeral. Fredrico knows nothing about his younger brother, but he notices that he is making big money and living in luxury all for a few days work a week. By pure chance, Fredrico gets his hands on a gay porn magazine and sees his brother in it.

Forbidden

At his bachelor party, Jason has a one-night fling with Nikki, a radiant beauty with whom he forms an immediate bond. They agree to keep their secret locked away forever. Two years later, Jason, his wife, Andy and his fiancee plan a reunion weekend. Jason is shocked to discover that Andy's fiancee is Nikki. Now, secret and passionate affairs are played out.

Flat Girls

Two teen girls grapple with the realities of love, friendship and burgeoning adulthood when one of them has to leave the home where they both grew up.

The Paradise of Thorns

When his partner Sek dies, Thongkam loses his property to his late love's eager family and must fight to reclaim the home they built together.

On the Roof

A group of Spanish boys take advantage of a high roof to ogle a sunbathing woman, but the presence of an adjacent male nude complicates matters.

Aya Arcos

When successful writer Edu falls in love with a young hustler, Fabio, his initial fear is about contracting HIV, but emotional matters soon loom large as well.

The Trip

When 19-year-old gay-rights activist Tommy and 24-year-old Alan first meet in 1973, they find themselves on the opposite sides of the political coin...

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

When Mary finds herself at the center of a public scandal and the family faces financial strife, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey, a gay man living in New York City with an overwhelming fear of contracting AIDS, concludes that being celibate is the only option to protect himself. As fate would have it, shortly after his declaration of a sex-free existence, he meets the handsome Steve Howard, his dream man -- except for his HIV-positive status. Facing this dilemma, Jeffrey turns to his best friend and an outrageous priest for guidance.

Permission

Anna and Will, were each other’s first every-things: first kiss, first love, first and only relationship. Now, 10 years in, at Anna’s 30th birthday party, as Will is about to propose, the couple’s best friend makes a drunken toast, suggesting that they should sleep around before their inevitable marriage. The joke lands like a lead balloon, but the thought lingers until Anna proposes that they try opening their relationship – as a sexual experiment.

The Object of My Affection

A pregnant New York social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.

Advise & Consent

Proposed by the President of the United States to fill the post of Secretary of State, Robert Leffingwell appears before a Senate committee, chaired by the idealistic Senator Brig Anderson, which must decide whether he is the right person for the job.

Moneyboys

Fei works illegally to support family, but they reject his lifestyle. Through Long, Fei finds hope, until encountering Xiaolai, his past love, who makes him confront his guilt.

The Walker

Carter Page III, a middle-aged gay man in Washington, D. C., is a "walker", a single man who escorts other men's wives to social events so the husbands do not have to. One of the women he escorts, Lynn Lockner, is the wife of a United States senator and is carrying on an affair with a lobbyist. When she finds the lobbyist murdered, she embroils Carter in an investigation that leads to the highest levels of the federal government.

Born in 68

1968. Catherine, Yves and Hervé are twenty years old. They're students in Paris and they love each other. The May student uprisings radically change their lives. Overtaken by communal utopia, they leave the city with a few friends to set up house in an abandoned farm in the Lot region. A desire for freedom and the search for individual fulfillment lead them to make choices that cause them to separate.

Corps inflammables

Juliette loves Bruno, but he does not notice. Perhaps because he is mad about Corinne, and Corinne is not aware of it. She does not seem to love anybody, but she has an affair with Luc. Luc is gay, and he wonders how to tell Bruno he loves him.

REC

A camcorder captures Young-joon and Joon-seok’s anniversary, but beneath the love lies the quiet unraveling of five shared years.

Swimming Upstream

A young man aspiring for recognition of his talents battles against his estranged father's sentiment towards him as the father deals with his own demons.

Kissing Tigers

In Grenoble's Gypsy community, a young kick-boxing champion learns about manhood from his gay elder brother.

Mother Knows Best

The family's mother has absolutely no problems with her son having just introduced his boyfriend to her. She only wants to give him a little well-meaning advice.

Bad Seeds

Jacques is an actor who runs away to the countryside to escape his gambling debts. He meets Simon, a rough and wily farmer who manipulates him into a business relationship. After a difficult start, the men help each other grow marijuana. They happen to meet Francesca, a sharp young woman who soon embraces their venture. By the time they get to the winter harvest, the three have learned to live together, but outside forces threaten the delicate balance of their little business...

Infinity

Infinity was made apart of an independent study at Ohio University. Every person who worked on this film, aside from one of our actors, is a student at Ohio University and has worked on bringing this story to life since October 2022. Set in 2016, Infinity follows the story of two drastically different teenage girls who experience the pressures of growing up and falling in love far too fast. This film is the broad outline for a much larger story, one we hope to continue in the future if given the opportunity!

A Particular Friend

When Father Matthew discovers an intimacy between two of the other priests at a remote conversion-therapy centre in Northern Ireland, his attempt to do the right thing leads to a crisis of faith and feeling.

The Call

Amir, a prospective university student struggling with his sexuality, calls Switchboard for advice at three crucial moments. With each moment of connection, Amir takes a step further in his journey.

Deathwatch

Based on a play by Jean Genet, a small-time thief battles with his gay cellmate over a third illiterate, muscular convict.

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.

Vapors

Mr. Jaffee is a curious but closeted married man, who decides to take a walk on the wild side one night over to the local bath house located in Times Square, New York. When he is a approached by Thomas, a swinging regular who takes an interest in Mr. Jaffe as the new face "on the scene", a deep discussion about marriage, connection and loss begins to unexpectedly unfold. The two become emotionally intimate in a very short time, with no sexual contact of any sort, while everyone around them are screwing like rabbits.

Xavier

Nicolas notices that his eleven year old son Xavier spends his time not only playing drums, but also paying attention to a certain type of boys.

The Bubble

The movie follows a group of young friends in the city of Tel Aviv and is as much a love song to the city as it is an exploration of the claim that people in Tel Aviv are isolated from the rest of the country and the turmoil it's going through. The movie looks at young people's lives in Tel Aviv through the POVs of gays and straights, Jews and Arabs, men and women.

Because of a Boy

When Vincent finds himself a victim of outing in his high school, he must accept to live with the drastic changes it provokes, and redefine his relationships with his friends and family.

The Confession

Two best friends discover a deeper meaning of life as they grow closer.

No Goodbyes

Love in a concentration camp. A young Jewish gay man, Otto, is protected by a "kapo" (a fellow prisoner) and an SS guard who unexpectedly ends up saving his life.

Goran

Goran just wants to drive his taxi and take care of his blind wife Lina. But people close to him have their own agendas and dreams which threaten his carefree existence. In the idyllic surroundings of snow-covered Gorski Kotar, the fiery personalities of the highlanders surface and collide.

Who Are You?

Nowadays, many people use dating apps just for hook-ups. If you want to have sex, you can have it almost instantly. However, the price for this is our lost identity. This has many advantages but also many disadvantages, which some people may misuse. What happens if a thief and a policeman decide to use such a dating app?

Rookie

An awkward 6-footer teen is forced to learn and play volleyball half-heartedly when the Catholic school she transferred to did not have a basketball team. Everything changes when she meets their star player.

Voyage

A young psychiatrist ventures into a lone voyage to fight his depression. While at sea, he records stories of people departed from this world prematurely, while what awaits him on the shore is the ultimate irony of life.

Sex, Party and Lies

A youth group is preparing for what will be the summer of their life, including secrets, lies, sex, confusion, evenings and holidays.

A Frozen Flower

A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard.

Sublet

A gay New York Times travel writer comes to Tel Aviv after suffering a tragedy. The energy of the city and his relationship with a younger man brings him back to life.

Mothers, Lovers and Others

This ensemble drama explores a number of interweaving relationships, all grappling with polyamory and sexual expression, amid the personal and societal expectations faced by each character.

Sodom's Cat

"Sodom's Cat" follows Sun, a young man adrift at a sex party, struggling to feel present as those around him lose themselves in pleasure.

King Cobra

It’s 2006, YouTube is in its infancy, and internet porn is still behind a paywall. Taking the stage name Brent Corrigan, a fresh-faced, wannabe adult video performer is molded into a star by Stephen, a closeted gay porn mogul who runs the skin flick empire Cobra Video from his seemingly ordinary suburban home.

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.

Cal

Twenty-year-old Cal returns from France to Britain after receiving news that his mother is ill. His finds his home city of Bristol facing hard economic times brought on by the global economic crisis, with poverty and crime on the rise and rioting and looting almost a nightly occurrence. It is not a warm homecoming as his sick mother remains stubbornly homophobic and wants nothing to do with the now openingly gay Cal while his battered Auntie Jane, now living in a run down council house, dulls her stagnation with welfare funded booze and disturbing attempts to sexually seduce her nephew. Navigating his way across this new landscape he meets a young student who needs his help. However his act of kindness brings him into contact with a lawless drug dealing pimp and a race against time to make peace with his mother and get out of town as quickly as possible. An intense tale of a family mired in poverty, angry and lost but still searching for love, respect and acceptance.

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.

Romper Stomper

Nazi skinheads in Melbourne take out their anger on local Vietnamese, who are seen as threatening racial purity. Finally the Vietnamese have had enough and confront the skinheads in an all-out confrontation, sending the skinheads running. A woman who is prone to epileptic seizures joins the skins' merry band, and helps them on their run from justice, but is her affliction also a sign of impurity?

Kiss of the Spider Woman

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.

Peter's Friends

After inheriting a large country estate from his late father, Peter invites his friends from college: married couple Roger and Mary, the lonely Maggie, fashionable Sarah, and writer Andrew, who brings his American TV star wife, Carol. Sarah's new boyfriend, Brian, also attends. It has been 10 years since college, and they find their lives are very different.

Tropical Malady

The passionate relationship between two men with unusual consequences. The film is divided in two parts. The first half charts the modest attraction between two men in the sunny, relaxing countryside and the second half charts the confusion and terror of an unknown menace lurking deep within the jungle shadows.

Happy Birthday, Gemini

A poor Harvard student's romance with a girl hits a rough spot when he realizes, on his 21st birthday, that he's in love with her brother.

Siemiany

Andrzej and Michal are two young teenagers who come together every summer in Siemiany, a small tourist village on the countryside. Their friendship has grown into years of great memories. However the boredom of the countryside and the feeling of unity amongst the boys take their friendship to a new level of sexually loaded intimacy.

Liminal Girl

Amidst the pandemic, a woman embarks on a treacherous journey through the wilderness to reach her brother while grappling with her mental state.

Under the Rainbow

An association takes in young LGBT people made homeless by their families. Behind the apparent comedy, the excesses, the desire to assert themselves, lie shattered lives. They all have this furious desire to exist, to find their place in society. Here, they have six months to find a job, a place to live and accept themselves as they are. It's a race against time, during which Noëlle, who runs the association, and Alex, who helps her in her mission, are also forced to face up to their own failings and question their motivation for helping others.

Show Me Love

Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.

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.

The Station In-Between

Theo and Louis, two gay gentlemen, embark on a train journey to Paxmal. They are carrying an urn - it is the last journey for a friend. On their way deep into the Swiss Alps the two men, struggling with their fate, meet various people. While some of these people remind Theo and Louis again of the beautiful things in life, others confront them with ghosts from the past.

You'll Never Be Alone

When his cross-dressing teenage son suffers a brutally violent attack, a mannequin-factory manager desperately seeks help and, when none can be found, is forced to take matters into his own hands.

Tomcat

Andreas and Stefan lead a happy and passionate life: Together with their beloved tomcat Moses, they live in a beautiful old house in Vienna's vineyards. They work as a musician and as a scheduler in the same orchestra and they love their large circle of friends. An unexpected and inexplicable outburst of violence suddenly shakes up the relationship and calls everything into question - the blind spot that resides in all of us.

The O'Briens

Two years after the death of his beloved wife, Pat O'Brien summons his children back to their homestead in the west of Ireland. Fionn travels from New York, Gareth from London, and daughter Una returns from Dublin, fearing the worst. Pat is not the only family member bearing the burden of a secret. The O’Briens is a modern comedy about a dysfunctional Irish family and the town they grew up in.

Sofia Was

Sofia was forced to leave her home and is now homeless. The young woman spends her days wandering the alleys of the University of São Paulo campus, where she offers her services as a tattoo artist. One ethereal night, her wanderings mingle with memories of an unfulfilled love. Wrapped in a dark, melancholy atmosphere, the film contemplates the fragility of a youth left behind. In a story that transcends borders, the life of an impenetrable fictional Sofia is imbued with the experiences of the actress of the same name who plays her. As enigmatic as an oracle, the original Portuguese title evokes the impermanence and ambiguity that haunt Sofia. She is carried away by perpetual motion, her future forever unknown.

On the Go

Milagros stretches a carefree youth in her last years of fertility while Jonathan seeks solace in Grindr to overcome abandonment issues. A delirious road movie, full of music, where a mysterious mermaid will set the course of the journey....

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.

Walk on Water

Eyal, an Israeli Mossad agent, is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer, who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson Axel, in Israel to visit his sister Pia. The two men set out on a tour of the country, during which Axel challenges Eyal's values.

Paradise Now

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Billy Elliot

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

All About My Mother

Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.

Bad Education

An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.

Brokeback Mountain

In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.