The Male Gaze: Risk Appeal (2023)

The Third One

After meeting in a chat room, Fede (22) arrives at a downtown building to have an intimate encounter with a gay couple older than him. As the night unfolds, Fede has an intense and telling experience. The next morning finds him different, as if suddenly he had found a new possible way to love.

Elephant

Bartek lives in a village in the Podhale region, where he runs a small farm and takes care of his lonely and possessive mother. One day he meets Dawid, a slightly older man who comes to visit his family after many years of absence. Affection quickly develops between the two, followed by desire that Bartek suppressed for years.

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.

Baka Sakali

Seymour is interested in Faith until he meets Ferds in a beautiful waterfall resort. The two young men become good friends, and then lovers.

LIEB MICH! - Latin Gay Shorts Volume 5

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Iftah

After years of sexual denial, Yiftach leaves his family to live alone in Tel-Aviv. Attracted to men but torn between his former and new life, Yiftach is consumed with blame and feels disconnected from everything around him. The drama moves between different time periods, raising penetrating questions regarding prejudice and life on the fringes of society.

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.

Requiem for a Dream

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

All of Us Strangers

One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry, which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life.

Desert Hearts

While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed literature professor finds herself unexpectedly attracted by a carefree, spirited young woman named Cay.

Everything Is Illuminated

A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

Summer Storm

Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteor-logical.

Mala Noche

Walt is a lonely convenience store clerk who has fallen in love with a Mexican migrant worker named Johnny. Though Walt has little in common with the object of his affections — including a shared language — his desire to possess Johnny prompts a sexual awakening that results in a tangled love triangle.

A Dim Valley

A curmudgeonly biologist and his stoner graduate students encounter a group of mysterious backpackers who disrupt their lives in surprising ways.

Another Love Story

A dynamic young man falls in love with his own boss, a married businessman, with two children.

As Is

Story of a homosexual man who finds out he has AIDS and how people react. Ex-lovers are brought together when the former is stricken with AIDS. Often humorous and never morose, author William Hoffman doesn't pull his punches with either his portrayal of a gay lifestyle or of the emotional toll the disease takes.

Southern Baptist Sissies

Southern Baptist Sissies is the live film of the GLAAD Award winning play by Del Shores. Southern Baptist Sissies is the story of four boys who are gay growing up in the Southern Baptist Church and how they each deal differently with the conflict between the teachings of the church and their sexuality.

Be There

Alain, the architect, lives secluded in his luxurious finca in the outback. He solely wears women's clothes und avoids any contact to people. When he's forced to break out, neither the outside world nor his inner world seem to be ready.

Muñeca

Manuel and Pedro are extremely close friends. The first one is a women addicted while the other one is a solitary gay. Pedro can't find his way in life, Manuel sets up him in a blind date with some 40's woman named Gabriela, who is also in a hurry looking for a man in order to get pregnant. New changes in Chile inspire Pedro to do something never imagined for gay people: Being father.

Close to His Chest

These men are undergoing a crucial stage of self-discovery, but for better or worse - they will not go through it alone. A selection of 6 shorts about the complexities of gay and male sexuality. Includes: Along the Road [Längs vägen] (2011); Drives [Pulsiones] (2009); Frozen Princess [Princesa de hielo] (2017); Naked [Desnudos] (2013); Swimming Pool [Piscina] (2017); Visibles (2018).

Walking with Shadows

In Lagos, Nigeria, Ebele Njoko has been running all his life. A search for acceptance and love from his family, has led him to recreate himself as Adrian Njoko, respected father, husband, and brother. Suddenly, Adrian’s past and secrets have caught up with him and his world soon begins to crumble as he frantically tries to control the growing ripple effect of a revelation. In coming to terms with his sexuality, Adrian is forced to choose between a compromised existence and the life that he would like to lead.

Mysterious Skin

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

The Last Post Office

On the edge of Bangladesh, between mountains and water, stands a post-office, the only sign of civilization. It has a notorious reputation: its employees disappear. Two men, in love with each other, work there.

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.

The Ring Thing

When Sarah accidentally proposes to her girlfriend in Provincetown, the mixup turns their loving relationship into a minefield of marital exploration.

The Man Who Loved Yngve

It’s November 1989 and the world is changing. So is Jarle, who attends Kongsgård High School in Stavanger. He plays the guitar/lead singer in a local punk band, has a great girlfriend, and has the coolest best friend. But it's all about to change when Yngve enters the classroom.

Less Than Zero

A college freshman returns to Los Angeles for Christmas at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit.

Alfa

Alfa, a famous porn actor, must deal with his fears, insecurities and memories when he begins work on a new film without Yerry, his former partner in life and porn. On his first day of shooting without him, Alfa tries to act as in the past but can things be like before? Javier Ferreiro's short film reflects on the difficult decision of letting someone go to move forward. ALFA is framed in the context of gay porn cinema in Cuba where pornography is banned but, little by little, it's growing up an underground industry impulsed by foreign tourism.

Head On

Nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition. Ari is obsessed with gay sex, although he does make an unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. While all of this is going on, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities.

This Place

Living in the liminal space between worlds, two young women find themselves falling in love for the first time, while also being forced to unexpectedly confront their families, each complicated by legacies of love and loss.

Something You Said Last Night

An aspiring twentysomething writer hesitantly accompanies her equally reluctant younger sister on vacation with their deliriously happy parents, in Luis De Filippis’ resonant, cliché-free debut feature.

Unicorns

When hard-working single father Luke stumbles across an underground nightclub, he meets Aysha, a beautiful, seductive woman. Their first kiss yields fireworks — which are immediately followed by Luke’s sobering realization that Aysha is not the cisgender woman he thought, but a remarkably femme drag queen. Unable to deny the spark between them the pair are forced down the unexpected path of transformation, where they must question their identities and confront their individual truths.

Jacked

Forced out of home by his religious mother for being gay, Ethan leaves Michigan for Hollywood to pursue his acting dreams. But he soon finds himself spiraling into drugs, prostitution, and homelessness.

Vassalord.

Charley, a cyborg vampire who does the Vatican's dirty work, is the thrall of the local vampire playboy Johnny Rayflo. As the two fight crime—and each other—hilarity, violence and sacrilege ensue! But can Charley resist his own desperate cravings for blood? Find out as the devilish duo go up aginst a childlike vampire princess, a mysterious branch of the Unitarian Church...and one another.

(Nie)znajomi

A group of seven friends come together for dinner. What starts out as a normal evening, evolves into something else when they decide to play a game and read all text messages aloud and answer all phone calls on speakerphone...

Ghosts

Nina, an end-of-teenage orphan with mental problems, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fell in love with each other, but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. In the meantime, Francoise is picked up at a psychic department of a Berlin hospital by her husband, Pierre. After seeing Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but neither Toni nor Pierre believe her. Nina is unsure about what to think...

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.

Shortbus

In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an underground Brooklyn salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.

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.

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.

The Acrobat

In an ever-expanding but nondescript North American city, Christophe, a middle-aged businessman, unexpectedly encounters Micha, a Russian acrobat recovering from an injury, while house-hunting. An instant attraction is quickly consummated and they embark on a torrid affair that helps each of them cope with their respective trials. A provocative, poignant drama about intimacy in an age of anonymity.

The Male Gaze: Nocturnal Instincts

Strap yourself in for an exhilarating journey into darkness with these five award-winning short films from across the globe that delve into heart-pumping escapades varying from the intensely erotic to the ultra-violent to the warm-inside feels. The night has never looked so inviting. Segments: After Dawn [Passée l'aube] (2017), Poof (2018), Spiral (2018), Night of Love (2018), Floating Melon [浮果] (2015).

National Theatre Live: Angels In America — Part One: Millennium Approaches

The National Theatre's live theatrical production of Tony Kushner's two-part play 'Angels In America' about New Yorkers grappling with the AIDS crisis during the mid-1980s.

National Theatre Live: Angels In America — Part Two: Perestroika

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. This new staging of Tony Kushner's multi-award winning two-part play, Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia On National Themes, is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott.

Boy Saint

A sumptuous short film of friendship and adoration between boys, based on a poem by Peter LeBerge. Moments of joy, bonding and roughhousing on a school trip to the beach counterpoint one teen boy’s introspective sexual awakenings and questionings. Magnificent cinematography and editing create a visual feast that provides the imagery for a narrated poem by Peter Laberge alluding to early homosexual desires, but with Catholic overtones never directly expressed.

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.

Adult

Having enabled a loss that now torments her, a woman enters an adult store in search of redemption. Adapted from a short story by Christos Tsiolkas.

No Hard Feelings

Parvis, the son of exiled Iranians, copes with life in his small hometown by indulging himself with pop culture, Grindr dates, and raves. After being caught shoplifting, he is sentenced to community service at a refugee shelter where he meets siblings Banafshe and Amon, who have fled Iran. As a romantic attraction between Parvis and Amon grows, the fragile relationship between the three is put to a test.

The Swedish Boys

Get ready to explore a dizzying confection of Swedish life and love spanning all shades of the gay experience, from childhood confusion to a teen's coming out, a trio of friends in a three-way relationship, a mother trying to connect with her deaf son and a heterosexual ghost from a homosexual past. The 7 short films are: Coming Out [Komma ut] (2011); Polly (2017); Filip (2015); No Breaks [När bromsvajern släpper] (2008); The Memory of You [Minnet av dig] (2015); Distances [Bortom] (2014); Stockholm Daybreak [Gryning] (2013).

Bromance

When three friends go on a camping trip in a remote part of Argentina, sexual tensions quickly bubble to the surface. Once in virtual seclusion by the beach, Juli, also camping at the site, quickly recognises that that the boys seem to have a closer relationship than what she would consider 'normal'. The line between friendship and love fade further for two of the boys in particular as their desire becomes too much to bear. When what started as a simple getaway quickly becomes tinged with sex, romance, and conflict, everyone is forced to confront who they really are for the very first time.

The Lost Boys

In a youth correctional facility, Joe is preparing his return to society. But William’s arrival turns his desire for freedom into desire of another kind. Behind fences and cell walls, passions begin to play havoc with the need for liberty.

Billy Boy

In an era marked by the reign of fluid relationships, through apps and blind dates, Alejo seeks to fill his sentimental void by constantly changing sex partners.

The Damned Don't Cry

Fatima-Zahra and her teenage son Selim move from place to place, forever trying to outrun the latest scandal she’s caught up in. When Selim discovers the truth about their past, Fatima-Zahra vows to make a fresh start. In Tangier, new opportunities promise the legitimacy they each crave but not without pushing the volatile mother-son relationship to the breaking point.

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.

The Marvelous Visit

In a small French village, an angel appears disguised as a beautiful young blond.

Remy & Arletta

Remy attempts to balance her relationship with her alcoholic mother and her longtime best friend, Arletta. While Remy leans on her best friend as a coping mechanism, she learns that their co-dependent friendship is more than she realized.

Stupid Boy

This coming-of-age drama deals with a young man, realizing who he really is and which things he will never do...

Water Drops on Burning Rocks

In 1970s Germany, Léopold, a 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces 20-year-old Franz, who swiftly moves into his apartment. The dynamic between them intensifies with the sudden arrival of their ex-girlfriends.

Strawberry and Chocolate

Set in 1979, following a young Communist man's relationship with a gay Catholic writer, exploring tolerance, inclusion, homophobia and challenging its Cuban audience with great humour. Based on the short story by Cuban writer Senel Paz.

The Year of the First Kiss

31 year-old Tristan remembers the time when he was 15 and had just hit puberty. But he is not alone in this, he is with a large group of friends: Specki, a fat kid who is always stuffing himself, Streusel, a cheeky boy covered with spots, Tümai, a pretty Turkish girl, Kerstin, best friend of Tümai and very sporty, Elrond, with a heavy stutter, but regardless extremely popular and good looking, Lars and Simone, so far the only couple in the class who spend most of their time smooching and Long Jana, a girl who is at least 6 foot tall and extremely skinny.

Shut Eye

Scraping by in a thankless job and suffering from chronic insomnia, lonely twentysomething Sierra turns to the online world of ASMR, where she meets Kate, a streamer whose soothing voice quickly becomes her virtual companion. When the two women meet in person, they discover there’s chemistry beyond the virtual. It’s not long before Sierra becomes increasingly fixated on Kate – which only intensifies when she feels their relationship is threatened.

Drug Shore

Ah Zhe falls deep into drugs, losing himself in the chaos—until he meets Xiao Fei. In a world of addiction, some return. Others vanish for good.

Glamour Dolls

This is the story of two male prostitutes who want to become professional actors and how they struggle to get into show business.

Velociraptor

During the end of the world, two best friends walk around their city, talking about their sex lives, and one of them reveals they are still a virgin.

Sugar Orange

Lukas is Sugar, Clemens is Orange. Together, they are two ten-year-old boys who are inseparable. More than just playmates, they share a unique bond which seems predestined to last a lifetime. Until, that is, powerful emotions come to the fore and a misunderstanding leads to a rift which tears both them and their world apart. Twenty years later, Lukas is still terrified of being abandoned. He survives by forming loose relationships which don't threaten him. Then one day he meets Lena who turns his feelings upside down and awakens his inner child, the one still searching for unconditional friendship. While there is never a guarantee of security, there is a bond of trust, and through Lena, Lukas again makes contact with Clemens. After years of silence, they are finally able to exorcise their ghosts in an explosion of emotion.

S.O.S.

Yeonhee questions herself while being in a relationship with her boyfriend, Junhee. One day, she tries to meet a lesbian girl, Wonjin.

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.

Beau Travail

Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.

Deceitful Appearances

The sexual misunderstandings caused by the real identity of a rich woman serve Hermosillo to satirize the moral and social hypocrisy of the provincial that every Mexican carries inside.

The Unknown Cyclist

A man's dying wish is for the people in his life to participate in a 450-mile charity bicycle ride through Northern California.

Twilight's Kiss

One day Pak, a taxi driver who refuses to retire, meets Hoi, a retired single father, in a park. Although both are secretly gay, they are proud of the families they have created through hard work and determination. Yet in that brief initial encounter, something is unleashed in them which had been suppressed for so many years. As both men recount and recall their personal histories, they also contemplate a possible future together.