MisUnderstood (2024)

A Single Man

Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, is the story of a British college professor who dwells on the past and cannot see his future. We follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters ultimately lead him to decide if there is a meaning to life after the death of his long time partner, Jim.

The Sum of Us

A widowed father has to deal with two complex issues: while he is searching for "Miss Right," his son, who is in his 20s and gay, is searching for "Mr. Right."

Coming Out

Philipp, a closeted teacher, is dating a female colleague to keep up appearances. One night he stumbles into a gay bar and falls for a man. Transformed by this love, he is no longer afraid to face up to who he is.

Total Eclipse

Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.

Green Butterflies

Mateo is an intelligent boy who falls in love with Daniel, but when everyone reveals that relationship, Mateo is at a crossroads, and he will have to decide between fighting his adversities or giving up everything, even his life.

Miao Miao

18-year-old Ai loves baking, even if she's not that good at it. She dreams of some day baking the perfect pastry, until she meets Miao Miao, a shy exchange student from Japan, who happens to be sort of a pastry expert.

Like Love

An offbeat love story about campus life around the An Zi Yan and Mai Ding who start military training as college acquaintances, Mai Ding was the one who made the first move to An Zi Yan, they have a good relationship and gradually felt sparks. After their relationship strengthens, their relationship is obstructed by their family and friends, like An Zi Yan’s sister Ansul who has a difficult attitude. An Zi Yan secretly asks help from his ex-girlfriend Bai Xiao Si. Based off the best-selling novel of the same name by Angelina.

Boys On Film 16: Possession

Golden boys, teen lust, self-conscious dolls, chance encounters, a vengeful creature, holiday romance, hidden sexuality — Boys On Film celebrates it's (not so) sweet sixteen with an astonishing selection of the latest international gay short films. Volume 16: Possession features ten complete films: Kai Stänicke's "Golden" with Christian Tesch and Maximilian Gehrlinger; Christopher Manning's "Jamie" starring Sebastian Christophers and Raphael Verrion; Kai Stänicke's "B." starring Susanne Bormann and Andreas Jähnert; Blake Mawson's "PYOTR495" starring Alex Ozerov; Charlie Francis's "When A Man Loves A Woman" starring Tommy Jay Brennan, Jemima Spence, and Diane Brooks Webster; Anthony Schatteman's "Follow Me" starring Ezra Fieremans and Maarten Ketels; Jake Graf's "Chance" starring 'ABS' and Clifford Hume; Andrew Keenan-Bolger's "Sign" starring John McGinty and Preston Sadleir; Oliver Mason's "Away With Me" starring Chris Polick and Lee Knight; and "We Could Be Parents" by Björn Elgerd.

Tokyo Cowboy

When a young Japanese man with an affinity towards American western films is fired from his job, he sets out to become a real live cowboy.

Method

A seasoned actor and a pop star are cast as leads in a gay romantic play. As the actor teaches the pop star method acting, the line between fiction and reality is blurred and they become drawn to each other.

The Memory of You

Adam is going to dinner with his wife, when he is disrupted by something from his past. 'The Memory of You' is a story about a love that never was, and the promise of what could have been, shot in one single take during a quiet night on a Stockholm side street.

Kaadhal Enbadhu Podhu Udamai

Samyuktha, a passionate Kathak dancer, shares a deep bond with her mother, Lakshmi—a renowned motivational speaker and documentary filmmaker. Their progressive relationship is tested when Samyuktha reveals her love for another woman. While Lakshmi is initially thrilled, her excitement fades as she struggles to reconcile her traditional Indian values with modern ideas of love and sexuality. Through multiple perspectives, including that of Mary, who explores evolving notions of romance, the story delves into acceptance, identity, and the complexities of family dynamics.

High Art

When Syd, a young editor at an influential art magazine, becomes involved with her neighbor, a drug-addicted lesbian photographer, both seek to exploit each other for their respective careers while slowly falling in love with each other.

Eyes Wide Open

A middle-aged Orthodox Jew, Aaron, living and working in Jerusalem with his wife and children, meets a homeless 19-year-old student. Aaron offers to give Ezri work as his assistant at his family's butcher shop. The two men grow close and their attraction becomes sexual. Aaron must now confront his own sexuality, his feelings for Ezri, and his obligations to his family and faith.

A Moment in the Reeds

Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.

Grand Guignol

At an isolated reform school, transfer student Itsuki joins a drama group—but when real murders mimic their dark plays, fear, love, and secrets spiral out of control.

Albino

Yashima is a woman who works as a plumber. She is also uncomfortable with her own sexuality. One day she visits a home for a job and meets Kyu. Yashima senses Kyu's eyes watching her. They become intimate, but a dark secret is soon revealed.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

A girl born with enormous thumbs in the repressive era of the 1950s learns to turn her quirks into assets.

The Handmaiden

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy

A close-knit group of gay friends share the emotional roller coster of life, relationships, the death of friends, new beginnings, jealousy, fatherhood and professional success. At various stages of life's disarray, these young men share humorous and tragic relationships and always have each other to rely on.

A Four Letter Word

Six people in New York are adrift. Zeke and Luke work in a sex shop: Zeke takes gay liberation seriously, Luke likes to sparkle and takes nothing seriously. He's offended when Stephen calls him a gay cliché, then, surprisingly, they find each other attractive and interesting. Stephen, it turns out, has a great apartment, trust fund, and artwork he's painted on his walls. Meanwhile, Peter, a neat-freak, and Derek, nice to everyone, move in together. Peter's compulsiveness threatens the relationship. Last, newly-engaged Marilyn, a recovering alcoholic stuck at step 2, can't stop obsessing about wedding details. Can these folks sort out civilization and its discontents?

Islands

A sexual reverie unfolds over the course of one ethereal night. Characters wander through an erotic maze of love and lust, blurring the lines between wet dream and lucid nightmare as a macabre, erotic stage performance sends a ripple of lustful desires through its audience and performers.

Desperate Love 1989

Koji Nanjo, a young rock star, falls in love with soccer player Takuto Izumi. Koji eventually learns that Izumi's mother killed his father out of severe and intense love. Izumi took all the guilt for his father's murder and refuses to go pro because of fear that his past will be discovered by the media. Izumi detests Koji's company and encouragement and severely dislikes the attention from the press, but Koji cannot stay away for he soon realizes that his love for Izumi is very similar to the love that Izumi's mother felt for his father.

Top Girls

Han Yu Meng has always dreamt about becoming a pop singer in South Korea, unfortunately due to Visa issues she had to go back to China. One of her new classmates is Sheng Shang - a tattoo artist, part-time singer and an underground boxer. Will they succeed in creating their own music band?

The Four Vampires

The four vampires tired of living try different ways to die, but they cannot. While pondering the last hypothesis that'if you sleep with a vampire, you die', Jong-su declares that he will sleep with Sun-a.

Hidden

Lonely and closeted, Xiao-Wei turns to the internet—until real-life feelings bring more questions than answers.

But I'm a Cheerleader

Megan is an all-American girl. A cheerleader. She has a boyfriend. But Megan doesn't like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she's pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. Her conservative parents worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to "sexual redirection" school, where she must, with other lesbians and gays learn how to be straight.

Three

Tom, a young architect from Tel Aviv, accepts his partner Nimrod's offer of a threesome with Or. The meeting with Or changes the couple's relationship.

Dating Amber

Eddie and Amber decide to stage a relationship in order to stop everyone speculating about their sexuality. Eddie is keen to follow his dad into the military, while Amber dreams of moving to the liberal hub of London. The plan seems solid, but as their arrangement begins to fall apart, Eddie’s denial gets deeper as Amber realizes that a perilous future awaits her best friend unless she intervenes.

Two Amongst Many

An outbreak has Esteban confined at home and separated from Alan. From his rooftop bedroom, he tries to maintain their relationship through video calls, but the isolation seems endless and reality catches up with them.

Shortcomings

When his girlfriend leaves for New York City on a 3-month-long internship, a strongly opinionated Berkeley arthouse movie theater manager begins exploring life as a bachelor.

Two of Us

Nina and Madeleine have been sharing their lives and the landing between their two apartments for decades. After more than 20 years of loving in the shadows, Madeleine promises Nina she will tell her family the truth. It takes an unexpected event to show her the importance of living your truth.

Grande école

Paul and Agnes have been going out for quite a while and Agnes is shocked to learn that he'd rather live with two roommates on campus than move in with her. As soon as he meets one of his roommates, Louis-Anault, Paul's behavior changes - he is attracted to Louis without realizing so himself. Agnes, on the other hand, gets quite jealous and offers a bet: Whoever gets to have Louis-Anault first, wins... If she does, Paul will no longer explore his homosexual desires, if he does - she'll walk away. Meanwhile, Paul meets Mecir, a young Arab worker, who shows him there's more to life than elite colleges...

Edge of Seventeen

1984, Sandusky, Ohio. A naive 17-year-old navigates heartbreak and self-expression as he explores his sexuality.

Single All the Way

Desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about his perpetual single status, Peter convinces his best friend Nick to join him for the holidays and pretend that they’re now in a relationship. But when Peter’s mother sets him up on a blind date with her handsome trainer James, the plan goes awry.

Chasing Amy

Holden and Banky are comic book artists. Everything is going good for them until they meet Alyssa, also a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she's a lesbian.

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.

Desert Hearts

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

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.

Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation

As Sasaki prepares for his college entrance exams, Miyano tries to make the most of their limited time together while grappling with his own emotions.

Christmas at the Ranch

When Haley Hollis returns to her family ranch to try and save it from closure, she wasn't banking on spending so much time with ranch hand Kate - or falling for her.

Another Love Story

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

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.

Shower Boys

“Are you a man or a mouse?” asks the bandy trainer? Viggo answers with doubt but the team chant “MEN!”. After training, Viggo and Noel go home to Noel’s house and have a sauna. The friends start to compete on who is most manly, a tough competition where no-one really wants to be tough.

The Jealous Sea

The boyfriend of a handsome photographer tries to deal with his jealousy after finding nude photos he took of a gorgeous model.

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.

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.

My Baby Bright

Pla Thong's friend, Tod dies but his unfinished business means he can't move on. Pla Thong helps Tod figure out what that unfinished business is, and they realise how each other feels in the process.

The Wedding Banquet

A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

West of Eden

New Zealand independent drama following a young Māori man who moves to the country to rebuild his life after facing prejudices around his sexual orientation. He takes on a job on a farm where he grows attached to the farmer’s son. But when their relationship grows, the situation steers into darker territories…

Violets

In 1945, beneath the oppressive shadow of the Francoist dictatorship, Juan, a university teacher assistant, meets Manuel during a chance encounter at night in a park. With their initial reservations, a complex love story unfolds between them, shaped by the turbulent political climate and the misunderstanding of those around them.

The Cheese Sisters

A family-themed film, drama and comedy that tells a story about a family that has had a long cheese-making ritual.

Eclipse

Based on the legend of love between the sun and the moon, the short film Eclipse tells a captivating love story between Lucas and Saulo, two completely different people, who, through stories, comment on the feelings they have for each other.

Bigayan

A gay couple has been in an open relationship for seven years. But when one of them proposes on having a more exclusive set-up, will the other give in to keep their relationship?

Torch Song Trilogy

Arnold is a gay man working as a drag queen in 1971 NYC. He meets a handsome bisexual man.

Goodbye Mother

Văn comes back to Saigon from the US with his boyfriend Ian to visit his mother. Being the male heir of the family, everyone expects him to take a wife soon. And to top it all, his grandmother, who has Alzheimer, mistakes Ian for her grandson.

Just a Question of Love

After his gay cousin dies from hepatitis, young Laurent, who lives with his best friend Carole, falls in love with Cedric, a plant scientist. He's afraid to inform his conservative parents that he is gay.

Requited

Nicolas, a young man in his mid 20s, struggles to decide whether or not to go to the wedding of his best friend from high school, Aaron, who he's always been quietly in love with. The two had a falling out years earlier after Nicolas inexplicably kissed Aaron's girlfriend. Nicolas clings to an idealized image of his former friend, unconsciously sabotaging his own happiness in the process. The film is a realistic slice-of-life that poses the question "How do you get over something you never had?"

Boys Like You

A young man struggles with the boundaries of friendship when he finds himself in an intimate situation

Law of Desire

Pablo, a successful film director, disappointed in his relationship with his young lover, Juan, concentrates in a new project, a monologue starring his transgender sister, Tina. Antonio, an uptight young man, falls possessively in love with the director and in his passion would stop at nothing to obtain the object of his desire.

The 8.2 Second Rule

A sweet and bitter story about Koichi, who tries to help troubled boys with homemade sweets, until he finds his first love in 8.2 seconds.

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).

Alexander

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

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.

Venus – Filly the Lesbian Little Fairy

In this animated fairy-tale Filly, a lesbian fairy with nimble fingers, seduces women by day dressed as a boy. But at night something strange happens and soon half the population of Whatsit Village are eagerly queuing up.

Pillow Chocolate

For trans man Jamie, a one-night stand is more than just sex, it's a question of self-worth.

In from the Side

Mark, a new and inexperienced rugby club member, finds himself drawn to Warren, a seasoned first team player. When a series of happenstances at an away fixture lead to a drunken encounter, Mark and Warren unwittingly embark on a romantic affair they struggle to hide from their partners and teammates.

Circuit

The hunky John is a closeted small-town cop who moves to L.A., where he is quickly seduced into the gay life of workouts and dusk-to-dawn parties. With actual circuit party footage and mounds of glistening and chiseled flesh, the pulsating Circuit is bound to get your juices flowing.

Three of Hearts

A lesbian hires a male escort to break the heart of the bisexual woman who has just dumped her.

The Culminating Point

After months of silence and utter desolation, two women reunite in a hotel room to face the demise of their forbidden love affair. The suspicions and pressures coming from their inner circles have forced them into an atmosphere charged with silenced emotions and shattered dreams. Having reached a crossroads, the two are forced to confront each other and come to terms with their reality.

Anchor and Hope

Eva and Kat enjoy a carefree existence on their houseboat on a London canal. Until Eva's dream of becoming a mother is reignited by the death of their pet. Kat just wants to get a new cat. But when Kat's best friend, Roger, visits from Barcelona, they decide in a moment of drunkenness that he can be Eva's sperm donor. But what are the consequences for the lesbian couple, the biological father, the child and their relationships with one another?

Hello Again

Ten lost souls slip in and out of one another's arms in a daisy-chained musical exploration of love's bittersweet embrace. A film adaptation of Michael John LaChiusa's celebrated musical, originally based on Arthur Schnitzler's play, La Ronde.

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.