The Last Rung on the Ladder (2024)

Boys on Film 22: Love to Love You

The latest in Peccadillo’s critically acclaimed series – now established as a leading showcase for new and emerging queefilm-makingng talent from around the world – features a fresh and exciting selection of the very best contemporary gay short films. Each self-contained drama in this diverse and thoughtfully curated collection offers fascinating and insightful new perspectives on the gay experience – sensual, affecting, sometimes provocative and always entertaining. The 8 short films are: Have We Met Before? (2019); The Act (2020); First Position. (2019); Winter [Invierno] (2021); The Suit Weareth the Man (2020); Infinite While It Lasts [Infinito Enquanto Dure] (2019); Melon Grab (2017); Thrive (2019).

The Surf Report

A ghostly love story unfolds as two men look for answers where ocean meets sky and city meets wild in Rockaway Beach, NY.

Pretty Boy

Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen, Sean, struggling with his sexuality and the hardships of high school. After his father finds some questionable magazines in his room, this devout Christian will go to any lengths to get his son to find the light and "perform" the way a man should. Sean is introduced to Katie, a prostitute that understands the stigmas of modern society and helps him see the true light that is within him.

The Euthanizer

A black comedy about a man struggling to make a living by helping people kill themselves.

Typhoon

An escaped convict on his way to Texas strikes a deal with a young misfit.

Mi mamá se fue con las vacas

Elías is a boy who faces abandonment by his mother, but is willing to do everything to see her again.

Tooty's Wedding

A young couple's marriage hilariously hits the rocks during a weekend wedding in the country.

Revolution

A coming-of-age story about Jack, a 16-year old Iranian boy growing up in 1989 Los Angeles. With the 1979 Iranian Revolution a distant memory, the AIDS movement as a backdrop, and a haunting score by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Jack learns how to stage his own much smaller revolution within the confines of his traditional family.

Frozen Roads

Balthazar and siblings Christian and Lyla have been friends since childhood. As the trio struggles with coming of age in a rural, conservative Canadian town, they must confront escalating desires for one another that threaten to destroy their delicate bond.

Because You're Mine

Torn by the farewell letter of his boyfriend, Samuel tries to change his ideas in nature. The forest will bring him a strange and sensual consolation…

The Atomic Adventure

Algeria desert, 1961. France just detonated an atomic bomb. A patrol of seven soldiers is sent to ground zero to take samples and measure the current radioactivity. The more they advance, the more they perceive that they are entering a dangerous uncharted territory: the future…

Pool Blue

Pool Blue is an attempt which tells, without dialogue nor rationality, a connection fantasized between two men. It is the fantastical projection which reveals certain eroticism. Pointless and discreet, the desire is present, two men are careful, gauge to the point to create a link of seduction. This link is intelligently staged, it is invisible with the eyes of the other swimmers, mysterious for both men and very explicit for the spectator.

Lovebugs

From his cozy library inside the walls of a suburban home, an intellectual snail tells of his life’s love, loss and change.

Hair or No Hair

Bel Davis has been hiding behind wigs for years until her Alopecia is exposed publicly. She uses this experience as a catalyst to break free of the shame she feels towards her baldness.

Open

When his father passes away, Vijay is forced to return home after a 10-year estrangement and open up to his mother about his sexuality.

Capitán Kinesis

Sebastián is a retired superhero who lives alone in a small flat. He leads a quiet life and it's ages since he last used his superpowers, but an unexpected visit puts his world at risk and he will be forced to defend it.

Sleepover

Emil and Adam are two guys in their 20's. They are close friends, and after a night at the movies, Emil is going to sleep over at Adam's. Emil has unspoken feelings for Adam - feelings that are tested when they are sleeping in the same double bed.

Negative Space

Even though Sam's father is hardly ever home because he is often away on business trips, he is able to connect with his son by teaching him how to pack a suitcase.

Perfect Roast Potatoes

William comes to Los Angeles to celebrate Christmas only to find his mother has died, but his sister insists they still have Christmas dinner, corpse and all.

The Beautiful Leukanida

Two insects fight over the hand of a beautiful lady.

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.

The Last Rung on the Ladder

Larry is one of the most respected corporate lawyers in the country. You might say he has everything in life one could want - except everything that one needs. He shares his life with nobody and has saturated himself into his work to the point where it is his world. When his sister, Katrina, falls victim to circumstances of life, he is nowhere to be found. The Last Rung On The Ladder is a story about loss and regret.

I'm Sorry, My Love

A solid middle American couple meet a stranger who will have a big role in history as we know it.

CAT

The ideal comfortability of a kitten is taken away by a man impersonating as such. Refusing to stop until the owner gives full surrender.

The Möbius Trip

A road trip pushes a dysfunctional family to the brink after their journey descends into a claustrophobic hallucinatory nightmare.

Lumbu

Set in the Summer of 94, in Sandwell, West Midlands. The dramatic story of Lumbu and best friend Ravi as they navigate the consequences of a long-held family secret finally becoming known. As the secret gets out, Ravi loses control and learns about the tyrannies of the adult world.

Symbiosis

A betrayed wife begins to investigate her husband’s mistresses. Her jealousy is gradually replaced by curiosity.

Daughter

A young girl buries in her soul a memory of a painful moment, when as a child she brought home an injured bird and her father burdened by his own weight of worries didn’t notice her feelings and longing for understanding. The girl took her father’s reaction as indifference and closed herself in her inner world longing for her father’s love and its manifestations. Since that moment she and her dad continued to grow apart, and as an adult she is no longer able to accept his endearments. The father suffers from guilt and searches for a way back to his daughter, trying to revive their lost relationship.

It's Still Your Bed

David comes home from college to his family’s farm to find that his parents have hired a young man named Brent, who is also sharing his room. David is still in the closet and wants to come out to his high school friend, but he finds himself drawn to his new roommate and tries to determine if he is also gay.

Scouts

A misfit boy scout seeks expulsion from camp by means of self-inflicted injury. However, the arrival of a rebellious girl-boy-scout changes his outlook.

Summer Ghost

An urban legend says that lighting fireworks at an abandoned airfield will beckon the "summer ghost," a spirit that can answer any question. Three teenagers, Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo, each have their own reason to show up one day. When a ghost named Ayane appears, she reveals she is only visible to those "who are about to touch their death." Compelled by the ghost and her message, Tomoya begins regularly visiting the airfield to uncover the true purpose of her visits.

Cobalt Blue

Yangon, 1998. A boy and his mother are waiting for the return of the father, a civil servant, to move out another town at Upper Burma. On the last evening the boy tries to understand the complexities of relationships.

Terminal

An 80-year-old woman spends her time at a bus station. She’s waiting for the right moment to leave this place forever.

Nimic

A professional cellist has an encounter with a stranger on the subway which has unexpected and far-reaching ramifications on his life.

My Pretty Pony

My Pretty Pony is a story telling about time and what the old man believes time is telling him. He believes this pony represents time and he must fufill it.

Amen

Begoña, Pelayo and María are saying a last goodbye to their mother. Confusion arises when they discover she wanted to be buried in a very special outfit.

Alice: Crack of Season

Yoon-hye likes Da-joo more than just as a friend but denies her feelings for the sake of their friendship. After some events following Da-joo being introduced to a boy, Yoon-hye is not able to hide her emotions anymore.