Forbidden Love (2008)

One Fine Day, a Hairdresser

How do you ask a wild, impetuous hairdresser on a date if you're a pathologically timid philosophy student with no social skills?

Cavafy

An ailing, elderly poet reminisces about his life of unrest and homosexual urges.

Boys On Film 19: No Ordinary Boy

As Boys On Film reaches the end of its teenage years, we take a look at those unique boys who go one step further, who excite, invigorate, and always impress, who break boundaries, shape their worlds and are more than what they appear. Volume 19: No Ordinary Boy includes ten complete films: Scott T. Hinson's "Michael Joseph Jason John" also starring Eric Robledo; Abhishek Verma's animated "The Fish Curry"; Ben Allen's "Blood Out Of A Stone" starring Alex Austin and Oisín Stack; David Färdmar's "No More We" starring Jonathan Andersson and Björn Elgerd; Jannik Splidsboel's "Between Here & Now" starring Francesco Martino and Peder Bille; Amrou Al-Kadhi's "Run(a)way Arab" also starring Ahd and Omar Labek; Dean Loxton's "Meatoo" starring Calum Speed and Warren Rusher; Jake Graf's "Dusk" starring Elliott Sailors, Sue Moore, and Duncan James; Leon Lopez's "Jermaine & Elsie" starring Marji Campi and Ashley Campbell; and Marco Alessi's "Four Quartets" with Laurie Kynaston.

Menace II Society

A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.

Stray

Set in a parallel universe where the sexual bias favors homosexuals, Eric, a struggling heterosexual, admits himself into a straight conversion camp. What begins as a cure to his deviant lifestyle, becomes a journey of self acceptance.

Boys On Film 1: Hard Love

Created by gay directors and actors, Boys On Film features numerous award-winning shorts that deal with all aspects of gay life. Volume 1: Hard Love contains nine complete films: Hong Khaou's "Summer" starring Peter Peralta and Jay Brown; Michael Simon's "Gay Zombie" starring Brad Bilanin, Ryan Carlberg, and Robin McDonald; Jason Bushman's "Serene Hunter" starring Eric Debets, Flannan Obé, and Jonathan Blanc; Timothy Smith's "Le Weekend" starring Omar and Fernando Peres; Jean Baptiste Erreca's "Cowboy Forever" featuring Govinda Machado de Figueiredo and Jones Carlos Fialho de Araújo; Damien Rea's "Scarred" starring Chris Anderson, David Durham, and Lara Cazalet; Tim Hunter's "Packed Lunch" featuring Kevyn Boemia, Chris Sayers, and Steven Quigg; John Winter's "Mirror Mirror" starring Roy Billing; and Maxwell Barber's "VGL-Hung!" starring Marcus Proctor, Jeff Chandler, and Ashley Ryder.

Coming to America

An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

In Seventh Heaven

Sofiane lives in a high-rise block at the edges of Paris. A violent young man, he tries to be like his gang of friends. However, Sofiane is attracted to guys. Through his contradictions, he embodies the confusion of today's idle young people who have lost their bearings and live withdrawn into themselves.

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.

Raging Bull

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

The Third Sex

Klaus is a young man in post-war Berlin. He is drawn to his friend Manfred and, under the encouragement of their acquaintance, Dr. Winkler, explore the underground world of gay clubs and electronic music. His family begins to learn of his other life and do everything they can to set him straight.

Tell Me How

When Matt leads Damien on romantically, they find themselves fighting for their love, but is that love destined to be returned.

Nowhere

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.

Trick

Gabriel is a young, aspiring musical composer whose life seems stuck in the First Act. When his new musical number gets a critical reception, a theatre colleague, Perry, tells Gabriel that he needs to get a life before he can write about one – so he heads straight for his local gay bar.

A Chorus Line

A group of dancers congregate on the stage of a Broadway theatre to audition for a new musical production directed by Zach. After the initial eliminations, seventeen hopefuls remain, among them Cassie, who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach. She is desperate enough for work to humble herself and audition for him; whether he's willing to let professionalism overcome his personal feelings about their past remains to be seen.

The Next Best Thing

A comedy-drama about best friends - one a straight woman, Abbie, the other a gay man, Robert - who decide to have a child together. Five years later, Abbie falls in love with a straight man and wants to move away with her and Robert's little boy Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.

A Different Story

A gay man and a lesbian enter into a marriage of convenience in order to prevent his deportation, and then gradually fall in love with one another.

Capital Games

Take two ambitious men, one top LA advertising firm, add a competition for the same high ranking job. Tough ex-LAPD cop, Steve Miller quit police to work in the calm environment of a business office. Mark Richfield, the glamorous new kid in the office, soon wins favor with the big boss and co-workers causing Steve to cringe in jealousy. After a crazy night in the Santa Fe desert Steve becomes torn between passionate love and passionate hatred. Steve and Mark endure agonizing decisions that will affect their lives forever.

Velvet Goldmine

Almost a decade since larger-than-life glam-rock enigma Brian Slade disappeared from public eye, an investigative journalist is on assignment to uncover the truth behind his former idol.

Rent

This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in late 1980s East Village, New York, USA. The film centers around Mark and Roger, two roommates. While a tragedy has made Roger numb to new experiences, Mark begins capturing their world through his attempts to make a personal movie. In the year that follows, they and their friends deal with love, loss, and working together.

More Than Friendship

Mia, Lukas and Jonas always where like one heart and soul since their earliest childhood. Until three years ago when everything changed. Friendship became love that is well beyond all conventions. A Part of the society feels provoked by such kind of companionship and meets them with some lack of understanding to say the least. Even their parents aren't really fond of the situation. Once a year, the trio makes a trip. During which they try to let emotion flow as they come, not having to fear the reactions of others. Now there is the time again for such a trip. And that is where the film starts. After renting a mobile home the journey starts as usual. Only one thing different this time, Jonas was diagnosed with cancer in terminal state a few months ago. The three of them know that this might very well be the last trip they will ever make. Regardless, Mia and Lukas try their best for Jonas not to think of the inevitable. Sadly the vow to spend the last trip only in joy, fails.

Boys

Two teen track stars discover first love as they train for the biggest relay race of their young lives.

Another Affair to Remember!

Jean-Jacques Garbo is deeply dismayed by his wife's infidelity when he suddenly has inklings of another love affair.

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

Fleeing by Night

Set in China in the 1930s, the film is about the unsettling relationship between three characters, each involved with a performance of the opera Fleeing by Night in a local theatre.

Shanghai Panic

A glimpse into the lives of 4 Shanghai teenagers.

Reel

It is the last day before Victor has to move to another city with his parents. So he and his best friend Robert do all the things they liked to do together so much: skateboarding, spraying, hanging out. But something is different this time.

Traces of Grief

Shell-shocked Barbara must face up to the loss of a dear companion after a tragic accident. Her best friend Klara and husband Torsten devise a plan to thaw Barbara's heart, after she reminisces about the incident, the funeral, and happier times. Will she agree to the suggestions of her nearest and dearest? Can grief turn into hope?

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.

Walk the Line

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

My Dad Works the Night Shift

Felix, fourteen, starts a relationship with an older boy, hoping to get caught by his conservative father so he can confront him.

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.

The Hours

"The Hours" is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.

Crash

After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims, and he begins to use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.

Brother of Sleep

In the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds.

Dog Day Afternoon

Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a hostage situation and stand-off with the police. As Sonny's motives for the robbery are slowly revealed and things become more complicated, the heist turns into a media circus.

How to Die Young in Manila

An introverted teenage boy lies to his parents that he'd sleep over at his friends'. However, he made an appointment with a random guy found on a dating app. The street is filled with dead hustlers, but nobody seems to notice these strange occurrences.

Handsome Devil

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

Maurice

After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.

Midnight Tod

Due to his rebellious personality, Hao gets fired from his work. He takes all his belongings to stay at Tod's place. Unsatisfied with the current situation but remaining hopeful to the future, they try to do something to get back against the world and get what they deserve, even they have to go separate ways.

The Art of Being Straight

Twenty-three-year-old John has just moved to L.A. from New York, ostensibly "taking a break" from his longtime girlfriend. He moves in with college bro Andy, whose pals incessantly do that kind of "That is so gay" banter that's essentially harmless - unless you're the only gay guy in the room.

Performance

In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.

Shank

Teenage gang member Cal, hides his sexuality from his fellow gang members despite their often violent dislike of anyone that isn't the same as them, be they unsuspecting shoppers, foreign students, gays, etc. When his world collides with Olivier, a student he rescues from a pointless beating, he encounters a lifestyle that presents as many new experiences as it does obstacles.

Free Fall

Three friends meet one summer at a skydiving center. Adventurous, they spend most of their time jumping - for thrills and to escape what haunts them. When his dream of becoming a pilot is shattered, Rafaël, a young daredevil of 20 years, puts his life in danger by pushing his limits as a parashooter. Her friend Charles, the older owner of the skydiving center, tries to make her understand reason while developing a love passion for Manu, a young woman who, at 20, has to deal with her mother's cancer. But Manu and Rafaël also develop a strong passion, which comes to compromise the strong bond between the three friends. Things don't work out when Rafaël, who has been forbidden to jump, comes to miss a particularly dangerous jump prepared by Charles.

Destiny Calls

It has been a year since Tod's death, yet Pla Thong still cannot move on.

Color Rush (Movie)

Monochromatic people (known as 'Monos) live in a world where they are unable to see colour and therefore view their surroundings through varying shades of grey, black and white. However, every Mono has a fated person (known as a 'Probe') who is able to trigger their grey-scale world into colour, inducing what is termed a 'Colour Rush'. Yeon Woo is a Mono. He’s aware that other colours do exist but has never experienced them for himself, nor is he interested in doing so. However, Yeon Woo’s life is forever changed when he meets Yoo Han, his Probe, and experiences his first Colour Rush. Terrified that he'll be obsessed with Yoo Han because of Yoo Han's ability to make him see colour, Yeon Woo tries desperately to avoid Yoo Han—but why does Yoo Han insist on drawing close to him?

Redwoods

Both original and incredibly romantic, Redwoods tells the story of an already-partnered man whose love is tested when a mysterious drifter passes through his small Northern California town.

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story

Set against a backdrop of early '60s London, Telstar is the story of the world's first independent record producer, Joe Meek. A maverick genius who enjoyed phenomenal success with Telstar – the biggest selling record of it's time – before bad luck, depression, heartbreak and paranoia led to his downfall.

The Deep End

With her husband Jack perpetually away at work, Margaret Hall raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of his gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop?

Looking for Rohmer

The first homosexual love story themed movie to receive approval for theatrical release in China. The film follows the initial meeting of, and the subsequent secret relationship between Zhao Jie and Rohmer. They decide to travel to Tibet together. During their travels they are involved in an incident which leads to the death of a child. Although they are not responsible, they feel a lot of guilt. They quarrel about it and end up going separate ways. Later Zhao Jie learns that Rohmer has been in an accident on a glacier and, torn with remorse for not having helped him enough after the earlier incident, Zhao Jie goes to find him.

Unfaithful Boys

Two Japanese boys go on a real-life Manga adventure when they discover what a single night in Shinjuku holds for unwary lovers. It’s the night of Gacchan’s birthday and boyfriend Takayuki is waiting at home to celebrate. But Gacchan has not only forgotten about his party, he’s been out playing around. Furious, Takayuki leaves, threatening not to return until he has indulged in some adultery of his own. Remade by the writer as 浮気なぼくら [Naughty Boys] (2002)

Six Degrees of Separation

The story of a young, gay, black, con artist who, posing as the son of Sidney Poitier, cunningly maneuvers his way into the lives of a white, upper-class New York family.

Hard to Give Up

It's a story of a painter, Su He, who is nervous looking for inspiration for one of his works that will be displayed in an important exhibition. In the search of models for artistic nude drawing, gets to know a boy, Er Meng, who catches his attention.

Xenia

Strangers in their own birthplace, 16-year-old Danny and 18-year-old Odysseus cross the entire country in search of their Greek father, after their Albanian mother passes away.

Mapplethorpe

A look at the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe from his rise to fame in the 1970s to his untimely death in 1989.

The 10 Year Plan

Myles and Brody are best friends with two very different ways of finding love. Displeased with their current love lives, they make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten year’s time. Now two months shy of their deadline, both friends set off to do whatever it takes to avoid ending up as each other’s last resort.

Get Real

Steven spends his school days longing for all-star athlete John. But John has a gorgeous girlfriend, and Steven is still in the closet. Steven's sole confidant is his friend Linda. After a curious run-in with John in a public restroom, Steven starts to wonder if the jock is straight after all. When they begin a romance, it threatens to expose the truth about both of them.

Boundaries

Jared takes extreme measures in order to gain the sympathy of his ex-boyfriend.

Borstal Boy

Based on Irish poet Brendan Behan's experiences in a reform school in 1942. A 16 year-old Irish republican terrorist arrives on the ferry at Liverpool and is arrested for possession of explosives. He is imprisoned in a Borstal in East Anglia, where he is forced to live with his would-be enemies, an experience that profoundly changes his life.

Double Mints

Mitsuo Ichikawa receives a phone call from Mitsuo Ichikawa. Their names are pronounced the same, but spelled differently using kanji. They also graduated from the same high school. Back in their high school days, Mitsuo Ichikawa was like a subordinate to Mitsuo Ichikawa. Mitsuo Ichikawa is now a hoodlum and tells the other Mitsuo that he killed a woman. They become accomplices and build a new relationship.

Clay Farmers

Mike, a young hired hand in California is working a small farm with a close friend, Dan. Mike is content on the farm and obviously attracted to the handsome Dan. Dan seems to be attracted to Mike as well but is a drifter and not happy as a farmer. He longs to finish out the contract and move on to a big city, perhaps with Mike. Gary, a boy from the next farm over, befriends them during their daily chores. When an innocent session of skinny-dipping is misconstrued, the young hired hands soon find themselves unjustly suspected of wrongdoing in a suddenly hostile small town.

You. Me. Bathroom. Sex. Now.

Three days before Christmas, Antonio finds out that his boyfriend of 8 years is cheating on him. Heartbroken, he looks for solace in his favorite dive bar where a mysterious visitor has a keen interest in him. A comedy about a man who tries to forget about love, in all the wrong places.

The New Twenty

Five best friends in their late 20's discover new truths about themselves and the friendships they thought would last forever.

4 Moons

Four interwoven stories about love and self-acceptance: An eleven year-old boy struggles to keep secret the attraction he feels towards his male cousin. Two former childhood friends reunite and start a relationship that gets complicated due to one of them’s fear of getting caught. A gay long lasting relationship is in jeopardy when a third man comes along. An old family man is obsessed with a young male prostitute and tries to raise the money to afford the experience.

Breakfast with Scot

The lives of Eric, an ex hockey player, and his partner Sam, are thrown into turmoil when they are forced to take in Scot, a flamboyant 11-year-old.

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.

Why Did I Get Married?

Eight married college friends plus one other non-friend (all of whom have achieved middle to upper class economic status) go to Colorado for their annual week-long reunion, but the mood shifts when one couple's infidelity comes to light. As secrets are revealed, each couple begins to question their own relationship.

We're Both Grooms

About the wedding day of Seto Ryosuke, an elementary school teacher, and Aikawa Mizuki, a lemon farmer. Right before the ceremony, Mizuki finds out that his partner didn't tell his parents, relatives, and friends that he is marrying a man. This discovery starts a series of events the two have to face, like a furious outburst of Ryosuke's father, a big fight between heads of the two families, as well as an appearance of Mizuki's ex-boyfriend.

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.

Shelter

Forced to give up his dreams of art school, Zach works dead-end jobs to support his sister and her son. Questioning his life, he paints, surfs and hangs out with his best friend, Gabe. When Gabe's older brother returns home for the summer, Zach suddenly finds himself drawn into a relationship he didn't expect.

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss

Billy Collier is a photographer working on a series of pictures featuring recreations of movie kisses, with drag queens playing the female roles. For his male model, he hires Gabriel, a young waiter on whom he has developed a serious crush. While Billy is openly gay, Gabriel says that he is straight and even claims to have a girlfriend. However, as they spend more time together and grow closer, Billy becomes increasingly unsure that this is true.

God's Own Country

A young farmer in rural Yorkshire numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker.

The Wound

Eastern Cape, South Africa. A lonely factory worker, Xolani, takes time off his job to assist during an annual Xhosa circumcision initiation into manhood. In a remote mountain camp that is off limits to women, young men, painted in white ochre, recuperate as they learn the masculine codes of their culture. In this environment of machismo and aggression, Xolani cares for a defiant initiate from Johannesburg, Kwanda, who quickly learns Xolani's best kept secret, that he is in love with another man.

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.

Electric July

In the burning heat of July, Thomas and Victor, two 14 years old teenagers, are bored to death and want to escape. Victor decides to take Thomas to an abandoned bridge. He will have to confront his fears and desires.

Broken Sky

Gerardo is deeply in love with longtime lover Jonas. When Jonas falls for a stranger he met at a local nightclub, heartbroken Gerardo soon seeks solace in the arms of Sergio. Despite other interests, Gerardo and Jonas can't bring themselves to end it.