Shape of Happiness (2013)

Longtime Companion

During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefined by an unconditional display of love, hope and courage.

Boys Life

Each of the three short films in this collection presents a young gay man at the threshold of adulthood. In "Pool Days," Justin is a 17-year old Bethesda lad, hired as the evening life guard at a fitness center. In the course of the summer, he realizes and embraces that he's gay. In "A Friend of Dorothy," Winston arrives from upstate for his freshman year at NYU. He has to figure out, with some help from Anne, a hometown friend, how to build a social life as a young gay man in the city. In "The Disco Years," Tom looks back on 1978, the year in high school that he came out of the closet after one joyful and several painful encounters

The War Boys

David, George, and Greg, best friends since high school, are “The War Boys”. They used to perch on the US-Mexican border, waiting to spot illegal immigrants who were trying to run into the United States. Sometimes, without a thought for the immigrants, the boys chased them across the wasteland and back across the border – just for fun. It was just one of those games boys played to make themselves feel big. But high school’s over now. David is unexpectedly home from his freshman year of college and the War Boys have been reunited.

Like a Brother

Sebastien is a small town boy who moves to Paris and begins to explore the gay night life there. When a friend from back home calls to announce he's coming to Paris, Sebastien confronts some unrequited feelings.

Fingers After

Right after the sex. Suddenly the assistant doesn't open the door.

Sweet Curse

Ha-jun always engross his friends love with his good looks. Min-woo, a close friend who is jealous of Ha-jun, summons a devilish ghost, but the ghost who fell in love with Ha-jun spends a hot night with Ha-jun every day. Looking at Ha-jun who looks happy after all, Min-woo is planning another curse.

Clapham Junction

Set in the Clapham district of south London, England, the film is inspired by true events. The paths of several men intersect during a dramatic thirty-six hours in which their lives are changed forever.

You Are Not Alone

Young teenager Bo is too sensitive for the hothouse atmosphere of a boarding school run by a cold, unfeeling would-be man of the cloth. Lonely and scared, he finds a soulmate in the headmaster's son Kim with whom he forms a bond of friendship... that slowly grows into something more.

Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story

Marc Hall, a young man living in Quebec, registers his prom date as per his Catholic school's rules. He is denied his request, because his prom date is a boy. Marc Hall is an openly gay teenager in a very conservative Catholic school. This film documents his struggles (legal, emotional, ethical and personal) to be himself and to live his life the way he deems best. With the help of friends, family and supporters, "Cinderfella" makes it to the ball, With his Prince Charming.

In Half

After his twin's wake, James spends an afternoon with his brother's ex-boyfriend, learning more about his brother and more about himself.

After School

As they are going to visit their former teacher, Micky, who is seriously ill, three men who were buddies back in their high school years are reunited. Moreover, they go back to the old cram school, reminiscing about their rebellious youth. In the 1990s, that cram school was known for its strict rules and the trio, who loved making trouble, had given the director a big headache until Micky arrived as a new teacher. He not only tamed the boys but became a good friend to them. Micky often talked about romantic relationships and sexuality to the students and made documentaries to speak up for the gay community. It is because of him that the students got to understand the homosexual or even themselves.

Burn the Bridges

Eugenia is a former pop singer who is bedridden and dying of cancer. She is cared for by her daughter, Helena, who dreams of traveling the world and wishes she could be a glamorous pop star like her mother was. Helena’s younger brother Sebastian's dreams are simple and he merely wants to move to the beach. Helena is smart and pretty but she has no friends, male or female and is totally devoted to her mother's care and is also on the verge of initiating an incestuous relationship with Sebastian. Sebastian however, is falling in love with a boy at school named Juan who is the school roughneck and the son of a single father who owns a little bar. Juan is the nemesis of the school preppy named Ismael who comes from such a wealthy home that he has his own chauffeur and bodyguards. Ismael's ping-pong obsessed girlfriend Aurora rents a room at Helena and Sebastian's house where Ismael discovers he is also attracted to Sebastian.

A Love Story in the Time of HIV

Is intimacy limited only to the physical? Two lovers discover the word's real meaning when a difficult setback befalls one of them.

Who Leads

One couple's new intense connection is questioned in the midst of the disintegration of another couple; who leads when four men come together?

Misconceptions

The story centers on a religiously conservative, married southern woman who receives a message from God instructing her to act as a surrogate mother and carry a child for two married gay men who live in Boston - a Jewish doctor and and African-American dance choreographer. All Hell breaks loose when the African American man comes to her home down south to micro-manage her pregnancy, and he won't leave.

Anniversary

"Anniversary" is a story of love, of what trust mean and the need to find out the truth. "Anniversary" will touch your heart and remain in your mind long after viewing.

The World's Greatest First Love: Proposal

When Ritsu Onodera changes jobs, looking for a fresh start, he's not exactly thrilled when his new boss turns out to be his old flame. Ritsu's determined to leave all that in the past—but how can he when his boss is just as determined that they have a future? Tired of accusations that family connections got him his current position, Ritsu Onodera quits his job as an editor at his father's company and transfers to Marukawa Publishing. Once there, he is assigned to the shojo manga editorial department—something he has no interest in and no experience with! Having sworn he'd never fall in love again, the last thing he wants to do is work on love stories. To make matters worse, it turns out that his overbearing boss, Masamune Takano, is actually his first love from high school!

Neverland

Damion Dietz's NEVERLAND is a dark, modernized, and highly original retelling of the childhood classic PETER PAN. In this version, Peter (Rick Sparks) is a juvenile delinquent, Tinkerbell (Kari... Damion Dietz's NEVERLAND is a dark, modernized, and highly original retelling of the childhood classic PETER PAN. Peter takes Wendy to Neverland — a burnt-out suburban amusement park populated by drag queens, drug addicts, prostitutes and such — the ultimate fantasy-adventure becomes a fascinating nightmare in this bold retelling of the Peter Pan story.

TommyTeen18

This short film tells the story about a 15 year old boy who explores the world of online dating. Trapped between boy and manhood he tries to find his way.

Phantom Images

A filmmaker continues shooting his film after his funding is pulled - a grim reality he has kept secret from his cast. His mind awash in the noise of memory and morphine, he reflects on his own life through the characters in his script. The story is told with highly stylistic vignettes projected in the black void of his mind, bringing to life each of the characters he has created on paper. "Phantom Images" explores the new challenges confronting gay men - and the cultural changes that have made communication between generations more difficult.

Howl

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

Cheat The Movie

When a young man, raised in seclusion, befriends a family of 3 siblings and their mother, his strange charm sets off a series of events that will affect them all with tragic results. Cheat is a 'boys' love' movie like no other - dabbling in supernatural and psychological worlds. Exploring emotions of jealousy, anger, lies, betrayal, sex, magic, and ultimately, a descent into madness.

Fanatic Love

Song ChengYue has been in love with his best friend Su Yi since they first met in high school. However, Su Yi were madly in love with another classmate back then. Being lost in this unrequited love, Song ChengYue chose to keep this secret to himself for Su Yi’s happiness. Three years later, the three of them meet once again in a Virtual Reality World. Song ChengYue gets another chance to express his love to Su Yi. This time, can her win over Su Yi’s love?

Furious Desires

Desire is mysterious. Desire is overwhelming. Desire is tragic. Desire is FURIOUS. The many permutations of that strange thing called desire are on full display in this stunning collection of 5 short films. Includes: Loris Is Fine [Loris sta bene] (2017); The Daytime Doorman [O Porteiro do Dia] (2016); The Other Side [Al otro lado] (2017); The Tiger's Fight [El tigre y la flor] (2016); Xavier (2016).

Without a Mom

Two gay dads fumble to provide their straight son with meaningful support after the loss of his first real love.

Give Me Your Hand

Quentin and Antoine are 18-year-old twins. Without their father knowing it, they set out on a voyage to Spain, where their mother's funeral is to take place. The two brothers barely knew their mother. Their hitchhiking journey is full of encounters, arguments, reconciliations, and experiences. Their time on the road also reveals their differences, the splits in their attractions, and the confusion of their feelings.

The Extravagant Illnesses

Louis, 17 years old, is a romantic boy, loving to spend time on a small island lost in the middle of a pond with his lover Thibault. But Thibault is in a relationship with Sophie. So, for Thibault to be all his own, Louis casts a love spell on him. When electricity shuts down during a party, Louis believes that it's the sign his spell worked out. But things don't turn out the way he hoped for.

Mango Soufflé

India’s first major gay-themed film, is an adaptation of Mahesh Dattani’s seminal play On a Muggy Night in Mumbai. Kamlesh, a young gay man, invites his friends home ostensibly for an evening of camaraderie. However, with the arrival of his sister and her fiancé, a series of dramatic confrontations is set into motion, leading to startling revelations and unexpected catharsis.

Bernard and Doris

Tobacco heiress Doris Duke develops an unlikely friendship with her butler, Bernard Lafferty.

Idiot Fish

On the road to vacation, Jimmy and Guillaume put their relationship back into play. Jimmy becomes a lost hitchhiker, Guillaume a lonely driver. They will play not to know each other anymore, play to meet and seduce each other again. Until a third player joins the game.

Drowsiness

The emotional inertia and chaos affecting a narcoleptic woman, a fatally ill writer and a gay doctor, and their attempts to escape from their dead-end situations.

Where to Go

Mitchell and Miles once spoke the language of love fluently, but now even a dream trip can't drown out the silence growing between them.

I Miss You When I See You

Jamie re-encounters his old school friend, Kevin, who has been suffering from depression, and must make a choice between following his heart or society.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Jimi (Chris Bisson), the Chopra family's only son, gets caught off guard when his high-handed parents (Saeed Jaffrey and Jamila Massey) announce an arranged marriage to Simran (Jinder Mahal), a lovely girl from a respectable family. Problem is, Jimi's gay, so to hide his homosexuality, he spins an ever-more elaborate web of deceit -- but how long can he conceal the truth?

Looking for Langston

A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. A wake is going on, with mourners gathered around a coffin. Downstairs is an elegant bar where tuxedoed men dance and talk. One of them has a dream in which he comes upon Beauty, who seems to reject him, although when he awakes, Beauty is sleeping beside him. His story and his visits to the jazz and dance club are framed by voices reading from the poetry and essays of Hughes and others. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.

Dorian Blues

Dorian realizes he is gay in his final year of high school. He meets another gay youth locally, but remains confused. He starts therapy, then resorts to confession in the Church, and finally comes out to his brother. Dorian then decides to come out to his father; he gets kicked out of the house.

Parting Glances

Michael and Robert, two gay men living in Brooklyn, spend their last day together before Robert leaves for Africa on work assignment. Michael still has feelings for his friend Nick, who has AIDS.

Speed Walking

In a quirky, small town, situated in the outskirts of everything, 14-year-old Martin is getting ready for one of the most formal transitions from boy to man; the communion. It's 1976, music's in the air and hormones are blossoming. But in the midst of it all Martin's mother suddenly passes away and her tragic death trickers a series of events that not only changes Martin's life forever, but also affects everyone else in the local community. Overwhelmed with grief neither Martin's dad, nor his older brother, is capable to comfort Martin. He enters adulthood in a mixture of drunken happiness and immense sadness over the loss of his mother, and his relationship to both his friend Kim and girlfriend Kristine comes to its natural conclusion.

A Fantastic Ghost Wedding

A Fantastic Ghost Wedding is the story of a young popular spirit medium, who is hired to find a spouse for a dead teenage boy. The chosen bride turns out to be an unexpected person, and this snowballs into a series of events culminating in a Chinese ghost wedding.

Consent

In a fancy hotel, a bell boy delivers a bottle of whiskey to a wealthy middle-aged client. The guest seduces the young man and offers him money for a sexual favor. But what started as a simple game becomes perverted and eventually violent.

Milk

The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.

Miller & Son

A transwoman mechanic lives between running her family’s auto shop during the day and expressing her femininity at night, until an unforeseen event threatens the delicate balance.

Like a Marriage

Gay partners Chan Yui and Ka Wing are happily in love, until Chan Yui enters a marriage of convenience with his lesbian friend Fung Ming to appease his parents. Under great pressure, Ka Wing is forced to accept this sham marriage but can things ever go back to normal?

BPM (Beats per Minute)

Paris, in the early 1990s: a group of young activists is desperately tied to finding the cure against an unknown lethal disease. They target the pharmaceutical labs that are retaining potential cures, and multiply direct actions, with the hope of saving their lives as well as the ones of future generations.

The Ring Thing

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

Savage Grace

This examination of a famous scandal from the 1970s explores the relationship between Barbara Baekeland and her only son, Antony. Barbara, a lonely social climber unhappily married to the wealthy but remote plastics heir Brooks Baekeland, dotes on Antony, who is homosexual. As Barbara tries to "cure" Antony of his sexuality -- sometimes by seducing him herself -- the groundwork is laid for a murderous tragedy.

One Summer Night

Caught in forbidden love, Yong Joon defects from North Korea, leaving Jae Sung behind. Years later, a reunion forces him to choose between past and present.

Running with Scissors

Young Augusten Burroughs absorbs experiences that could make for a shocking memoir: the son of an alcoholic father and an unstable mother, he's handed off to his mother's therapist, Dr. Finch, and spends his adolescent years as a member of Finch's bizarre extended family.

An Evening

Having slept together for the first time, two teenage boys must make sense of their evolving relationship.

Torch Song Trilogy

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

The History Boys

The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.

Beautiful Mystery

Shinohara, a young bodybuilder, joins a para-military sect in northern Japan. His instructor, Takizawa, takes a liking to the new recruit. After an early “special” training session the two develop a lasting and loving relationship.

Dew

Dew is about 2 friends who developed feelings for each other. But they lived in a time when homosexuality wasn't accepted.

Infamous

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

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.

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.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Manhattan drag queens Vida Boheme and Noxeema Jackson impress regional judges in competition, securing berths in the Nationals in Los Angeles. When the two meet pathetic drag novice Chi-Chi Rodriguez — one of the losers that evening — the charmed Vida and Noxeema agree to take the hopeless youngster under their joined wing. Soon the three set off on a madcap road trip across America and struggle to make it to Los Angeles in time.

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.

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.

About Us

Two young students, Matheus and Diego, experience their first love.

Beautiful Boxer

Based on the real life story of Parinya Charoenphol, a Muaythai boxer who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman.

The Consequence

Thomas, the son of a prison warden, falls for Martin, one of the prison inmates. After Martin is released, they try to build a relationship and a life together but, no one will leave them alone.

Who Will Save The Roses?

The melting love story between two old men, one of them is sick and stays in bed all day, the other is a gambler who takes care of him, visit him everyday and has a hard relationship with his daughter. Sometimes love is the only solution but we realize it when it's too late.

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.

La León

Deep in the lush river jungles of Argentina, Alvaro lives a solitary existence fishing and harvesting reeds. What sets him apart from the rest of his village is that he is gay. There are no other gay men in his world, his only means of expression is with the occasional outsider who passes through. Most of these men come via the river taxi El León, whose captain El Turu is a mean man with a homophobic streak and a secret. When illegal loggers appear in the jungle El Turu accuses Alvaro of aiding them, a dispute which leads both men towards confrontation.

Heavy Weight

When a talented new arrival begins using the local boxing club, Paris, a skilled fighter, is forced into an unexpected struggle with himself. A film about vulnerability in a hyper-masculine world that doesn't allow for it.

Love, Simon

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online.

Pornographer: Continued Spring Life

After overcoming differences, Rio Kijima and Haruhiko Kusumi grow closer. But tensions rise when family secrets and outside questions threaten their deepening bond.

Three to Tango

Oscar and Peter land a career-making opportunity when a Chicago tycoon chooses them to compete for the design of a cultural center. The tycoon mistakenly believes that Oscar is gay and has him spy on his mistress Amy. Oscar goes along with it and ends up falling in love with Amy.

Bob's New Suit

Bob is a landscape gardener and handyman with a typical American family. But his ailing father, Buster, is hiding a secret past while his sister, Stephanie, holds onto a secret of her own. When Bob proposes to his girlfriend and gets involved in a get-rich quick scheme, a series of events unfolds which changes their lives forever.

Given

Haruki secretly had feelings for Akihiko for years, but Akihiko was still in a relationship with his roommate, the violinist Ugetsu Murata. Haruki, Akihiko, and Ugetsu's love clashes and starts to move forward.

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.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.