Land of the Free (2020)

Pink Ulysses

A homoerotic exploration of the Odyssey mixing black and white, color, and old film clips.

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.

Irreversible

A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.

Party Monster

The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.

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.

Thrive

A hook-up between two young men - they make a connection, but it quickly becomes apparent they're looking for different things.

Twice

Diego is 17 and is full of life, yet fragile. His best friend Antonio knows and indulges his weaknesses, but he would also like to see him strong and masculine. One night they meet Maria, a breezy natural beauty. To show that he is a 'real man', Diego, is ready to do anything, even to force himself to do things he would never have wanted to do.

Drifter

Moritz follows a boyfriend to Berlin and is soon abandoned by him. Alone in the big city, he embarks on a journey through a wide range of queer experience. Only through a new circle of queer friends does he develop his own ideas of sexuality and masculinity, leading him to a clearer self-identity.

Being Brave

This short film tells the story of Beckett, a smart and intriguing twelve-year-old, and his relationship with his divorced parents, James and Cindy. The separation took place when James came out as gay man.

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.

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.

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.

We Shall Overcome

A drama about a boy who's inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and challenges repressive school authority in 1969 Denmark.

Alias

On her birthday, Juliette is too upset to worry about the strange cleaner who imitates her every move and lusts after her clothing.

Needle in a Timestack

Nick and Janine live in bliss until her ex warps time to try to tear them apart by using Nick's old girlfriend. As Nick's memories and reality disappear, he must decide what he's willing to sacrifice to save -- or let go of -- everything he loves.

Johnny Minotaur

Johnny Minotaur is a lyrical explosion of taboos: incest, intergenerational desire, pansexuality and autoeroticism are a few of the issues Charles Henri Ford grapples with through mythopoeic, sensual imagery, recitations of his diaries and a philosophical debate featuring an impressive narration by such artists as Salvador Dali, Allen Ginsberg, Warren Sonbert and Lynne Tillman.

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.

Ocaso

Late in the afternoon, a student and a construction worker sit on the edge of the bay and leave traces on the landscape.

The Love Within

Three college students - Ethan, Meg and Josh - share an intense friendship that turns emotionally cataclysmic when unspoken attractions come to light. The inescapable truths of the heart will either strengthen or destroy their seemingly fragile bond, but only if they can overcome the fears of trusting each other -- and themselves.

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.

My Beautiful Man: Eternal

As college graduation nears, Hira struggles with Kiyoi's growing fame as an actor, while Kiyoi just wants an equal relationship. Can their love survive?

Laio

While out with his friends for fun one night in São Paulo, Leandro is confronted with glimpses of his own violence. The film is loosely inspired by the homophobic attack that occurred in the Paulista Avenue area, in which teenagers used fluorescent lamps as a weapon.

Misericordia

Jérémie returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss, the village baker. He decides to stay for a few days with Martine, the man's widow. A mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbor and a priest with strange intentions make Jérémie's short stay in the village take an unexpected turn.

Anything Once

Both Joey and Mike are faced with breaking boundaries that previously limited them. There's a first time for everything.

Emo Valley

A foster care survivor, living in the streets of Phoenix, Arizona; Is being stalked by an individual from social media.

Young Soul Rebels

Two disc jockeys have a friend's murder to solve in the fringe-group melting pot of 1977 London.

Guigo Offline

Guigo is in love with Sabrina, with whom he exchanges messages through his cell phone. He is the son of separated parents. One day he and his friend Túlio travel to a fishery with their father, Roberto, and his friend, Paulo.

Morning After

Michael is faced with a dilemma, when a night of drinking with friends, turns into a sensual exploration of sexual identity.

Malila: The Farewell Flower

Former lovers Pich and Shane reconnect through Thai floral art, but Pich’s illness leads Shane to seek peace by becoming a monk.

Out to Kill

When private investigator Jim Noble moves into a beautiful loft complex in Tampa, he never expects to find his first case literally right outside his door - the corpse of one of his neighbors, right in the middle of the complex's courtyard. When he's hired to solve the crime, Jim quickly learns that everyone in the complex has secrets, and that someone was willing to kill to keep their secrets hidden.

Sandbag Dam

A story about a forbidden love set in a village threatened by swollen rivers. Upon his return home for his father’s funeral, Slaven revives his relationship with his childhood friend, a young sportsman named Marko, his teenage love, and the reason his father kicked him out of the house. Now tempted to reunite, they need to make peace with their own decisions and struggle against the family restraints.

eXXXorcisms

A sexy, deviant supernatural thriller from the usually interesting Hermosillo. Set in a shopping mall populated by gay spirits and an apprehensive young security guard, this is a sexually graphic, psychologically scary plunge into modern pathology and the dark side of midnight.

AYOR

In 1970, during the annual Dutch national commemoration of those fallen in World War II, two men try to make a statement against gay discrimination. In the moments before and after the incident, their doubt, fear and firm belief becomes clear.

Longing Nights

Aitana, Pierrick, Rita and Jorge are all in their twenties and all look for ways to make their nights in the city of Madrid a little less lonely. Aitana is a sweet girl trapped in a men’s body; Pierrick is a cute French gay; Rita doesn't much care about her partner, Carolina, and walks through life with no expectations; Jorge is trapped in a relationship with no future: the one he has with Maria. Set against a background of drugs, sex, multiple partners and differing sexualities, Longing Nights follows the individual stories of these young people. A candid portrait of four relationships highly loaded with eroticism from beginning to end. Four stories told without no borders between fiction and reality.

The First Time

A young man catches the eye of another in a public park. The dance begins, the public toilets beckon. For one of them, this is one of many such encounters. For the other, it's the first time.

Distances

Eva and David have a complicated mother-son relationship. They try to reach each other but do not quite know how. One problem is the language barrier, as David is deaf and Eva is not very good at sign language. After moving back to her country of birth, Eva comes to Sweden on a short visit, where she discovers what so many parents do throughout the lives of their offspring - your children never cease to surprise you.

Hands

When his boyfriend suddenly leaves him without an explanation, Michel develops a fear of emotional attachment. He starts meeting other people, but every new pair of hands remind him of his ex.

Reach for Glory

During World War II, teenage boys in a small English town are consumed with jingoism and brutal war games, hoping dearly that the war won't end before they can fight in it.

The Bubble

The movie follows a group of young friends in the city of Tel Aviv and is as much a love song to the city as it is an exploration of the claim that people in Tel Aviv are isolated from the rest of the country and the turmoil it's going through. The movie looks at young people's lives in Tel Aviv through the POVs of gays and straights, Jews and Arabs, men and women.

Sticky Matters

A girl is on the skids because of love. A short tempered and passionate young man falls in love with the girl. His emotions are so powerful that he is prepared to surrender his whole personality. The boy has a good friend, who is not sure whether their bond is friendly or homosexual. Before the girl arrived, the friendship was close, but now she has thrown a spanner in the works. How do they react to the new situation?

Uncle David

Ashley, a young man with a childlike mind arrives to stay with his uncle, David. Escaping from his abusive mother, He enters into a sexual relationship with his uncle who offers his insights into the world and the nature of reality. Eventually he tells his uncle that he wants to die, and the latter agrees to carry out the killing.

Stand Up!

Irish anti-homophobic bullying advertisement, created as part of BeLonG To Youth Services annual Up! LGBT Awareness Weeks.

The Trip

When 19-year-old gay-rights activist Tommy and 24-year-old Alan first meet in 1973, they find themselves on the opposite sides of the political coin...

Young Hearts

14-year-old Elias increasingly feels like an outsider in his village. When he meets his new neighbour of the same age, Alexander, Elias is confronted with his burgeoning sexuality.

3670

Despite the close bonds among fellow defectors, Cheol-jun—a young North Korean defector—felt isolated while hiding his gay identity. Finally, he takes his first step into South Korea's vibrant gay community and forms close ties after meeting Yeong-jun at a casual gathering. Yet, a trivial misunderstanding shatters these fragile bonds.

What We Know

Carla, a young waitress, dreaming of a better life, is invited to spend an afternoon at the beach with Victor, a captivating classmate, and his peculiar friends. An immediate deep and intense attraction grows between them that will change their lives forever.

Hong Kong Night Club

Shibata and Tategami are Japanese journalists hiding out in the Lost City Night Club to elude the triads. Shibata falls in love with the club's hottest singer, Cora, but is hampered by his disguise - as a woman. She in turn loves Tachikami, who is gay, and desires Shibata.

Because of a Boy

When Vincent finds himself a victim of outing in his high school, he must accept to live with the drastic changes it provokes, and redefine his relationships with his friends and family.

Toto Forever

A wide-eyed young postman and a gangster in trouble with the mafia find their lives become inexplicably intertwined when a heady affair attracts danger at every turn.

Wet Sand

A village on the Georgian Black Sea is full of friendly people convinced they know each other. One day, Eliko is found hanged. His granddaughter Moe comes to organize his funeral. She is confronted with a web of lies and the tragic consequences of Eliko's hidden love life with Amnon, which lasted 22 years. The truth however frees Moe’s capability to love and forces the villagers to take a stand.

Playtime

A mother wants to play with her son who won't speak to her. A boy wants to find out what his friend is giving to a girl who is more slender than him. A cat has disappeared. But these are only games.

Born in 68

1968. Catherine, Yves and Hervé are twenty years old. They're students in Paris and they love each other. The May student uprisings radically change their lives. Overtaken by communal utopia, they leave the city with a few friends to set up house in an abandoned farm in the Lot region. A desire for freedom and the search for individual fulfillment lead them to make choices that cause them to separate.

Boys On Film Presents: Campfire

BOYS ON FILM is proud to present the complete short film collection of Bavo Defurne (North Sea Texas [Noordzee, Texas] (2011)), a beautiful imaginative series that reflects on different aspects of youth and sexuality. Defurne’s short films have wowed festival audiences all over the world and won numerous awards. His fluid directing style playfully takes reference from works of art and legendary filmmakers and creates something unique and original. The short films collected in Boys on Film Presents: Campfire showcase the foundation of an unusual directing talent with astonishing visual flare. Includes: Campfire [Kampvuur] (2000), Particularly Now, in Spring (1996), Sailor [Matroos] (1998), Saint (1996).

The Walker

Carter Page III, a middle-aged gay man in Washington, D. C., is a "walker", a single man who escorts other men's wives to social events so the husbands do not have to. One of the women he escorts, Lynn Lockner, is the wife of a United States senator and is carrying on an affair with a lobbyist. When she finds the lobbyist murdered, she embroils Carter in an investigation that leads to the highest levels of the federal government.

The Man from Earth

A departing professor gathers his closest colleagues for an intimate farewell, but the night takes an unexpected turn when he shares a stunning secret about his past. As the conversation unfolds, skepticism and curiosity collide, challenging everything they thought they knew about history, science, and belief.

Nobody's Boy

A hustler named Oscar encounters both the light and dark of humanity in an alcohol fueled odyssey of sex, love, and death.

Poof

Aaron, an apprehensive 18-year-old, is stuck. Stuck in a small town, helping his father in a job he hates. His life is soon turned upside-down when he meets Mike at a party. At first, Aaron denies his feelings but an unexpected kiss changes everything. As he enters into a hidden relationship with Mike, Aaron finds that some secrets are harder to keep than others. The more he explores his sexuality, the more he begins to consider the impact this may have on the rest of his life.

Sacrifice

'Sacrifice' follows the love story between James Hunter and Blake Robinson as they begin a new phase in their life together. Forces out of their control tear them apart but to what extent and consequence? How much will they sacrifice? A traditional military love story from a perspective which has not yet been seen before.

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.

Gloomy Sunday

Budapest in the thirties. The restaurant owner Laszlo hires the pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody triggers off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans goes and falls in love with Ilona as well.

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.

Time to Leave

Romain, 31, a fashion photographer with terminal cancer, elects to die alone, preparing others to live past him rather than prolong the inevitable with chemotherapy or be smothered in sympathy by those who know him.

The Tailor of Panama

A British spy is banished to Panama after having an affair with an ambassador's mistress. Once there he makes connection with a local tailor with a nefarious past and connections to all of the top political and gangster figures in Panama. The tailor also has a wife, who works for the Panamanian president and a huge debt. The mission is to learn what the President intends to do with the Canal.

The Game

In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift certificate to play a unique kind of game. In nary a nanosecond, Nicholas finds himself consumed by a dangerous set of ever-changing rules, unable to distinguish where the charade ends and reality begins.

Naked Lunch

Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.

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.

Sublime

When 16-year-old Manu realises that he has fallen in love with his bandmate Felipe, turbulent emotions start brewing beneath the surface. How do you avoid losing a friendship once its very foundation has shifted?

Bogeyman

A raucous, angry exorcism of relationships and assorted fears, shadowed by the Big One: the plague of AIDS.

Ménage

Tenue De Soirée (1986) is a dark comedy by Bertrand Blier starring Gérard Depardieu, Michel Blanc, and Miou-Miou. Antoine and Monique, a poor couple living in a caravan, meet Bob, a charismatic burglar who leads them into a series of thefts and a troubled relationship. Bob expresses a desire for Antoine, disrupting the trio's romantic and power relationships. The film provocatively addresses themes of sexuality, cross-dressing, and power relations. A critical and popular success, it earned Michel Blanc the Best Actor Award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

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.

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.