Heartbeat (2022)

Styx

Long-term partners Marc and Adrien live a seemingly perfect existence close to Lake Constance. Only whilst Marc is content to spend his days working for the local ferry service, Adrien yearns for the bright lights of Berlin and the clubs in which he hopes to realize his dream of becoming a musician. Yet life has a way of turning out not as you expect and here events culminate on a lengthy ferry crossing, one that sees Marc soon to spot Adrien onboard, complete with a one-way ticket and a car packed full of his belongings. Suffice to say that the stage is set for a traumatic farewell.

You Like That

Lost in a hypersexual digital world, Joshua dreams of the kind of love he’s only read about in classic literature.

Lacuna

As she struggles to finish her short film, a first-time filmmaker travels through her memory bank in search of inspiration.

The Summer Holidays

Blandine spends her holidays alone in a small campsite at the foot of the mountains. She is quickly overwhelmed by the noise, the crowd and the rain that she was trying to escape for a summer. At the edge of the lake, Blandine meets Helio, a young local journalist.

Merenguito

Merenguito, a little piñata boy, wakes up on a school table after being put together by a group of primary school children. Soon they discover his gift: dispensing candy at will. When the children become absorbed by their greed for candy, Merenguito finds comfort in his friendship with Bruno, a gentle child outcast from his peers due to his delicate health condition. Chaos soon erupts and Merenguito becomes a victim of merciless bullying that spirals him into a choice with terrible consequences.

The Difficulties Of Being Drunk Alone

A young man finds himself alone in his hotel room with a full bottle of vodka when his repressed memories begin to resurface and take control.

Sunshine Sparkling in My Eyes

Raphaël is seventeen years old and in love. It is the story of an awakening, the painful explosion of the adolescence.

Unicorn

A young German/Bolivian Mennonite risks his life to escape his strict religious community to find love and freedom in the city.

Wanks

Two friends decide to have a wank remembering old times.

Zack & Luc

A split-screen film telling two versions of the entire story of a relationship. Each memory becomes intertwined with all the others: the firsts, the lasts, the middles, each of the small nothing moments that add up to something in the end.

Jemima + Johnny

A white boy and a black Jamaican girl have a day out in a city where racial hostility prevails.

Disappear Here

Back in Paris after a year spent abroad, Lenz wanders with melancholy from party to party, balancing on a line of cocaine, seeking for a mysterious young woman: Elena.

Thylacine

A young couple nearing their nine months anniversary hit a road block when one decides to have lunch with an admirer. The relationship is tested as they face their insecurities along the way.

The Name of the Prime Minister

A psychiatrist is taken to a secret government facility to interview a man convinced Tony Blair is still the Prime Minister.

In the Name of the Father

The short film depicts the life of a boy who is constantly sexually abused by his father. Leonardo Miggiorin brilliantly plays the role of this boy, who belongs to a poor and unstructured family.

An Ode to Solitude

Exploring the duality between friendship and loneliness, this intimate narrative short tells the story of David, a bright young boy struggling with a broken home life, as he tries to reconnect with his childhood best friends as they search for something to do in their small suburban town.

A Piacere

A violin student wrestles with her motivations for studying what she loves.

Document 56

In Cold War-era Romania, two Securitate officers intercept a letter from Richard Nixon to Nicolae Ceausescu. With 48 hours to prepare for the arrival of CIA operatives, the two agents race to determine the hidden agenda of the visit.

Connected

"Connected" is a about two lonesome people who find each other via a chance encounter on a subway train. They experience happiness in one another for a brief moment in their lives until circumstances out of their control rip them apart. However their paths may once again intersect down the line.

Passenger

In this anime-inspired film, a vengeful spirit tries to possess Cora's body, but over time they form a dysfunctional relationship.

Gameboy

Thijs, Tobias, Sjeng, and Tarik break into a house and steal a multitude of their school exams for profit. But in time, as their gain notoriety, the jig is up! But will all four go down, will there be consequences, and will that be all that happens to these rambunctious four young men?

Emma

Emma is a regular human faced with daily modern obstacles, yet underneath her smile a secret hides. (A story with no words.)

The Commitment

An interracial gay couple adopting a newborn baby meets the pregnant Asian birthmother and receives a surprise that threatens their relationship.

Balls

22-year old Teun has to move back home. His house-mates have organized a farewell dinner for him. What starts as a social gathering, emotions are running high soon.

Follow Me

Jasper (20), on the edge of adulthood , wanders around lost in the Port of Ghent. Fragments of a phone call betray a loss.

True

While he's receiving an enigmatic phone call from his girlfriend Francine, Thomas remembers the milestones of their relationship, from the very moment they met in a really strange way. A segment of “Paris, je t'aime” (2006).

100m Freestyle

Polo and Domingo spend their last days together between Ciudad Mendoza and Cordoba, in Veracruz, Mexico, before Domingo moves to another city for college. Domingo has to say goodbye to his girlfriend, Mina; while Polo deals with his feelings towards his best friend in the little time they have left.

Piglet Piglet

The sudden pregnancy and miscarriage of a young woman results in a turbulent day of anxiety and loneliness, set in a monumental day of a country’s search for hope.  

The Symphony of Silence

17 year-old writer Zach struggles to survive in the 'dog eat dog' world of high school where he is tormented by bullies. There is no chance of finding comfort at home as one of the bullies happens to be his 18 year-old brother, Sean. In order to escape his bullies at school, he resorts to hiding in the restroom during his lunch breaks.

The Burning Boy

A closeted teenage gay boy shares a swim and an afternoon together with his straight best friend. When his looks and longing let his secret out, his friend pleasantly surprises him but an accident occurs and tragedy ensues.

Cierva

An emerging photographer is forced to make a crucial decision while on a career-defining job.

The Apple Tree

When Gabe and Jonathan fall in love in the 1940s, they decide to spend their life together in secret. But when Jonathan unexpectedly passes away years later, Gabe is faced with the fact that many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender elders face when they move into retirement homes...he must return into the closet.

Happy Childhood

A life is difficult even for children during the forties in Estonia...

Lost Property Office

A clerk at a lost property office is faced with unexpected change, and plans an unconventional response.

Verbena

In Madrid, during a popular festival, Don Paco, the owner of a freak show called The Palace of Wonders, has to deal with the demands of Levinsky, a sinister character who apparently has something to hide…

Red Ants Bite

In Georgia, two stranded Nigerians, Obinna and Afame, navigate the sleeping city of Tbilisi after a long night out. However, as day breaks the true colors of their ambiguous affection begin to show. In this way, they find solace despite their hostile environment.

Freestyle Swimmer

Young Max discovers that grandfather Gustav cannot swim and decides to teach him. But Gustav thinks that it may be too late for him...

Grenadine

How do three brothers change when their parents inexplicably disappear?

Walls

A teenage boy named David is afraid of being transparent. When David's best friend, Johnathan, notices his abuse at home, David must overcome his fear of rejection in order to embrace his friend's support.

Meet Me in Holmsund

Sabina has travelled from Romania to Holmsund in northern Sweden to find a job with her brothers. Elin has just finished school and is enjoying the first day of the summer holidays. That evening they meet, and it's a meeting that lasts forever.

Five Minutes a Day

Working in a small security kiosk, two men take advantage of the shift change to get to know each other and forge a touching bond.

Polaroid

Giuseppe, 33, is still struggling to build his life in a small Italian town where he has to hide his homosexuality. With a Polaroid in hand, he decides to leave for Berlin to find Peter, a summer love he has never forgotten. The shock of a cosmopolitan city is nothing compared to the moment he realizes that the German artist has a "normal" family. For him this represents the possibility of 'losing' himself and meeting Marco, who takes him around all night to arrive at dawn to the conviction that love is the only strength to find one's identity. "Polaroid" is one of five short film segments in an omnibus feature titled "A Quintet".

The First Emperor of China

This historical drama tells the story of Qin Shihuang, who unified China's vast territory and declared himself emperor in 221 B.C. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this film re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty, including footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed 2,200 years ago for his tomb.

Strange Says the Angel

Seven-year-old Nina cannot be her aunt’s daughter. Nor can she be her father’s lover. In this world threatened by contamination, what then is Nina’s place?

Brick

Jeffrey lives in a small Dutch town with his father and his girlfriend. He is about to become a dad. Working in the local brick factory, he gets to supervise newbee Kevin. When Kevin tries to become intimate with him, Jeffrey knocks him to the ground. Yet he can't seem to get Kevin out of his head and starts to question everything that he was once so sure of.

Bully

When a video of Toby being brutally humiliated at school appears on the Internet, Toby's high school and parents take action. However, with an overbearing father and a willfully unaware mother, Toby soon learns that his demons are not just in the classroom.

Angels Of Our Past

A father and sons solitary life in hiding is threatened by a visitor from their past.