Promise of a Wild Love (2022)

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Bye Bye Victor

Friendship between two old men becomes love. Slightly-unkempt, tired, and frail, Philippe Lanctot moves into a rest home. The administrator says she wants him to be happy, but that seems far from his mind: he's waiting to die. Then, into his room, unannounced, rolls the voluble Victor Laprade, who draws out Philippe over the next few months. Victor gives Philippe the gift of experiencing the moment. In return, the well-heeled Philippe organises field trips to dinner and to a botanical garden, and, unknown to Victor, becomes the man's benefactor when Victor's children get stingy. The openly-gay Victor also pushes Philippe to acknowledge feelings he's always kept suppressed.

Dear to Me

A 27-year-old Indonesian, Tim, is having a family vacation with both of his parents on a remote island far from the city, where they learn about the myth of a reincarnated deer that exists somewhere along the beach. Island locals believe that seeing the deer is a sign of meeting one’s soulmate. Tim is the only one who secretly hoping to discover the deer, hiding his desire from his very devout Christian parents.

In from the Side

Mark, a new and inexperienced rugby club member, finds himself drawn to Warren, a seasoned first team player. When a series of happenstances at an away fixture lead to a drunken encounter, Mark and Warren unwittingly embark on a romantic affair they struggle to hide from their partners and teammates.

Just Charlie

Football star Charlie has the world at her feet. With a top club desperate to sign her, her future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Raised as a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father's expectations and shedding this ill fitting skin.

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.

Paradise Now

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Billy Elliot

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

All About My Mother

Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.

Bad Education

An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.

Brokeback Mountain

In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

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.

Desert Hearts

While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed literature professor finds herself unexpectedly attracted by a carefree, spirited young woman named Cay.

Against the Law

United Kingdom, March 24, 1954. Ten years before the decriminalization of homosexuality, journalist Peter Wildeblood and his friends Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt-Rivers are convicted and imprisoned for indecency and sodomy.

Everything Is Illuminated

A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

Summer Storm

Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteorological.

Mala Noche

Walt is a lonely convenience store clerk who has fallen in love with a Mexican migrant worker named Johnny. Though Walt has little in common with the object of his affections — including a shared language — his desire to possess Johnny prompts a sexual awakening that results in a tangled love triangle.

Swain

Swain is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Fanshawe, features a dreamlike narrative of a young man’s ritualized rejection of heterosexuality, as a mysterious woman in white gossamer pursues him through a ruined landscape.

House of Angels

In a small village in Västergötland, everything is turned upside-down when the local loner dies and his cottage is inherited by his unknown relative Fanny. She rides into town on a big black motorcycle with her androgynous boyfriend Zack, wearing black leather and spikes. When they decide to stay, Flogfält's plans to buy the cottage are upset.

Johan

Johan details the director's quest for an actor to play his titular lover, the real deal having been incarcerated just prior to shooting on charges of petty theft.

Ang Tanging Ina

Desperate to provide a comfortable life for her children, Ina willingly takes all kinds of jobs available to her. But what happens when Ina's family continues to fall apart despite all her sacrifices?

An Englishman in New York

Biographical drama based on the last 20 years of Crisp's life. The literary figure and gay iconoclast emigrated to New York in 1981 and lived there until his death. The film observes Crisp in both his public and private lives, from his seemingly cavalier response to the outbreak of AIDS to his tender relationship with his friend Patrick Angus and his own response to growing old.

Dance of the Forty One

Mexico City, November 1901. The police raid a private home where a secret party is being held. Among those attending is the son-in-law of President Porfirio Díaz.

The Gay Agenda 26

In this anthology of shorts, the phrase “Gay Agenda” is reclaimed from the religious right and transformed into a celebration of gay culture. Sit back and enjoy “The Carer,” “Into the Storm,” and “Floating Melon.”

Testosterone: Volume Four

Volume Four of this sexy collection of the hottest gay short films around. This collection takes us from a blossoming love in a one-bedroom apartment in Tel Aviv, to the paranoid jealousy that comes with your first relationship, to a visually poetic work of ethereal movement and dance. A comedy about the fantasies of a hunky repairman and a thriller about a one-night stand where nothing is as it seems. The 5 shorts include: Faces (2019); Fish Tank (2018); Rubber Dolphin [דולפין מגומי] (2018); The Handyman (2019); Writhing (2018).

Broken Gardenias

Jenni, an orphaned semi-savant, and a street hustler named Sam, steal a car and head to Los Angeles to find Jenni's father whom she hasn't seen or heard from since she was six years old.

Ruben

Desperately trying to come to terms with his sexuality, gay teenager Ruben finds his path to sexual acceptance complicated, as homophobic bullying brings him ever closer to the brink of suicide.

Mountains of the Moon

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire. The film tells the story of their meeting, their friendship emerging amidst hardship, and then dissolving after their journey.

The Graffiti Artist

Adrift in the lush, nocturnal urban landscape of THE GRAFFITI ARTIST, Nick (Ruben Bansie-Snellman) is a post-modern urban hero asserting his anarchistic agenda on the endless maze of virgin exterior walls that comprise downtown Seattle and Portland. For this iconoclastic young visionary, the vast wall surfaces of deserted alleys and train yards are at once a daunting symbol of capitalist oppression and a texturally rich, seamless tableau ripe for exploitation to amplify his artistic dialectic of anger and rebellion.

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.

Totally F***ed Up

Gay, alienated Los Angeles teens have a hard time as their parents kick them out of their homes, they don’t have money, their lovers cheat, and they are harassed by gay-bashers.

Ozon: Remastered & Uncut

He thrilled you with 'Swimming Pool', tickled you with '8 Women' and beguiled you with 'Young and Beautiful'. Dive into the the erotic twists and transgressive turns of the early short films of auteur director François Ozon. The 5 short films are: A Summer Dress [Une robe d'été] (1996); X2000 (1998); Truth or Dare [Action vérité] (1994); See the Sea [Regarde la mer] (1997); Little Death [La petite mort] (1995).

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.

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.

Green Plaid Shirt

This endearing drama depicts the lives of five gay friends — in conflict with themselves and each other — at the dawn of the AIDS era. Back in 1978 everything seemed possible. For Phillip and Guy, there was the thrill and exhilaration of first love. For their friends Devon, Jerry and Todd, life was still an open book with so many pages yet to be filled. Ten years later, his friends are all gone and Phillip is left alone to make sense of the joys and sorrows of his past life — as he looks hopefully to the future. The lives of two ordinary men who find love together only to lose it. In an era of easy sex and open relationships they have only two rules: Don't fall in love with others and no jealousy. Still rules are made to be broken. Eventually a single act of forgiveness restores their love.

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.

Footing

One winter morning, a father and his son go for a jog. Along the way, we understand that a gap has grown between Marco, a Parisian who has come to spend a few days in the countryside, and Jean-Claude, a retired policeman who doesn't talk much. Their love is present, but barriers and modesty hold them back from expressing it.

The 4th Man

A man who has been having visions of an impending danger begins an affair with a woman who may lead him to his doom.

Sea Sparkles

The night before he is set to leave Uruguay in search of a better future, Lucas, an ambitious yet doubtful young man meets Juan, a Venezuelan immigrant who challenges his views on life and pushes him to enjoy the present.

Kaadhal Enbadhu Podhu Udamai

Samyuktha, a passionate Kathak dancer, shares a deep bond with her mother, Lakshmi—a renowned motivational speaker and documentary filmmaker. Their progressive relationship is tested when Samyuktha reveals her love for another woman. While Lakshmi is initially thrilled, her excitement fades as she struggles to reconcile her traditional Indian values with modern ideas of love and sexuality. Through multiple perspectives, including that of Mary, who explores evolving notions of romance, the story delves into acceptance, identity, and the complexities of family dynamics.

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).

Grace

A 1950s Southern teen questions her faith and sexuality on the eve of her baptism when urged to repent her feelings for her best friend.

12 Points

Jonas's father expresses his enthusiasm about Conchita Wurst's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Hence, his 18-year-old son works up the courage to come out as a homosexual and introduce his boyfriend to his parents unexpectedly, his father's euphoria about the tolerance and open-mindedness displayed at the Song Contest comes to a sudden end.

Albino

Yashima is a woman who works as a plumber. She is also uncomfortable with her own sexuality. One day she visits a home for a job and meets Kyu. Yashima senses Kyu's eyes watching her. They become intimate, but a dark secret is soon revealed.

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.

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.

Twittering Birds Never Fly: The Clouds Gather

In the hyper-masculine criminal underworld, a masochistic high-ranking yakuza and his newly-assigned bodyguard become increasingly drawn to each other.

Longing

When Michal finds out her husband Meir is having an affair with a man, her world collapses. Not only is she is forced to deal with sexual rejection from Meir, she also has to endure social rejection.

Lucky Fares

One of the Three Kings and Santa Claus spend Christmas in jail, talking about what their future will be like in a world like this.

South of Heaven

When his boyfriend shows up unannounced, Elias' religious family learns their son's darkest secret.

Halimuyak

Mikee finally found love after years of misery, in the form of Divine, a stunning perfumer. But when a haunting scent from Divine’s past ties to the most painful chapter of Mikee’s life, can love survive when the truth threatens to destroy everything?

Who Are You?

Nowadays, many people use dating apps just for hook-ups. If you want to have sex, you can have it almost instantly. However, the price for this is our lost identity. This has many advantages but also many disadvantages, which some people may misuse. What happens if a thief and a policeman decide to use such a dating app?

L'Animale

Riding on their tuned-up bikes, Mati and her posse of male friends intimidate their neighborhood and harass the girls. In their village, they rule. But when her closest pal Sebastian falls in love with Mati and her enemy Carla unexpectedly turns into a friend, Mati is in danger of losing her standing among her male friends. Meanwhile Mati’s parents have a decision to make: What's more important, appearances or reality?

Green Butterflies

Mateo is an intelligent boy who falls in love with Daniel, but when everyone reveals that relationship, Mateo is at a crossroads, and he will have to decide between fighting his adversities or giving up everything, even his life.

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.

The Living End

Two HIV-positive young men — a semi-employed film critic and a hot hustler — tear off on a cross-country crime spree.

The Latin Boys: Volume 1

From Mennonite musings on the Amazonian pampas to wild Havana nights and bittersweet Rio love songs, if a roller-coaster of same sex desire is what you seek, The Latin Boys will take you there. The 6 short films are: Unicorn [Unicornio] (2014); The Good Friend [El amigo] (2017); Mila Caos (2011); Pray for Us [Ruega por nosotros] (2019); Carlito Leaves Forever [Carlito se va para siempre] (2018); I Am Yet to Make You a Love Song [Ainda Não Lhe Fiz Uma Canção de Amor] (2015).

Soldiers. Story from Ferentari

Adi (40), a shy and introverted anthropologist who got recently dumped by his girlfriend, moves to Ferentari, most notorious outcasted neighborhood in Bucharest. He wants to write a study on manele music. The pop music of the Roma community serves as a way out for some, but mostly as one more means for the mafia pimps to make money off their acts and keep them in slave-like dependency. While researching his subject, Adi meets Alberto, a Roma ex-convict and a bear of a man, who promises Adi to help him. Soon, the unlikely pair begins a playful romance in which Adi feeds Alberto with improbable plans of escaping poverty and Alberto reciprocates with well-concocted phrases of love. Little by little their casual affair grows into love. And the funny and sweet teasing turns into something precarious, since Alberto is both dangerous and fragile and belongs to a world whose codes Adi doesn't understand.

Boy Erased

Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his family, friends, and faith.

All the Crows in the World

18-year-old Shengnan is invited to a mysterious party by her cousin. Upon arrival, Shengnan finds herself surrounded by greasy middle-aged men, with the exception of Jianguo, who is different. Shengnan and Jianguo decide to bail on the party, embarking on a night of adventures in the adult world.

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.

Fair Play

Marie and Steven appear to be a happy couple, but Steven's secret relationship with another man begins to threaten his idyllic home life.

My Brother's Shoes

Dallas, a successful executive with a beautiful wife, dreams of having a family, while his gay brother Austin dreams of winning a local drag show. By a twist of fate, the brothers switch bodies and have to see how the other lives.

Camp

Misfits in their lives back home, a group of young people live it up at musical-theater camp. While the sports counselor is completely ignored, the kids' spend all their time in rehearsal for a grueling schedule that involves a new show every two weeks. Several personal stories come to the fore.

Musical Utena ~ Bud of the White Rose

The 2018 Revolutionary Girl Utena musical, marking the 20th anniversary of the series, ran from March 8-18th at CBGK! Theater in Shibuya, Tokyo.

The Hours and Times

A fictionalized account of what may have happened when John Lennon and Brian Epstein went on holiday together to Spain in 1963.

The Pier Man

Theo is a young docker languishing in his native port. His life flows at the monotonous rhythm of cargo ships passing by. Through his encounter with Giuseppe, a disillusioned sailor ashore for a while, Theo will gather the courage to face the waves to escape his dull existence by trying to get into Giuseppe's gruff crew.

Lucky Bastard

Rusty is a successful architect with the life of his dreams. However, when his boyfriend leaves town, Rusty meets a mysterious drifter names Denny who opens Rusty up to a strange new world.

The Awakening of Spring

Based on the 1891 play "Spring Awakening," this filmed stage drama examines the tensions and confusion of young people as their growing sexual awareness conflicts with the repressive social environment around them. The passionate kiss between two males might be the first envisioned for the stage since Christopher Marlowe's between Edward II and Gaveston.

Automagic

On his return home, androgynous-looking Madhu attempts to seduce Ratnakar, his rickshaw driver, who is practicing celibacy in preparation for a religious pilgrimage.

306

'306' is a film that makes the viewer question: Is the closest person in your life normal? A family member, friend, or a lover? What is the norm that we are suppose to follow in life? What is perceived as normal on the outside is usually just a daily costume, which we as people like to dance around in to assimilate into society? The question is: Who is Eric Hays? Or more specifically: What is Eric Hays hiding? '306' gives the viewer a chance to see a secret that no one else gets to see.

A Soldier's Choice

Marine private John Rossi is looking forward to a new assignment in New York City on the night he ventures into a Hell's Kitchen bar, and meets a handsome but lonely boy named Damon Conrad. Damon assumes the Marine just wants sex, but when he proposes they go out on a "real date," Damon begins to think perhaps he has finally found the man of his dreams. The next night, John reveals that earlier that day he learned his division would be heading to the Middle East. Later that night, when the boys are caught-up in a moment of passion, John must choose between his devotion to the Marines and his desire for love and companionship.

All Over Brazil

With Scotland in the World Cup in 1974, Stephen is more into Glam Rock than football.

Attack

A neo-Nazi skinhead is apprehended because he has attacked two black teenage boys. As we are taken backwards through the story we realise that things may not be as 'Black & White' as they appear.