Short Films
Shorts I: FAMILY MATTERS
27 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
Service
Mikko Mäkelä, 15', 2022, Finland
On furlough from his military service, Niko pays his estranged father a visit. Can old wounds heal?
Borekas
Saleh Saadi, 15', 2020, Palestine
A breakdown on the way to the airport provides a father and son with an opportunity to reconnect.
Too Rough
Sean Lìonadh, 15', 2022, UK
After a night of intoxication, a hungover and hysterical Nick wakes up next to his boyfriend Charlie and must conceal him from his own homophobic and dysfunctional family.
Will You Look at Me
Shuli Huang, 20', 2022, China
As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.
Let's Not Let Go Anymore
Alkisti Efthymiou, 13', 2021, Chile
In the midst of the social uprising and pandemic that is sweeping Chile, Alkisti (32), a Greek woman living in Santiago, and Mara (4), her flatmate’s daughter, are forced into progressive confinement. During this critical period, Alkisti decides to film the relational space she shares with Mara, revealing games, dialogues, and mutual concerns that will lead to a tale about femininity, survival, and collective care.
M(other)hood
Bea Goddard, 17', 2021, UK
A trans-masculine parent begins hormone treatment at 43. A film that deftly explores the shifting perceptions of their four children.
Tank Fairy
Erich Rettstadt, 10', 2021, Taiwan, USA
Once upon a time, the magical Tank Fairy delivered tanks of gas (with plenty of sass) to the home of young Jojo, a lonely dreamer in need of a glittery godmother…
Shorts II: DIFFICULT DREAMS
28 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
Insieme Insieme
Bernardo Zanotta, 37', 2021, Italy
During their permanent vacation in the Italian lake region, a mysterious trio takes captive an innocent tourist.
Chaperone
Sam Max, 16', 2021, USA
An unnamed figure picks up a young man in his car. As the two drive together, and settle into an austere rental house in the country, the details of their arrangement become guttingly clear.
Exalted Mars
Jean-Sébastien Chauvin, 18', 2022, France
A man is dreaming of a city. Unless the city is dreaming of him.
Das Ding
Cade Moga, 12', 2021, Brazil
Das Ding takes the viewer on a poetic and visually striking 12-minute voyage, organized in 3 chapters: A stop-motion animated opening brings up philosophical questions like “Why do hollows matter, when hollows aren’t matter?” In the second chapter illustrations eerily morph into live action, building up to a fantastic final chapter where a vulnerable and violent personal story is enacted.
Erma
Angelos Charalambous, 13', 2021, Greece
Erma, neutral: Principles or motives which guide one’s behaviour or actions. A movie about gender, the body; and all of the interweaving moments found in their midst. The perpetual process and struggle of forming a gendered subjectivity against the repressive notions of heteronormativity is explored through an abstract narrative viewpoint and techniques found in stop-motion animation and body horror genre. From birth till death, the glitch in the code of patriarchy submits and resists, emerges through but is also confined by the "ghosts" of social discourse. With the use of heavy religious symbolism and an ironic and challenging attitude; "ERMA" highlights the contradictions of gender construction, both in the fields of solitary subjectivity as well as in relation to the dominant heteronormative narrative. Gender identity is a war taking place in the trenches of one’s body.
Shorts III: BOYS WILL BE BOYS
29 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
Cosmopolitan
Moran Nakar, 8', 2020, Israel
Jacob goes out, for the first time in his life, to a gay party, but discovers that his skin color prevents him from being accepted into the community.
Naughty Spot
Jean Costa, 20', 2021, France
It’s Tonio’s first time in Corsica. He wanders across the island and on dating apps until stumbling upon the Oracle, a user who tells him about gay life in Corsica. Their conversation is reenacted with an actor who seems to connect deeply with the Oracle’s story.
Idiot Fish
Hakim Mao, 24', 2022, France
On the road to holidays, Jimmy and Guillaume replay their first meeting. Jimmy becomes a lost hitchhiker, Guillaume a lonely driver. They will pretend they don't know each other anymore, in order to play to meet and seduce each other again. Until a third player joins the game…
Beautiful Stranger
Benjamin Belloir, 26', 2021, France
One night, in a hotel room, Romain, an overworked thirty-something, has just been dumped by his long-term boyfriend. Seeking solace, he logs onto a dating app and is confronted by a devil-may-care operator and an obstinate Don Juan.
In Beauty It Is Unfinished
Greko Sklavounos, 16', 2021, USA
In suburban Miami, a Cuban immigrant longs for a lost memory. A voice creates a meditative portrait of two tropical landscapes-separated by 100 miles of ocean-and two men dancing at twilight; the distance of their bodies both measured and infinite.
Walls
Semeli Vogazianou, 5', 2022, Cyprus
The WALLS that have been imposed on us. The filth that sticks to us.
Shorts IV: PUNCH LIKE A GIRL
30 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
A Big Life
Anna Brownfield, 15', 2022, Australia
A Big Life is told through the tales of Bobbie Nugent it is a story of butches and femmes, gangsters, sex workers, travelling side shows and early Australian transgender history.
The Spark
Elvire Muñoz, 23', 2020, France
Maya likes her boss a little too much. As things come to a head she has a choice: to stay quiet or take matters into her own hands.
Burial of Life as a young girl
Maïté Sonnet, 33', 2022, France
Axelle is having the worst day of her life: while she is recovering badly from a break-up, she has to go to her sister's bachelorette party in a ghostly spa in the mountains. Fortunately, among the guests, there is Marguerite. Through one gaze, love is awaken again.
This is Katharine
Ida H. Eldøen, 15', 2021, Norway
Katharine grew up trying to find her sexual identity by watching films and TV-series, and ended up having trouble finding herself.
A Summer Place
Alexandra Matheou, 20', 2021, Cyprus
Tina lives in a once quiet seaside town, now transformed into the oligarch paradise of the Mediterranean. As her isolation grows more intense, her decision to end her life on the day of her birthday feels like her only choice, until an unforeseen encounter with another woman will prove to be a life changing moment for both.
Shorts V: PORTRAITS
01 Dec @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
#LOVESPEECH
Adele Tulli, 2', 2021, Italy
You Will Live
Mehdi Sahed, 24', 2020, France
Olivier is 25 years old. Five years ago, he discovered his HIV status. Through this portrait, he shares with me his wounds, his view of the disease, and the struggle he carries out on a daily basis to fight against the stigmatizing gaze of society.
Herman@s (SiblinX)
Hélène Alix Mourrier, 28', 2021, France
One night in October 2011 in Mexico, a mysterious bird dream gives birth to Cuco, a transgender latex pirate.
Poison
Louve Dubuc Babinet, 19', 2020, Belgium
In a world where the working system is falling appart, Poison is a porn performer and actress. Away from the monetary and working sytem, she uses the stage to express her fears, her doubts, her anger, and to empower herself.
Que Sera Sera
Alexandros Pissourios, 24', 2020, UK
“Que Sera Sera” is a comedic film inspired by my close friendship with drag performer A Man To Pet (Thanasis). It loosely belongs to a documentary tradition – planned on the spot and inspired by the subject and surroundings.
Shorts VI: MICHAEL BRYNNTRUP: A SUPER-8 QUEER PIONEER
02 Dec 19:00 @ Goethe-Institut Cyprus
Testamento Memori
Michael Brynntrup, 7', 1986, Germany
Sooner or later everyone is confronted with this problem: what to do with the body. – A problem film. Psychosomatic birth preparation with practical exercises for euthanasia.
The Hieronymus – Death Dance 6
Michael Brynntrup, 7', 1989, Germany
Gravediggers: species of beatles, black, live off cadavers of small animals, which they roll into balls.
Narcissus and Echo
Michael Brynntrup, 14', 1989, Germany
A film in the form of a riddle is a special kind of entertainment film whereby the film's content
The Statics – Engineering Memory Bridges
Michael Brynntrup, 21', 1990, Germany
Rests and tests from the inquiry into prototypes. Formal proofs through pregnant experiments on one's own body.
Love, Jealousy and Revenge
Michael Brynntrup, 7', 1991, Germany
You know very well, that nowadays many countries produce films in their own language … (original with subtitles). German for foreigners, asylum seekers and other outsiders. Survival course with subtitles and undertones.
All You Can Eat
Michael Brynntrup, 6', 1993, Germany
Safe sex in the 70ies. Bigger than life in 35mm. All you can eat in 5 minutes.
Tabu V (About Which One Cannot Speak)
Michael Brynntrup, 13', 1998, Germany
About which one cannot speak, one must make films.
NY 'NY 'N Why Not
Michael Brynntrup, 4', 1999, Germany
WALK / DON’T WALK / WALK. The rhythm of the nineties. A music stroll along Christopher Street.
Shorts VII: PROMISED LAND
03 Dec @ Shakespeare House
Baba
Sam Arbor, Adam Ali, 16', 2021, UK, Libya
Living in the tunnels beneath Tripoli a queer Libyan teenager, Britannia, dreams of escape to a better life, but an unexpected discovery forces him to question whether to stay or flee from his homeland and his friends.
Egungun
Olive Nwosu , 15', 2021, UK, Nigeria
In this captivating drama, a woman returns to her hometown of Lagos in search of healing. What she discovers instead is a path that takes her into her past and toward a new understanding of the people and experiences that shaped her.
Prayers for Sweet Waters
Elijah Ndoumbe, 16', 2021, UK, South Africa
A submergence into the vivid realities of three transgender sex workers living in Cape Town, South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
My Mother's Girlfriend
Arun Fulara, 15', 2021, India
Renuka and Sadiya, two working-class women in love with each other, enjoy their day out celebrating Renuka's birthday. After a fun-filled day, they head home to spend the night together. But unknown to them, Renuka's son, Mangesh, is around.
Man & Wife
Rahul Roye, 9', 2021, India
In an arranged marriage, on their wedding day, just prior to the ceremony, the groom, comes out to their would-be bride that they are secretly a non-binary person.
Heads Above Water
Afra Nuarey, 8', 2022, Bangladesh
“Heads Above Water” uncovers the hidden truths of the Hijra community struggling to navigate through a society that has all but rejected them. We follow the intrinsic lives of three trans women who forge different relationships within society.
Nidhal
Bassem Ben Brahim, 11', 2022, Tunisia
Between reality and animation, the story of Nidhal is told, a young homosexual Tunisian who defended individual freedoms in Tunisia through his work in radio. He found himself under a lot of pressure which forced him to leave the country and seek asylum in the Netherlands.
Shorts VIII: PORN & PREJUDICE
04 Dec @ Sessions
Yes, Goddess
Randa Jarrar, 12', 2022, USA
A group of queer femmes and their lovers gather at a kink party for the first time since 2019.
Burn
Maitén Del Valle, 15', 2021, Argentina
Niki and Maco get together for dinner. During the course of the night they have a sexual encounter that leads them to experience different stimuli until they culminate in orgasm.
The Beauty of Stigma
Helias Doulis, 2', 2021, Greece
A retired porn star becomes the narrator for the end of erotic innocence. Two boys who have long anticipated the love their bodies have felt for one another, are now trapped among a stall of walls. Their desire floats above the garbage of the city and finds refuge in death.
Fudliaks! Tear The Sexes Apart!
Jasmin Hagendorfer, 13', 2021, Austira
This hyper-intersectional film is an amalgam of sci-fi creature-flick, campy music video, grotesque comedy, agitprop flick against heterocentric research as well as (soft-)pornographic subversive statement. "FUDLIAKS! Tear the sexes apart!" is set in an undefined present, in a mysterious laboratory: the Institute for Gender Normalization. The research subject of this neo-conservative think tank: the scientific underpinnings of conventional heteronormative bodies and biologically binary genders. But a new research series turns all that on its head!
Achtung
Michael Brynntrup, 14', 2001, Germany
There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. (Immanuel Kant, Introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason, opening sentence) Born in the body (…and in time…)
Motta
Nish Gera, 16', 2020, Netherlands, UK
Bound in flowers, a tattooed hand strokes a face. Ropes unwind on the floor. Tremors of pain, tremors of release. What do you desire?
FIRST TIME [THE TIME FOR ALL BUT SUNSET – VIOLET]
04 Dec @ Sesions
Nicolaas Schmidt, 49', 2021, –
We listen to music and are on the way. In doing so, we see things and the world differently than before. So that things don‘t always go on like this, but may become better: Two boys meet on a train ride. Something is born – not much and yet everything. Enjoy a Golden Hour Carousel Ride. A Common Sensations Music Movie.
SCREENING WITH FEATURES
Dildo Riot
Maria Katsikadakou, Nikos Chantzis, 9', 2021, Greece
26 Nov 15:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
A Marky Ramone gig, a murder, a riot, and a big dildo.
At Night We Fly
Gert-Jan Verdeyen, 17', 2021, Belgium
26 Nov 19:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
“Neither man nor woman. “You can call us strangers, but do we look like danger?” Three non-binary friends create a safe space in the streets of the city. Out of reality for one night. To be themselves at last, with their head held high and shining bright. Will there be a big black sky that is waiting for them to rise in their midnight ride?
The Wonderful Years
Svitlana Shymko, Galina Yarmanova, 9', 2018, Ukraine
29 Nov 19:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
This research film explores the lives of queer women in Ukraine in the late Soviet Union. It is based on the archive video materials and interviews excerpts from the research projects on LGBT history.
Warsha
Dania Bdeir, 15', 2022, France, Lebanon
30 Nov 19:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC
Mohammad is a crane operator working in Beirut. One morning he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom.
Aban and Khorshid
Darwin Serink, 13', 2014, United States
03 Dec 19:00 @ Shakespeare House
Inspired by true events, Aban and Khorshid is an intimate portrait of two lovers, glimpsing into the world in which they meet and fall in love, leading to the tragic moments when they face the ultimate punishment for being gay.