Queer Wave 2020
Feature Films
120 BPM
Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
Genderblend
A story about five young people who neither feel male nor female, but rather position themselves somewhere in between. They all have their own struggles, but together they create a compelling story about acceptance.
God’s Own Country
Spring. Yorkshire. Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path.
José
José lives with his mother in Guatemala. It’s a tough life in one of the most violent and religious countries. When he meets Luis, he’s thrust into new-found passion and pain.
Lingua Franca
Olivia, an undocumented Filipino transwoman, works as a caregiver to Olga, an elderly Russian woman, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. When Olivia runs out of options to attain legal status in the US, she becomes romantically involved with Alex, Olga’s adult grandson, in the pursuit of a marriage-based green card.
McKellen: Playing the Part
A feature documentary on the life and work of Sir Ian McKellen, perhaps most widely known for portraying Gandalf and Magneto on screen.
Pride
U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984. The extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.
Retablo
Segundo Paucar, wants to become a master story-box maker just like his father to carry on with the family legacy.
The Wound
Xolani, a lonely factory worker, travels to the rural mountains with the men of his community to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood.
Top 3
In this funny, bittersweet romantic comedy from Sweden, perpetual list-maker Anton falls in love with David, but things start to go awry when Anton realizes that his dreams in life might be in direct opposition to David’s.
Short Films
Acceptable Face
Acceptable Face is an animated discussion about the ‘ideal’ respectable queer person. How would they look, act, and let people know that they’re not “that kind of gay”? Based on a series of interviews with LGBTQ+ people, this experimental charcoal animation explores the pressure to be a ‘good example’, and the joy of refusing to conform.
Goldfish
A young boy thinks his new goldfish is gay, much to the horror of his conservative father.
Greek School Prayer
Two high school students. While seeking their identity, through violence, they will inevitably test each other’s boundaries.
In Case of Fire
It’s summer in the Portuguese countryside, where the local festivities take place. Chico is haunted by a hate crime committed in his village against a boy who was secretly close to him. Throughout this journey, Chico, pressured by his friends, tries both to follow their social standards and hide his fears and desires.
Naked in the Streets at Night
End of summer. This is the last night Cedric spends with Sofiane and his sick father. To ward off the morbidity taking over the house and create a lasting memory, Cedric suggests to go on a night excursion in the neighborhood… in underwear.
Nowhere
A young Palestinian woman crosses the Israeli border illegally to find her long-lost brother, who she hopes will be her ticket to a new life far from the West Bank. When she discovers the truth behind his exiled existence, her dreams of a happy reunion are shattered, and she must face her next steps alone.
Rubber Dolphin
A gay love story set in a one-bedroom apartment in Tel Aviv. They meet, they have sex, they fall in love. Will it last until the morning comes?
Self Destructive Boys
Self Destructive Boys is a direct stare into masculine interaction as we follow three boys in their mid-twenties, António, Xavier and Miguel testing the limits of their sexual flexibility. This film is built on an edge: the ambiguity of human relationships. Boys will always be boys.
Sparkling Candles
A young man is preparing himself a sexual gift to his boyfriend to celebrate their 3rd anniversary.
The Bite
Between a house in the Atlantic forest and a genetically-modified mosquito factory near São Paulo, a polyamorous, non-binary relationship struggles to survive an epidemic spreading across Brazil. While in the factory millions of mosquitos are born daily inside test tubes, the power dynamics between Helmut, Calixto, and Tao only intensifies. The Bite is a film found somewhere between horror, science fiction and a queer drama.
The Distance Between Us and the Sky
Two strangers meet for the first time at an old gas station. One has stopped to gas up his bike, while the other is just stranded. Lacking money to get home, he will try to sell him the distance that separates them from the sky.
The Men Who Speak Gayle
Entertainer Nathan Kennedy, who speaks Gayle, the South African cant that flourished during the Apartheid era, meets Louis van Brakel, a much older user of the secret language, and interviews him on stage at
Tradition
The film is about two German tourists’ adventure in a Georgian village.
Whole
A chance encounter at a family wedding will force Yana, a closeted young woman, to face her biggest issue – herself.
With the Arrival of Spring
The desolate Icelandic spring awakens complicated feelings between two choir girls.
