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Queer Wave 2020

Feature Films

 

120 BPM

143′ | France

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

68′ | Netherlands

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

104′ | UK

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

85′ | Guatemala, USA

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

89′ | USA, Philippines

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

92′ | UK

A feature documentary on the life and work of Sir Ian McKellen, perhaps most widely known for portraying Gandalf and Magneto on screen.

 

Pride

119′ | UK, France, USA

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

95′ | Peru, Germany, Norway

Segundo Paucar, wants to become a master story-box maker just like his father to carry on with the family legacy.

 

The Wound

88′ | South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, France

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

45′ | Sweden

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

6′ | United Kingdom

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

14′ | Greece

A young boy thinks his new goldfish is gay, much to the horror of his conservative father.

 

Greek School Prayer

20′ | Greece

Two high school students. While seeking their identity, through violence, they will inevitably test each other’s boundaries.

 

In Case of Fire

23′ | Portugal

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

21′ | France

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

21′ | United Kingdom, Palestine

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

28′ | Israel

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

27′ | Portugal

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

10′ | Greece

A young man is preparing himself a sexual gift to his boyfriend to celebrate their 3rd anniversary.

 

The Bite

26′ | Portugal, Brazil

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

9′ | Greece, France

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

11′ | United Kingdom, South Africa

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

22′ | Germany

The film is about two German tourists’ adventure in a Georgian village.

 

Whole

27′ | Bulgaria

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

12′ | Iceland

The desolate Icelandic spring awakens complicated feelings between two choir girls.