New Queer Visions: Seeing is Believing(2020)

Angelique and the Sultan(fr)

Angélique is in a North African Muslim kingdom where she is now part of the Sultan's harem. She refuses to be bedded as her captors try to beat sense into her. She finally decides to escape with the help of two Christian prisoners.

Test(cs)

The Wild Pear Tree(tr)

Fresh out of university, a Turkish young man with literary aspirations returns to his home village, and to his father, a debt-ridden man with a gambling problem.

Finding Fanon 1(fr)

‘Finding Fanon’ is the first part in a series of works by artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy; inspired by the lost plays of Frantz Fanon, (1925-1961) a politically radical humanist whose practice dealt with the psychopathology of colonisation and the social and cultural consequences of decolonisation. In the film, the two artists negotiate Fanon’s ideas, examining the politics of race, racism and the post-colonial, and how these societal issues affect their relationship. Their conflict is played out through a script that melds found texts and personal testimony, transposing their drama to a junkyard houseboat at an unspecified time in the future. Navigating the past, present and future, Achiampong and Blandy question the promise of globalisation, recognising its impact on their own heritage.

Star(en)

In this experimental short film, a young man and woman enter into a relationship with one another and quickly learn the ups and downs of intertwining their life with the one they love.

Decalogue I(pl)

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

Animal Instincts 2(en)

An unhappy divorcée has the bad fortune to move next door to a security systems installer, a voyeur whose hobby is planting hidden video cameras in the bedrooms of all his clients. He then monitors the sex lives of his customers through an elaborate TV monitor system in his garage. Joanna Cole becomes his latest victim, but when she discovers the camera by accident, she reverts back to her exhibitionist ways and begins putting on sex shows for his pleasure. Things gets ugly when Jim professes his love for her but is rebuffed.

French Connection II(en)

"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.

Red Desert(it)

In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.

Welcome to Dongmakgol(ko)

Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.

Good Morning(ja)

A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, Good Morning tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after their parents refuse to buy a television set. Ozu weaves a wealth of subtle gags through a family portrait as rich as those of his dramatic films, mocking the foibles of the adult world through the eyes of his child protagonists. Shot in stunning color and set in a suburb of Tokyo where housewives gossip about the neighbors’ new washing machine and unemployed husbands look for work as door-to-door salesmen, this charming comedy refashions Ozu’s own silent classic I Was Born, But . . . to gently satirize consumerism in postwar Japan.

Faraway, So Close!(de)

Damiel is now married to Marion, runs the pizzeria “Da Angelo” and the two have a child. The solitarily remaining angel Cassiel is more and more dissatisfied with his destiny as a mere observer of human life and finally decides to take the great leap. Taking the role of Karl Engel, he soon gets into a dubious milieu and finds himself as the assistant of the German-American Baker, who makes his money with shady arms deals and sends films east in exchange for weapons. Cassiel’s adventure turns into a “thriller” when he decides to put a stop to Baker’s game.

The Old Testament(it)

The Jews of Jerusalem are driven out by their Syrian rulers. They gather their forces, and return to drive out their oppressors.

Korean Terminator(ko)

A Korean riff on The Terminator.

Test(es)

Four women are waiting for the blue circle and a possible change of their lives.

Six A.M.(en)

After drinking all night, Monty and his friend try to get home, but it turns out to be not easy. The next day, Monty tries to win the heart of a theater actress.

Serial Killers: The Real Life Hannibal Lecters(en)

This documentary examines a selection of real life serial killers and compares them to the fictional Hannibal Lecter.

Six Children and One Grandfather(en)

David McDoll is a selfish and wealthy man living an enviable lifestyle in his large villa and collecting fancy cars. However, his life is about to be changed forever when he inherits his six grandchildren. His glamorous lifestyle quickly becomes complete chaos. But he will learn a valuable lesson that teaches him about placing family first and discovering a newfound appreciation for life.

Bare(en)

A young woman's friendship with a drug-dealing drifter evolves into a lesbian romance.

Three Times(es)

Mario is home alone. His parents are gone and it will take them a while to return. Enough time for their son to arrange a sex date on the Internet with a total stranger.

Weekend(en)

After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.

Neon Purple(es)

Estrella, an emerging drag queen, confronts anxiety and challenges on the pivotal night of her artistic life.

Crutch(en)

An autobiographical film taken from the experiences of writer-director Rob Moretti, CRUTCH is a coming-of-age tale about a young man's struggle with family problems and substance abuse. Behind a facade of suburban middle class perfection, David's home life is falling apart. As he tries to cope with the impossible situation, the troubled and impressionable teenager falls under the spell of Kenny, a georgous, thirty-something, has-been actor turned theatre coach. When Kenny's "support" escalates into seduction, David slowly decends into an abyss of drinking and drug addition from which he must escape if he is to survive. CRUTCH is a dramatic tale of the confusion of youth and the difficulties in finding oneself.

Harvest(de)

Breathtaking in its subtle beauty, Harvest is an achingly romantic tale of an innocent but ever increasingly passionate affair that develops between two simple farmhands. Life on a farm is all that sullen teen Marco knows- leading a perfunctory and quiet life of working, going to school and avoiding the advances of girls. However, his self-imposed solitude ends when curly-haired Jakob, rejecting the banking world for farming, arrives to train on the farm. Although initially cautious and tentative with each other, it is soon obvious that the unspoken sexual tension is becoming increasingly hard to resist - something a spontaneous trip to Berlin. Proving that true love can blossom in even the most unlikely of places, Harvest is as rich and rewarding as it is heart-warming.

Boys Life 3(en)

Jason Gould satirizes coming out in Hollywood in Inside Out, starring Alexis Arquette and papa Elliot Gould. Lane Janger's Just One Time was a festival favorite recently expanded into a feature film that turns the tables on a groom-to-be and his fantasies of sex with two women. Bradley Rust Gray's Hitch follows two attractive young guys on a dizzying road trip that leads them toward sexual self-discovery. David Fournier's Majorettes in Space is a witty French spoof of post-modern sex, romance, relationships, the Pope and baton-twirling majorettes. And, Gregory Cooke's $30 is the bittersweet story of a closeted teen presented with a young prostitute on his 16th birthday.

Children of God(en)

Johnny is an art student in Nassau whose technique is perfect, but he’s creatively blocked. His teacher sends him off to the rural island of Eleuthera where he meets Romeo, a hot musician. They begin a clumsy dance of attraction and romance. Romeo has a fiancé and is identified as straight, but he’s been known to play with the boys on the side secretly. The Bahamas are bound by religious traditions that discourage homosexuality and end up forcing gay men into the closet. These characters are all bound together in this intense drama of love, family and secrets.

The Story of the Stone(zh)

A young gay man navigates the nightlife of Taipei, its thrills and heartbreaks, dangers and dreams, in this coming-of-age saga.

Rurangi(en)

After skipping town a decade ago, transgender activist Caz Davis returns to the remote, politically divided dairy community of Rurangi, hoping to reconnect with his estranged father, who hasn't heard from him since before Caz transitioned.

The Least Untrue(en)

Two strangers discover a devastating secret that binds them together... and offers unexpected options for the future.

Coming Out with the Help of a Time Machine(en)

When coming out to his traditional parents, Sid uses his time machine to reset the day trying to make sure everything goes perfect.

Warsha(ar)

A Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.

Square Dance(en)

An awkward 13-year-old leaves her cranky grandfather in rural Texas, to live with her mother in Fort Worth.

The One(en)

Hunky Daniel couldn’t have it better: great parents, a successful career, and his beautiful fiancée Jen. But in his seemingly perfect life, there is one temptation; he has a thing for his adorable, openly gay former college classmate, Tommy. After a few drinks, Daniel succumbs to his repressed desires sending these two into a torrid affair they will never forget! Funny how love and lust have a way of messing up even the best laid plans of man.

Your Name Engraved Herein(zh)

In 1987, as martial law ends in Taiwan, Jia-han and Birdy fall in love amid family pressure, homophobia and social stigma.

Tchaikovsky's Wife(ru)

Antonina Milyukova is a beautiful and bright young woman, born in the aristocracy of 19th century Russia. She could have anything she'd want, and yet her only obsession is to marry Pyotr Tchaikovsky, with whom she falls in love from the very moment she hears his music. The composer finally accepts this union, but after blaming her for his misfortunes and breakdowns, his attempts to get rid of his wife are brutal. Consumed by her feelings for him, Antonina decides to endure and do whatever it takes to stay with him. Humiliated, disgraced and discarded, she is slowly driven to madness.

Danny's Game(en)

Danny Bishop is a gambling prodigy. After exiling himself to prison, he returns to his brothers home only to find himself back in the game because of a large debt for his protection in prison. He cons a group of high stakes gamblers, including his vicious rival, Alex, to a tournament. The story is a delicate balance between the tension of the game and the strained relationship with his brother.

Summer Night(en)

In a small town, a young, tight-knit group of friends fall in and out of love over the course of one intoxicating, music-filled summer night.

Lucy's Tale(en)

Lucy begins to realize she is not like the other teens in school.