Firsts(2022)

Starcrossed(en)

Two brothers develop a sexual attraction to one another amid the unkind world around them.

The Little Prince(ss)(en)

When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.

Imagine(en)

A blind teacher breaks the rules to help a female student rediscover the pleasures of life.

My Brother the Devil(en)

Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

Tigertail(en)

A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

Clapham Junction(en)

Set in the Clapham district of south London, England, the film is inspired by true events. The paths of several men intersect during a dramatic thirty-six hours in which their lives are changed forever.

Pariah(en)

A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Kids(en)

A group of bored, disaffected New York City teenagers spend a day skating, smoking, drinking, partying, deflowering virgins, and getting into fights.

Palm Trees and Power Lines(en)

A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.

Yes, God, Yes(en)

Fifteen-year-old Alice has always been a good Catholic, but when an innocent AOL chat turns unexpectedly racy, she finds herself suddenly obsessed with sex.

Just Charlie(en)

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.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things(en)

Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.

God's Not Dead(en)

After he refuses to disavow his faith, a devout Christian student must prove the existence of God or else his college philosophy professor will fail him.

Heaven Knows What(en)

A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.

Meshes of the Afternoon(en)

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

Port Authority(en)

Paul, a 20 year old midwesterner, arrives at the central bus station and quickly catches eyes with Wye, a 22 year old girl voguing on the sidewalk. After Paul seeks her out in secret, an intense love between them blossoms. But when Paul discovers Wye is trans, he is forced to confront his own identity and what it means to belong.

All Day and a Night(en)

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

The Boys in the Band(en)

At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.

The Giver(en)

In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

Sight(en)

Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang must confront the trauma of living through the violent uprising in his youth, the Cultural Revolution.

Salón Rojo(es)

Eligio and Domingo are two older adult lovers who live out their sexuality in the anonymity and safety offered at the traditional "Baños Finisterre." However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were forced to close their doors. From then on, their paths diverge forever, until two years later when Eligio receives an unexpected visit from Domingo in the “Salon Rojo.” A magical space full of memories that stayed frozen in time.

Stupid Boy(fr)

This coming-of-age drama deals with a young man, realizing who he really is and which things he will never do...

The Stranger(ja)

Water Drops on Burning Rocks(fr)

In 1970s Germany, Léopold, a 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces 20-year-old Franz, who swiftly moves into his apartment. The dynamic between them intensifies with the sudden arrival of their ex-girlfriends.

Easy Living(en)

Sherry Graham, a self-destructive makeup saleswoman, hopes a new man and business venture will provide her a fresh start. After her plans are foiled, she takes control of her life in a dramatic turn of events.

Strawberry and Chocolate(es)

In 1979 Cuba, flamboyant gay artist Diego attempts to seduce straitlaced David, an idealistic young communist, and fails dismally. But David conspires to be "friends" with Diego so he can monitor the artist's subversive life for the state. As Diego and David discuss politics, individuality and personal expression in Castro's Cuba, a genuine friendship develops between the two.

The Year of the First Kiss(de)

31 year-old Tristan remembers the time when he was 15 and had just hit puberty. But he is not alone in this, he is with a large group of friends: Specki, a fat kid who is always stuffing himself, Streusel, a cheeky boy covered with spots, Tümai, a pretty Turkish girl, Kerstin, best friend of Tümai and very sporty, Elrond, with a heavy stutter, but regardless extremely popular and good looking, Lars and Simone, so far the only couple in the class who spend most of their time smooching and Long Jana, a girl who is at least 6 foot tall and extremely skinny.

Horseplay(es)

In the heat of the summer, Andy leaves the city in order to spend some time at a luxury villa with his best friends. As they party and goof around, their initial consensual horseplay reveals that they each have different personal boundaries.

Synonymous With(en)

A student's increasingly intimate line of questioning causes his interview with a local horror host to take a vulnerable turn.

Candle to a Crucified(pt)

A slum boy's wake and his father's efforts to give him a last moment of dignity.

The Malatily Bathhouse(ar)

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. The main character, Ahmad, leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically self-sufficient, gets an apartment for his parents, and obtains a law degree. He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army, Ismaåilia. Ali, the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse, offers to let him stay there for free. Ahmad encounters several characters there, including Naåeema, a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with, and Raouf, a homosexual man.

Revolution(en)

A coming-of-age story about Jack, a 16-year old Iranian boy growing up in 1989 Los Angeles. With the 1979 Iranian Revolution a distant memory, the AIDS movement as a backdrop, and a haunting score by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Jack learns how to stage his own much smaller revolution within the confines of his traditional family.

Freak(en)

Randall, a hard working yet fragile soul faces his inner demons buried behind a drag queen persona while pursuing the dream of a lifetime.

I'm Sorry, My Love(en)

A solid middle American couple meet a stranger who will have a big role in history as we know it.

Summer Romance(ja)

This delightful short is a world away from Tomomatsu's later works. It's a lovely story, told well. The reason that I tracked it down is because I'm quite a fan of Alice Sailor's music. She fronts new wave band Amaryllis and I was curious to see her acting. She has frequently supplied theme songs and other music to several of Tomomatsu's films. Indeed, the most disturbing sequence in this movie is accompanied by a psychotic Amaryllis track, 'Haha', and the closing piece is another Amaryllis song, 'Usagi'. This rip comes from the 'Eat The Schoolgirl' DVD, where it was one of the extras. Having just watched the main feature from that disc, I can say with some certainty that I found this tale far more enjoyable.

Fables of Forgotten Things(en)

A mysterious drifter and his young friend must save a frightened, forgetful old lady from a memory eating ghost.

Tooty's Wedding(en)

A young couple's marriage hilariously hits the rocks during a weekend wedding in the country.

Requited(en)

Nicolas, a young man in his mid 20s, struggles to decide whether or not to go to the wedding of his best friend from high school, Aaron, who he's always been quietly in love with. The two had a falling out years earlier after Nicolas inexplicably kissed Aaron's girlfriend. Nicolas clings to an idealized image of his former friend, unconsciously sabotaging his own happiness in the process. The film is a realistic slice-of-life that poses the question "How do you get over something you never had?"

Sanwri - Love Beyond Gender(hi)

Bhanwar, a simpleton young man in the rural Rajasthan wants a bride for him but gets duped. Instead of a woman, he is married off to a transgender person – Sanwri. Having no resort Bhanwar and his uncle decide to keep Sanwri for their household work but fearing the social ostracization they also try to keep her actual identity a secret. Bhanwar and Sanwri eventually fall in love and fight to survive as a couple in a conservative, oppressive society where marriages are meant to take place only between a man and a woman, and traditional norms are more important than humanity.

La surface de réparation(fr)

While Pierrot, surrounded by his friends, is glued to the TV watching a soccer match, Stella, his shy girlfriend, must give up celebrating her birthday. She had planned everything but had forgotten that it was a sacred evening - the second round of the playoffs.