FeatureVIRTUAL

During an evening of conversation and consternation, two old flames meet again in Brooklyn, 40 years after their love affair in the Soviet Union. Within the closed walls of an NYC apartment, The Writer addresses issues of intimacy, politics and existentialism rarely dealt with in LGBTQ+ cinema. Forty years after serving in the Soviet army and living together for a few years in Lithuania, Kostas and Dima meet again in Brooklyn. The former is a queer writer who has been living in the United States for a long time, and the latter, who has remained in Vilnius and divorced from his wife after 14 years of marriage, sees his former lover again after reading her latest book, which depicts their pre-Glasnost affair. Lithuanian filmmaker and LGBTQ+ activist Romas Zabarauskas is, at 34, on his fifth feature film, the second in their trilogy after The Lawyer (I+N33, 2020). More European than American, The Writer is a thoughtful, lingering film about two men who gradually let their guard down through conversation. With polished images and intimate camera work, the filmmaker explores themes—intimate, political, existential—that are rarely covered in queer cinema. And, by choosing actors who are the same age and physicality as their characters, the filmmaker makes a militant gesture in our youth obsessed culture to offer up a nuanced exploration of questions answered and long buried desires revealed.

FeatureVIRTUAL

Kartik is riding high on his blessings, anticipating the day when India grants same-sex marriage rights. His loving “hunksie” of nearly eight years cautions that rights come with responsibilities. A warning that anticipates the coming trials: an insistent Swede after Kartik’s heart and the implosion of his entire tight-knit family. This music-filled family saga is a sequel to groundbreaking director Sridhar Rangayan’s Evening Shadows (I+N31, 2018), which focused on a severely tested but ultimately indelible mother-son bond. A bond now kept strong through constant video calls between Vasudha (Mona Ambegaonkar) in Srirangapatna and Kartik (Satvik Bhatia), who bounces between Stockholm, where he’s vying for a photography prize, and his Mumbai home with Aman (Arpit Chaudhary). Vasudha doesn’t want her son to lose himself, his culture—to change from Kartik to “Kat,” the diminutive used by a scheming Swede (Teodor Wickenbergh) with whom Kartik experiences a fling, upending his relationship with Aman. Kartik’s cheating, a family member’s transgenderism and another’s Dubai penpal, the demands of a cantankerous patriarch (Shishir Sharma)—new situations call for new strengths. Can Kartik and his family survive modern life and still believe in “impossible dreams”?

COMPETITIONFeature

SPANISH • FRENCH ST | Argentinian filmmaker Matías is an intense perfectionist struggling to shape his autobiographical film as the past wriggles from his grip. Is Alexander—a dashing fabulist from Sweden he met in Italy as a boy—the lost love of his life? Or just a lovely, bittersweet dream? At the United World College of the Adriatic, with its diverse, exuberant student body, young Matías (Santiago Madrussan) finds a freedom he never knew in Argentina. There, he is befriended by Alexander (Oscar Morgan), whose rousing stories and bedroom eyes make the world more magical, and whose family’s vast holiday home becomes a memory palace for all that was left unsaid. In his 40s, Matías (co-writer/director Juan Pablo Di Pace) looks back at this time and, with a festival deadline looming, tries to fathom the sizzling closeness and coded interactions. A key piece of evidence lying dormant for when he least expects it. With its meta intrigues and captivating sweep, Duino is an elegiac masterwork crackling with swoon-worthy chemistry. A film that asks: how far are we willing to go for a proper conclusion, and what, in the end, remains voices in the wind?

FeatureVIRTUAL

FINNISH • ENGLISH ST | A 15-year-old Finnish girl—and her older incarnation—ponder the resemblance between first love and nuclear explosions under a sky heavy with Chernobyl clouds. Befriending a loner who seems radioactive to others, Mariia tries to keep their connection from melting down, basking in the light of devotion, however blinding. By-the-book Mariia (played at different ages by Rebekka Baer and Laura Birn) comes from a close-knit but struggling household, her mother affected by a mysterious cancer. Her situation is contrasted with that of self-possessed Mimi (Anni Iikkanen), whose home is blighted by alcoholism and neglect, its wallpaper peeling. But, swimming beneath crystalline surfaces and entwined in one another’s arms, they try to drown out the ills of the world. Crimped hair and oversized sweaters capturing the innocent 80s bubble Mariia thrives in and the euphoria Mimi strives to inhabit, despite the heaviness of experience. Guided by its source material, the 2011 novel by Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen, and inflected with the shifting haze of ennui and energy that is a hallmark of Sofia Coppola’s star-dusted tragedies, Inari Niemi’s film is a tonally precise mood piece about girlhood in all its ominous, scintillating paradoxes.

FeatureVIRTUAL

In writer-director Kat Rohrer’s multilingual romcom about midlife reckonings, the seemingly disparate lives of two in-control women converge. One an Iranian carpenter whose specialty is unfulfilled wives, the other a German doctor, these Viennese immigrants are united by serendipity to discover that butterflies are possible at any age. After twenty years of marriage, straight-laced Dr. Marie Theres (Caroline Peters) finds herself single, drunk, and stumbling into a lesbian bar. There, she catches the eye of Fa (a magnificent Proschat Madani), who is endeared by her sudden wildness. A series of coincidences brings them back to that bar, into the hospital, and under the sheets, the two clicking over being foreigners in a city they love that doesn’t always love them back. Though pulled apart by family drama and cramped closets (both literal and figurative), they are never quite able to shake one another—no matter how hard they may try. This cheering film, which bursts with Feeling and impeccable comedic timing, is about the modern issues that drive and divide us: our private and public selves, what we owe our families, and the moments when protest beats staying put.

Feature

Welcome to the French commune of Saint-Martial, where nightmares or sprouting mushrooms may spill your secrets. Returning for a funeral, Jérémie is greeted with the rough touches of a childhood companion and accused of exploiting a widow’s grief, sending him down an ever-contorting path of pansexual frenzy and escalating dread. At first, Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) is friendly and inquisitive, avoiding the increasingly unhinged Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand) but bonding over an alluring photo of the deceased with the widow (the legendary Catherine Frot) and cozying up to a local loner (David Ayala), pastis flowing. Soon, however, a disappearance sets him on edge, invasive police and a perceptive abbot (Jacques Develay) ratcheting up his paranoia. Allies appearing where he least expects them. So that, increasingly, it is unclear whether the village wants him excised or enmeshed there indefinitely. Sprung from the singular genius of Alain Guiraudie, known for his modern-day fairy tales with wicked senses of humour, Miséricorde is as genre-hopping as it is morally ambiguous—it’s Ripley meets The End of Eddy with the psychodrama of Saltburn. A riveting tale of the lengths we go to for love.

ShortVIRTUAL

When her detention project comes to life, Jo is taken on a whirlwind trip through history by the not-so-saintly Saint, Joan of Arc.

ShortVIRTUAL

A short music film set to classical music from Québec and filmed in a colourful, cinematic style, Doux temps (Sweet Times) explores the sharp contrast between, on the one hand, the somewhat routine daily lives of four characters and, on the other, the lyrical sweep of words and music that evoke the amorous passions of the ‘sweet days’ of youth.

COMPETITIONShortVIRTUAL

Albert and Sixten are getting married. Today. The only problem is that if they were completely honest with each other, they shouldn’t even be a couple anymore.

MADE AU CANADAShortVIRTUAL

A woman turning 30 impulsively gives herself a dramatic haircut moments before hosting her birthday dinner, and it’s fine—it’s totally fine! Bangs is a paranoia-fueled comedy about one woman’s need for recognition and what happens when that recognition never comes.

Queerment QuébecShortVIRTUAL

Struggling actors Ben and Vanessa have been trapped in the performance of a lifetime: their friendship. But not anymore...

MADE AU CANADACOMPETITIONShortVIRTUAL

Between loads of laundry at the corner laundromat, Cooper shares the tumultuous story of her gender reassignment journey.

MADE AU CANADADocumentary

LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin easily identifies as a mother, poet, writer, dissenter, and truth speaker—it is the label of “daughter” that causes her the most pause. Forced to become a sleuth, she attempts to pierce the veil of secrecy around her mother’s life and come to terms with her absence. After decades pursuing “the career of lesbianism,” Chin is now hot on the trail of her mother Hazel and a more anchored sense of self. Chin travels from Brooklyn to Montreal, where Hazel lived after abandoning Chin in search of a better life, then onwards to far-flung destinations: Germany, Jamaica. Chin talks to neighbours and loved ones, piecing together the puzzle as she goes. With every clue, she is forced to confront past traumas and test the limits of forgiveness, all while caring for her daughter, with whom she famously stages “Living Room Protests” on YouTube. Tapping into the ferocity of Chin’s slam poetry and using digital collage to convey Hazel’s floral allure, director Laurie Tonwshend paints a dual portrait of motherhood. She also practices Chin’s hard-won brand of radical kindness and compassion, finding the grace in failure.

Documentary

Tegan Quin (of Tegan and Sara fame) has been the victim of identity theft and an ongoing catfishing scam for over 15 years. While investigating, she shares for the first time how she was ensnared in toxic fan culture that revealed the dark side of fame. As one of the most influential queer indie rock bands of their generation, Tegan and Sara worked hard to cultivate an inclusive and passionate fanbase around the world. Fans were drawn to the duo’s beautifully confessional lyrics and found within the community a safe space be queer during a time when few bands would declare allyship, let alone celebrate their own queer identity. But Tegan and Sara’s world turned upside down when Tegan’s personal files were hacked in 2011 and weaponized by a bad actor in a complex catfish scheme to ensnare members of this community. Told through Tegan’s own voice, the voices of deceived fans, a trove of communications between fake Tegan and their victims, and the visual history of the band’s behind-the-scenes archive, this documentary feature is a thriller, a caper, a whodunnit, and an intimate personal journey rolled into one.

DocumentaryVIRTUAL

For Chinese parents, finding out that their kid is gay usually presents a major tragedy, with the big majority utterly unable to accept the homosexuality of their son or daughter. However, during recent years a fresh rainbow wind has been blowing over the Chinese mainland: a pioneer generation of Chinese parents has been stepping up and speaking out on their love for their gay kids. This documentary features six mothers from all over China, who talk openly and freely about their experiences with their homosexual children. With their love, they are giving a whole new definition to Chinese-style family bonds. The film made a significant impact on Chinese society through underground screenings and online streaming. However, in 2014, the online versions were suddenly taken down from the internet within China. The director sued the censors, which became a milestone event for free speech in China.

COMPETITIONDocumentary

In Sandi DuBowski’s crucial, decades-spanning documentary (executive produced by Darren Aronofsky), Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie takes on the Orthodox regime amid escalating reactions to his experimental spirit. It will take harrowing face-to-face confrontations, heated ideological conversations, and all the Radical Faerie magic he can muster to weather the onslaught. Part of a line of rabbis stretching back to the 11th century, at age 28 Amichai left his isolated, pressurized upbringing in Israel for the freedoms of late-90s New York. In America, he joined the Radical Faeries and tapped into the feminine divine with his Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross drag persona, finding redemption through transgression, and founding the God-optional congregation Lab/Shul. Still, he encounters a wall of tradition and the pull of his familial dynasty. Enrolling to become a rabbi at the Conservative-leaning Jewish Theological Seminary, he endeavours to change the system from the inside, but soon finds himself at odds with his peers and “co-conspirators,” defending laws he once broke. Will he have the stamina and willpower to remain true to his ideals, or will his lofty goals end up quelling his radical energy and all that he means to others?

DocumentaryVIRTUAL

Is intimacy coordination censorship? Does it kill the magic? In France, where having an intimacy coordinator is the exception, Paloma Garcia Martens is helping creators to privilege process as much as results. Together, striving for feminist content where “bodies, breath, touch” lead to connection, not exploitation. Scenes of intimacy are a stunt like any other, capable of great danger and lasting harm. But intimacy coordination requires precious hours, and even those on board can feel tested by the process. Edith Chapin’s documentary is a searching portrait of the profession, featuring a wide array of women in the TV/film industry—everyone from the director and actresses of the queer TV show Split in Paris, which features a particularly novel squirt scene, to the intimacy coordinators of Sex Education and Bridgerton in London. These women listen to and debate with one another about what’s being transformed because of their influence and what’s changing far too slowly. Leading the push for an industry with fewer “weird stratagems” and outright lies, and more modesty garments, more consensus. Hoping to shape not only how bodies are filmed, but how we, as a society, see them. Also in this programme : SPLIT/ ÉPISODES 1 + 2 IRIS BREY | FRANCE | 2023 | 37 MIN | FRENCH EST On the set of a film, Anna, a 30-year-old stuntwoman, falls in love with the star she is body double for. Will Ana—who thought she was happy in her relationship—have the courage to come out of her heterosexual shell to confront this overwhelming desire?

DocumentaryVIRTUAL

Eressos: at once a traditional Greek village in Lesbos surrounded by the bluest-blue of the Aegean Sea and a “lost paradise” for lesbians from the four corners of the world who lay it all bare in Sappho’s birthplace. An unlikely pairing giving rise to decades of disputes and intense affirmations. “Sappho girls” came to Eressos in the early 20th century in search of traces of the great poetess. Vacationers flocked there during the 90s Golden Age of lesbian-focused businesses and hotels. Compared to the worlds they came from where women’s rights were controlled, leading to fights for their very dignity, Eressos felt safe, liberating. A place where you could stroll hand in hand without fear of violence, where you could play all day on the sand and moan all-night long anywhere you liked. But a “Mecca of women,” nettled locals, and the dictates of capitalism are a volatile mix, and tensions on this little volcanic island seemed set to explode. Filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou, a lesbian native of Lesbos, captures the nude bodies and naked politics of this unlikely haven, and how heritage and transmission is shaping the future of paradise.