Dragfox

Short

A masculine-presenting young woman travels back to her rural hometown to care for her estranged father, a former rancher, after a car accident. She soon realizes that mending their relationship is complicated when her sense of identity challenges her father's understanding.

Short

Exploring gender identity and societal expectations, the film follows non-binary lesbians navigating acceptance, cultural pressures, and homophobia. Through dance and costumes as symbols of liberation, it celebrates diverse identities, challenges societal norms, and portrays the ongoing quest for selfhood and recognition of varied gender expressions.

Short

After yet another after-party, Mia faces an identity crisis. With the support of her two best friends, she navigates a pivotal moment in her life, confronting herself and finding the courage to embrace who she truly is.

Short

Axis, an anxious enby, faces a supernatural surge of fears during a late-night walk home alone.

Short

A radiant superhero faces off against a MAGA mob while navigating personal struggles. Alongside a group of youth, they embody trans joy, resistance, and chosen family, using courage and connection to build community and confront adversity.

Short

A film celebrating the resilience of queer people of colour, reflecting on the journey to nonbinary identity and the courage to embrace oneself fully.

Documentary

Executive produced by Elliot Page and Bob the Drag Queen, this on-the-couch and in-the-spotlight documentary charts the rise ’n grind ascent of a drag superstar. Through sweat and vocals, Peppermint trades relative Harlem obscurity for Drag Race glory as its first openly trans contestant, all while slaying society’s strictures. Whether vibing with famous friends like Laverne Cox and Sasha Velour or entering the dating scene while feeling devalued and pressured to pass, Peppermint lays out her truth. And regardless of the many obstacles littering her runway—personal and professional—she pursues her craft, knowing her “spirit belongs on the stage.” We are with Peppermint in the operating room during breast augmentation surgery, as a headliner on Broadway and during an historic pride celebration in Berlin, and in rehearsals as she prepares for sold out Nubia shows starring and produced by all Black queens. Then, as COVID hits and her tour is shut down, Peppermint’s resolve is put to the test as the career she so painstakingly constructed faces huge global shifts. Glammed up, laid low, ready for a fight for trans rights—this is Peppermint unfiltered and compelled, always, to create.

Feature

Cass (Asia Kate Dillon, Billions) is a millennial gig worker, traversing the streetscapes of San Francisco by scooter, on the hustle to make ends meet, when a chance encounter with an intriguing coworker sets them on an inward journey of healing and self-discovery. Originally from Michigan–strong, silent and dependable Cass now lives in the Outer Sunset region of San Francisco (aka the Outerlands), a neighbourhood brushed by gentrification. Though they shy away from connection—their loneliness captured by quiet, camera close-ups—Cass soon becomes visible to Denise (Lea DeLaria), a compassionate bank teller who begins doling out advice, not only on landlord subterfuge, but also queer survival. As Cass continues to tread the tightrope of social and economic displacement–working as a nanny, a server, and even selling drugs–they are left wanting after a one night stand with Kalli (Louisa Krause), their desire for connection met with another gig opportunity: babysitting Kalli’s eleven-year-old daughter, Ari (Ridley Asha Bateman). Eventually bonding with Ari over video games, Cass battles long-forgotten, inner demons, but not without gaining the hope that home—though a place they can never return to—can perhaps be a place that they build for themselves.

FeatureVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

Karun, a kindly border guard, finds himself in “paradise” among Bandipora’s soaring peaks, though religious and cultural resentments simmer and scald. Jolted by Faheem’s gorgeous face revealed from behind a helmet visor, Karun is drawn into a romance with indelible repercussions in this first queer film in the Kashmiri language. Wooed by an apple and a warm ripple of attraction each time Faheem (a subtle yet potent Mir Tawseef) passes his checkpoint, Karun (Akash Unnimenon) ventures into Gurez to seek out further encounters. Gurez, a remote Kashmiri village near the border between India and Pakistan, speaks with the voice of soft lullabies and bleating sheep, of a flowing river indifferent to divisions, though that tranquility is soon replaced by distant gunfire. Determined to drop the veil of shame that partitions their lives, Faheem and Karun’s restless hearts pine for one another from a distance, the two praying to separate deities but sharing an equal desire. Wanting, so passionately, to be one. When terrorist infiltrators and a homegrown street gang make a volatile situation worse, can love bind as society breaks?

Short

Frustrated sci-fi writer Julian is facing a slump in his relationship. So will his fiancé Leo's trip into orbit with the world's first ever low-cost alternative spaceline provide them with just the space they need to get back on track?

DocumentaryVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

Of the 8.7 million living animal species on Earth, thousands defy our expectations. Inspired by trans evolutionary biologist Dr. Joan Roughgarden’s groundbreaking work, narrator Elliot Page and preeminent queer, BIPOC, and immigrant scientists transcend well-trod narratives, revealing how survival hinges on being the most open to change. The scientific establishment has long been stymied by suppression and resistant to evidence debunking the primacy of three rigid categories: “insatiable” males, “coy” females, and “maladaptive and unnatural” others. But, from university labs to the forests of Costa Rica, that picture is changing, opening our eyes to a nature teeming with variations: polyandrous tamarins and polygamous Capuchin monkeys, “very gay” water fowl and sex-role reversed species like seahorses. We are guided through this diversity by sweeping footage, Caitlin Craggs’ delightfully quirky animations, and mind-blowing facts (for example, did you know 50% of fish on a coral reef are members of a sex-changing species?). In a political present where truth is under attack, Second Nature follows the trailblazers who are shifting the consensus from “sometimes this happens” to a codified science, leaving the “quaint myth” of the binary in the historical dust.

Feature

CROATIAN • FRENCH ST | Marko, slight but mighty, seems always in control, always a champion—but what happens when he slips his banks? As “unstable air” portends torrential rains for a small Croatian village, the return of Marko’s former neighbour is the rush that might pull him under. Marko (Lav Novosel in a natural, understated performance) has a full life: a brother with Down syndrome (Leon Grgić) who he treats with a soft attentiveness; learning discipline from his father (Filip Šovagović) in the lead up to an arm-wrestling competition; chanting about female anatomy with his buds before pestering his girlfriend Petra (Franka Mikolaci) for sex. But there’s another side to his even-keeled bravado. For, as he tells his brother in the guise of a story, “the boy and the bunny” were once “inseparable,” with a secret hiding place of their own. And now that “bunny” is back. Home from cosmopolitan Berlin for his father’s funeral, Slaven (Andrija Žunac) catches Marko off guard. Despite training constantly as if to outrun his feelings, Marko returns again and again to the river, again and again to Slaven. An imported joint is shared, affections are renewed, and temperatures—and waters—rise.

FeatureVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

FRENCH + FLEMISH • FRENCH ST | Fifteen-year-old Malou is a competitive rower living in a tiny Belgian village with her brothers and divorced mother. A shy tomboy, Malou’s teammates bully her for her non-conforming gender identity, but she’s accepted by her brother Max—until he finds himself in competition with her over his girlfriend Nouria. Skiff is the sweet sixteen and summer fling story that we have been waiting for. Forget cars, pink dresses, and pining over boys—how about scooters, polo shirts, and … falling for your brother’s girlfriend? Director Cecilia Verheyden delivers a poignant coming-of-age story about first love with its many risks and dilemmas, on top of questioning sexuality and gender identity while dealing with a familial love triangle and a sense of social alienation. Though lighthearted with plenty of laughs, especially for the oblivious heteronormativity of small-town life, Skiff is a film that moves you, makes you remember, shows you how despite all of the world’s social progress of the twenty-first century, some things never change—gender will always define who we are and our humanity. It is anything but trivial. Also, the importance of a young person’s right to define their gender for themselves.

Short

A dancer struggles to break free from the hold of his choreographer, now drawn to another. This silent film explores power, inspiration, and replacement within the LGBTQ+ dance community through body language and music.

Documentary

In Muslim-majority Malaysia, a queer punk band led by a transman are outliers of the system —carving out spaces to exist through their music while challenging conservative traditions and religious extremism. Brash, defiant and wickedly funny, punk rockers Shh…Diam! are an underground sensation in Kuala Lumpur. An all-queer band led by charismatic trans man Farris Saad, they’ve won devoted fans with playful anthems like “I Woke Up Gay” and “Lonely Lesbian.” Even their name (“Shut up!” in Malay) is a joke, poking fun at those who’d rather queer folks just kept quiet. Malaysia’s harsh laws are no laughing matter, however, and they put Farris and his bandmates at real risk of state persecution. Filming over six years, director Yihwen Chen follows them to practices, gigs and protests, capturing their irreverent advocacy amid a spate of anti-LGBTQ+ raids and arrests. She also documents major developments in their personal lives and relationships, including Farris’s preparations for his surgical transition. Both an iconic portrait of fearless activism and an intimate chronicle of chosen family, Queer as Punk is an instant entry in the queer cult canon.

Feature

Based on Fleur Pierets’ memoir of the same name, Julian tells the heart-wrenching love story between the author Fleur and Julian Demoor and Project 22—their international LGBTQ+ marriage campaign of 2017 that was brought to an abrupt halt by tragic circumstances. In 2017, it was legal for same-sex couples to get married in twenty-two countries worldwide, hence the birth of the performance art piece: Project 22. Fleur Pierets, a Belgian journalist and LGBTQ+ activist, came up with the idea to travel around the world and marry Julian—her partner in life as well as business (as co-founders of Et Alors? Magazine)—and not only once, but in every country where it was possible. The goal? To raise awareness on how few places same-sex couples could legally marry. Director Cato Kusters provides a fictionalized account spanning the campaign, from the years 2017–2019, with home-movie-esque film segments that provide an immersive peek into this courageous couple’s experience, both behind the scenes, on the road, and after the fact—moments of joy and silliness, as well as the intimacy, doubt, uncertainty of fighting for one’s rights while also fighting for one’s life.