Image+Nation
Handsome Devil

Handsome Devil

DANIEL BARROW | CANADA | 2025 | 4 MIN | ENGLISH

DANIEL BARROW | CANADA | 2025 | 4 MIN | ENGLISH

VIRTUALShortQUEERMENT QUÉBECCOMPETITION

Synopsis

A 'sissy devil' explores the depths of internet intelligence by conducting an 'advanced search' on an outdated search engine. Meanwhile, a female artist sketches her destiny.

Filmmaker Bio

Over the last twenty years, Barrow has used obsolete technologies to present pictorial narratives, merging the methods and cultural histories of cinema, comic books, animation, shadow puppetry and magic lantern shows. Barrow is best known for adapting comic book narratives into "manual" forms of animation by projecting, layering and manipulating drawings on an overhead projector during live performances.

Also playing with

PosterShort
Twitch[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]5 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Twitch is an ode to overcoming dark energies that lie within; confronting fear and the journey to self-acceptance.

PosterShort
My Heart the Optometrist[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]1 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

I am near-sighted. When I see a potentially beautiful boy at a distance, I perceive him as perfectly beautiful. Gradually, as he approaches, he begins to accumulate defects which detract from his overall beauty; sometimes to the point where he ceases to be attractive at all.

PosterShort
Love is a Hunter [QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

This watercolor animation of childlike creatures, poppies, and dismembered legs—collaged from Nothing Ever Happened—reflects on loss. Set to Rae Spoon’s Love is a Hunter, it explores how love can be transformative yet threatening, evoking a childhood shaped by hiding from violence, pain, and the fragility of affection.

PosterShort
One is the Loneliest Number[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]2 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

One is the Loneliest Number places a universal hero in the shoes of the heartbroken. Céline, Jon, Britney and Stevie couldn’t have said it better!

PosterShort
Walk Me Home[A QUESTION OF GENDER]11 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

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

PosterShort
Molosse (Mad Dog)[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]25 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Johanie, the single mother of a dysfunctional family, grows wary when Ian and his dog move into the neighborhood. The back alley between them becomes the stage for a rivalry where prejudice, fascination, and frustration subtly intertwine with the sound of barking.

PosterShort
Brothers[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]6 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Two lesbian twin brothers play out a prescribed sleep-work-play existence. But, when evening comes...

PosterShort
Queer Alien Invades Earth : a Portrait of Legendary Madame Simone[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]5 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

A portrait of the legendary Madame Simone, shot in the early nineties by an undergraduate student.

PosterShort
Metal Heart[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Another spectacular output from Montreal’s DJ Frigid.

PosterShort
My Heart the Rockstar[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]1 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Part of the My Heart series initiated by Nik Forrest, Annie Martin and Nelson Henricks, a reflection on gender, delving into childhood memory, gender fluctuation and a love of late 70s rock stars.

PosterShort
Mercy[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]16 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

A poetic exploration of Black womanhood, race, place, and identity, delving into the double-voiced discourses of a particular Black literary tradition concerning the complexities faced by enslaved people learning their captor’s language.

PosterShort
Twitch[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]5 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Twitch is an ode to overcoming dark energies that lie within; confronting fear and the journey to self-acceptance.

PosterShort
My Heart the Optometrist[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]1 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

I am near-sighted. When I see a potentially beautiful boy at a distance, I perceive him as perfectly beautiful. Gradually, as he approaches, he begins to accumulate defects which detract from his overall beauty; sometimes to the point where he ceases to be attractive at all.

PosterShort
Love is a Hunter [QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

This watercolor animation of childlike creatures, poppies, and dismembered legs—collaged from Nothing Ever Happened—reflects on loss. Set to Rae Spoon’s Love is a Hunter, it explores how love can be transformative yet threatening, evoking a childhood shaped by hiding from violence, pain, and the fragility of affection.

PosterShort
One is the Loneliest Number[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]2 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

One is the Loneliest Number places a universal hero in the shoes of the heartbroken. Céline, Jon, Britney and Stevie couldn’t have said it better!

PosterShort
Walk Me Home[A QUESTION OF GENDER]11 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

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

PosterShort
Molosse (Mad Dog)[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]25 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Johanie, the single mother of a dysfunctional family, grows wary when Ian and his dog move into the neighborhood. The back alley between them becomes the stage for a rivalry where prejudice, fascination, and frustration subtly intertwine with the sound of barking.

PosterShort
Brothers[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]6 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Two lesbian twin brothers play out a prescribed sleep-work-play existence. But, when evening comes...

PosterShort
Queer Alien Invades Earth : a Portrait of Legendary Madame Simone[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]5 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

A portrait of the legendary Madame Simone, shot in the early nineties by an undergraduate student.

PosterShort
Metal Heart[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Another spectacular output from Montreal’s DJ Frigid.

PosterShort
My Heart the Rockstar[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]1 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

Part of the My Heart series initiated by Nik Forrest, Annie Martin and Nelson Henricks, a reflection on gender, delving into childhood memory, gender fluctuation and a love of late 70s rock stars.

PosterShort
Mercy[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]16 minutesThis programme includes 12 filmsQUEERMENT QUÉBEC 282 minutes

A poetic exploration of Black womanhood, race, place, and identity, delving into the double-voiced discourses of a particular Black literary tradition concerning the complexities faced by enslaved people learning their captor’s language.

You might also like

PosterShort
ATLS[MADE AU CANADA]11 minutes

In a dystopian future, two women flee exploitation and find love in a remote cabin, only to face relentless pursuit and a tragic fate.

PosterShort
Love is a Hunter [QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutes

This watercolor animation of childlike creatures, poppies, and dismembered legs—collaged from Nothing Ever Happened—reflects on loss. Set to Rae Spoon’s Love is a Hunter, it explores how love can be transformative yet threatening, evoking a childhood shaped by hiding from violence, pain, and the fragility of affection.

PosterShort
TransVengeance[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]5 minutes

A trans woman dies on the operating table during facial feminization surgery, but death is no match for a determined transsexual.

PosterShort
Metal Heart[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutes

Another spectacular output from Montreal’s DJ Frigid.

PosterShort
The Eating of an Orange[COMPETITION]7 minutes

In a rigid manor where everyone conforms, a woman receives an orange, a fruit she has never seen before. This discovery transports her into a forested world of sensual fluidity where she must choose between returning to her old life or embracing a new, transformative way of being.

PosterFeature
JULIAN[COMPETITION]91 minutes

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.

PosterFeature
SANDBAG DAM (ZEČJI NASIP) (EN) [FIRST VOICES]87 minutes

CROATIAN • ENGLISH 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.

PosterShort
One is the Loneliest Number[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]2 minutes

One is the Loneliest Number places a universal hero in the shoes of the heartbroken. Céline, Jon, Britney and Stevie couldn’t have said it better!

PosterShort
My Heart the Optometrist[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]1 minutes

I am near-sighted. When I see a potentially beautiful boy at a distance, I perceive him as perfectly beautiful. Gradually, as he approaches, he begins to accumulate defects which detract from his overall beauty; sometimes to the point where he ceases to be attractive at all.

PosterShort
A Slow Dance[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]10 minutes

“It is not about rebuilding the mythical place called home but about perpetually deferring the homecoming itself.” – Moyra Davey. In a living room, two people slow dancing become a landscape for (re)connection. A Slow Dance attempts to materialize the monolithic gesture that is longing, one that takes its roots in lifelong household transgressions and collective myths

PosterShort
ATLS[MADE AU CANADA]11 minutes

In a dystopian future, two women flee exploitation and find love in a remote cabin, only to face relentless pursuit and a tragic fate.

PosterShort
Love is a Hunter [QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutes

This watercolor animation of childlike creatures, poppies, and dismembered legs—collaged from Nothing Ever Happened—reflects on loss. Set to Rae Spoon’s Love is a Hunter, it explores how love can be transformative yet threatening, evoking a childhood shaped by hiding from violence, pain, and the fragility of affection.

PosterShort
TransVengeance[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]5 minutes

A trans woman dies on the operating table during facial feminization surgery, but death is no match for a determined transsexual.

PosterShort
Metal Heart[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]3 minutes

Another spectacular output from Montreal’s DJ Frigid.

PosterShort
The Eating of an Orange[COMPETITION]7 minutes

In a rigid manor where everyone conforms, a woman receives an orange, a fruit she has never seen before. This discovery transports her into a forested world of sensual fluidity where she must choose between returning to her old life or embracing a new, transformative way of being.

PosterFeature
JULIAN[COMPETITION]91 minutes

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.

PosterFeature
SANDBAG DAM (ZEČJI NASIP) (EN) [FIRST VOICES]87 minutes

CROATIAN • ENGLISH 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.

PosterShort
One is the Loneliest Number[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]2 minutes

One is the Loneliest Number places a universal hero in the shoes of the heartbroken. Céline, Jon, Britney and Stevie couldn’t have said it better!

PosterShort
My Heart the Optometrist[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]1 minutes

I am near-sighted. When I see a potentially beautiful boy at a distance, I perceive him as perfectly beautiful. Gradually, as he approaches, he begins to accumulate defects which detract from his overall beauty; sometimes to the point where he ceases to be attractive at all.

PosterShort
A Slow Dance[QUEERMENT QUÉBEC]10 minutes

“It is not about rebuilding the mythical place called home but about perpetually deferring the homecoming itself.” – Moyra Davey. In a living room, two people slow dancing become a landscape for (re)connection. A Slow Dance attempts to materialize the monolithic gesture that is longing, one that takes its roots in lifelong household transgressions and collective myths