The Space You Need

Short

A 32-year-old gay artist flees repressive laws and war in Russia for Berlin, leaving his boyfriend behind. They try to sustain their relationship across the distance, but their realities quickly diverge, and life in Berlin proves less "rainbow-coloured" than expected.

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Jesus tries to save humanity and fulfill his purpose on earth, but runs into some unexpected, internalized hurdles.

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Unaware that her relationship is at a crossroads, daydreamer Katie neglects to clean the bathroom as her girlfriend asked. This plunges her into a fever dream that could either tear them apart or bind them together forever.

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After a long day on set, Liboria and Claudia stop at a deserted gas station and mistakenly fill their van with the wrong fuel. When someone from a past assault appears, tension rises, and Claudia takes the driver hostage, blurring the line between justice, revenge, and consent.

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A mother and son navigate their lust and loneliness in the queerest of ways.

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.

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Burlesque, a student documentary exploring the world of burlesque as a space for artistic expression and personal liberation, where performers channel their creativity and sensuality. Through their voices, they speak about the power of the stage to reconnect with their bodies and establish a deep connection with the audience. Burlesque is presented as a feminist, inclusive, and supportive environment, celebrating gender and body diversity. The action takes place at the Wiggle Room, located in Montreal. It is the only burlesque cabaret in Canada, known for its warm atmosphere and strong sense of community.

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An exploration of Canadian photographer John Phillips’ erotic archive, chronicling the impact of AIDS on his life and work for American gay magazines in the 1990s, at the dawn of the digital revolution. An intimate portrait of an artist and an industry on the verge of transformation.

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Chants d’amours is a powerful video work based on the appropriation of homophobic and transphobic slurs. By reinterpreting them, Lamathilde and her LGBTQ+ friends from Montreal transform stigma into poetic and political resistance, hoping to inspire more love, dignity, and resilience through words.

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Media performance artist Dayna McLeod asked ChatGPT to write an increasingly snarky and heated dialogue between Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault about The Death of the Author, inspired by Barthes' famous essay. This script is performed by AI actors of the theorists, with Dayna’s AI doppelgänger, DaynAI, acting as host to their debate.

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

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In a city where victims of colonial history and dominant narratives intersect, a voice begins to examine the erasure of women and minorities. Between “win,” « nip », and « egg », she plays with words and identities, scrutinizing the violence of bodies and discourse—a fragile and political visual gesture.

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Madonna Swimming is a video work created from footage of Madonna's music videos, Madonna is a cultural figure of excess, and her iconography appropriated from a saturated visual culture. This video collects the leaking Madonna, her images of sexuality and religion, and ultimately presents a more ambiguous product.

Feature

The protean central character of Queerpanorama has built a sex life for himself as an unreliable narrator. Curious about Hong Kong’s international tourists and struggling immigrants, this native Hongkonger briefly infiltrates their bubbles in the guise of other men he has bedded. In an open relationship with an American boyfriend—who, like his other writerly conjurings, may or may not exist—the anonymous ‘I’ (Jayden Cheung) uses his freedom to educate himself on the “complicated universe.” From vast urban spaces to remote beaches, and many a quiet restaurant and architectural marvel in between, ‘I’ bumps up against vastly different lifestyles and circumstances. Copulating and conversing with men who, like him, are searching for grounding or simply to lose themselves. For everyone seems to have reasons to be someone else—even if just for the length of their next encounter. Actor-turned-writer-director Jun Li renders his sexual odyssey in silky black and white, lending its contemporary subject matter a timeless, heightened air. With the noirish romanticism of In the Mood for Love and the beautifully framed melancholy of Lost in Translation, he depicts shifting ideas of normalcy and the burdens we bear or share.

FeatureVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

DANISH • ENGLISH ST | With In Ashes, writer-director Ludvig Christian Næsted Poulsen grippingly toys with genre. He inflects one Danish collegian’s immersion in frantic hook-up culture amidst a relationship mysteriously ended with elements of psychological horror and the tension of a spy thriller. In 2017 Copenhagen, baby-faced Christian (Rex Leonard, a nervy knockout) is glued to his camera, determined to capture every giddy moment he spends with his long-distance boyfriend Aske (Lior Cohen). Flash forward to 2022 Aarhus, “the most wonderful city in the world,” and a scruffier Christian seems less than content. He interrogates his schoolmate’s perspective and confronts strangers over assumed slights. He’s plagued by an unspoken ailment. And Aske seems nowhere to be found. With each empty tryst, each hungrily inhaled cigarette, Christian descends into a type of madness. Or is it clarity? Aske’s reappearance, arriving with the jolt of a jump scare, may hold the key to that question, as desperation congeals into starry-eyed determination. For those drawn in by the enigmatic pull of All of Us Strangers, In Ashes will have you guessing ‘is this a romance or a tragedy’ until the very last second—perhaps, even, long after.