CompetitionFeature

With the verve of a Guy Ritchie caper and the popping-hearts swoon of Heartstopper, writer-director-actor Lloyd Eyre-Morgan brings us a tale of troubled men and a soured affair. When two frequent flyers from the north of England cut ties, one sifts through the past to master his heartbroken present. According to “fit AF” Jake (David Tag), his sexuality is 70/30—the 30% of himself set aside for men. With one weekend a month in Amsterdam saved for sweet, searching Benji (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan), who he meets after a cancelled flight. The two seeming opposites wade through emotional and societal baggage to find the sweet spot: a short-term rental in Amsterdam where they can meet away from homegrown obligations. But the closer Benji gets to Jake’s gooey center, the more Jake approaches romance with the bumper rails up, flip-flopping between encouraging and squashing Benji’s vulnerability—and his own. In addition to its sex-soaked escapades and visual flair, Departures is written with care and complexity, peeling off layer after layer of what builds bonds, only to have them break. Self-funded by a collective of working-class LGBTQ+ filmmakers, this Manchester-made feature is confident, can’t-miss filmmaking.

Feature

Irish author Edward Brady is beside himself when literary success calls to him from the US, but the timing couldn’t be worse: he must care for his ailing mother. Then, when his friends—who are (self-proclaimed) THE worst—abruptly fly to Spain for Pride, they saddle him with three more elderly mothers. Edward’s mother, mute from a recent stroke, communicates to him through wry facial expressions and an iPad that imparts her needs, requests, and matronly advice in a feminine robot voice. “Be. Con. Fi. Dent,” she taps onto her keyboard as Edward rushes to answer a Zoom call to give an author interview. Thanks to TikTok, he is now gaining long-awaited recognition for his queer coming-of-age novel, though his decision to travel overseas for a book tour is put on hold when he suddenly finds himself anchored, like the walls of a house, by four elderly mothers. With plenty of claustrophobic close-ups from the camera, Edward is neither here nor there, but loveably neurotic as he stumbles to get out of his own way long enough to claim his future, discovering among his uninvited guests a most unexpected allyship.

CompetitionFeature

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.

CompetitionFeature

A tight-knit group of revolutionary gay filmmakers in late-1950s former Yugoslavia are shackled by the state to Emir, a communist bureaucrat conditioned to see sabotage everywhere. When the group endeavours to use the Tito regime’s ideological weapons against them, an upended system or the horrors of Barren Island await. Desire—for all of us—can be a heady cocktail. In a society that turns desire inside out, with trust shaken and lover pitted against lover, it becomes a minefield. Dancing cheek to cheek and screwing with abandon turned into revolutionary acts, art a tool for undermining authority. All tactics taken up by professional and romantic partners Lovro (Dado Cosic) and Nenad (Djordje Galic) and their fellow filmmakers (Slaven Doslo, Elmir Krivalic). The four friends determined to savour glimpses of the beautiful lives possible if defense mechanisms could safely fall—a boogie-woogie record; a secluded, seaside house in Istria—as they risk their lives for the cause of freedom. In Croatia’s official submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, the sex is explicit, the stakes and brutality intense, the cinematography stunning. A gutting and rarefied concoction immortalized by writer-director Ivona Juka’s daring cinematic achievement.

FeatureVIRTUAL

PORTUGUESE • FRENCH ST | In the year 1984, Antonio lives a quiet life tending to his cattle ranch in the rural Batalha dos Neves region of Brazil. One day, he rescues Marcelo—an injured motorcyclist—and from there, a series of events unfolds that will come to define both men’s lives in irreversible ways. As an older and still very eligible man, Antonio looks back to the year 1984, but one can never be sure of what he’s truly feeling (perhaps, not even Antonio). Daniel Nolasco, director of Dry Wind (I+N32, 2020), plays with time in a mind-bending story that explores the irresistibly damaging construct of masculinity and the strength and vulnerability of erotic passion between men that sometimes prevails over intolerance—though the devastating and often violent effects of social repression do not wash away so easily. The tension simmers as a fatherly feud and dangerous rival linger at the edge of Antonio’s near paradise on the ranch, a home he longs to rightfully protect. Enigmatic and captivating, as well as sensual, hot and heavy, Only Good Things moves in leaps and bounds, rising to a fever pitch, and leaving you wanting more.

Feature

Seaside La Ciotat, its cicadas droning, is a far cry from the battlefields of Ukraine. A distance that vexes 16-year-old Enzo, who is drowning in ennui. Drawn to danger, cavalier about consequences, he is convinced a dashing Ukrainian bricklayer is his ticket to a more audacious future. Enzo (Eloy Pohu) makes for an irksome masonry apprentice: he slacks off, scoffing at superiors. He seems engineered for his privileged life at his parents’ hillside villa, cooling off in the pool under an unrelenting sun. But, he bucks his parents’ high aspirations and boss’ low expectations, determined to be part of something that lasts. Equally determined to insinuate himself into the trajectory of his 20-something colleague, Vlad (Maksym Slivinskyi). While Enzo must debate which vacation to take, Vlad is torn epically between a newfound Frenchness and wartorn Ukraine. Vlad becoming a romantic and narrative ideal Enzo will do anything to attain. Dying in the midst of Enzo’s creation, auteur Laurent Cantet passed the baton to longtime collaborator Robin Campillo (120 BPM), who encapsulates the fascinating ambiguities of sexuality, class anxiety, and valour. Situating them amongst the half-built shelters and ineffable ruins of our time.

Queerment QuébecShortVIRTUAL

Set around a single dining table, a son struggles to reclaim his sense of normalcy as his mother’s delusions tighten their grip. Through quiet tension and buried longing, this intimate psychological drama exposes the fragile warfare of a mother-son relationship trapped between love, denial, and control.

Short

Interview with Gilbert Higgins, one of the 146 victims of the police raid on the Truxx, a gay bar on Stanley Street in Montreal, on the night of October 22, 1977. The reaction it triggered became one of the precursor events to the creation of what was first called Le Village de l’Est (in contrast to the gay bar sector west of downtown), then Le Village gai, and now simply Le Village.

Short

Hiko, 11, runs away from a neighborhood party after a disagreement with his mother over his refusal to wear makeup. He stumbles upon a mysterious circus tent, where an unexpected encounter reshapes his perception of himself. This magical adventure compels him to face his choices and explore his own identity.

Queerment QuébecShortVIRTUAL

“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

Queerment QuébecShortVIRTUAL

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

ShortVIRTUAL

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.

CompetitionDocumentary

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.

CompetitionDocumentary

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.

DocumentaryVIRTUAL

Take a peek behind the curtain of Richard O’Brien’s (in)famous stage play The Rocky Horror Show–the British rock ‘n roll musical that took the world by storm in the 1970s and through the film, has continued to shake things up while touching the hearts of fans worldwide. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is often a rite of passage for queer youth–and whether queer means gay or eccentric, it always means fabulous. See the trajectory of Richard O’Brien’s quirky brainchild–from its humble beginnings as a scrappy passion project bursting the seams of repurposed cinemas (which would set the stage for future shadowcasts), and follow the show’s journey through a Broadway blunder, an awkward stumble onto the silver screen, and at last, its refuge at weekend midnight screenings. No detail is spared, with lore straight from some of the show’s original performers, as well as producers and promoters who not only marvel at the lasting significance of their work, but who also give credit where long (over)due. Be sure not to miss this 50th Anniversary tribute to Rocky Horror, the queerest and campiest cult phenomenon–deemed also a ‘beautiful accident’–of our century.

DocumentaryVIRTUAL

Army of Lovers tells the untold epic saga of the Sacred Band, an elite force of 150 pairs of male lovers who became the most formidable warriors of the ancient world. This Greek army was formed inThebes in 379 BCE to end Spartan domination. Fighting undefeated for four decades and finally annihilated at the Battle of Chaeronea. Buried on the battlefield where they fell, the 300 were forgotten by history, until a Greek archaeologist discovered the mass grave in 1880. The discovery was never made public and the grave covered up, leading some historians to claim that the Sacred Band never existed. It was only in 2019 that a missing skeleton was found in the basement of the Athens Archaeological Museum, as well as excavation logs with detailed drawings of the grave: it depicted an army of 300 men lying in pairs, their arms linked together. A team of international archaeologists and historians is re-examining the newly uncovered evidence, gaining unprecedented insight into the story of the Sacred Band. Their findings challenge us to rethink our understanding of Ancient Greece and our perceptions of heroism and masculinity across time.