Schedule of Events:
3:00 pm: Dalton's Dream
Runtime: 91 Minutes
Language: English
Director: Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown
Country: UK, 2023
Genre: Documentary, Gay, Music, Youth
In 2018, Jamaican national Dalton Harris became the first non-British and Black man to win X-Factor UK. Shot over four years, Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown’s film charts a tumultuous period in Dalton’s life. It deals with his traumatic upbringing and journey to the X-Factor final, as well as the subsequent challenge to build on his success. However, in contrast to other portraits of pop singers’ lives, Dalton’s Dream celebrates the way Harris emerged, embracing his identity, often in the face of prejudice – both at home and in his adopted country – and forged a life defined by his own desires and ambitions.
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4:45 pm: It's Ladies Night - LESBIAN SHORTS
Genre: Lesbian
The Reflection of the Cranes
Juan Ballesteros, 19 minutes, Venezuela and Bolivia, In Spanish with English subtitles
Lucia, a 45-year-old woman, leads a routine life in her roadside inn, when one day Amelia, a young traveler trying to find part of her past in some local waterfalls, shows up at her reception. When an immediate attraction arises between them, the insecurities of one and the fears of the other will hinder the contact between them. It is only through a game of reflexes that one will be able to approach the vulnerabilities of the other.
Goodbye Tango
Jason Laurits, 15 minutes, USA
The sudden death of Ruth’s beloved hamster reveals a decaying marriage with her curmudgeonly wife, Connie. Ruth must either accept the death of things or keep spinning the wheel.
Longing For Light
Alba Cros Pellisé, 11 minutes, Spain, In Catalan with English subtitles
The sun has a central role to play in almost every shot of this analogue cinematic declaration of love to Barcelona, the adopted home of filmmaker Alba Cros Pellisé. Barcelona is where she met other lesbian women for the first time, where she found lovers and where the members of her chosen family live. She films them in their homes and on the streets, where sunlight illuminates the cobblestones and walls, as well as people’s faces. Cros complements her journal-style voice-over with title cards, jazzy music and the familiar, nostalgic sound of film running through the camera. The affectionate shots of lovers, mothers with a young child, and girlfriends at an outdoor café are rhythmically intercut with scenes of sunbeams in cloudy skies, interplays of light and shadows, and glistening sunlight on water. While she acknowledges that it’s difficult to find your own place in the world if you’re “different,” the filmmaker makes it clear that this is not a political film. Rather, it is a personal, intimate and warm portrait of the city where she found love. In these sunlit streets there is no place for darkness, at least for now
Tomorrow Will Be Better (Morgen Doen We Het Beter)
Jottum Kok, 20 minutes, Netherlands, In Dutch with English subtitles
After the relationship with her girlfriend turns sour, Jona moves back in with her mother Mirjam. Their loving relationship is occasionally plagued by miscommunication and when Mirjam is secretive about her daughter's queer identity, the tension mounts. Filmmaker Jottum Kok proposes a vision of generational conflict that can be overcome.
Jackrabbit Homestead
Kimberlea Kressal, 20 minutes, USA
A bereft widow inherits a 5-acre homestead in the desert. As she struggles to forget her past and build a new life for herself in this isolating and unrelenting landscape, she starts to believe someone (or something) is tormenting her.
L’Echappee
Siham Bel, 29 minutes, France, In French with English subtitles
Since she left Corsica where she grew up, Safia has always secured family balance. To protect her relationship with her father, she has never told him about her homosexuality. On a summer evening, she breaks the secret and runs away. On the road along the Calanques creeks, as she makes her way through a new life, she has now to learn to live for herself beyond other people’s eyes and maybe against those she loves most. This summer, an announcement is going to shake up the family and take Safia on an unexpected journey of self-discovery on the winding and rocky roads of the Mediterranean island.
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5:00 pm: Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story
Runtime: 91 minutes
Language: English
Director: Barnaby Thompson
Country: UK, 2023
Genre: Documentary, Gay
OUT OF THE BOX: Different Thinking Films for Different Thinking People
Out of the Box is a showcase for films that expand the offerings of films normally associated with a GLBT Film Festival. This edition highlights a cult-like, b-movie thriller, that is outrageously campy and outlandishly fun and way, way, way over the top.
Noel Coward grew up in poverty and left school when he was only nine years old. He was queer in a very straight world. And yet by the age of 30, he was the highest paid writer in the world and a star on the Broadway stage, movie screens and even writing and performing music. And if that wasn’t enough, he was also a spy during the Second World War! Against all odds, Noel Coward became the most successful multi-talented artist of the Twentieth Century. He defined an era and led an extraordinary life. This is his inspirational story told in his own words and music, and unique home movies.
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7:10 pm: I Don't Know Who You Are
Runtime: 103 minutes
Language: English
Director: M. H. Murray
Country: Canada, 2023
Genre: Drama, Gay, Musician, Narrative, Romance
After a sexual assault, Toronto musician Benjamin must pull together the money for HIV-preventive PEP treatment if he’s been exposed to the virus — while also avoiding the man he's just started dating. Short of cash and determined to solve the problem himself, Benjamin spends a frantic weekend trying to raise the $900 he needs in the 72-hour window when PEP is most effective. Benjamin’s increasingly fraught visits to his friends serve as a tour through the city’s unspoken class system, shading in further aspects of his mounting anxiety with a frenzied protagonist trying so hard to hide his desperation and panic. I Don’t Know Who You Are is a ferocious film about inner conflicts forcing themselves to the surface.
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7:20 pm: Gondola
Runtime: 85 minutes
Language: No Dialogue
Director: Viet Helmer
Country: Georgia, 2023
Genre: Foreign , Lesbian, Narrative, Romance
In the Georgian mountains, a cable car connects a village with a smaller town in the valley. Iva started working for the cable car as a conductor and is now in charge of handling the gondolas. While one gondola goes up to the village, the other goes down to the valley. Halfway down, the gondolas meet every half hour. This is exactly the moment when Iva and Nina, the conductor of the other gondola, meet each time. Where at the beginning only collegial greetings were exchanged, over time a flirtation develops. What follows is the big love and stress with the boss.
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9:25 pm: The Fisherman’s Daughter
Runtime: 80 minutes
Language: In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Edgar de Luque Jácome
Country: Colombia, 2023
Genre: Drama, Foreign , Narrative, Trans
Samuel, the last freediving fisherman of grouper, lives isolated on an island. One day, he unexpectedly receives a visit from his son, now called Priscila. He allows her to stay despite his constant rejection. The area's shermen observe everything with strangeness and disdain. After suffering an accident, Samuel must accept the care of his daughter, thus bringing them closer together. They take the opportunity to dive together in life to heal a broken past. The Fisherman’s Daughter is a visually mesmerizing, colorful, and dreamy journey. While we not only dive into the crystal-clear Caribbean Sea, but we are also immersed in a beautiful story of family relations, diversity, acceptance, and love.
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9:35 pm: The Monster of Many Noses
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Language: In Catalan with English subtitles
Director: Abigail Schaaff
Country: Spain, 2024
Genre: Foreign , Gay, Narrative
In the winter of 1968, in a small village in the mountains, the story follows three children who embark on a daring quest to evade the ominous Man of Many Noses, a formidable figure deeply ingrained in Catalan folklore. This sinister character is known for hunting down children who have spun too many lies on the final day of the year. But the children are not the only ones gripped by fear; the film also explores how lies from the past can have a haunting presence. The film follows a proven formula of taking a deeply rooted legend from Catalan folklore and transforming it into a universal story. The Man With Many Noses is a captivating exploration of history, myth, and the human condition.
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