The Male Gaze: Shadows on Skin

​From a swimming pool in Brazil to the back seat of a car in Germany via an apartment in the early hours of the morning where three men dance to the beat of wild passions, here are four stories about the marks that can be left when skin touches skin. Even in brightness, some shadows will always linger. The 4 short films are: Offline [Desconexo] (2020); Hedon (2019); Adán & Esteban (2022); Private Photos [Fotos Privadas] (2020).

The Kiss List

High-school student Camille Collins finds herself in a social media spin-out after her crush, Dylan, spreads rumors that she’s a bad kisser. So, Camille creates a “kiss list” to prove Dylan wrong and find her one true love. Her plan derails early and often, with social media meltdowns and backlash from classmates, her best friend, Liam, and her single mom, who struggles with her daughter’s bisexuality. Adapted from Sara Jo Cluff’s young-adult book of the same name.

Paper Planes

A woman with agoraphobia and the Airbnb guest across the hall strike up a correspondence that becomes something more for the holidays.

The Trace of Your Lips

Román is an actor who works in B-movies and who’s isolated in his apartment as a pandemic keeps the world on edge. Aldo, an indigenous young man, is an essential worker who’s allowed by the authorities to come and go. They live across from each other in an apartment complex. They meet online, and they can talk and even see each other in videocalls, but they can’t meet in person. Eventually, the temptation to break out of their lockdown comes up.

Big Boys

A coming-of-age story about Jamie, a teenage boy who develops a crush on his older cousin Allie’s boyfriend on a family camping trip.

Layla

When Layla, a struggling Arab drag queen, falls in love for the first time, they lose and find themself in a transformative relationship that tests who they really are.

The Time of Huan Nan

The Four Brothers of Huan Nan is a charismatic gang known for its vibrant presence. Amid the bustle of Taipei's traditional food market, two of the youths face familial opposition to their forbidden love, while the only female member grapples with her unspoken feelings for the enigmatic fourth member.

Sunflower

A seventeen-year-old boy struggles to understand and embrace his sexuality as he comes of age in the working class suburbs on Melbourne's edge.

Shoulder Dance

Best friends Ira and Roger haven't seen each other in 24 years. When Roger arrives unexpectedly for the weekend, long suppressed desires dangerously resurface. As the boundaries of friendship, love, and sex collide, the strength of Ira's long term relationship with Josh is tested as never before.

Backspot

Riley, a mid-level cheerleader, lands on the All-Star squad, Thunderhawks. With a competition looming, Riley must navigate her crippling anxiety, her relationship with her girlfriend, and her desperate need for approval from her new coach.

Frisky Business

An anxious young drag queen searches for a way out before a revealing news story hits the airwaves, two silent strangers wander out into the night in a city under curfew, and a lively summer camp seeks to rid the youths of America of their sinful heterosexual desires. A defiant collection of shorts exploring passion, persecution and revolt from eras past, present and future. The 5 short films are: AYOR (2021); All the Way (2018); Lost Queens [Locas perdidas] (2015); Gay Camp (2018); Undercurrent [宵禁] (2020).

Sexual Incantations

Darian is a sexually repressed wildcat waiting to be unleashed. When she discovers an enchanted Ouija board, she also uncovers the power to transport women from the past into the present. Darian summons forth such famous, exotic and beautiful females as Cleopatra, Annie Oakley, Mata Hari and Helen of Troy, but each of them is unable to satisfy her insatiable desires.

My Place is Here

Marta, a single mother promised to an older farmer in the aftermath of WWII, forges an unlikely friendship with Lorenzo, the village's openly gay "wedding planner." In the conservative backdrop of rural Southern Italy, Lorenzo introduces her to a hidden community of gays, sparking Marta's journey to challenge societal prejudices. In the first year of women's suffrage in Italy, Marta navigates her evolving role as a woman, breaking barriers and finding her place in a changing world.

On Swift Horses

In the 1950s, a seemingly sensible newlywed and her wayward brother-in-law undertake parallel journeys of risk, romance, and self-discovery.

Danny's Game

Danny Bishop is a gambling prodigy. After exiling himself to prison, he returns to his brothers home only to find himself back in the game because of a large debt for his protection in prison. He cons a group of high stakes gamblers, including his vicious rival, Alex, to a tournament. The story is a delicate balance between the tension of the game and the strained relationship with his brother.

Two Little Boys

A boy's love for his closeted bully drives him into an unconventional road to confession and its consequences.

Night Ride

A cold night in December. Ebba waits for the tram to go home after a party, but the ride takes an unexpected turn.

Heartbeast

When Elina, a young aspiring rapper forced to move from Finland to southern France, meets Sofia, her new step-sister and an impressive ballerina, she immediately falls in love with her.

The Holiday Exchange

Wilde has just sold his company, but facing the holidays as a single man, he decides to swap houses on an LGBTQ app with handsome, Brilfax-bred Oliver. In their efforts to escape their woes, each end up meeting respective handsome locals in the forms of Julius and Henry, who will spice up their visits. In the process romance ignites in both sunny L.A. and a charming, snowy town called Brilfax.

Heavy Snow

Su-an, a performing arts high school student, becomes close with Seol, an actress and celebrity. During a trip, they realize that they have feelings for each other. However, misunderstandings pile up too much, and Seol leaves Su-an. Su-an later becomes an actress and returns to the winter sea, longing for Seol.

Las Ineses

Off Key

Dramatic comedy about having fun, throwing yourself into life without inhibition, overcoming the feeling of shame and accepting that few things in life go as planned.

Going for Broke

With the innocent dropping of a few coins into a video poker machine, Laura Bancroft's world is about to change forever. Inspired by true events, Going for Broke is the compelling, hard-hitting story of one woman's overwhelming addiction to gambling.

Exterminator: Ready To Roll

With financial backing from local bureaucrats, five friends relive their high-volume glory days by getting their heavy metal band back together.

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter

When several young girls are found dead, left hideously aged and void of blood, Dr. Marcus suspects vampirism. He enlists the help of the Vampire Hunter. Mysterious and powerful, Kronos has dedicated his life to destroying the evil pestilence. Once a victim of its diabolical depravity, he knows the vampire's strengths and weaknesses as well as the extreme dangers attached to confronting the potent forces of darkness.

The Empty Hours

Stuck managing his uncle's deserted motel on Veracruz's lonely coast, 17-year-old Sebastian finds solace in unexpected company. Miranda, a beautiful yet seemingly forlorn guest, whiles away the hours waiting for her perpetually late lover. As conversations between them blossom into a connection neither anticipated, a forbidden spark ignites. Will they succumb to the fiery temptation of a fleeting passion, or will they cage their desires for a life dictated by circumstance?

Lizzie

Massachusetts, 1892. An unmarried woman of 32 and a social outcast, Lizzie lives a claustrophobic life under her father's cold and domineering control. When Bridget Sullivan, a young maid, comes to work for the family, Lizzie finds a sympathetic, kindred spirit, and a secret intimacy soon blossoms into a wicked plan.

American Fighter

A desperate teenager is forced into the dangerous world of underground fighting to win enough money to save his ailing mother. He finds out what he's made of in the face of these violent hungry competitors.

Just Something Nice

Radio presenter Karla's biological clock is ticking, and it's now very loud and clear. But no matter what she does, she simply cannot find a suitable man with whom she could imagine a family.

Summer School

A high-school gym teacher has big plans for the summer, but is forced to cancel them to teach a "bonehead" English class for misfit goof-off students. Fortunately, his unconventional brand of teaching fun field trips begins to connect with them, and even inspires ardor in some.

Embrace of the Vampire

An 18-year-old college freshman is seduced by a handsome vampire lover who introduces her to a dark world of carnal desires.

Tell It to the Bees

Dr. Jean Markham returns to the town she left as a teenager to take over her late father's medical practice. When a school-yard scuffle lands Charlie in her surgery, she invites him to visit the hives in her garden and tell his secrets to the bees, as she once did. The new friendship between the boy and the bee keeper brings his mother Lydia into Jean's world.

The Bachelors

After the early death of his wife, a mourning father moves with his teenage son across the country for a private school teaching job. Their lives begin to transform due to two unique women, who help them embrace life and love again

Manifesto

An edited version of Rosefeldt's installation work of the same name, Manifesto is an outstanding tribute to various (art) manifestos of the nineteenth and twentieth century, ranging from Communism to Dogme, in connection with thirteen different characters, including a homeless man, a factory worker and a corporate CEO, who are all played by Cate Blanchett. A striking humorous audio-visual experience.

Supercross

Faced with the suspicious death of their father, two brothers must motivate one another to get back on their bikes and take the Las Vegas Motocross Championships by storm.

Bloomington

A former child actress attends college in search of independence and ends up becoming romantically involved with a female professor. Their relationship thrives until an opportunity to return to acting forces her to make life-altering decisions.

Elena Undone

The wife of a pastor who preaches against homosexuality embarks on an affair with a female writer.

The Burning Plain

A trailer is burning in the middle of a plain. The bodies of two adulterous lovers are found. Scenes from both families, before and after the dramatic events, suggest an unusual connection between them. But what is their secret?

Jenny's Wedding

Jenny Farrell is getting married. But how will her straight-laced family react when they find out that the woman they thought was their daughter’s roommate is actually her fiancée? As the old-fashioned Farrells attempt to come to terms with the prospect of a surprise daughter-in-law, they face a difficult choice: either adapt with the times or risk being left behind.

Red Joan

London, England, May 2000. The peaceful life of elderly Joan Stanley is suddenly disrupted when she is arrested by the British Intelligence Service and accused of providing information to communist Russia during the forties.