FilmPride

2024 films... 

The first Christmas of Noé

Dir: Alexis Renou (she/her) – 9:12, France
Noé and his sister mentally prepare themselves for the family meal that awaits them. The young man has postponed announcing his gender transition to his parents and shows up to the Christmas dinner as if nothing has changed, sporting a brand-new mustache.

Longing

Dir: Courteney Tan (she/her) – 12:27, UK
On the night before her flight home, a Malaysian woman with a secret finds herself on an impromptu date with another woman.

Alwan

Dir: Qais Sarhan (he/him) – 2:50, UK
Meet Alwan, a cheerful but lonely child. Spending his days alone, he’s used to feeling left out. When a mysterious yellow box appears, things take an exciting turn! This heartwarming story is all about friendship, creativity and the wonderful things that can happen when you let your imagination shine.
Trailer available here

Crave

Dir: Lois Norman (she/her) – 05:13, UK
a lick away from love now…
Late at night, her bed still warm from her lover leaving, a painter dips her brush into her own imperfect past and parts of her: a lost truth drips through…
Crave explores female queer love and the self-gaze that frees it.

Burning World

Dir: Benji Human (they/them) – 12:19, UK
The world is on fire, why not start a band? First Timers is a DIY punk festival where beginner musicians play for the first time in front of an audience. Over the course of one night, we follow the newest punks brave enough to take the stage.
Trailer available here

Stone

Dirs: Jake Graf (he/him), Hannah Graf (she/her) – 13:50, UK
When Tess learns of her estranged father’s death, she travels to the funeral hoping for nothing more than some closure and the chance to meet the woman who stole him from her. Immediately blindsided by the revelation that her father was a transgender woman, Tess starts to wonder what else has been kept from her, turning to her mother for answers. Realising that nothing is as it seems, Tess must challenge not only everything she has been told about her childhood but, most importantly, her understanding of what it meant to be a father.
Trailer available here

The Queen of the Foxes

Dir: Marina Rosset (she/her) – 08:50, Switzerland
In the hopes of seeing their queen smile again, a group of foxes rummage through the city’s trash, searching for all the love letters that were never sent.

The House Nobody Wanted

Dir: Jo Kimber (she/her) – 06:55, UK
A figure moves through an abandoned house, whilst a distant voice reflects on what it means to age and to age queer. A meditative ode to growing older, gay gods and finding joy along the way.

Cab Ride

Dirs: Ola Jones (he/him) & Femi Tiwo (they/them) – 11:58, UK
Set in the streets of south London, this naturalistic comedy drama sees two queer lovers bolt out of a house party, into a waiting cab where they have one eventful journey to figure out whether they are truly a match… Or maybe these dating apps are nothing but admin, admin, admin?
Trailer available here

I Would Like to Live on the Moon

Dir: Emily Burke (they/them/she/her) – 2:13, UK
A young non-binary person feels overwhelmed and wants to escape – literally, to the moon.
Trailer available here

Making Up

Dir: Ryan Paige (he/him) – 15:00, UK
It’s the late 1980s in East End London – we follow Ted who is diagnosed with a hereditary illness. Ted must reconcile with estranged daughter, Cassandra. However, being a celebrated drag queen, paired with the bitter feelings Cassandra harbours over their past, presents a larger obstacle for Ted to overcome.
Trailer available here

Everyman

Dir: Jack Goessens (he/they)– 10:54, UK
A personal, visual essay about gender transition – focusing on the social context and implications and exploring how the world is different living as female compared to being perceived as male. Jack tells his story by using and reframing gender focused tropes and imagery from popular culture, mythology, history and art.

Senior Prom

Dir: Luisa Conlon (she/her) – 14:00, US
At an LGBTQ retirement home, the annual “senior” prom takes on a whole new meaning – a celebration of the lives and legacies of resistance of the eldest queer generation.

Good Boy

Dir: Tom Stuart (he/him) – 15:59, UK
Danny’s (played by BAFTA-winner Ben Whishaw) attempt to rob a bank with his overbearing mum (played by SAG-awardee Marion Bailey) is scuppered by the appearance of their family doctor. With his mum in the back of his van, and a dead pigeon on the passenger seat, Danny has a growing sense of desperation. But as more and more figures arrive to disrupt his day, we begin to sense that everything is not as it seems…

We Vogue

Dir: OTOXO Students – 09:14, Spain
Ballroom voguing has fiercely swept across the world becoming a global phenomenon. Against the backdrop of Spain’s contemporary ballroom scene, Jayce and a growing group of Black trans folks have emerged to reclaim the space.
Trailer available here

Sister Wives

Dir: Louisa Connolly-Burnham (she/her) – 28:57, UK
The tale of young women living in a strict, fundamentalist, polygamous society in 2003 Utah, USA. Kaidence and Galilee find themselves bound to one another, under the same roof, in the same marriage, as they develop scary, new, exciting feelings for each other. In a harsh, regressive, watchful community where being queer is considered a cardinal sin, they begin having thoughts of leaving the only life they have ever known behind.

Coming Out Autistic

Dir: Steven Fraser (he/him) – 03:55, UK
Coming out Autistic is a short animated documentary that explores the experience of telling the world that you are autistic when you also identify as LGBTQ+.
Trailer available here

Nothing Special

Dir: Mikko Makela (he/him) – 14:02, UK
A filmmaker’s and a moviegoer’s ideas of cinematic romance are put to the test during a one-night stand that turns emotional…

Wolf

Dirs: Chris Blaine (he/him) & Ben Blaine (he/him) – 15:32, UK
When Brian and Sammy, best friends since high school, meet up for their yearly Halloween night of trick or treating, Sammy needs to accept that growing up means the future of their friendship might look a little different for them.

Forever Flowers

Dir: Joe Solomon (he/him) – 13:00, UK
In a remote country house Lily and Rose are awaiting the arrival of their care-worker Dani and her boyfriend Bo for a farewell dinner. Dani and Bo are planning to rob the elderly couple during the meal. But these two old ladies are not what they seem…
Trailer available here

Son of God

Dir: Bruce Micallef Eynaud (he/him) – 11:19, Malta
A priest plans to steal a painting from his church, but is troubled by guilt.

Hate

Dir: Emiliano Sisolfi (they/them) – 8:08, Italy
A teenager is questioning their gender identity and the relationship with their mother. They are looking for an answer from God itself.
Trailer available here

I’m a Faggot

Dir: Javier Riera (him/his), Miguel Vingur (him/his) – 12:00, Spain
It is easier to live in our own imagination than accepting our reality. But, what would it be like to live inside this imagination where anything is possible?
Trailer available here

Queen Size

Dir: Avril Besson (she/her) – 19:52, France
This morning, Marina has an appointment with Charlie to sell her a mattress. This evening, she will cancel her plane for La Reunion. But they don’t know that yet.

Slangbang

Dir: Lee Campbell (he/him) – 02:00, UK
In gay male slang, ‘bears’ and ‘cubs’ refer to body shapes and age groups. A ‘bear’ usually refers to a hairy plus-size man, whilst a ‘cub’ is a younger bear. An ‘otter’ is a slimmer hairy man, whilst a ‘wolf’ is an older daddy. A kaleidoscope of gay male bodies – Busby Berkeley style, Slangbang explores the idea of being codified by a set of occularcentric taxonomic principles that are meant to determine who you are as a person, and how you function in a relationship.

I Love Every Atom of Your Body

Dir: Alejandro Lobo León (he/him) – 13:00, Spain
Cintia and Alegria, friends and classmates, are having a study session for Literature but, at 17, it’s hard to focus, especially when one of them has such important news.

Love + (Love Positive)

Dir: Tushar Tyagi (he/him) – 17:09, India
Ajay wants his live-in partner, Utkarsh, to join him for a live interview, but Utkarsh wants to keep their relationship a secret. The concern for them seems bigger than appearing together for this live interview. Will this sero-discordant couple have a positive love story?
Trailer available here

The Sappho Project: Fragment 147

Dir: Sari Katharyn (she/her) – 07:40, UK
Two women find each other time and time again, loving each other through all their life times. Made entirely during lockdown by student artists, this animated film is a collective piece of art, dedicated to one of the most famous lyrical fragments that remain from the lesbian poet Sappho: fragment 147.

Borrowed Time

Dir: Hannah Berry George (she/her) – 05:00, UK
Thanks to new technology, Liam is able to bring his dead Dad back to life for just five minutes and finally ask a very important question.

Gina

Dir: Michelle Piana (she/her) – 16:55, France
Gino, a 10-year-old boy, is an excellent footballer. However, Gino does not consider himself a boy, but a girl.

You Don’t Have to Like Me

Dir: Safiyah Smith (she/her) – 09:37, US
We delve into the harsh realities of a woman who presents as masculine, grappling with insecurities that threaten to consume her whole being. It captures the moments when disownment can lead to crippling self-judgment, when you feel like nothing more than a shadow of yourself.

Toothbrush

Dir: Shaun Kitchener(he/him) – 10:32, UK
With his wedding day approaching, a closeted young dad is running out of time to face up to his sexuality.
Trailer available here

Stranger

Dir: Jehnny Beth (she/her), Iris Chassaigne (she/her) – 18:42, France
For the past 548 days, A has been absent from her own life, unable to feel anything. One night, J appears and takes her along with her, looking for ways to make her heart beat again. Stranger is a musical tale, the story of an awakening.

Beautiful Trouble

Dir: Christopher T McGill (he/him) – 17:24, UK
How can we use art activism to create a more just world? Dan Glass, a queer Jewish street activist, inspires and challenges us with his audacious tales of Trump Baby, dumping manure outside UKIP HQ and other theatrical stunts.
Trailer available here

All the Lights Still Burning

Dir: Dominic Leclerc (he/him) – 15:00, UK
Mo and Musa, two British Pakistani men with a past, reconnect unexpectedly one night. Musa is a classically trained violinist now living in London, while Mo is a drug dealer who works the streets of Bradford. Over one unforgettable night, these two very different lives collide.

Prism

Dir: Gina Hara (she/her) – 12:57, Canada
A visually striking short experimental fiction film, following Miranda as she bursts from her beige cocoon and embraces her queer identity for the first time. In a hyper-sexual world, there are very few movies exploring what it feels like to be on the asexual spectrum. Director Gina Hara sets out to create refreshingly unique asexual representation on the silver screen, while taking inspiration from movies by Maya Deren and Roy Andersson.

The Last Take

Dir: Brian Foyster (he/him) – 14:17, US
Facing the end, a movie star from Hollywood’s golden age must reconcile with the only man he ever loved. 

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