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Merlinka International Queer Film Festival
Thursday, 07 December 2023 until Sunday, 10 December 2023
International queer film festival Merlinka is organized every year from 2009 in Belgrade Serbia. For seven days we screen short, documentary and featured LGBT-themed films.
Only gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual-themed films.
Awards & Prizes
Dorothy's slipper award for the best short queer film
2022 - The Hunt by Sholeh Zahraei, Kamil Saldun
2021 - Path of a ghost by Namo Safideen
2020 - Fabiu by Stefan Langthaler
2019 - Dante vs. Mohammed Ali by Marc Wagenaar
2018 - Whole by Slava Doytcheva
2017 - The Fish Curry by Abhishek Verma
2016 - Dove by Konstantinos Chaliasas
2015 - 09:55-11:05, Ingrid Ekman, Bergsgatan 4B by Cristine Berglund, Sophie Vukovic
2014 - I call it love, directed by Elsy Hajjar; Through The Mirror, by Breech Asher Harani
2013 - Camionero by Sebastián Miló
2012 - I’ve Only Just Begun by E.
2011 - Frischluft Therapie by Christoph Scheermann
2010 - Tools 4 Fools by Kate A. Brandt
2023 films...
Killing in a Vegan way
The harmony-loving Aurora increasingly compromises in her relationships with her friends and her vegan boyfriend Charlie and neglects her own needs, which has fatal consequences.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
24
Knowing Mario
Mario Lemešić is a Bjelovar based school cook living with HIV. For years, he’s faced homophobia and HIV-related stigma. The film illustrates his struggled, yet the uncoditional love and support from those that surround him in his everyday life.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
36
Dzoli
A portrait of a transgender man, who looks back on growing up, understanding that he is different, and his everyday life.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
15
Clear Sky
Nina arrives in Belgrade after hearing the news of her ex-boyfriend’s death. When she meets with once close friends, she realizes how much those relationships have changed. Amidst a series of turbulent emotions, she tries to cope with nostalgia and guilt, surrendering to a long-forgotten feeling of freedom.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
26
Storm’s show
Stefan is an employee of the Leoni factory in Kraljevo, where he works every day, except Sundays. On Sundays, Storm, his alter ego and drag persona, comes to life. Storm isn’t afraid to be who she is: fierce, brave, confident, everything that Stefan is weak at. We follow Stefan during his transformation into Storm, as well as their performance, while he introduces us to what it means to be Storm and what the life of a drag artist in Serbia looks like.
Director:
Director:
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
19
Queeroslavia
Where is queer culture hidden in Yugoslav cinema? A critical look into the shaping of queer representation in this region. It was always present but in what way and how visibly. Now these motifs and characters are brought into the light so they can finally be seen and appreciated.
Director:
Marija Cupric
Country:
Serbia
Year:
2023
Duration:
6
Good Morning I’m a Whore!
“Good Morning I’m a Whore!” is an animated music video parody of the beloved song “Good Morning Baltimore” from the musical “Hairspray.” The video stars the fabulous Drag Queen and sensation, Sherry Vine. In this hilarious and vibrant music video, Sherry Vine takes center stage to celebrate sex positivity and empowerment with a humorous twist, while meeting up with other glamorous Drag Queens, including some familiar faces from the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
4
Pussy Love
Cool Cat invites you! To join the world of Pussy Love. Enjoy a show of lust and laziness! Let’s have fun with tits and dicks. The claws are sharp, the soda is sparkling and the fur is getting wet. Romance is kitsch. But even the most jaded cat can still be lost for love.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
4
Y
An empty paper depicts a struggle between artistic composition and decomposition as the voice of the narrator-protagonist reminisces about her tumultuous relationship with a former girlfriend.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
7
Aikane
A valiant island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world. Everything changes when the octopus who rescues him transforms into a handsome young man.
Director:
Director:
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
15
I Wish
A photographer witnesses that the hearts of a bride and groom belong to others.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2021
Duration:
3
Clotilde
On a planet where reproduction is mandatory in the daily life of its inhabitants, there is an alien who just wishes to pleasure herself.
Director:
Maria João Lourenço
Country:
Portugal
Year:
2023
Duration:
4
The Boat Is My Friend
In 1831, on a british merchant ship, James Franklin dies from a sea accident and leaves behind his lover, Tom.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
10
Gilipollas
Lolo and Dick meet again after a long time in a friendly bar and they catch up. To the surprise of both, feelings that they thought were forgotten arise again.
Director:
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
7
Grigrette’s recipe
A young witch falls in love and decides to create her own love potion. After a long process, she manages to offer the flowers sprinkled with the potion to her future beloved. However, a surprise awaits her…
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
3
The Butch and the Baby Daddy
Alex has wanted to have a baby almost as long as she can remember. But how is a trans/butch lesbian supposed to get sperm? When she considers asking Mateo, a close gay friend of hers, Alex is forced to investigate what she really values.
Director:
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
6
Outside the Lines
In a short animated documentary, young queer individuals discuss their experiences deviating from societal norms and the complexities and joys it brings, offering inspiration and insight.
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Year:
2023
Duration:
5
The Prince’s Dilemma
The film follows Prince Philip, who longing to be with a prince of his own, must decide to follow the traditional tale expected of him or forge his own happily ever after.
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Year:
2023
Duration:
5
Confusion of the Afternoon
After a poker game, two boys’ attraction grows, but the reality of unrequited affection in a world obsessed with straight men looms. This film explores young gays’ infatuations with heterosexual men as they navigate their sexual orientations.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
3
Gods of the Supermarket
In times of body positive movements this film pays tribute to the mainstream representation of the male body which the director has a love-hate relationship with. Through a series of gleaned images from the internet and elsewhere (“net found footage”), our cultural obsession with unrealistic beauty standards is put into question.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
8
Sean Dorsey Dance: Dreaming Trans and Queer Futures
This is an Emmy Award-winning short that blends dance and documentary. It profiles Sean Dorsey, a pioneering transgender choreographer and activist. In a time of heightened challenges for transgender and queer communities across the USA, Dorsey’s work celebrates their strength and creativity. As the USA’s first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer and a leading trans activist, Dorsey has dedicated himself to showcasing trans and queer performing arts.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
10
About them
An immersion in different female alliances, portraying mutual support movements in which different women participate and strengthen the links and the support network, showing that female liberation is not individual, but collective.
Director:
Bruna Arcangelo
Country:
Brazil
Year:
2022
Duration:
14
Two hearts
Mari is an intersex person in permanent transit that incorporates two perspectives. A fighter and brave, her life has been a constant battle in an almost uninhabited rural area. From the sincerity, narrates her day to day, her desires, illusions and anxiety in an attempt to pave the way for those who come after.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
19
I Asked him To Take me Dancing
A Modern Orthodox Jewish man, Hillel Rate turns the camera on his own quest for love. As his prospects improve, he finds himself reflecting on the tension between finding someone to spend your life with whilst losing the opportunity to love another. Love, he discovers, is full of bittersweet sacrifice.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
7
The Hat
Hadi stares at the camera and begins to get dressed. As he prepares himself, he expresses his thoughts on the current situation, how much discrimination and amalgams weigh on him, he who wears the double stigmatizing hat of gay & Arab. What to do with this weight?
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
3
Their Voice
Their Voice follows performer Kristyn Michele as they transition from mezzo-soprano to tenor and are cast in the first ever off-Broadway musical performed by an all trans and non-binary cast.
Director:
Megan Rossman
Country:
USA
Year:
2023
Duration:
14
Chokehole: Drag Wrestlers do Deutschland
One hot New Orleans summer night, a drag collective introduced wrestling into their performance, giving birth to Chokehole. This documentary follows Chokehole as they take their show to Germany, exploring the stories of cast members grappling with various issues. The film portrays these artists both in and out of drag, revealing their vibrant personas and hidden vulnerabilities. It delves into their personal journeys, addressing love, sexuality, transitions, trauma, and societal challenges. ‘Chokehole: Drag Wrestlers do Deutschland’ is a tale of disenfranchised, queer performers overcoming odds to create a captivating theatrical experience.
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Year:
2022
Duration:
22
Grandchild
Surrounded by friends of their age, many of whom already grandparents, Claudio and Hilla yearn for their first grandchild. Nitai, their son, begins a surrogacy process with his husband in Canada. But the family has to bridge intergenerational gaps.
Director:
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Year:
2021
Duration:
13
Skate+
Activism in every step – or in every flip. This story is about finding identity through skating. It is about personal growth, inspiration and hope. Transgender Andrea/Andrew grew up facing severe bullying, outcasting and exclusion. Through skating, they build resilience, self-awareness and empowerment; it goes beyond street occupation, helping one unleash their true self. But it is not just about them. They teach transgender kids searching for their place in the world, as well as migrant kids searching for their sense of belonging in Barcelona. Ramp by ramp, flip by flip, they take concrete steps for a world where human rights are realised in full, where kids can be who they want to be, where everyone can belong.
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Year:
2022
Duration:
6
Unnamed
Zainab is a successful girl who supports her family financially, but considers herself a boy in spirit, and now she has decided to undergo gender transition, but in addition to her family’s opposition and the society’s inappropriate view of this issue, she has more difficulties There is something more important to come. she, who played in the country’s national volleyball team for a while and is now in the Bartar league, if she does this, she will be removed from professional volleyball forever due to her short stature compared to men, and not only will she lose her professional future, but also her livelihood and her family who are under her care will be in trouble.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
13
Movement Practitioner
“Movement Practitioner” is a poignant documentary that traces the life of Niels Claes, an accomplished contemporary dancer. The film explores his current success and tumultuous past, marked by bullying and a quest for acceptance. Narrated in reverse, it reveals his journey from a non-conforming youth to an empowered artist, addressing themes of belonging and resilience. Through Niels Claes’ experiences, the documentary advocates for awareness of the lasting effects of bullying, inspiring viewers to embrace their true selves.
Director:
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
15
Raja Bhau
RAJA BHAU is a heartwarming story of Merlin, an Indian transman, and his journey to self-acceptance with support from his family. Born as a girl, Merlin always knew he was in the wrong gender. With his mother’s unwavering support and acceptance from relatives, Merlin proudly embraces his true identity. After undergoing surgeries and becoming a fitness enthusiast, he now inspires others through social media and support groups. This film sheds light on the importance of living authentically and with dignity in a changing society.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
25
Bunny decides to go
Home is not always a comfort zone. Sometimes the house can turn into a real hell. If the place where you are staying, your hometown and everything around you is making you uncomfortable and your life is in physical danger as the last straw, the only alternative is to run away. The isolation, fear and threats to my life in Baku led me on an unplanned trip to Tbilisi. I have to adapt to a new life in a new city, solve the problems I carried with me and “what will happen next?” Will I find an answer to this question?
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
16
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
15
Rebel Queers: Ukraine’s Queer Resistance
Before the full-scale invasion, subversive collective Rebel Queers would defy the heteronormative and patriarchal world that so suffocated them by scrawling on the walls of Kyiv: ‘Queer Sex,’ ‘Make Queer Punk Again,’ and ‘Be Queer, Do Crime, Hail Satan,’ among others. The driving force behind Rebel Queers is Angelika Ustymenko, a non-binary and neurodivergent artist and filmmaker. When their country and their community came under attack, they resolved to document the experiences of queer Ukrainians during wartime. On the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Angelika began a new phase of their documentary project, collaborating with Alex King and Huck Docs to collect queer soldiers’ reflections after a year of war and broadening the focus to include other forms of queer resistance.
Director:
Director:
Alex King
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
20
One more night
Another night in the life of a young man in search of anesthesia.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
17
Maghreb’s hope
Through a fusion of drawing, animation techniques, and real-life footage, these artistic portrayals highlight the experiences of queer individuals from the “BIG Maghreb” region, including Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. These individuals have courageously shattered societal taboos surrounding their gender and sexuality, defying legal, social, and familial pressures, even among those who have chosen to distance themselves from their families.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
24
Seahorse Parents
In the short documentary, “Seahorse Parents” four (soon to be) transgender parents share their personal stories of what carrying their future children as transgender males is like.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
9
Me & Her
Eldar, a Russian film student living in Estonia, conceals his transition to a man from his grandmother in Russia. To address her concerns about online rumors, Eldar returns to Russia for her birthday party, disguising himself as his former self. However, as he helps his grandmother prepare for the party, he begins to doubt his decision.
Director:
Director:
Country:
Year:
2021
Duration:
17
Housekeeping For Beginners
From acclaimed filmmaker Goran Stolevski comes a story exploring the universal truths of family, both the ones we’re born into and the ones we find for ourselves. Dita never wanted to be a mother, but circumstances force her to raise her girlfriend’s two daughters, tiny troublemaker Mia and rebellious teen Vanesa. A battle of wills ensues as the three continue to butt heads and become an unlikely family that must fight to stay together.
Director:
Of An Age
Summer, 1999. An unexpected and intense twenty-four-hour romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old Serbian ballroom dancer and his best friend’s older brother. A decade later the pair meet for a bittersweet reunion.
Director:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Based on Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s YA novel, the film centres on the friendship between two teenage Mexican-American loners in 1987 El Paso who explore a new, unusual friendship and the difficult road to self-discovery.
Director:
Silver Haze
23-year-old Franky is a nurse who lives with her large family in an East London borough. Obsessed with a thirst for revenge and a need to assign guilt for a traumatic event that happened 15 years before, she is unable to build any meaningful relationship until she falls in love with one of her patients – Florence. They escape to the coast where Florence lives with her more open-minded patchwork family. There, Franky finds the emotional shelter to deal with the grudges of the past.
Director:
Before I Change My Mind
While the other students wonder if new kid Robin is a boy or a girl, Robin forges a complicated bond with the school bully, making increasingly dangerous choices to fit in.
Director:
Trevor Anderson
Smalltown Boys
Nightclub employee Youcef falls for a dancer from a touring queer troupe during the summer. Elsewhere, a young man in high heels walks through the village he’s about to leave. In an isolated town, Jonas has a rendezvous for erotic photos with a stranger. There’s the one who stays, the one who leaves, and the one who passes through. These are provincial boys.
Director:
Two
A female couple dreams of having a baby. Bar, (35) a chef, is treated with antidepressants so her partner, Omer (32) a dancer, is the one to get pregnant. Their journey starts with a lot of excitement and they are certain their love will overcome all obstacles. However, many unsuccessful insemination treatments affect their relationship. Omer becomes edgy and Bar is getting frustrated due to her place in the process.
Director:
All the colours of the world are between black and white
Bambino and Bawa meet in Lagos and hit it off immediately. During their long trips around the city, they develop a deep affection for each other. But in a society which considers homosexuality taboo, they feel the pressure of social norms.
Director:
Breaking the Ice
Mira, in her early 20s, escapes from the pressure of running her family’s vineyard by playing ice hockey. When new player Theresa joins the team, she challenges Mira’s rigid worldview, leading to life-changing nights on the streets of Vienna.
Director:
Norwegian Dream
A 19-year-old Polish immigrant works at a fish factory in Norway who has feelings for his colleague. A strike begins among the Polish workers at the factory which makes their relationship to each other and to their fellow workers tested.
Director:
The Spanish King
“The Spanish King” tells the story of a 90-year-old dandy in search of love and eternal youth. He celebrates his big 90th birthday party, which is attended by the country’s young artists. He is friends with all kind of young celebrities like Jedet, El Cejas, Samantha Hudson, Paula Cendejas, Recycled J and many more, who acclaim and adore him. But there is something that does not allow him to enjoy the party as he would really like…
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
12
Green Little Eyes
- Pepita and Mari Carmen spend every afternoon together trying to cope with the loneliness of the Spanish civil war. Between buttons and balls of yarn they talk about life, desires, dreams and love, but that afternoon they didn’t know what fate had in store for them. In the end they will prove that life is like sewing and singing… everything is just a beginning.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
14
Catboy
Marc, after receiving several racist and feather-phobic comments from a gay dating app, receives a message from his transexual friend Cacao inviting him to a Ballroom. Marc decides to go, there he is surprised by the freedom and diversity of the environment.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
13
Beyond the Sea
Lady Casca, a drag queen in her sixties, is about to go on stage at her cabaret for the last time. The next day, retirement by the sea awaits her. But her son Thomas, whom she has not seen for a long time, interrupts the festivities. He has sad news to tell her.
Director:
Country:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
25
Chlorine
Miguel and Diego are on the same water polo team. Miguel just wants to enjoy the sport. Diego, on the other hand, has only one goal: to play in the big leagues. Little by little, both will discover that between them there is something more than chlorine.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
15
Before you go
Daniel and his best friend, Franco, camping in Patagonia, lose their gear down a cliff. They take refuge in an empty cabin, celebrating their impending college separation. Daniel grapples with unspoken feelings for Franco. When Franco sprains his ankle, tensions rise as they discuss their futures. To mark their trip, Franco suggests matching eyebrow slits. Their closeness intensifies, interrupted by the cabin owners’ return. Fearing confrontation, they flee into the woods, leaving questions behind.
Director:
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
14
Blond Night
Victor is unhappy in his housing for autistic adults. To avoid the Friday disco, he goes out for a walk in the neighborhood and then he meets a young prostitute.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
16
LEO BY NIGHT
Paul can’t say no. He goes from job to job, from man’s arm to man’s arm, without knowing what tomorrow will bring. This Wednesday, he has to look after his eight-year-old son, whom he did not raise and whom he had with Assa, a surgeon older than him.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2021
Duration:
23
Reflections
Just like an LP, coming out of the closet for a gay lad has both an A side and a B side. A life between guilt and pleasure. Reflections invites you to reflect upon this idea.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
11
Depth
The man couldn’t restrain his thoughts anymore, so he went to see him. Just as the two were slowly trying to approach each other, they found that someone was watching them…
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
10
I am Poem
Carlito, a sensitive but courageous young boy comes to terms with his gender identity and defies his heartless mother in hopes of her acceptance.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
15
Will You Look at Me
As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
20
Chavo
Tommy’s grill is a meeting place for the Romani community. Here a motley crew of people gather to eat and talk. When a young man visits the restaurant one evening, rumors begin to spread and Tommy is forced to revisit traumatic memories.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
15
Unseen Dancer
Luca performs for the first time in a queer ballroom and is interrupted on the dance floor by his mother, even though she has already passed away.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
6
I seek your help to bury a man
Brazil, 1870. Gita is a transgender woman doomed to die or suffer the consequences of her traditions. The half-breed soldier is fated to uphold and serve the unjust laws of his country. The old woman in black needs to save her indigenous son from the claws of the Brazilian Empire. The child claims that the purpose of love, the greatest universal law, is the breaking of the cycle of all tragedies.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
20
U Up?
Ben is alone at home when his online dating buddy sends him a short but ever-telling message. The two words contain everything Nico thinks about courtship and foreplay. His detached, purposeful behavior keeps Ben from showing his real emotions. Ben tries to balance between staying honest and avoiding an awkward situation, but he seems to fail in both. His fear of rejection blurs his judgment and makes the only real momentum vanish before their farewell.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2020
Duration:
9
Fallen Angel
A young introvert transgender woman struggles with loneliness and heartaches, on her journey to find love in an ever-changing chameleon-like modern metropolis.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2022
Duration:
16
Déjà Vu
Gefen, who’s about to become a mother, walks around a baby store and runs into her mother, after not seeing each other for years. The chance meeting brings up their broken relationship from the past.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
17
The Eggs
A surprise visit reveals the love relationship between two mature women, stage of life when they begin to be invisible by younger generations.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2020
Duration:
3
Lambing
In rural Ireland, David, a young father, grapples with his past trauma of being bullied for his gender identity. When his intersex baby is born, David’s anxiety intensifies, threatening his ability to be a parent. The strain on his marriage grows as he struggles to cope with the baby’s diagnosis and faces a crucial medical decision. As David’s painful history resurfaces, it remains uncertain whether he can overcome his trauma and support his family.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
18
The Tree
Low and hungover, Rebecca finds herself fighting off her ex-girlfriend Vivian, who has turned up to claim the apple tree they had planted in Rebecca’s backyard.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
14
Fabien
Fabien is a caregiver in a residence for dependent persons. Among his missions, the young man reads for Mr Verdier, a man who is neither speaking nor walking. One day, while he is reading him poetry, Fabien notices that his auditor’s eyes linger on some parts of his body. Under an impulse, he proposes to take him on a walk…
Director:
Country:
Year:
2021
Duration:
10
Bubble
“BOLHA” is a short film that tells the story of João, a 13-year-old boy who has just moved with his mother to Belo Horizonte. João faces the challenge of adapting to a new home, school, and family structure after his father’s death. He needs to figure out how to make friends in a world where people group themselves into bubbles.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
15
A Bird Called Memory
A bird called Memory has forgotten how to come back home. Lua, a trans woman, tries to find Memory in the streets, but the city can be a hostile place.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
15
House of Whoreship
When brothel worker Violet returns to work post-break-up only to find her recent ex-girlfriend hustling the same shift, she must make the choice between avoidance and vulnerability in order to make her month’s rent.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
16
Metamorphosis
Francesco, trapped inside a blossoming female body, harbors a secret he only shares with his mother.
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Year:
2023
Duration:
11
When There Were Trees
Azar (82), a former actress, learns of the passing of her lover. With the help of a traveling theater troupe, she embarks on a journey to find the woman she was forced to leave because of society’s taboos. Her journey allows her to reflect on her past and her regrets, but instead of death, it brings her life.
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Year:
2023
Duration:
22
Stone
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. Realizing 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.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
13
El Dance Off
By a gas station in rural Argentina, a young kid, ERNESTO, secretly dreams of becoming a dancer. However, in the patriarchal world he lives in, dancing isn’t really a career option. It’s only after a dance off with RUBY, a broken-hearted drag queen, that he finds the courage to follow his dreams.
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Year:
2023
Duration:
13
A Summer With Carolina
Carolina and Elena passionately live a dream summer on the Costa Blanca. Memories and experiences will be present from the birthday party where they meet. A utopian and sad story that will take us to the love that we imagine to have and perhaps we will never have.
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Year:
2023
Duration:
11
She’s a sensation
Ángelo, a boxing trainer, prepares Irene – La Perla Torres – to fight for a world title. La Perla tattoos a word on her heart, convinced that this will give her special power in combat. Things get complicated when everyone discovers that her rival, Katia-Machine Gun-Martínez, has also tattooed her heart.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
15
Where the Birds Cry
14-year-old Szymon lives in a seaside village. The boy is experiencing one of the most turbulent stages in his life – puberty. He spends his holidays traveling with his finger across a globe, looking for a safari, walking on the beach, or meeting his friends. The boy’s monotonous life is being disrupted by an unexpected visit from his childhood friend. From that moment on, the boy develops the need to explore his sexuality. Seemingly ordinary meeting on a cliff turns into his first summer romance.
Director:
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Year:
2023
Duration:
16
Fire at the Lake
A high mountain hamlet, early summer. Felix comes down from the pastures where he’s guarding his cows and finds his old mother lying unconscious on her bed. Shaken, he runs off. He drives a few miles in the valley to the house of a young man who just contacted him on a dating app.
Director:
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Year:
2022
Duration:
16
River
Ale (16) lives with his mother in a small town in Córdoba, Argentina. His only friend is a trans woman, 40 years old, named Diana. Ale is chatting on a dating app with an older man, whose identity is a mystery for him. Is he one of his mother’s friends? Growing up never ceases to be both painful and pleasurable.
Director:
Country:
Year:
2023
Duration:
15
Narrow Path To Happiness
A young gay Romani couple from a remote village in Hungary has a dream so absurd that it seems impossible: making a musical film based on their lives. Against all odds, they move to Budapest just as the Hungarian government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and hostile toward LGBTQ+ people.
Director:
Chasing Chasing Amy
CHASING CHASING AMY explores the transformational impact of a ‘90s rom-com on a 12-year-old kid from Kansas, coming of age and contending with queer identity. For young Sav Rodgers, the Kevin Smith cult classic, CHASING AMY, became a life raft. As Rodgers examines the film and its making as a cornerstone of LGBTQ+ cinema, he finds himself at a complicated crossroads.
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It´s not the first time we fight for our love
This documentary recounts the unprecedented stories of persecution and violence with which the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship acted against the LGBT population and how this same group constituted its resistance, transforming itself into fundamental subjects of the redemocratization process. The coup of 64 did not introduce this prejudice, but, during that period, the LGBT population was considered an enemy of the traditional family, morality and good behavior.
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Before we move
This documentary captures two years in the lives of Misha and Otar, a gay couple preparing to immigrate from Russia to Israel. Through their involvement in queer tango events and classes, their emotional struggles about the impending move come to the forefront. Tango, originating from the marginalized communities of 19th-century Argentina, expressed the pain of emigrants. Today, the international queer community has reinvented it as Queer Tango, reflecting society’s evolution and its role in helping people express complex emotions through dance. As homophobia drives many to leave Russia, tango becomes a symbol of resilience, transcending gender, sexual orientation, and nationality.
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An afternoon with Patrick Sarfati
A documentary based on a meeting with French photographer, Patrick Sarfati.
Director:
Blue ID
Rüzgar Erkoçlar, a former famous actor, struggles with self-realization and acceptance in the traditional society of Turkey under the media spotlight as a trans man.
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Ex You
Through the diverse life stories of three transgender individuals, the film poses the question of freedom, understanding, and acceptance in countries torn between traditional principles and aspirations toward the West. Helena is an early retired major, the first military person in Serbia to change her gender. Kamila is from Bosnia and Herzegovina, still hoping transition in Serbia after years of trying. Vuk was baptized in Montenegro as the first transgender person who did not complete transition at that time. His gender transition unexpectedly saved his life.
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Kenya
Raw and frank portrait of Kenya, a trans woman who lives in Mexico City. She witnessed her friend, a fellow transgender sex worker, being murdered by a client. In her long battle for justice, she can’t avoid having to face her own fears.
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Much Ado About Dying
Simon receives a distressing call from his Uncle David in India, who hints at his impending demise. However, David, a Shakespeare-loving drama queen, has no plans of departing this world just yet. Refusing a care home, David recites King Lear as his life mirrors the play’s themes. In this IDFA 2022 hit described as ‘achingly funny/sad’ by Variety and a ‘Masterpiece’ by Film Verdict, Simon takes on the challenge of ensuring his uncle’s ‘good death,’ or as David puts it, ‘going on a wonderful holiday without the bother of having to pack.’
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