Queer Short Documentry

FIREBIRD

Dir: Peeter Rebane 107 min | 2020 | Estonia, UK | English | Narrative Feature | In Competition

Based on a true story, Firebird is a touching love story set in the Soviet Air Force during the Cold War. Sergey (Tom Prior), a troubled young private, is counting the days till his military service ends. His life is turned upside down when a daring fighter pilot, Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii) arrives at the base. Driven by curiosity, Sergey and Roman navigate the precarious line between love and friendship as a dangerous love triangle forms between them and Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya), the secretary to the base Commander. Sergey is forced to face his past as Roman’s career is endangered and Luisa struggles to keep her family together. Amid the fears of the all-seeing Soviet regime, they risk their freedom and their lives in the face of an escalating KGB investigation.

UNSOUND

Dir: Ian Watson 88 min | 2020 | Australia | English, Auslan | Narrative Feature

When gigging guitarist, Noah (Reece Noi), finds himself disillusioned and transient, he quits the band of his 90’s pop icon mentor, returns to his mother’s home in Sydney. Clashing with his mother over old wounds, Noah seeks solace elsewhere, and soon finds himself swept up in the vibrant, passionate life of a young transman, Finn (Yiana Pandelis), a proud, Auslan- only speaker who works and runs a local center and nightclub for his deaf community. Together, the pair traverse new ground, sharing their languages - Noah’s music and Finn’s signs – with one another. But as the two become closer, and with no shared language to fall back on, they only risk hurting each other, as they learn to be true to themselves.

Three Triple A's

7:59

AGE 18+

United Kingdom

THREE TRIPLE A'S Dir: Lexy Anderson 8 min | 2021 | UK | English Nervous-wreck Milly anxiously awaits a Skype-Sex call with her long distant girlfriend, only to be embarrassed that her attempt to ‘spice things up’ has gone horribly wrong.

A Little Contract

19:59

AGE 18+

France

A LITTLE CONTRACT (Le petit contrat) Dir: Hristo Todorov 20 min | 2020 | France | French Jeanne is feeling low, because like her friends, she has not been able to attract boys. One evening, when she’s looking for a match on dating apps, an unexpected visitor emerges. She gets hold of the opportunity to find the boy of her dreams, but on one condition… A modern-day Cinderella tale with a twist!

Doubts

5:42

AGE 18+

Spain

DOUBTS (Dudillas) Dir: Pedro Rudolphi 6 min | 2019 | Spain | Spanish Mari Carmen visits Rosa, her sex-worker friend, after a weird encounter with a common friend. Mari Carmen needs Rosa’s advice… but that’s not all she needs.

1-1 (The Uneven)

6:44

AGE 18+

Sweden

1 - 1 (The Uneven) Dir: Naures Sager 7 min | 2020 | Sweden | Arabic Ayman's sex date with Jonas gets crashed by his friends Amirah and Samir, which takes a positive turn.

Extra Flavour

8:29

AGE 18+

France

EXTRA FLAVOUR (L'empoté) Dir: Carlos Abascal Peiró 9 min | 2020 | France | No Dialogues Joachim is a very average man in his sixties. But he hides an obsession... or even two… to be precise. He can't help but stare at the men who go to the gym across the street from his house while he devours pickles. When an "easy opening" new jar won't open, his world turns upside down!

Anna

4:41

AGE 18+

France

ANNA Dir: Sylvain Certain 5 min | 2020 | France | French Obliged by her mother, Elsa must go to her grandmother to make her a touchy revelation, which will upset her.

Swingin'

23:16

AGE 18+

Taiwan

SWINGIN' Dir: Shang-Sing Guo 23 min | 2020 | Taiwan | Chinese When sixth-grader boy Qiu is bullied in school for having gay dads, his stepfather Howard, a flamboyant Jazz trumpet player, must confront his own nightmares of childhood bullying, before he can provide his son a feeling of security.

THE TEACHER (Wo de ling hun shi ai zuo de)

Dir: Ming-Lang Chen 92 min | 2019 | Taiwan | Mandarin | Narrative Feature

When the 26-year-old Civics teacher, Kevin (Oscar Chiu), openly voices his stance on marriage equality at school, he stirs up a storm. His being madly in love with an HIV positive man Jin-Wu Gao (Chin-Hao Chang) doesn't sit well with all the people around him. After revealing his affair, Kevin must face his mother (Tzu-hua Ho) with whom he still lives. When a rumour spreads that Kevin is also HIV positive, his school administration takes every avenue available to force his resignation, while he manoeuvres the fear of AIDS and a compounded love triangle with his lover's wife. Set against the backdrop of the fight for marriage equality in Taiwan, The Teacher captures the friction of living in a country moving towards progressiveness while still grappling with conservative attitudes. A love letter to Taiwan, it explores culture, expectation and the occasional hypocrisy of love.

Vincent Before Noon

17:43

AGE 18+

France

VINCENT BEFORE NOON (Vincent avant midi) Dir: Guillaume Mainguet 17 min | 2019 | France | French Vincent’s father pays him a visit after years of conflict, and turns up in the middle of his house move. Vincent reacts violently to that intrusion. Emotionally weakened, the father involuntarily reveals the true reason of his visit, which revives the tension between them.

Noontime Drama

14:01

AGE 18+

Philippines

NOONTIME DRAMA (Tanghaling Tapat) Dirs: Kim Timan, Sam Villa-Real 14 min | 2020 | Philippines | Tagalog In the confines of her own kitchen, single mother Sonia struggles to prepare the perfect Kare-Kare with her daughter Leslie.

Sole Mio

22:48

AGE 18+

France

SOLE MIO Dir: Maxime Roy 25 min | 2019 | France | French Since his father left for Nice, Daniel, 25, tries to manage Sole Mio Father & son, their family heating company. He is back in Lille for a night, as he is getting the final operation to definitely become a woman: Lisa. But Daniel’s Mum doesn’t know about this change, and the lie is weighing heavier on the young boy’s shoulders.

One Way Glass

16:18

AGE 18+

United Kingdom

ONE-WAY GLASS Dir: Nauman Khalid 16 min | 2020 | UK | English, Panjabi Farzana is a hapless migrant Pakistani woman who is trapped in a violent, sexless, loveless marriage. She is caught in the harsh realities of modern-day London, trying to make a living whilst also struggling through the trials and tribulations of her failing marriage, till one day she discovers a truth about her husband.

Beauty Boys

17:50

AGE 18+

France

BEAUTY BOYS Dir: Florent Gouelou 18 min | 2019 | France | French In a small village, Leo, 17 years-old, has a strong liking for make-up. His big brother, Jules, who fears to be laughed at, stands against this passion. On the night of the open stage, Leo shows up in full drag.

LOVE, SPELLS AND ALL THAT

Dir: Ümit Ünal 96 min | 2019 | Turkey | Turkish | Narrative Feature

As teenagers, Eren (Ece Dizdar), the daughter of a powerful member of the parliament, and Reyhan (Selen Uçer), the daughter of the keeper in the summer house Eren’s family owns on the Istanbul island of Büyükada, had a forbidden love affair. When their relationship was revealed, Eren's family forced them to separate. The film begins 20 years later. Eren catches a glimpse of Reyhan on a local profile on social media, which prompts her to leave Europe and come looking for her. When she finds Reyhan, Eren tells her that she never loved anyone else like her and that she is still in love with her. She wants to get back together. Unwilling to acknowledge their past at first, Reyhan soon begins to believe that a love spell she had put on Eren 20 years ago has brought her back to the island. The two embark on a day-long journey around the island to try and lift the old spell while taking a trip down memory lane.

Begum Parvathi

7:46

AGE 18+

India

BEGUM PARVATHI Dir: Radhika Prasidhha 8 min | 2021 | India | Tamil Two women meet online. In the course of a few months, they develop an intimate connection over phone calls, texts and other virtual exchanges. The possibility of meeting in real life fills them with curiosity, hesitation, longing and maybe even a little bit of catastrophizing!

Inside

14:06

AGE 18+

India

INSIDE (Akam) Dir: Jinesh VS 14 min | 2021 | India | Malayalam Aaru, a 25-year-old girl explores the underlying thrusts, senses, and insinuations of her psyche during the lockdown period. She finds comfort in the presence of her friend. They find bliss in their deep conversations and verbal expeditions. But gradually she is ascertained with a life-changing perception about herself. And she can’t process this apprehension. Inside is about how Aaru sorts that realization, or her life for that matter.

Closets

18:06

AGE 18+

India

CLOSETS (Almariyaan) Dir: Jiya Bhardwaj 18 min | 2020 | India | Hindi Speculating that their only son Karan is gay, Aarti and Mukesh - a middle class Indian parent sincerely attempts to make his coming out of ‘the closet’ a cakewalk. But when the actual truth comes out, they can’t come to terms with it. A perfect satire to bring out the importance and acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community in India in the current times.

Are We There Yet?

6:58

AGE 18+

India

ARE WE THERE YET? Dirs: Bhanu Babbal, Kashyap Swaroop 7 min | 2021 | India | English, Hindi, Marathi When two contrasting personalities are thrown into a new world of constant cohabitation, under the creeping clouds of mortality, they are left to navigate through an important life decision together – revealing the truth of their relationship to a parent figure.

The Lonely Prince

15:21

AGE 18+

India

THE LONELY PRINCE Dir: Shivin, Sunny 15 min | 2020 | India | English A lonely Prince, drowning in melancholy, invites a Sculptor to his court to create a piece of art just for him. As the Sculptor spends his days chiseling away on a block of marble, the Prince too discovers a new side of himself, for a brief moment forgetting the world of solitude that surrounds him.

Keep Punching

25:46

AGE 18+

India

KEEP PUNCHING Dir: Kirnay Bhatt 25 min | 2020 | India | Hindi Inspired by true events, the story of a small town closeted lesbian boxer, Kirnay, who after winning her state level tournament; inches closer to her dream of representing the country. Indifferent to her ambitions, Krinay’s mother has already fixed her marriage. Torn between her family, love and ambition, Kirnay must fight the battle for her freedom outside the ring, before conquering her dreams inside it.

ADMITTED

Dir: Ojaswwee Sharma 117 min | 2018 | India | Hindi, English | Documentary Feature

Admitted is a biographical docudrama on the controversial life of Dhananjay Chauhan – the first transgender student of Panjab University – her life journey with thrust on education along with gender identification, dilemmas and expression in personal life. Admitted explores the largest case of Transgender Education in a mainstream public university of North India, the 1st public washroom for transgender persons in a public university, and developments for Transgender Rights, Education and acceptance to mainstream pre and post the historic NALSA Judgement of 2014 of adding 3rd Gender as a category.

Today

19:59

AGE 18+

France

TODAY Dir: Francis Chillet 20 min | 2020 | France | French After three years abroad, Felix returns to his childhood village for Christmas. The memories come flooding back as he meets up again with old friends, and he retraces moments which have forged the man he has become today.

On A Path

17:47

AGE 18+

Israel

ON A PATH Dir: Lihi Lubetkin 18 min | 2020 | Israel | Hebrew Nitzan is an introverted teenager that has always felt invisible to society. One day Neomi the girlfriend of Nitzan’s brother Erez, invited her to join them for an overnight trip, an invitation that led Nitzan down a path of self-discovery.

Drifting

16:26

AGE 18+

China

DRIFTING Dir: Hanxiong Bo 17 min | 2020 | China | Chinese Disguised as a girl growing up during the time of one-child policy in China, Yan confuses about his gender identity and struggles with the conservative world around him now. Drifting in his dad’s old taxi becomes his way of expressing feelings. Tonight, he gets on a dreamy journey to find his missing sister back.

Shikandi

23:41

AGE 18+

India

SHIKHANDI Dir: Sahil D. Gada 24 min | 2021 | India | Hindi Dev, a 20 year old boy, in love with theatre; lives with his widowed father. Dev explores and discovers his trans-identity through the mythological character of Shikhandi from the Mahabharata.

THE DAY BEGAN YESTERDAY (El día comenzó ayer)

Dir: Julian Hernandez
31 min | 2020 | Mexico | Spanish | Narrative Short

Orlando and Saul meet by accident. The first one is a self-confident young man, university gymnast who avoids that his HIV-positive status defines him; while Saul, on the opposite, is insecure and barely understands what having an active sexual life means. The meeting will result in a new way of seeing life, one without fear where sex is an encounter and not a way of getting away from others.

BOY MEETS BOY

Dir: Daniel Sanchez Lopez 75 min | 2021 | Germany | English, German | Narrative Feature

Harry (Matthew James Morrison) has been partying for 48 hours when he meets Johannes (Alexandros Koutsoulis) on the dance floor of a club in Berlin. With 15 hours until his flight home, Johannes offers to help him print his boarding pass. This mundane task leads to a day together wandering the city. The contrasts in their lives and values force each one to confront their own truths. Boys Meet Boys is a feature length mumblecore about the journey of a brief encounter: the mark left by a fleeting moment of joy.

VERSUS

Dir: Ralston G. Jover 99 min | 2020 | Philippines | Tagalog | Narrative Feature | In Competition

Leo nee Lea (Gabby Eigenmann), a Filipino transgender comes home for the first time after years of working and living in Australia. She anxiously decides to meet her children at the airport. But her ex-wife Baby (Sunshine Dizon) raises hell upon finding about it. Tension escalates and they end up in a custody battle over their children in court. In the court the judge considers the ground of homosexuality as a disadvantage for Leo/Lea to keep her children. Versus is an emotional film about a transgender woman fights for her right to be accepted as a woman, and her right to be the custodial mother to her biological children.

PRIDE & PROTEST

Dir: Blaise Singh 90 min | 2020 | UK | English | Documentary Feature | In Competition

After the media frenzy around the Birmingham anti-LGBTQ+ protests against relationships education in primary schools, by a group of Muslim community members, a team of queer community reporters from various ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds in West London came together to challenge the persecution, intolerance and discrimination QPOC face, by voicing and showing their own life journeys in the form of a documentary project. Pride & Protest is the filmic synthesis of the many conversations shared by the Rainbow Films team on important but often ignored issues met by QPOC about racism within the larger queer community, as well as issues around intersectionality and visible diversity in the more mainstream and white hetero-normative society they live in.

A Pound Of Flesh

10:27

AGE 18+

United Kingdom

A POUND OF FLESH Dir: Oliwia Siem 11 min | 2020 | UK | English A desperate employee gambles a pound of their own flesh against a large sum of their boss's cash, with life-altering consequences.

Rocky

10:37

AGE 18+

Spain

ROCKY Dir: Dani Seguí 11 min | 2020 | Spain | Catalan Roc, a high school student with Down Syndrome has decided that his end of the year performance, is the playback of a very special musical number. But the director of his school will not allow it under any circumstances.

Dead Model, Life Model

25:57

AGE 18+

Brazil

DEAD MODEL, LIFE MODEL (Modelo Morto, Modelo Vivo) Dirs: Luri Bermudes, Leona Jhovs 25 min | 2020 | Brazil | Portuguese Manuela, a transgender woman, when attending a living model drawing workshop, awakens to her own beauty and power. Modelo Morto, Modelo Vivo builds a positive narrative of affection and self-love for transgender people.

Halwa

17:09

AGE 18+

United States of America

HALWA Dirs: Gayatri Bajpai, Nirav Bhakta 15 min |2019 | USA | Hindi, English Sujata, an elderly docile housewife learns about the passing of her childhood companion’s spouse. Having been cut off from her for over 30 years, Sujata musters courage to reach out to send her condolences via Facebook. Their rekindled bond doesn’t really go well with Sujata’s abusive husband.

God's Daughter Dances

24:56

AGE 18+

Korea

GOD'S DAUGHTER DANCES Dir: Sungbin Byun 25 min | 2020 | Republic of Korea | Korean A transgender female dancer, Shin-mi, gets a call from the Military Manpower Administration, to attend for the Military Service Examination. Shin-mi, with everything in readiness, takes her steps to the Military Manpower Administration

SEX, SIN & 69

Dir: Sarah Fodey 75 min | 2019 | Canada | English | Documentary Feature

Sex, Sin & 69 is a 80-minute historical, retrospective film about the 1969 legislation to ‘decriminalize’ homosexuality. Told through contemporary voices including queer academics, historians, activists, educators, artists, and community builders, the film attempts to challenge our understanding of queer history by shining a light on widely adopted misconceptions surrounding decriminalization.

Queer Fear

5:00

AGE 18+

Canada

QUEER FEAR Dir: Carla Elizabeth Hernandez 5 min | 2020 | Canada | English | Documentary Short An emotional breakdown followed by a global pandemic, forced Carla to sit in isolation with her thoughts after years of avoiding them. Realizing now more than ever how important self care is, she begins looking for the answers to accept her sexual identity she had been avoiding all these years.

Germination

10:07

AGE 18+

United States of America

GERMINATION Dir: Mitchell Bueno 10 min | 2020 | USA | English | Narrative Short A trans artist is faced with the fear of running out of testosterone, and how that impacts his art while in quarantine.

The Silence That You Do

22:01

AGE 18+

Brazil

THE SILENCE THAT YOU DO (O Silêncio Que Você Faz) Dir: Evandro Souza 22 min | 2021 | Brazil | Portuguese | Narrative Short Eduardo is in social isolation due to the pandemic. With an exhausting and inert routine, aggravated by a great loss, he gradually isolates himself not only from the outside world, but from himself.

Love X Bites

15:37

AGE 18+

Myanmar

LOVE X BITES Dirs: Yupar Momo, M. Noe 18 min | 2020 | Myanmar | Burmese |Narrative Short During Covid19 outbreak, two women enter the quarantine at a hotel and share a room. Soon, sexual tensions flare up and they find themselves in a passionate affair. But a dark secret is about to rupture this bliss.

It'll Be Over Soon

10:40

AGE 18+

Australia

IT'LL BE OVER SOON Dir: Benjamin Rigby 11 min | 2020 | Australia, USA | English | Narrative Short When the pandemic hits, two men are forced to evaluate their unexpected long distance relationship.

Beat 97

11:52

AGE 18+

Brazil

BEAT 97 Dir: Washington Calegari 12 min | 2020 | Brazil | Portuguese | Narrative Short Alvaro is on day ninety-seven of quarantine during the pandemic, lonely and horny. Is he imagining a flirtation between himself and his delivery man?

Fabiu

30:01

AGE 18+

Austria

FABIU Dir: Stefan Langthaler 30 min | 2020 | Austria | German 80-year-old retiree Arthur lives in a modest home in Vienna. For quite some time he has lovingly been caring for his seriously ill wife Martha, with only female nurses assisting him. When the new male Hungarian care worker Fabiu enters the picture, his routine is broken. But soon the two men become closer and inside Arthur, feelings of desire and suppressed longing start to rise.

April's Last Memories

20:47

AGE 18+

Mexico

APRIL´S LAST MEMORIES (Los últimos recuerdos de Abril) Dir: Nancy Cruz Orozco 21 min | 2020 | Mexico | Spanish Camila and Abril grew up together in a small town on the coast and are best friends. April's family will move to the city, their paths will have to separate forever.

Stray Dogs Come Out At Night

11:05

AGE 18+

Pakistan

STRAY DOGS COME OUT AT NIGHT Dir: Hamza Bangash 11 min | 2020 | Pakistan | Urdu Karachi, Pakistan. Iqbal, a migrant sex worker, cannot come to terms with his illness. He convinces his uncle to take a day trip to the beach, desperate for respite. The Arabian sea beckons.

The Act

17:58

AGE 18+

United Kingdom

THE ACT Dir: Thomas Hescott 18 min | 2020 | UK | English It’s 1965, the eve of decriminalization for acts of male homosexuality. Matthews, a young gay man at odds with the world and his own sexuality discovers love, sex and a family in the backstreets and underground bars of Soho.

The Silence Of The River

13:39

AGE 18+

Peru

THE SILENCE OF THE RIVER (El silencio del rio) Dir: Francesca Canepa 14 min | 2020 | Peru | Spanish Juan, a 9 year-old Peruvian boy, lives with his silent dad in a floating house on the breathtaking Amazon River. This idyllic background sets an allegorical journey into the rainforest jungle, where nature, gender, truth and all things begin to reveal the identity of his dad.

ONCE A FURY

Dir: Jacqueline Rhodes 83 min | 2020 | USA | English | Documentary Feature

Once A Fury is a documentary that profiles The Furies, a 1970s radical collective that developed a lesbian-feminist politic to correct what they called the "zig-zag and haphazard" thinking of the straight women's movement. The collective was thus formed in resistant counterpoint to the larger women’s movement, much as that larger womenʼs movement itself was formed in counterpoint to the male-dominated New Left of the 1960s. That is, just as activists in the women’s movement experienced sexism in the New Left, lesbian activists experienced homophobia in the women’s movement. Such activists formed collectives like the Furies. The collective was intense and shortlived: twelve women began the group, worked together, and then broke up in under two years. In that short time, they wrote and published a widely read newspaper The Furies that advanced their ideology and still seems relevant half a century later. The documentary features interviews with 10 of the original 12 Furies, photography by JEB (Joan E. Biren), and archival materials.

Night Drive

17:00

AGE 18+

France

NIGHT DRIVE (J'ai cru que tu partais sans moi) Dir: Despina Athanassiadis 17 min | 2019 | France | French Sabine, a 50 years old female truck driver, works for a French company which has recently been acquired by a conglomerate. This challenges Sabine’s position there.

Bodies

15:07

AGE 18+

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

BODIES Dir: Morvarid Kashiyan 15 min | 2020 | Islamic Republic of Iran | Persian Hamoon, an upcoming theatre actor and a transsexual, has secretly fallen in love with his director. With the new play to open soon Hamoon battles to get his conservative father’s consent for his sex change surgery, as well as to confess his love to the director.

Screenshots For A Goodbye

9:46

AGE 18+

Colombia

SCREENSHOTS FOR A GOODBYE Dir: Ruth Caudeli 10 min |2020 | Colombia | Spanish Andrea and Maca are facing the day after a break-up, and they are going to struggle with all the difficulties that come after a goodbye. How hard is to say goodbye to someone you have loved?

Ali's Secret

27:27

AGE 18+

Egypt

ALI'S SECRET (Serr Ali سر علي) Dir: Mona Daoud 28 min | 2020 | Egypt | Arabic Ali and his wife Nadia have a tense relationship, strained by jealousy and sexual frustration. When Ali's long estranged friend, Hussein, suddenly comes to town and stays with them for the weekend, tensions between all three erupt to the surface, revealing a deeply suppressed secret, they must all come to terms with.

Roadkill

15:40

AGE 18+

United States of America

ROADKILL Dir: Aliza Brugger 16 min |2020 | USA | English Tillie's lonely life as a roadkill removal worker is destabilized when Wanda, a lively stranger, comes to town.

Noor & Lyla

13:03

AGE 18+

Canada

NOOR & LYLA Dir: Fawzia Mirza 13 min | 2021 | Canada | English Noor & Layla are breaking up. Is it the end of the road for these two Muslim women… or is it just a beginning?

WELL ROUNDED

Dir: Shana Myara | 61 min | 2020 | Canada | English | Documentary Feature

Well Rounded starts from the understanding that being fat is ok. Blending gorgeous interviews with dreamy animation, director Shana Myara assembles personal stories from a diverse, captivating cast whose horrors, triumphs and commitment to dreaming large offer BIG inspiration -- especially for those of us who don't often see our BIPOC, LGB2TQ+, disabled and/or fat selves celebrated on screen. Edgy, hilarious, unapologetically raunchy, and sometimes tear-jerking, Well Rounded brings you your new super queer XXXL racialized BFFs in comedy, fashion, health and research to help combat those pesky systemic fatphobias that threaten to make you hate yourself -- when actually you're PLENTY amazing just as you are.