At the last count, there were 30 countries represented in this year’s festival, and our future goal is to make the programme even more international in scope. Here is a quick global whistle-stop of just a few of the nations whose films we’ll celebrate this year…
From South Africa:
Let’s Do This Again Sometime is a pristine short that explores how a young man’s search for connection is thrown off course by an uncomfortable encounter with an old flame. Realistic, and superbly performed, it has caught the attention of the Academy Awards, so stay tuned! (Part of GAZE Online).
From Bolivia:
Angelo follows the street life of a young shoe-shine boy whose class struggle and sexuality are entwined in his survival, desire and identity. Spectacular street scenes, colour and imagery. (Part of ‘Making & Unmaking’).
From Taiwan:
Dildo is a short sharp slap in the face. A hilarious sex toy micro-saga! (Opening for Pink Flamingos).
From New Zealand:
Firsts portrays all of the excitement and intensity of lost virginity between young men with tender performances and an unshakeable intimacy. (Opening for Wandering Heart).
From Hungary:
The Fishing Net is a haunting post-war noir experience that dramatises the homophobic purges of Hungary’s secret police. (Opening for Jimmy In Saigon).
From the Philippines:
Write Here is a beautiful story of loss and ageing in a gay relationship as memory begins to fade and the life of the mind longs for its past.
From Brazil:
Wandering Heart is equal parts erotic and chaotic, charting one very sexy father’s friction between his sexualised party life and his parental responsibility.
From India:
Man & Wife explores what happens to human emotion when the spectrum of gender confronts the heteronormative expectations of marriage in an exquisitely crafted two-hander. (Part of ‘The Art of Dress’).
