Films

Peter & the Wolf  Peter & the Wolf  R
Wes Hurley
Canada / 2013 / Color / 5mins

An adult retelling of Peter and the Wolf

Finding Phong  Finding Phong  P
Swann Dubus
Vietnam / 2015 / Color / 92mins

From the time he was a young boy, Phong has felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body. He grew up in a town in rural Vietnam, and it was only when he moved to Hanoi to attend university that he discovered he was not alone with this predicament. The decision to “find himself” by physically changing his gender is a struggle that involves his family, friends, and doctors – all of whom must come to terms with the boy’s determination to become a complete girl.

Four Moons  Four Moons  R
Sergio Tovar Velarde
Mexico / 2014 / Color / 105mins

“Four Moons” sensitively depicts the phases of life through four stories, taking us on four journeys, from childhood to old age. A fragile boy develops a crush on his homophobic cousin. A college student falls in love with his former childhood friend, and their first attempt at male-on-male sex is pure comical awkwardness. Two longtime lovers enjoy their seemingly perfect gay life with financial security and enviable dinner parties, only if one of them can quit his sexual addiction for good. Finally, the story turns to a retired college professor who contemplates the elusive lifetime desire of a relationship with a hunky hustler he meets at a sauna.

Gayby Baby  Gayby Baby  P
Maya Newell
Australia / 2015 / Color / 85mins

It is a portrait of four kids – Gus, Ebony, Matt and Graham – whose parents all happen to be gay. As they each wrestle with the challenges of oncoming adolescence, the outside world wrestles with the issue of marriage equality and whether or not kids like them are at risk. Gayby Baby is a living, moving portrait of same-sex families that offers a refreshingly honest picture of the value systems that really count in modern life. Just what is a 21st Century family and how and by whom should it be defined?

Guidance  Guidance  PG
Pat Mills
Canada / 2015 / Color / 80mins

Desperate to prove that he isn’t an alcoholic, a homosexual, or a loser, David gets a job as a high school guidance counselor by faking his resume and lying about his past. During his counseling sessions with the students, he smokes with them and even offers them vodka. Everything he says to the students is obviously inappropriate yet also oddly appropriate. Quickly his approach spirals out of control, and long-hidden wounds surface, demanding everyone to take a closer look in the mirror.

Hide and Seek  Hide and Seek  R
Joanna Coates
UK, US / 2014 / Color / 83mins

In an isolated English cottage, four young people (two men and two women) move in together as an experiment to challenge social conventions and to push themselves beyond the limits of their comfort zones. All rules they have ever learned are thrown out the window. In their world, the only rule is that everyone is to sleep with every other person. Each person is free to love anyone else, regardless of their gender. As their inhibitions fade, they reach a harmonious co-existence, but the durability of their utopia is tested by the arrival of an outsider who has different perspectives on life.

How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)  How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)  PG
Josh Kim
Thailand / Indonesia / USA / 2015 / Color / 80mins

After the loss of both parents, 11-year-old Oat faces an uncertain future when his older brother must submit to Thailand's annual military draft lottery. Unable to convince his brother to do whatever he can to change his fate, Oat takes matters into his own hands, resulting in unexpected consequences. Based on stories from the bestselling book "Sightseeing" by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, the film is set in the economic fringes of Bangkok and examines the joys and challenges of growing up in contemporary Thailand. "How to Win at Checkers" is director Josh Kim's debut feature film.

Kasal  Kasal  R
Joselito Altarejos
Philippines / 2014 / Color / 111mins

Life is always dramatic with Sherwin and Paolo. A lawyer and an indie film director, they have been together for three years. One day, the couple goes to Sherwin's hometown to attend the wedding of his pregnant teenage sister Mary Jane and her teenage husband Bong. Before, during and after the wedding ceremony, Paolo and Sherwin see more clearly how they stand in the public eye, and make very important decisions about their own relationship. It's an examination on how a gay couple navigates through the different institutions in Philippine society.

Kumu Hina  Kumu Hina  P
Dean Hamer/Joe Wilson
US, Fiji / 2015 / Color / 77mins

In Hawaiian there is a word called Mahu, which means the middle. It is the middle between a man a woman. Not neither man nor woman, but both man and woman. That is Kumu Hina, or Teacher Hina. During a momentous year in her life in Honolulu, Hina Wong-Kalu, a native Hawaiian Mahu, uses traditional culture to inspire a student to claim her place as leader of the school’s all-male hula troupe. But despite her success as a teacher, Hina longs for love and a committed relationship. Will her marriage to a headstrong (and jealous) Tongan man fulfill her dreams? Kumu Hina reveals a side of Hawaii rarely seen.

Living Together  Living Together  P
徐靖倫 HSU, Ching-lun
Taiwan / 2015 / Color / 69mins

Vincent is a gay man with polio who uses a wheelchair. Fighting for gay rights, he and his partner often taken part in protests and demonstrations. They hope that same-sex marriage will become legalized in Taiwan so that they can one day be officially married. They also established “Hand Angel”, helping to solve the sexual needs of the handicapped.

Margarita, with a Straw  Margarita, with a Straw  PG
Shonali Bose/Nilesh Maniyar
India / 2014 / Color / 98mins

Laila is an exceptional student at Delhi University: she is an aspiring writer, she crafts lyrics and music for a college band, and she has cerebral palsy. However, there is one area where Laila lacks experience – romance. After she gathers enough courage to confess her love to the lead singer of her band but is rejected, she immediately drops out of school, not wanting to face the source of her embarrassment. But it is only when Laila meets Khanum, an assertive blind woman of Indian/Pakistani ethnicity, that she embarks on a journey of personal discovery to figure out her place in the world.

Misfits  Misfits  P
Jannik Splidsboel
Denmark / Sweden / US / 2015 / Color / 74mins

Tulsa, Oklahoma is a city in the midst of the US’s Bible Belt with almost 400,000 inhabitants, over 4,000 churches and just one gay and lesbian youth centre. This is the meeting place for Larissa, Ben, D and other youths who, because of their decision to live gay, lesbian and transgender lives, are either not accepted or, on the contrary, have received strong support and unconditional love from their families. They try to find their gender identities, love and be loved in an environment pervaded by religious fundamentalism.

Naz & Maalik  Naz & Maalik  PG
Jay Dockendorf
US / 2015 / Color / 86mins

Naz and Maalik have decided to take their friendship to the next level. But sharing their love for each other with the rest of the world isn’t going to be easy, for they are young, gay, black, and Muslim, living in New York. One day, they are approached by someone trying to sell them an illegal gun, and that sets off a cascade of events as they try to hide their sexual orientation. Over the course of one afternoon, their love for each other is tested in the face of racism and religious profiling.

Regarding Susan Sontag  Regarding Susan Sontag  PG
Nancy D. Kates
US / 2014 / Color / 100mins

The film is an investigation into the life of one of the most influential and provocative thinkers of the 20th century. Passionate and gracefully outspoken throughout her career, Susan Sontag became one of the most important literary, political and feminist icons of her generation. The documentary explores Sontag’s life through evocative experimental images, archival materials, accounts from friends, family, colleagues, and lovers, as well as her own words. The film is a fascinating look at a towering cultural critic and writer whose works on photography, war, illness, and terrorism still resonate today.

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