Films A to Z

In this latest installment of his ongoing video essay, “Final Thoughts”, Steve Reinke ostensibly turns to the subject of friendship. A Boy Needs a Friend delves into its topic head on, in particular investigating the notion of queer Nietzschean friendship. Using his signature dry voice over monologue to tie together an eclectic array of disparate images, ranging from found footage collages to digital animation and cell phone video, Reinke sets forth theories about the identity of Stephen [...]

A working-class district in São Paulo is home to fortysomething manicurist Alice who has been married to her husband, Lindomar, for more than twenty years. Lindomar's mother, Dona Jacira, lives with the couple and virtually runs the household. She cooks, cleans and does the washing. While she works, she listens to her favourite show, 'grandma's programme' on the radio. Alice and Lindomar have three children who also live with them: Lucas is the 'reactionary' member [...]

When the young student Li Jiumei meets her future husband Huang Tao, she is youthful and happy; her daughter Huang Xiaoyu has not yet been born and the secrets of the family are still hidden behind closed doors deep inside the house. Her daughter Huang Xiaoyu is already a young girl when creeping suspicion overcomes Li Jiumei. She kicks down a door behind which she catches her husband with a young man. Huang Xiaoyu is now pregnant and living in the USA; a little while later she returns to pay [...]

Filmmaker Barbara Hammer fights ovarian cancer with visions of horseback riding and river swimming in her new experimental film, A Horse Is Not A Metaphor. As a “cancer thriver” rather than “survivor,” Barbara Hammer rides the red hills of Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, the grassy foothills of the Big Horn in Wyoming, and leafy paths in Woodstock, New York, changing illness into recovery. The haunting and wondrous music of Meredith Monk underscores [...]

The word “jihad” or ‘holy war’ often has negative connotations. In the wake of the attacks of September 11 and increasing fears of Islamic terrorist threats, the term has often been reduced simply to ‘war’. Yet the term ‘jihad’ has a far more complex significance. Jihad plays a central role in Islam, for it refers to the individual’s struggle to ‘strive in the path of God’, as well as the bid to serve Islamic society through one’s [...]

A boat, a lake, a lazy summer afternoon, how to look glamorous in nature. Legendary, irresistible, indestructible US underground legend Mario Montez dissects Hollywood icon Joan Crawford’s ridiculous fashion tips: ‘such crap!’

A remote lake in the North American landscape. The sand is yellow, the sky is blue and the mountains distant; there is nary a tree far and wide to provide shade. Faye is spending her days here in a trailer, with two books and a radio, leisurely birdwatching and stargazing. With her wiry build, wild blonde hair and hands that speak of a life of labour, she fits in perfectly here. Anything that breaks, she simply fixes; the only time she sits up and takes notice is when there is a [...]

Shakespeare's most popular comedy is a merry-go-round of young lovers and supernatural wood sprites. An extravaganza of Hollywood stars and fantastic special effects by Max Reinhardt, the 'great magician' of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.

The Black gay “Devil’s Queen” (her real name is never mentioned) rules the underworld of Rio de Janeiro from the back room of a brothel. Her eyes thick with green eyeshadow, her gaze falls mercilessly upon the members of her drug cartel. The same jackknife can be used either to shave her legs or to slit open traitors. But her reign of terror is unstable; resistance is brewing. Soon, everyone is waging war against each other to replace the queen: the favela gangsters against the [...]

A film like an invitation to someone’s house. In his apartment in São Paolo, between making coffee and gay hook-ups, Marcelo’s fetishes and longings are revealed, casually and full of intensity. Marcelo’s closest confidants seem to be books, especially Novalis’ unfinished novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen”, whose protagonist seeks an elusive blue flower. Marcelo is also looking for something, following the traces of his eventful past. The camera observes [...]

Two people in a hotel room, discussing. A private space, an intimate space. This is a story of the city mourning the disappearance and demolition of its people, whose struggles have gone astray.

"The conversation starts: I identify with many persons, like Valeska Gert and Édith Piaf and Patti Smith and Ariana Foster and Rosa Luxembourg ... ... I think she was a freedom fighter. She was singing love songs and, eh, true life reports. ”(From the video transcript) The video montage A WORLD OF OUR OWN weaves together stories of various Cosmo-figures, female explorers of worlds known and unknown, actual and fictional freedom fighters across different times and places, [...]

In traditional Bengali theatre it’s not unusual to see men in female roles. One of the last surviving androgynous stars of Bengali theatre is Chapal Bhaduri. A young gay filmmaker decides to make a film about this stage legend and asks the 71-year-old thespian for an interview. A concentrated conversation begins that soon goes beyond the boundaries of a conventional interview. As the actor describes some of the painful moments in his life as a stage heroine, the young filmmaker and his bisexual [...]

For forty years, Robert Wilson ’s aesthetics have left their mark on international theater and opera. In addition, Wilson has made a name for himself as an installation artist. Influenced by such renowned choreographers as George Balanchine , Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham , as well as abstract realist paintings of the 1950s, Wilson has created his own, unmistakable visual language. Katharina Otto-Bernstein accompanied Wilson with her camera for five years in order to make this film. [...]

Paris at night. The driving bass of a sound system thunders through an underground car park. On the dance floor of a club, the revellers allow themselves be propelled by techno, enveloped in smoke and light, communicating only with their bodies. Félicie is approached by her ex-girlfriend, but she turns away. In the next room, the music is quieter. People get talking, consume drugs or take a break before throwing themselves into the dancing once more. This is where Félicie meets Saïd [...]

Yu is a high school boy who lives with his father. After Yu's mother dies at a young age, his father decides to become a catholic priest. Yu's father is a much-loved priest and the father and son live happily in tranquility. But one day, a woman named Kaori falls for Yu's father. Yu is completely against this because he does not like Kaori's eccentric presence intruding on the father and son's peaceful life. Kaori wants to marry Yu's father but cannot because he is a priest, [...]

“So folks, you know me as Alice Júnior. I’m trans, hard to beat, and ready for whatever there is to be.” Fast-moving cuts set to pop samples and sound effects, a hint of glitz and a bagful of emojis. Alice Júnior is producing her latest YouTube video about the long-awaited first kiss. But when her father walks into her bedroom and announces in front of the camera that they will be leaving the vibrant Brazilian city of Recife and moving to a small, conservative [...]

Freedom means to live in the world of her choice. One without fights and without all that she went through. A world without discrimination. Freedom is the most beautiful thing. A place where she can be the happiest person in the world.” In a home in Columbia, ten young women take a seat, one after another, and close their eyes. They are asked to picture Alis, an imaginary friend, and to bring her story to life in a creative dialogue with the filmmakers. Like the [...]

Whilst weeding a bean field a young, closet gay farmer unearths a strange "family treasure" of hidden erotica. When Jack discovers to which one of his relatives this treasure once belonged he finally finds the courage to declare his true sexuality. And so for him the 4th of July becomes his own personal "declaration of independence".

15-year old Claude lives with her mother in the New York district known as Hell's Kitchen. From her apartment it is only a short walk through the park to the house where here girlfriend, Ellen lives. It's summer-time and the school holidays are about to begin. Claude and her mother have nothing in common - on the contrary: Claude's mother is almost entirely preoccupied with her appearance and her new boyfriend and she shows next to no interest in her daughter on the verge to adulthood. [...]

Bambino has settled into his life as a single man. His delivery driver job in Lagos means that he has a steady income, even if the promised promotion is a long time coming. He is appreciated by the neighbourhood; he helps out financially where he can and is generous when people are late repaying him. His neighbour Ifeyinwa’s advances leave him cold, but when he meets the charismatic Bawa, the two immediately hit it off. A photo competition sees the two men driving around the city together [...]

In his film, Lothar Lambert has chosen to portray eleven women over forty in Berlin, interweaving accounts of their experiences, their current lives and their expectations for the future. The line-up includes a number of well-known Berliners such as Irene Schweitzer, who runs the shop “Kaufhaus Schrill” in Bleibtreustrasse, photographer Erika Rabau and painter Evelyn Sommerhoff. The women talk about their chaotic family backgrounds, dramatic twists and turns, courageous decisions, [...]

“He’s not the first boy who’s missing in the forest. The boy that was with him says that a monster has taken him.” Santiago del Estero, northern Argentina. When Nino is deemed a bad influence to the other boys in his neighbourhood and has to endure homophobic attacks on the streets, his parents temporarily move the family to the countryside. Away from the city, Nino wanders in a forest supposedly haunted by the Almamula, a monster that takes those who commit carnal [...]

Esben Benestad is a doctor in a small town in Norway. He has his own surgery, has written two books on sex education and writes a column in a men's magazine; he is also a liberal politician. However, Esben Benestad also has a second identity in Norway as Esther Pirelli, sexual therapist and occasional actress. Esben Benestad is a transvestite. In this film, Esben Benestad's son conveys his father's story with warmth, humor and irony; he provides a personal portrait of this enigmatic [...]

At the age of 17, Amber opted for the gender-neutral Swedish pronoun “hen” and began consulting a therapist specialising in gender identities. “If I lived with my friends on a deserted island where there are no norms, I might not be here,” says Amber. They are part of a new queer generation that confidently demands freedoms and opportunities not offered to them by society. Lia Hietala and Hannah Reinikainen’s long-term observational documentary spans three years [...]

In Chinese the word amphetamine has another meaning, namely: ‘is this not his fate?’ Fate is what catches up with a young personal trainer named Kafka in this passionate drama. Kafka also holds down jobs as a martial artist and courier. He needs several jobs in order to be able to support his sick mother. His father is dead – he took his own life long ago. Kafka was only a child at the time.  One night – it’s the night he splits up with his girlfriend May [...]

In 1975, at the age of 66, openly gay writer Quentin Crisp has given up on finding fame and so it comes rather as a surprise when the British TV film THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT, which is about his life so far, makes him a celebrity overnight. However, while Quentin had successfully pushed a nation out of the closet, the nation “had a name to put to their demon.” Refusing to return to anonymity and following an invitation to New York, Quentin finds himself in the country where he is welcomed [...]

Srikandi is a female figure from the Indian Mahabharata epic that changes gender to live and fight as an equal among men. This character is a role model for eight highly personal perspectives on lesbian, bisexual and transidentity life in Islamic Indonesia. The film, which began as a collective project, moves from personal essay into a radical conceptual exploration of queer politics and maps out self-confidently the situation in which a generation of women are beginning to find a voice. Politics, [...]

The valley of Arratia in August 1991. Ander, a farmer well into his forties, lives with his sister Arantxa and his old mother in a remote part of rural Basque country. His is a monotonous life filled with nothing but farm work and a job at the local bicycle factory. It won’t be long before Arantxa gets married and leaves home and then Ander will be left to look after their stubborn mother on his own. Then one day Ander has an accident and breaks his leg. His limb will be in a plaster cast [...]

Violin virtuoso Paul Körner promotes the musical talent of young Kurt Sivers whose parents observe the infatuated relationship between Paul and Kurt with distrust. Then, the criminal Bollek extorts Körner because of his homosexuality. Finally, Körner reports the extortionist to the police while the criminal in revenge files charges against Körner because of article 175. In a flashback, Körner tells Else, Kurt’s sympathetic sister, about his development and they both [...]

Art historian Neil Printz simply calls him "a touchstone of the culture", whose significance far exceeds the boundaries of art history: " Andy Warhol is a touchstone of the culture we live in - a touchstone for the entire culture of the post-war period . I think he is probably the most important artist of the second half of the 20th century, maybe the most important artist of the 20th century. If we needed to find a visual form just to distill what it's like to have been alive [...]

Selya, schoolteacher in a small Philippine town, has an affair with the reluctant Bobby, who leaves town one day. To follow him, Selya quits her job but fails to find him. Relocating at a village he visits, she moves into a boarding house of gay man, lover of a married man with two children.Through the machinations of Ramon's adoptive aunt Piling (Eva Darren), Selya and Ramon begin a friendship. Overwhelmed by the homophobic attacks of his neighbours, Ramon impulsively proposes to Selya, thinking [...]

This film pits the purity of first love against the poverty and corruption that dominate the slums of Manila. The Philippine capital is home to twelve-year-old Maxi, who comes from a poor family. Maxi cleans the house, cooks, washes clothes and repairs tattered jeans for his relatives, who are all petty thieves. He even supplies them with the odd alibi, when needed. Maxi's homosexuality is accepted by his nearest and dearest. Loved and protected by his relatives, Maxi has a calming influence [...]

"I've loved you ever since we first met, and I will love you till the day I die." England in the year 1905. Angel Deverell is an extremely talented young writer from a working-class background. Her escapist, romantic novels are hugely popular. Before long all the dreams of a young woman of her age are fulfilled. But is it possible to have success, fame and love all at the same time? Her radiant rise is followed, inexorably, by her decline ... François Ozon 's film [...]

Pirate captain Anne Providence finds a French prisoner on board a British ship she has captured. Pierre François La Rochelle says he has been shanghaied by Anne’s archenemies and the lady pirate eventually makes him her sailing master. Yet even as she unexpectedly lands in the arms of the Frenchman, she is unsure she can trust him. The plot thickens even further when her father figure, pirate captain Blackbeard, recognizes La Rochelle as a French naval officer and [...]

Film star Annie, a well-known porn queen, is a performance artist. She transforms herself from a plain Jane into a big wild cat with high-heeled shoes and a widow's veil. In the film DEAD RINGERS , she demystifies David Cronenberg's gynecological hysteria with a single gesture: when she inserts a speculum, she gives the spectator a view inside her vagina.

Having been born into an indigenous tribe in the Amazon, Anderson is familiar with painful initiation rites. He is now living with his sister and her sick little girl in the city of Manaus. He has a mobile phone and takes on casual work, but must face the challenges posed by the incompatibility between modern life and shamanism. For him, the two worlds collide on a daily basis: when his niece is to be sacrificed, when a mythical monster appears to him in human form, or when he experiences a one-night [...]

Preta, Barbarah, Mayah and Lena have all been friends since childhood. They live in Vila Brasilândia on the outskirts of São Paulo. At the moment they're still working as backing singers, but their dream is to have a group of their own. Calling themselves "Antônia", they decide one day to quit working as a backing group and make their dream reality. Getting themselves a manager, the talented singers start gigging the clubs and well-todo parties with a repertoire [...]

Transfixed, she follows the movements of a group of dancers rehearsing a routine. Watching two girls kiss, she longingly bites her lower lip – yet in the mirror, she studies her own reflection with disapproval. As feelings of desire vie with insecurity and dejection, the film reveals its 16-year-old protagonist’s emotions mainly through glances and facial expressions – her most explicit utterance being the one written on her forearm: TAKE ME DEMONS.  [...]

A case of bitchiness in the stables. Emma joins a group that is learning how to perform exercises on horseback. Here she meets Cassandra, an experienced circus rider who at once recognises the new girl’s talent from the way she keeps a tight rein on the horses with strong, controlled movements. Cassandra is good-looking and strong-willed with a vibrant personality – the two young women find themselves drawn to each other. Before long, their mutual attraction turns into a symbiotic [...]

Joey Arias ennobled the performance art of being a drag queen. Arias is a personage who stood for the connection between the avant-garde and pop music as well as the revival of Billie Holiday 's divine voice. Joey was Andy Warhol 's muse. Klaus Nomi , David Bowie and Iggy Pop performed with Arias, who made a name for himself in Las Vegas as the »Mistress of Seduction«. "Arias with a Twist", his show with puppeteer Basil Twist , is the focus of this film. Joey [...]

Buenos Aires in March 2020, just days before the outbreak of the pandemic. A wedding is being celebrated; a car overturns. The guests share joints, kisses, a blow job and the memory of a loss. At the centre of this comedy of errors is 30-year-old Arturo, played by director Martín Shanly. He is every bit as drawn to misfortune as he is directionless – qualities he shares with the remainder of the film’s characters. His faux pas and blunders stand in inverse relation to the finesse [...]

A group of people dance at a sports ground to the music of Supertramp. The siblings take flowers to a grave in the deep snow, wearing floral wreaths in their hair. The father directs them. They embrace one another. Memories are invoked by pictures enclosed inside Gabriel's, the brother's, amulet. The mother is dead - how will they fill the void she left behind? Each individual family member tries to find their way, is obliged to redefine their course. Calm are the images and gestures that [...]

Father and son go on a fishing trip together into the mountains. When the son confesses to the father that he's gay, the situation escalates: tests of masculinity, rituals, violence, erupting feelings, speechlessness, and finally an unexpected end. Not only does the film attest to family and generational conflicts, but it positions these within an overwhelming landscape ( the Rif mountains ), which itself becomes one of the agents. Hicham Ayouch was one of six filmmakers invited to make a [...]

ACTS OF MEN should have been a film about the daily lives of massacre survivors in Brazil. Everything was planned for us to start shooting in April 2005. But reality did not wait. On the last day of March, exactly one month before shooting was scheduled to begin, things changed: A terrible massacre took place in Baixada Fluminense, near the city of Rio de Janeiro. Twenty-nine people were killed by a death squad, the largest massacre in the history of Rio de Janeiro. The killers are extermination [...]

Synopsis Because twenty-nine-year-old François Chenu was openly homosexual, he was murdered on the night of September 13, 2002 in a park in Reims, France by three skinheads. François' parents try to deal with their grief so that they can remain dedicated to promoting tolerance and respect. Interview with the director  About the film On a September night in 2002, three skinheads roam through a park in Reims. They are after an Arab, but when they encounter a homosexual, [...]

It is exactly twenty years since the celebrated Afro-American poet and writer Audre Lorde died in 1992. According to her own description of herself she was: 'a lesbian, a feminist, black, a poet, mother and activist'. In the 1980s Dagmar Schultz , who at the time was lecturing at the John F. Kennedy Institute at Berlin's Freie Universität , invited Lorde to Berlin as a visiting professor. This move was to have an enduring influence, for Lorde soon became co-founder and mentor [...]

Simon, a young German doctor, who is living and working in Marseille, doesn't give any news. His apartment is empty. Valerie, his mother, is desperate to find him and travels to France. She asks Jens, the former boyfriend of Simon, to help her out on this research. But one trace after another dissolves into thin air. Is Simon just travelling or does he not want to be disturbed? In his college Camille and the young car salesman Jalil Valerie finally finds two people, who both in their specific [...]

Ever since his father left his family in the lurch, 15-year-old Serginho has been trying hard to cope with the new challenges of his daily life. He works with his uncle at the market, supports his depressed mother as best he can, and takes care of his little brother. But how can he find his place in a world that compels him to grow up in such a hurry? Full of longing for affection, he drifts through São Paulo with his friends Mudinho and Sivinha, visits an aunt who works in a circus on [...]

AUSENTE looks at the ambiguous relationship between a swimming teacher and one of his students. The film tells the story in a provocative elliptic style with cold, precisely composed pictures to transmit the often indefinable nature of desire. --- Martin finds a whole series of excuses to subtly invade his sport teacher Sebastian’s privacy, ending up spending a night in his apartment. But when Martin’s intentions dawn on him, the teacher has already been compromised. It takes [...]

What is the value of work in the age of the digital revolution? In Ingolstadt, 20-year-old Sedanur spends her nights sorting car parts on the assembly line for the robots. In the vast factory as high as a house, forklifts circle each other beneath fluorescent lights and tempworkers fight to keep their posts. Times are tough because Audi is about to cut a tenth of its workforce. Sedanur has no desire to find a husband and have children. She dreams of driving her own Mercedes one day. But when the [...]

After studying the intricacies of justice in JUSTICE EST FAITE - JUSTICE IS DONE (France 1950) and capital punishment in NOUS SOMMES TOUS DES ASSASSINS / SIAMO TUTTI ASSASSINI - WE ARE ALL MURDERERS (France / Italy 1952), André Cayatte , ex-lawyer, now turns his searching camera on adolescent delinquency and parental responsibility. Result is a jolting social yarn which covers too much territory and has a tendency to preach to the detriment of the drama. It forces its hand in fitting everything [...]