Gay 2024 Archives - Page 3 of 5

High Tide

Brazilian tourist Lourenço is left behind when his American boyfriend deserts him in Provincetown at the end of the summer season. Lourenço passes the time with random hookups, talking to the locals who hire him to do maintenance and flirting with a hot tourist named Maurice (James Bland). Lourenço has to decide how to deal with shadows of his past that won’t let go and the harsh reality of being an undocumented immigrant in the USA.
In his debut film, director Marco Calvani puts Brazilian actor Marco Pigossi (“Gen V”, “Invisible City”) at the heart of a sexy and melancholic story about an immigrant after an unexpected breakup. Alongside Pigossi you’ll find Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei, Bill Irwin (“Rustin”) and Mya Taylor (“Tangerine”).
Marco Calvani created a thoughtful and daring film that raises questions on queer life in the modern world.

Sad Jokes

Like in his debut film “Bones and Names”, director Fabian Stumm manages in his new film to delicately and with very intelligent humor describe modern family structures and all the absurd complexities that life can provide.
Joseph and Sonya share a lifelong friendship and raise a child together. While Joseph, a film director, is busy with his next cinematic project, Sonya suffers from mental illness and struggles with hospitalization. Joseph must juggle between his everyday chores, his artistic aspirations and trying to hook up with a nude model.
Fabian Stumm wrote a wonderful and contemporary script about the turbulence of life and unexpected challenges that might grind you down. “Sad Jokes” is a quietly comic film that manages to touch on complex issues and do that in a smart and entertaining manner.
The film includes guest stars Knut Berger (“Walk on Water”) as the nude model and esteemed German actor/director Sebastian Schipper as himself.

Additional screening: Haifa Cinematheque, 3.11, 20:15

In association with the Embassy of Germany

The Astronaut Lovers

A romantic comedy that takes place during the summer holidays on the Argentinian beach. Pedro and Maxie, two childhood friends, meet as adults after years of not keeping in touch. Pedro is out and proud and is very much amused by Maxie’s curiosity and his joking flirting. A sudden twist in the plot comes when Maxie tries to make his ex-girlfriend jealous by telling her he and Pedro are a couple. Now, the two must fake a loving relationship in front of their friends during a joint summer holiday. Their little role play suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.
Marco Berger is one of the best and most interesting LGBTQ directors working today. In his films he explores contemporary masculinity, sexuality and sexual curiosity. The result is extraordinary in its quality and brings us a fresh cinematic take on an old trope.

Winter Boy

Christophe Honoré’s (“Dans Paris”, “Love Songs”, “Man at Bath”) new film is an autobiography, and for the first time brings the director’s story to the big screen.

Lucas (Paul Kircher) is going to a boarding school, far from the small town where his parents live, and has a boyfriend, a fellow student. Lucas has endless joie de vivre and he can’t wait to graduate and join Quentin (Vincent Lacoste), his older brother, in Paris. A sudden tragedy turns Luca’s world upside down and everything he took for granted is suddenly taken from him. Lucas is filled with sadness and despair, lost in his own pain. His mother Isabelle (Juliette Binoche, in a very moving role) doesn’t really know how to help her youngest son. Lucas joins his older brother in Paris, but Quentin is not emotionally available to support his young sibling, and so 17 years old Lucas has to find his own path, looking for solace in the cold wintery Paris, through dating apps and problematic sexual encounters.
Paul Kircher is perfect as Lucas, a blunt young man who cannot express, contain or release the enormous pain he’s carrying. His scenes with Juliette Binoche create intense and heartfelt complexity.
“Winter boy” gives us an intimate glimpse into the world of a teenager on the cusp of adulthood and the journey of that boy to try and find his way back to hope.

All of Us Strangers

One night, in an almost empty apartment tower in current London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a random meeting with a curious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), a meeting that brings life to his daily routine. When a relationship starts to develop between them, Adam is drawn to the memories of his past and finds himself returning to the working-class town where he grew up in and his childhood home where his parents lived. To his immense surprise, his long deceased parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy), still live in the house and look exactly as they did 30 years ago.

Directed by Andrew Haigh (“45 years”, “Weekend”).

The movie is also available on Disney Plus

OUT

Tom and Ajani have been a couple since they were in high school. They yearn for a life outside their small rural community in the Netherlands and the solution is Amsterdam, where the queer scene is lively and they can both live their dreams. Tom is planning to study films and become a director and Ajani discovers the nightlife, makes new friends and maybe finds a new identity. Both are destined to ask themselves for the first time who they really are and how they fit in the world, or even with one another.
In his debut film, director Dennis Alink gives us a thrilling glimpse into the world of young queer folk today who are on a journey of self discovery that is unapologetic, full of life and heartbreaking all at the same time. The film is shot in a stylish black-and-white cinematography that brings to mind classic films about coming-of-age, such as Peter Bogdanovich’ “The Last Picture Show” and Gus Van Sant’s “Mala Noche”.

Viewing is 18+ due to explicit sexual content and drug use.

Courtesy of PrideTV

Three Kilometres to the End of the World

17 years old Adi, who is in love with a male student from Bucharest, comes to spend the summer in his small and traditional home village on the bank of the Danube river. After a violent attack one night, Adi’s world is turned upside down, when his parents seem to prefer their religion and monetary interests over him, and the villagers and the authorities justify his attackers.

“Three Kilometres to the End of the World” is directed by Emanuel Parvu, who is part of Romania’s New Wave, that is characterized by realistic, fascinating and well acted cinema. The film, which won the Queer Palm Award at Cannes, is a sharp and intelligent drama about family, corruption, courage and identity.
This is Romania’s nominee for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Please note: the film contains violence and depiction of non-consensual conversion therapy.

In association with the Embassy of Romania

Born for You

A film adaptation of a book by the same name, based on a true story.
We invite you to this moving new Italian film that is also very relevant to the current Israeli reality.

Luca Trapanese is a single Catholic gay man, who in 2017 wants to adopt Alba, a baby with Down Syndrome, who was abandoned at the hospital at birth. In the past, the Italian authorities have denied Luca’ requests to adopt a child or a baby. Alba was left at the hospital while 30 heterosexual families had rejected her. A meeting with a human rights lawyer encourages Luca to appeal to the court in hope they will agree to let him adopt Alba.
Today, thanks to the precedent set by Luca and Alba’s case, Italy allows single men to become foster families. Luca was the first single gay man in Italian history that managed to adopt a child. He didn’t do that to be a groundbreaker or to fight the authorities, he just wanted a family.

In 2017 TLVFest had screened an earlier film by director Fabio Mollo – “Il padre d’Italia”

Additional screening: Haifa Cinematheque, 9.11, 18:00

In association with the Embassy of Italy & PrideTV

Awards Ceremony & “Who Wants to Marry an Astronaut?

Awards Ceremony of the 2024 TLVfest hosted by Galina Port de Bras

Afterwards, screening of “Who Wants to Marry an Astronaut?”

A sunny featherweight romantic comedy.
David is a dopey hopeless romantic with a hippy mother and a best friend who also works for him.
After fifteen years of living together, on an impulse, he decides to ask his partner to marry him in Las Vegas. His anticipation for the dream wedding and trip is crushed when his partner’s answer is ‘No’. David decides to power through with his plans and now he has ten days to find the knight in shining armor that will marry him in Las Vegas.
The story is inspired by true events from the director’s own life.

In association with the Embassy of Spain

Bad Education

20th anniversary of the film “Bad Education”

It has been 20 years since the debut premiere of “Bad Education” at the Cannes Film Festival – here is Almodovar at his most authentic, daring, trashy and full of love for the art of cinema. This movie, which is also a tribute to Film Noir, is all about schemes, forbidden desires, suspicions and erupting passions that ruin every good thing in their path.
This is Pedro Almodovar’s most personal film that is loosely based on his own childhood. Its script had been stashed away for a decade before Almodovar dared to shoot it.

Enrique and Ignacio, who went to the same catholic school where they discovered their sexuality and fell in love, meet 15 years later. One has become a successful film director, while the other is an actor that will do anything to make it big. Together they create a film about their experiences at the catholic school and the sexual abuse they’ve endured at the hands of priests, and about the revenge that is sure to come. But as Film Noir go, nothing is to be taken for granted.
Mexican film star Gael García Bernal (“Love Bites”, “Y tu madre tambien”) steps into the high-heeled shoes of classic Hollywood stars such as Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth and many other legends. This talented actor jumps from one character to the next, from one time period to another, and gives his whole soul to an amazing and unforgettable performance.

In association with the Embassy of Spain