A Little Bit of Heaven

A guarded woman finds out she's dying of cancer, but when she meets her match, the threat of falling in love is scarier than death.

(QS) Au Pair, Kansas

Oddmund Lindeflaten is a socially awkward Norwegian soccer player who arrives on a small-town Kansas bison farm to work as an au pair for a recently widowed mother. The whole town’s wondering… but no, he’s not gay, he’s just European. Oddmund sets to bonding with his charges, a pair of sullen teen boys reeling from their father’s death, the only way he knows how – with Football. And so a motley Soccer Team in Nowhere Kansas is formed, including a Lesbian policewoman, a weedy chess coach, the school bully, and a Latino drag queen.

(QS) August

Emotions run high when Jonathan receives a message that his ex, Troy (Australian, Murray Bartlett), is back in town after living in Barcelona for years. A blast from the past becomes a passionate current affair, but things aren’t so simple, as Jonathan is happily partnered now with his new love, Raul, and wounds are still raw from the former partners’ sudden parting. Not to be mistaken for your run-of-the-mill love-triangle, what ensues is a complex negotiation of the many aspects of love, comfort and compatibility.

(QS) Bashment

From the inspiring team that brought us FIT and KICK OFF last year. J.J. is an aspiring M.C. who’s taken London’s outlaw urban music scene by storm. He’s got the rhymes and the passion, but he’s a gay white boy who brings his boyfriend onto the stage with him. A battle of spoken-words with the reigning rap darlings, the all-black and bad-boy Illford Ilmanics, leads to a violent attack, seeing one man permanently brain damaged and three men in jail. What follows is a remarkable story of reconciliation and confronting the source of violence, fear and bigotry not just their symptoms. Gritty, visceral but unashamedly hope-filled.

(QS) Bedroom Commandments

Can you be gay and formally religious? And by combining your faith with your alternate sexuality, are you somehow betraying them both? From atheists to agnostics and the true believers, examining countless spiritual creeds and delving into the complex inconsistencies regarding homosexuality in almost every religion, The Bedroom Commandments offers a sophisticated and frank discussion on this oft uncomfortable question.

(QS) Born in Flames

30 years on, arguably the first cinema work of Lesbian speculative fiction resonates as deeply as it ever has. Set in New York City in a future time, ten years after a peaceful, bloodless, democratic revolution, sexual oppression continues to plague the people of America. The Women’s Army mobilise, led by a black lesbian, planning militant action against the authorities to activate an unresponsive, apathetic government.

(QS) Boys To Men Shorts

Blind boys, sex workers, summer holidays, drug addiction, bike riding and underwater disrobing. This shorts program puts a range of award winning boys own stories on screen, both international and Australian. We are also proud to present the latest hilarious offering from actor/director Jesse Archer, Half Share, with the filmmaker in attendance. See website for full list of titles and running time.

(QS) Bumblef***

Out of nowhere, into a mid-west American town, comes Alexa from Amsterdam, the mysterious traveller is working on a documentary about gay suicide and appears to be inspired by events close to her. Sexually ambiguous and certainly uninhibited, Alexa becomes more than just familiar with the locals - both a lesbian artist and a young groundskeeper, but soon her unusual presence in this small town raises unwanted attention and obsession.

(QS) Circumstance

A provocative coming-of-age story set in the hidden underground world of Iranian youth culture, where a young woman's most electrifying passions can become the most dangerous of secrets. Atafeh and Shireen are best friends, experimenting with their burgeoning sexuality. The young women lead a double-life, allowing them greater social and sexual freedoms but as Atafeh's brother matures and grows increasingly oppressive, sharing their secret life with him may prove to have devastating consequences.

(QS) Cloudburst

Academy award winning actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker play elderly lesbian lovers in this hilarious and heartwarming Thelma and Louise retake. Stella and Dot have been living together for 31 years, but when Dot's concerned granddaughter uses power of attorney to have her placed in aged care, wise-cracking, trash-talking, fight-picking Stella takes matters into her own hands, kidnapping her sweetheart and driving her across the border to Canada where they can marry. This is a joyous romance that delivers great swathes of heart and humour while never delving into schmaltz or saccharine.

(QS) Daphne

Amidst scandalous success, acclaimed British author Daphne du Maurier becomes embroiled in a plagiarism suit, and must stand trial in the United States. En route, she encounters the wife of her publisher, the glamorous Ellen Doubleday sparking an unrequited infatuation that compels Daphne to further explore her Sapphic side with her father's mistress, Gertrude Lawrence. Exceptional performances, fabulous frocks and opulent art direction make this historical biopic a feast for the senses.

(QS) East Bloc Love

The small Eastern European country of Belarus, arguably the last European dictatorship, is preparing to host Slavic Pride, the regions roaming LGBT rights protest. Despite a ban by authorities the brave and passionate people of GayBelarus joining forces with their neighbouring allies to present Belarus' first public gay event, aware they will be confronted by Neo-Nazis, police force and possible imprisonment. From Romania to Poland, Latvia to Estonia, Australian documentarian, Logan Mucha, captures intimate and inspiring portraits of the revolutionaries behind the event, and the thrillingly dangerous day of the march.

(QS) Flaming Ears

This pop sci-fi cyber fantasy feature, set in the year 2700 needs to be seen to be believed (an even then, probably not understood). Filmed on super8 blown up to 16mm and utilising low budget effects including claymation, this vision of the future is delightfully intriguing and genuinely alien. The film follows the romantic and revenge fantasies three women enact upon each other, in a burnt out Asche in a world now populated almost exclusively by lesbians.

(QS) Going Down in La La Land

Runner-cum-fluffer on porn shoots, escort for hire for closeted gay celebrities, telephonist?! Is this what a guy's gotta do to get ahead in La La Land? Adam is a fresh faced actor making the move from off-off-Broadway stages to the glittering call of Hollywood, but has landed nothing but parking tickets and a mind-numbing job since arriving in LA. The opportunity to 'assist' on a gay porn shoot offers a welcome change of pace, but how long will Adam resist the inevitable offer of increased pay for some on camera work? And once ‘in the biz’ just how far will he be prepared to go…?

(QS) Gun Hill Road

Enrique, fresh out of another stint in jail, returns to the Bronx and his family on Gun Hill Road, eager to reconnect with his teenage son Michael. Michael is not set on becoming the macho man his father would like him to be, however. Michael is spending most of his time as Vanessa, reading poetry at a local open mic, dating a guy on the down low who is keen to keep their relationship indoors, and secretly commencing the hormone treatments of gender transition. Ever supportive mother Angela seeks to protect her transitioning daughter from her husband’s gangland pride, but how long can she keep  Enrique from discovering their child’s secret life.

(QS) Harvest

Fertile young love blossoms on the land in this tender and engaging rural romance. Marko is in the final stages of a farming apprenticeship. He is the black sheep of the adolescent residents, he doesn’t drink, eats well, works hard, lives alone and struggles with illiteracy. It takes the arrival of new recruit Jakob to bring him out of his shell, as an immediate and palpable attraction sparks between them. The mutual crush escalates with agonizing intensity until a trip to the city, ironically, provides them with the space and privacy to give over to their emotions. Harvest is breathtakingly shot on an agricultural studies farm utilising genuine students and personnel as supporting cast, providing the film with utter, effortless authenticity.

(QS) Jamie and Jessie are Not Together

Jamie is moving from Chicago to New York to become a Broadway actress and her roommate Jessica is seriously bummed about it. It’s not just because they’re such great friends, perfect housemates, and adoring company, it’s because Jessie is in love with Jamie. What else to do but date a bunch of women under her nose to try and make her jealous? Not the best plan, but when set to a score and songbook, it makes for compelling and catchy viewing. That’s right – this is the MUSICAL version of the “are we friends or are we lovers” trope.

(QS) Jan's Coming Out

As she puts it, Jan is a 50 year old Baby Dyke, coming out of the closet a little later than most. She sat and watched the entire L Word series in one hit and suddenly realised what was missing in her life: lesbians. Now she's enthusiastically exploring all things Sapphic with the help of celebrity lesbians across the globe, from Cathy DeBuono and Jill Bennett, Meredith Baxter, Stella Duffy, the stalwarts of Dinah Shore and an hysterical collection of Dyke Comediennes. She's seeking flirting tips, learning new terminology and discovering what lesbian life is really all about.

(QS) Kawa

Based on the novel “Nights in the Gardens of Spain” by Witi Ihimaera (Whale Rider), Kawa is the story of a Maori family man living a double life. With his marriage a mess and work pressures raging, Kawa lives out of a hotel and spends his evenings in a sauna having anonymous sex with men. A visit from his aging father, to pass on the Kahu huruhuru (a symbolic cloak worn by the family patriarch) precipitates a coming out with consequences that resonate through all generations of one family.  New Zealand looks as beautiful as ever in this spectacularly shot, sensitively nuanced and powerful film.

(QS) Let My People Go

Ruben is a Jewish, gay, half-Finnish-half-French mailman, an unworthy son, uncooperative brother and disappointing lover, and he's just accidentally killed and robbed a resident while on his mail-route. Truly, he didn't mean to do it. Now his boyfriend has kicked him out and he is forced to return to Paris to his chaotic and claustrophobic family - an overbearing Jewish mother, a self-obsessed sister, a brother who is easily urged to violence and an aging Rabbi who has fallen in lust with him. You got it, it's the madcap, slapstick family comedy of the festival.

(QS) Lipstikka

In London, two Palestinian women reconnect, recall and revisit their complicated 30 year relationship. Lara is now a middle-class housewife in a sexless marriage, Inam is an erratic, tough talking drifter who has obviously arrived on Lara's doorstep with more than wishing her Happy Birthday in mind. Through tense interactions and a series of flashbacks we see the push and pull of their tainted love, hinging on a terrifying run in with an Israeli soldier after a secret border crossing in their teens.

(QS) Longhorns

It’s just about helping a buddy out, right? It’s Texas in 1982, big hair, cowboy boots, steers and synth-pop abound as Kevin, an apparently straight frat-boy finds himself watching porn with a friend and, ah, lending a hand. Then an encounter with Cesar, the out guy on campus, sends Kevin into a spin and before you know it he’s on a weekend retreat with childhood buddies with more porn-sharing, chain-yanking and bed-hopping than a dust mite convention. This is, quite simply, a film about how sometimes straight guys “do it solo” in the company of mates, and sometimes those mates turn out not so straight.

(QS) Men To Kiss

Colourful balloon dresses, long party nights in Berlin’s trendy clubs and erotic evenings around the dinner table – this is the chaotic relationship of unlikely couple, Ernst and Tobias. Though opposites do attract, respectable banker Ernst is often unsure whether bubbly Tobias takes their relationship as seriously as he does. When Ernst's eccentric school friend Uta arrives in town, she schemes to drive a wedge between the pair forcing Tobias to rise to the challenge, with a little help from his friends, to checkmate this unwelcome guest. This upbeat sit-com features a fantastically fun ensemble cast, vibrant images of gay Berlin and comes to us direct from the editing suite for its world premiere.

(QS) Our Paradise

A prostitute past his prime in the cruelly ageist world of hooking, Vassili, finds angel-faced “Angelo”, unconscious in Bois de Boulogne. After resurrecting him, they fall in love, becoming a hustler dream-team, thieving and tricking towards a better life, but Vassilli has a nasty habit of killing the clientele, and when booked as a double-act for a dangerous john, Angelo is helplessly drawn into his lover's murderous m.o.  Now accomplices and on the run, will their search for paradise take them further into hell?

(QS) Private Romeo

The bard's most beloved classic gets a military make-over with surprisingly successful results. When eight soldiers are left behind from an army training exercise, love and trouble spring eternal between rival cadet clans, circling the ill-fated infatuation of Juliet and his Romeo. We all know how the story goes, but in Private Romeo this time-honoured tale is artfully adapted without sacrificing a word of Shakespeare's prose and a fine cast of hunky young men deliver the drama with confidence and sensitivity.

(QS) So Hard To Forget

After the breakup with her enigmatic girlfriend Antonia, 35-year-old English Literature teacher Julia is thrown into despair and melancholy that is deeply affecting her life, and seemingly impossible to shake. When gay husband / best friend Hugo pushes for a move out of her abandoned love nest to a house by the sea, adjustment is hard but the fresh oceanic winds of change chip away at her pain and blow in new friends and new ways of looking at the world. When the mysterious and sensual Helena arrives, the rambling household takes on a new shine and love comes back in.

(QS) Something in the Water Shorts

This program features some of the best in new Australian short filmmaking, and presents our Queer filmmakers of tomorrow. Program includes; Charlotte (Daniel Monks); Comme Ci Comme Sa- The Story Of Carmen Rupe (Lucy Hayes); These Empty Streets (Jarrah Gurrie); Why Me? (Victoria Stanford).  See website for full list of titles and running time.

(QS) Sons of Tennessee Williams

Having come of age in New Orleans in the 1940s and ’50s, gay krewe members reminisce fondly of being inspired by the opulence of Mardi Gras festivities, a hotbed for decadence and dress-up. Interweaving archival footage with contemporary interviews, The Sons of Tennessee Williams charts the evolution of drag and politics in "the other" gay Mardi Gras scene. Now seniors, these men offer us an inspiring insight into the history of our brave and ostentatious sequined political revolutions.

(QS) The Doctor's Wife

Look out Mundubbera, the gays are coming! Like many young Australian doctors, Dr Vincent Cornelisse was offered an attractive salary and relocation package if he would spend two years working in a regional community in country Queensland.  Unlike many young doctor’s who take this offer up, Vincent is gay, and would be bringing his partner Jonathan with him. Jono is an artist and filmmaker, and when confronted with life in a sleepy small town in Australia’s Redneck Center, what else was he to do but document his journey to become the ultimate ‘Doctor’s Wife’.  A heartwarming adventure that turns the tables on our preconceptions about safety, acceptance and country community.

(QS) The Green

In this excellent ensemble drama, Michael and Daniel have moved from New York City to a bucolic Connecticut town in hopes of living a simpler life. Michael is finding his balance as an out teacher at a private high school when his interactions with a student come into question, setting in motion sinister accusations, a law suit and sensationalist media attention, which not only threatens Michael’s career, but also his relationship. Enter Karen (Julia Ormond), a lesbian civil rights lawyer up for a fight, but her investigations in Michael’s defense uncover information that may have see him in even graver trouble.

(QS) The Night Watch

From the director of An Englishman in New York and adapted from Sarah Waters’ Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Night Watch weaves back in time from 1947 to 1941, unveiling an achingly beautiful cyclone of missed connections and fragmented pasts. Duncan spent his wartime in jail, lusting after his rakish cellmate, but he can’t seem to free himself from his time behind bars. His sister, Viv, is looking for love with a married man, while trying to forget the ways he has betrayed her. Viv’s coworker, Helen, works as a matchmaker, but her past in a love triangle with two women threatens her happiness now. Through Kay, an ambulance driver in the Blitz, and girlfriend Julia we see a relationship in reverse, and the hardships of war that eventually unravelled them.

(QS) Tomboy

Summer hits and 10 year old Laure (Zoe Heran) relocates with her family to a new ‘hood, where her foppish haircut and tomboy ways have her immediately mistaken for a boy. New kid on the block “Mikael” is born, and lo and behold the leader of the local gang, Lisa, is smitten. Tomboy is a subtle, insightful portrait of relationships between siblings, parents, peers and paramount for Laure, between the heart and the self. Topped off by excellent performances from Heran and a hilarious little sister act courtesy of Malonn Lévana, gender questioning is handled with both sensitivity and humour. Tomboy collected the prestigious TEDDY Jury Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

(QS) Too Fast to be a Woman and Ballroom Rules

Screens with…

Ballroom Rules

A group of Australian same-sex ballroom dancers battle homophobia, injuries and wardrobe malfunction to compete in the Cologne Gay Games. Ballroom Rules beautifully interweaves the personal journeys of these couples with the thrills, spills and stylish moves of queer competitive Ballroom.

(QS) Trigger

Kat and Vic were once the darlings of the nineties indie rock scene, and after years of party, drugs n rock n’ roll, the band and the friendship has taken a battering. Reunited for a Women in Rock benefit gig, what starts out as a civilized pre-gig dinner, turns into an all-nighter, where past demons flare up, guards are dropped, jamming takes place and dawn reveals the true power a ten year friendship can yield. A fabulous script and stellar performances from two of Canada’s leading actresses, Trigger gives nod to musical heroes like Chrissie Hynde, Courtney Love and Patti Smith and celebrates female connection in a humorous and naturalistic style.

(QS) With You

With You is the story of Mark Bingham and his mother, the indomitable Alice Hoagland. As an out rugby player in high school, Mark inspired others to live life with authenticity. His death aboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, cut short a beautiful life, but inspired his mother to action, and reminded a country that wherever heroes are, gay people are among them. The annual, international gay rugby cup now bears his name, and Sydney's own Convicts are the title holders, appearing collecting the cup in this moving and motivational documentary.

(QS) Zenne Dancer

Daniel, a photojournalist in Istanbul with little knowledge of Middle Eastern culture is fascinated by Can, a flamboyant, out and proud male belly dancer (Zenne). Through their interviews and shoots, Daniel meets and falls for Ahmet, born to a conservative family whose staunched beliefs bring tragic consequences. Inspired by true events and in dedication to the filmmakers friend who, at 26, was murdered by his family when they discovered he was gay.

(QS) eCupid

Ever feel like Grindr is taking over your life? Well this enchanted dating app quite literally will. Marshall is bored with his dead-end job creating advertising-by-numbers, he's about to turn 30, and his seven-year relationship is experiencing more than just an itch, more like an extended dry-spell. Frustrated and curious he explores online discovering the mysterious eCupid app that guarantees to find you love, even if it must infiltrate and manipulate every aspect of your life to find it.

(QS) My Queer Career

(QS) No Gravity

(QS) Romeos

Lukas has just showed up for his year of civil service to find he’s been placed in the women’s dorm. He’s just finished his twenty-fifth testosterone shot, is saving up for surgery, and even though his passport says female, he’s no intention of living with the girls. The only person who knew Lukas before he was a boy is best friend and lesbian Ine who’s fascinated by his transition but both are surprised when Lukas finds himself hopelessly falling for Fabio, a cock-sure, closeted gay guy. Fabio loves the attention and the two flirt and fight their way into intimacy, but things can only go so far before Fabio discovers Lukas’ secret. With unflinching fluidity and euphoric innocence, this beautiful modern love story closes our festival with rule breaking, boundary busting hope and bravery.