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Frameline · 2024

Frameline 2024

Narrative Features

Programme

39 films · 11 reviews

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All Shall Be Well

Angie and Pat have been together for over four decades but after Pat's unexpected death, Angie finds herself at the mercy of Pat's family as she struggles to retain her dignity and the home that both had shared for over 30 years.

(Country: Hong Kong, China; Year: 2024; Director: Ray Yeung; Writer: Ray Yeung; Stars: Patra Au, Lin-Lin Li, Tai-Bo, So-Ying Hui, Chung-Hang Leung, Fish Liew, Rachel Leung, Lai Chai Ming, Li Lai Ha, Luna Shaw, Gia Yu Yuk Wah, Bonde Sham, Hon-Fai Ho, Michael Khan, Miles Sible)

Asog

All roads lead to the Ms. Gay Sicogan pageant! Rey toils away in mediocrity after their career as a comedian comes to a grinding halt due to a super typhoon devastating Tacoloban. They set their sights on winning the pageant cash prize. Joined by former student Arnel, searching for some semblance of the family he lost when his mother died in the typhoon, they embark on a journey, navigating trauma, transphobia, colonialism, climate change, grief, and ultimately, resilience.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2023; Director: Seán Devlin; Writer: Seán Devlin, Jaya, Arnel Pablo; Stars: Jaya, Arnel Pablo, Ricky Gacho Jr)

The Astronaut Lovers (Los Amantes Astronautas)

A man travels from Spain to Argentina for a vacation at his family home, where he becomes attracted to a childhood friend. Their subsequent relationship is full of misunderstandings, as they try to hide it from family and friends.

(Country: Argentina, Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Marco Berger; Writer: Marco Berger; Stars: Ailín Salas, Lautaro Bettoni, Javier Orán, Mora Arenillas)

Best Years

Heartbroken, listening to Enya, and making Mickey Mouse pancakes in his underwear, the last thing Brooklynite Troy wants to do is welcome new neighbours. But when he sees Abel’s captivating smile, his hope for a rekindled romance with his ex-boyfriend gets officially placed on the back burner.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Jordan Hidalgo)

Carnage For Christmas

Review preview for Carnage For Christmas

Mackay succeeds where [others] have failed partly because there is a deep vein of sincerity beneath the playful surface of her work.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
When true-crime podcaster and sleuth Lola visits her hometown for the first time since running away and transitioning, the local urban legend, The Toymaker, is the least of her worries. But then the vengeful ghost of the historical murderer seemingly rises again.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2024; Director: Alice Maio Mackay; Writer: Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson; Stars: Chris Asimos, Dominique Booth, Betsey Brown, Lewi Dawson, Olivia Beeble)

Full review

Crossing

A retired teacher, has promised to find her long-lost niece, Tekla. Her search takes her to Istanbul where she meets Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights, and Tekla starts to feel closer than ever.

(Country: Sweden, Denmark, France, Turkey, Georgia; Year: 2024; Director: Levan Akin; Writer: Levan Akin; Stars: Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankava, Deniz Dumanli)

Demons At Dawn (Los Demonios Del Amanecer)

When a chance encounter between a go-go boy and a nursing student blossoms into a passionate affair, two young men must learn to carve out their own fate in bustling Mexico City.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2024; Director: Julián Hernández; Writer: Gustavo Hernández de Anda, Julián Hernández; Stars: Israel Alva, Baltimore Beltran, Jere Caelum, Alejandra Campos, Mariana Cantú, Simona Chirinos)

Don't Change Hands

When a wealthy politician receives a mysterious pornographic film reel starring her estranged son, she hires a lesbian private detective to investigate the source of the film and uncover who is trying to blackmail her with it.

(Country: France; Year: 1975; Director: Paul Vecchiali; Stars: Myriam Mézières)

Duino (Before We Forget)

Review preview for Duino

The relationship between fiction and memory, artifice and life undergoes subtle shifts over the course of di Pace’s tale.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An Argentinian filmmaker struggling to finish a movie about his unrequited first love receives an unexpected invitation to reconstruct his memories, revisit his past and perhaps even find a new ending to his story.

(Country: US, Argentina, Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Juan Pablo Di Pace, Andrés Pepe Estrada; Writer: Juan Pablo Di Pace, Andrés Pepe Estrada; Stars: Juan Pablo Di Pace, Santiago Madrussan, Oscar Morgan, August Wittgenstein)

Full review

Extremely Unique Dynamic

Review preview for Extremely Unique Dynamic

Not everything here is successful, but the delicately handled character material pays dividends, and the real life chemistry between the two stars carries across well to their characters.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
During their final weekend together, two best friends test the limits of their friendship while making a double-meta film.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Katherine Dudas, Ivan Leung, Harrison Xu; Writer: Harrison Xu, Ivan Leung, Katherine Dudas; Stars: Ivan Leung, Harrison Xu, Hudson Yang, Nathan Doan, Lucan Liu, Kelly Lynch, Jason Sun, Valerie Yu)

Full review See: Interview with Harrison Xu and Ivan Leung about Extremely Unique Dynamic

Fallen Fruit

A heartbroken 20-something reluctantly returns to his childhood home in Miami, where he's forced to reevaluate his relationships in the face of a looming hurricane.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Chris Molina; Writer: Chris Molina; Stars: Ramiro Batista, Austin Cassel, Dominic Cipriani, Adrien Menendez, Chad Simon Mow)

Gondola

Review preview for Gondola

It has the sweetness – and cartoonish violence – of a wholesome Sixties family film, albeit with a European attitude to nudity.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Two female cable car operators fall in love as they pass each other in their gondolas.

(Country: Germany, Georgia; Year: 2023; Director: Veit Helmer; Writer: Veit Helmer; Stars: Nino Soselia, Mathilde Irrmann, Zuka Papuashvili, Ninara Chichinadze)

Full review

Good One

On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: India Donaldson; Writer: India Donaldson; Stars: James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy, Sumaya Bouhbal, Lily Collias)

Go Fish

A historically groundbreaking film about a woman seeking her soulmate in Chicago's lesbian community.

(Country: US; Year: 1994; Director: Rose Troche; Writer: Guinevere Turner, Rose Troche; Stars: VS Brodie, Guinevere Turner, T Wendy McMillan, Migdalia Melendez, Anastasia Sharp)

Haze

A young man returns home after rehab and uncovers the secrets of his town's abandoned psychiatric centre.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Matthew Fifer; Writer: Matthew Fifer; Stars: Cole Doman, Brian J Smith, David Pittu, Kirby Denny, Annie Golden)

High Tide

Heartbroken and adrift, an undocumented Brazilian immigrant searches for purpose in the queer mecca of Provincetown. As the summer season comes to a fade, he finds an intense and unexpected romance.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Marco Calvani; Writer: Marco Calvani; Stars: Marco Pigossi, James Bland, Marisa Tomei, Bill Irwin, Sean Mahon, Mya Taylor)

In The Summers

Review preview for In The Summers

The characters speak naturally about the things in their life, and the film trusts us to piece together the essential information.

Jeremy Mathews · 4.5 out of 5
On a journey that spans across the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio; Writer: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio; Stars: Residente, Sasha Calle, Lio Mehiel, Leslie Grace, Emma Ramos, Sharlene Cruz, Luciana Elisa Quinonez, Dreya Castillo, Allison Salinas, Kimaya Thais, Gabriella Surodjawan, Indigo Montez, Shawn Cody Calvert, Natay Carroll, Julian Cavett)

Full review

I Don't Understand You

Following a devastating adoption scam, a couple go on an Italian vacation in an attempt to reconnect. After getting their rental car stuck in a countryside ditch, things begin to go awry. Between the torrential weather and language barrier, Dom, Cole and the Italians around them descend into a comical fiasco.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Brian Crano, David Craig; Writer: Brian Crano, David Craig; Stars: Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Nunzia Schiano, Morgan Spector, Eleonora Romandini)

The Judgment

Review preview for The Judgment

Intriguing in its ideas but a little heavy-handed in the application.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
An Egyptian gay couple return from the US to Egypt for a family emergency. When they fall prey to witchcraft intended as punishment for their homosexual sins, one of them falls into religious terror and exposes his unhealed past.

(Country: Egypt, Lebanon, US; Year: 2023; Director: Marwan Mokbel; Writer: Marwan Mokbel; Stars: Junes Zahdi, Freddy Shahin, Samara Nohra, Joseph Abboud, Layla Amari)

Full review

My Old Ass

Review preview for My Old Ass

Park captures the web of life tensions that don’t just stop when we’re teenagers, particularly the pull of the new versus the attraction of nostalgia.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The summer before college, bright-yet-irreverent Elliott comes face-to-face with her older self during a mushroom trip. The encounter spurs a funny and heartfelt journey of self-discovery and first love as Elliott prepares to leave her childhood home.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Megan Park; Writer: Megan Park; Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Maddie Ziegler, Percy Hynes White, Maisy Stella, Seth Isaac Johnson, Kerrice Brooks, Carter Trozzolo, Remington Schneider)

Full review

National Anthem

Dylan lives an isolated life of routine in rural New Mexico, working odd construction jobs to help support his little brother and alcoholic mother. He accepts a gig working at the House of Splendor, a homestead built by a community of queer rodeo performers and ranchers, and soon the indefinable magic of an untamed America unfolds before him.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Luke Gilford; Writer: David Largman Murray, Kevin Best, Luke Gilford; Stars: Charlie Plummer, Eve Lindley, Mason Alexander Park, Rene Rosado, Robyn Lively)

Out

Lovers Tom and Ajani dream of a new life in which their relationship does not have to be a secret. The two feel like outsiders in their small, conservative village. They move to Amsterdam, where a journey of self-discovery awaits them.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2024; Director: Dennis Alink; Writer: Dennis Alink, Thomas van der Gronde; Stars: Bas Keizer, Jefferson Yaw Frempong-Manson, Bram Agterbos, Joel Castillo, Johan De Joode)

Perfect Endings (13 Sentimentos)

When a couple break up after ten years together, they expect to remain friends, but re-entering the dating scene results in a rush of confusing, unexpected emotions.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2024; Director: Daniel Ribeiro; Writer: Rafael Gomes, Daniel Ribeiro; Stars: Michel Joelsas, Helena Albergaria, Igor Cosso, Artur Volpi, Hugo Kenzi)

Power Alley (Levante)

A teenage volleyball champion finds her whole future in jeopardy after discovering that she's pregnant, and struggles to access an abortion.

(Country: Brazil, France, Ururguay; Year: 2023; Director: Lillah Halla)

The Queen Of My Dreams

Review preview for The Queen Of My Dreams

Mirza may sometimes over-indulge in sentiment, but there’s a warmth to the film that makes it easy to like, and she handles its more chaotic scenes with flair.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Against the backdrop of a shared obsession with Bollywood fantasy, Mariam, a Pakistani Muslim woman, and her Canadian-born daughter Azra come of age in two different eras.

(Country: Canada, Pakistan; Year: 2023; Director: Fawzia Mirza; Writer: Fawzia Mirza; Stars: Amrit Kaur, Nimra Bucha, Hamza Haq, Charlie Boyle, Trina Corkum)

Full review See: Interview with Fawzia Mirza about The Queen Of My Dreams

Rent Free

This freewheeling comedy follows down-on-their-luck Gen Z best friends Ben and Jordan as they mooch off of their friends’ and acquaintances’ hospitality, all while grappling with love, heartbreak and awkward flings.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Fernando Andrés; Writer: Fernando Andrés, Tyler Rugh; Stars: Jacob Roberts, David Treviño, Zeke Goodman, Sarah J. Bartholomew, Temple Baker, Annabel O'Hagan, Jeff Kardesch, Frank Mosley, Kristin Slaysman, Bill Wise, Neal Mulani, Carson Barwinkel, Megan Bitchell, Macon Blair, Lorelei Linklater)

Riley

The boy who has it all in his final year of high school is living a secret gay life. His girlfriend, family and teammates all realise something is unravelling. The intense strain of living a lie is made worse by a series of sexual encounters on Grindr or with classmates.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Benjamin Howard; Writer: Benjamin Howard; Stars: Jake Holley, Colin McCalla, Connor Storrie)

Rookie

Everything changes when an awkward teenager joins the volleyball team and falls for the volleyball team captain.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2023; Director: Samantha Lee; Writer: Natts Jadaone, Samantha Lee; Stars: Pat Tingjuy, Aya Fernandez, Agot Isidro, Mikoy Morales, Alyssa Valdez)

Scarecrow In A Garden Of Cucumbers

An aspiring actress from Kansas comes to New York and meets a host of zany characters.

(Country: US; Year: 1972; Director: Robert J Kaplan; Writer: Sandra Scoppettone; Stars: Holly Woodlawn, Tally Brown, Suzanne Skillen, Yafa Lerner, David Margulies, Jennifer Laird)

Sebastian

Review preview for Sebastian

Having set up all the elements of a thriller, the film proceeds to untangle them in a refreshingly different and mature way.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Max, a 25-year-old aspiring writer living in London, begins a double life as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel.

(Country: UK, Finland, Belgium; Year: 2024; Director: Mikko Mäkelä; Writer: Mikko Mäkelä; Stars: Ruaridh Mollica, Hiftu Quasem, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Jonathan Hyde, Lara Rossi, Leanne Best, Dylan Brady, Charlotte Harwood, Fleur Keith, Akbar Kurtha, Marcus Macleod, Laurent Maria, Pedro Minas, Matthias Moret, David Nellist)

Full review

The Summer With Carmen

Review preview for The Summer With Carmen

With a lesser canine star, the film would not have worked, but Nala is sensational.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
While enjoying a day at Athens’ queer beach, 30-something Demosthenes offers to help his bestie and aspiring filmmaker Nikitas in drafting an idea for his feature debut, inspired by the events surrounding a certain dog named Carmen.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2023; Director: Zacharias Mavroeidis; Writer: Fondas Chalatsis, Zacharias Mavroeidis; Stars: Yorgos Tsiantoulas, Andreas Labropoulos, Nikolaos Mihas, Nala, Roubini Vasilakopoulou, Vasilis Tsigristaris)

Full review

That Boy

Admired and desired by everyone who comes in contact with him, a German adonis named Helmut instead only loves the blind boy who can't judge him for his looks and will never see them fade with age. But that doesn't stop a photographer, a bodybuilder, and a leather freak from having their own lurid fantasies.

(Country: US; Year: 1974; Director: Peter Berlin; Stars: Peter Berlin)

Throuple

A lonely gay singer-songwriter learns how to ask for what he wants in life through a newfound romance with an honest and communicative married couple. All the while, he fears he is losing his best friend to her girlfriend.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Greyson Horst; Writer: Michael Doshier; Stars: Jess Gabor, Stanton Plummer-Cambridge, Bethlehem Million, Max Larsen, Taylor Turner, Charlie Reid)

Turtles (Les Tortues)

After 35 years together, the seemingly perfect life that Thom and Henri had built started to go awry. They start to drift away from each other a little more each day. But Thom will do anything to save his relationship and rekindle their love.

(Country: Belgium, Canada; Year: 2023; Director: David Lambert; Writer: David Lambert; Stars: Dave Johns, Olivier Gourmet, Brigitte Poupart, Laurent Bonnet)

Una Película Barata

A gay man in the middle of an existential crisis who meets a wild card friend from his childhood who will shape the course of his summer.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Osama Chami; Writer: Osama Chami; Stars: Luis Amália, Fran Cantos, Enrique Gimeno, Paula Medina, Jorge Motos, Bárbara Santa-Cruz)

Underground Orange

A Californian backpacker becomes entangled in a polyamorous relationship with a gang of young actors who plot to kidnap the US Ambassador to Argentina.

(Country: Argentina, US; Year: 2024; Director: Michael Taylor Jackson; Writer: Michael Taylor Jackson; Stars: Michael Taylor Jackson, Sofía Gala Castiglione, Vera Spinetta, Bel Gatti, Gianluca Zonzini)

We Forgot To Break Up

A trans musician is caught in a love triangle with his bandmates as they rise to fame in 2000s Toronto.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Karen Knox; Writer: Noel Baker, Pat K Mills, Zoe Whittall; Stars: Lane Webber, Daniel Gravelle, June Laporte)

What A Feeling

A woman's life is shattered when her husband, in front of friends, asks for a divorce. She subsequently spends the night drowning her sorrows in a lesbian bar, where she encounters a charismatic heartbreaker who is busy running her business and caring for her elderly Iranian mother.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2024; Director: Kat Rohrer; Writer: Kat Rohrer; Stars: Caroline Peters, Proschat Madani, Nicole Ansari-Cox)