Can’t sleep? Don’t want to sleep? Moving from the night-before to the morning-after, this collection of gay men’s short films will transport you to those romantic nights where you just want to stay up and talk ‘til sunrise. Oh, those summer nights…
Nightender (Errar a Noite) | dir. Flávio Gonçalves | Portugal 2020 | 28’
After closing time at the cruising bar, a restless young man takes the long path on his way home, soaking in the seeming endlessness and passing encounters of Lisbon at night. Dreamlike, ethereal and enveloping.
Dear to Me | dir. Monica Vanesa Tedja | Germany/Indonesia 2020 | 19’
A lush, summer-y mythically-tinged romance on an Indonesian island, featuring a fleeting sensual fling, stifling parents, local traditions, a mysterious reincarnated deer, and bucketloads of desire.
We Will Become Better | dir. Andzej Gavriss | Russia 2021 | 6’
Two lovers, separated by distance and by discriminatory law, connect with each other across the city through dance.
How to Die Young in Manila | dir. Petersen Vargas | Philippines 2020 | 12’
A teenage boy follows a group of young hustlers, thinking one of them may be the anonymous hook-up he arranged to meet for the night. As he anxiously finds a way to get closer, each of the other boys inexplicably turn up as bodies strewn in the streets, until only one of them is left.
An Impossible Love Story (Una Historia de Amor Imposible) | dir. Javier Alonso Mardones | Chile 2021 | 26’
After hearing about the death of a young neighbour, Miguel sneaks into his abandoned room and begins to see visions of a hidden love story, in the process of discovering his own desires. Like licking a battery, this is sore but energising, infused with a punk attitude to grief and yearning.
CW: discussion and depiction of death, suicide, conversion therapy, homophobic dialogue.