International Queer Film Festival “Merlinka" 2012 - Belgrade

Malik has a lot on his plate when he returns home to Tunisia after living in France. He’s processing his father’s death, he can’t come out to his mother, and his childhood anxieties have resurfaced. But all of Malik’s problems seem to fade away when he falls for Bilal, the dreamy houseboy at his mother’s bourgeois estate.

Positive Youth is a one hour television documentary which follows four HIV+ positive youth (late teens to 27) in four different N. American cities in Cinema vérité style. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s we were hammered with terrifying statistics of HIV/AIDS. Thirty years in, we are still learning. What education do youth receive now and why is the youth transmission rate still the highest? We have seen retrospective documentaries on the AIDS crisis and interviews with survivors but what about the positive youth of today? We aim to feature accessible and inspirational individuals and the often-rocky road that they’ve traveled to get here. Each of the four subjects have been selected to create a dynamic perspective on the reality of living positive today. Medical and psychological experts weigh in to provide up-to-date facts and a historical context to the reality of living positively…

Ksawey and Karolina pay Jan a visit. Jan is Ksawery’s grandfather living lonely in a desolate countryside. Ksawery is a drag queen performer. Karolina claims to be Ksawery’s agent. Jan is the only relative Ksawery ever felt tied to. Ksawery is gay. Karolina is Jewish. Jan, over 80, is a former resistance soldier. Karolina knows, the house she just came to, witnessed a murder unpunished for 70 years. Karolina wants answers. Jan is happy to be their host. Ksawery has nowhere to run.

“Trans” is an extraordinary documentary feature about men and women…and all the variations in between. It is about the Transgender Community, perhaps the most misunderstood and mistreated minority in America and around the world. Inspired by the incredible story of Dr. Christine McGinn and her important work as a transgender surgeon, “Trans” provides an up-close and very personal vision into the lives, loves, and challenges of a remarkable cast of characters of all ages and from all walks of life. These are the stories of confusion and courage, excitement and emotion that have never been told—until now. To anyone who ever looked in a mirror and wondered, “who they really are?”. “Trans” asks another question…”are you brave enough to find out?”

An unlikely trio, an unshakeable friendship and family boundaries that prove deadly to breach. A feature film about an unusual trio: Daniel, a German photo-journalist in Istanbul without much knowledge about Middle Eastern values. Can, a flamboyant, out and proud male belly dancer with lots of love and support from his family, and Ahmet born to an eastern and conservative family whose quest for honesty and liberty results in a tragic end. Zenne Dancer has been inspired by the true story of Ahmet Yildiz, who was murdered for being gay at the age 26 by his own father in 2008.

Oops! Shocking? Now here’s a rare sight: two naked elderly men in elegant surroundings talk about their relationship and the good old days, and chat in a refreshingly candid manner about their fetishes, sadomasochistic predilections and bondage.

Discouraged as teenagers by the macho world of sports, a diverse group of transplanted gay men in San Francisco ultimately finds something more encompassing than a place to play soccer: camaraderie, extended family, political refuge and love. The film unfolds around Jose, a gay asylum refugee from Venezuela; Topher, a middle class Bay Area twenty-something who was bullied and learns to persevere; Jay, a middle-aged Japanese-American from Honolulu who finds love amongst his soccer buds; Brian, a sensitive yet confident artist from small-town Ohio who befriends a Russian teammate and his family; Chris, a once-nervous kid from suburban New Jersey who finds a ‘normal’ life in San Francisco. Themes include overcoming fear, the power of community, regaining self-confidence, mentoring, creating family, and of course, soccer!

Angeni, a young female track star, who dreams of becoming the fastest runner in the world, is forced to undergo the sex verification test due to her ultra masculine appearance and exceptional performance. Tormented by the medical scrutiny, in which she is made to believe her body is abnormal, Angeni’s sense of self is undermined, and her athletic dream is shattered by a social institution in need of classifying.

Monste, a scatterbrained, well-meaning sex therapist, embarks on a mission to reconnect with her angsty son after discovering his troubles may stem from the huge “problem” tucked inside his trousers.

Jean Christophe lives with his mother, an English prostitute in Paris. He dreams of becoming a model. Over the course of a day, JC endures a series of abusive encounters that will change him forever. He goes from innocence to experience as he and his dreams are destroyed by those around him. The violence of the film is accentuated by the use of BDSM, Performance Art and Dance

Wolfgang and Roland are 72 and 58 years old and have lived together in Berlin since 11 years. They say, that today their life is happier and more fulfilled, than it was 25 years ago, before they met and neither Wolfgang, nor Roland knew, that they are HIV Positiv. Before the Virus, they lived an unremarkable middle-class life. They had a job and forgotten, faded or suppressed artistic ambitions. Back when they grew up and first discovered their affections towards men, homosexuality was still considered a felony in Germany. Both are deeply moved when they tell us how the Virus irrupted their lives. How it changed everything. They buried their lovers, too many friends and lost their jobs. For them, as for the many thousands infected in the 80’s, a survival seemed hopeless. The virus dominated their lives and the numerous side effects of the first medications robbed their vital force and dignity. Today all this hardly meets the eye anymore. Thanks to the new medication-cocktails Wolfgang and Roland regained authority over their time. Now, of all times, in this of all situations, they spotted their chance: the possibility of creativity and unhoped, fulfilled love. Their solitude turned into a mutual, creative zest for life. Although today they feel fine and are doing well, the shadow of the illness still keeps re-visiting from time to time. The emotional and often mirthful double-portrait accompanies Wolfgang and Roland through five years, 2005-2010. It is a romantic movie about two charming old Gentlemen.

Suburban supermom Eileen Cleary (Academy Award nominee Kathleen Turner) is the ultimate Catholic, and when she’s nominated for the coveted Catholic Woman of the Year Award at her local parish, it looks like she’s about to get the plaque to prove it. Only one final test remains—introducing her family to the church board for the seal of approval. Now, she must face the truth about her nonconformist family—a truth she has been glossing over for years. With her gay daughter (Emily Deschanel) about to marry her life partner, her unhappily married son (Jason Ritter) having an affair with the local manicurist, and her own marriage to a recovered alcoholic pulling at the seams, Eileen decides to take action, ramping up her meddling to new, and hilarious, heights. This heartfelt dysfunctional family comedy boasts a memorable performance from Academy Award nominee Turner as the conflicted and comical matriarch, alongside a bright ensemble cast including Richard Chamberlain and Michael McGrady. Newcomer director Anne Renton keeps the pacing taut and crafts an honest, modern family tale that asks us what truly makes a family perfect- how it looks on the outside, or how it feels on the inside.

Prora, Rügen Island, Baltic Sea. A deserted Nazi holiday camp and communist military complex – one of Germany’s largest and most bizarre structures. Jan, 17, a rather timid German teenager, spends his summer holidays with his friend Matthieu, 18, a French selfproclaimed macho womanizer. After a frustrating night in the local club, the two boys decide to hang out on the beach at sunrise. What starts as an innocent game soon develops into an ambiguous confrontation, when Matthieu takes his friend along into the abandoned building, and provokes him by making fun of Germany’s past.

Two straight actors rehearse for a movie’s upcoming gay love scene. How will they make out?

Inside the Death Star, two Imperial Stormtroopers strike their own battle

n a fancy hotel, a bell boy delivers a bottle of whiskey to a wealthy middle-aged client. The guest seduces the young man and offers him money for a sexual favor. But what started as a simple game becomes perverted and eventually violent.

Three babies discuss their sexuality, and if being gay, bi or straight is a choice.

When you’re a penis and a priest, it’s bound to cause some, uhm, inner conflict. In the heart of the Australian outback lives Father John Thomas. During one of his “seemingly” innocent confessionals he is caught out by God who pushes him to reveal his true self. Along with the filthy fantasies of fellow sinner Miss Beaver Eater, he finally gets the balls to confess.

One night in Belgrade two men meet and the next day nothing will be the same. The viewer watches as the evening unfolds and the puzzle is slowly revealed. Mood and style set the tone for this rare gay film from Serbia.

A day in the life of a lonely old man, James.

In the aftermath of Stonewall, a newly politicized Vito Russo found his voice as a gay activist and critic of LGBT representation in the media. He went on to write “The Celluloid Closet,” the first book to critique Hollywood’s portrayals of gays on screen. During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Vito became a passionate advocate for justice via the newly formed ACT UP, before his death in 1990. On June 27, 1969 a police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar called the Stonewall took a surprising turn when patrons decided it was time to fight back. As a riot erupted on Christopher Street, a new era in the Gay Rights Movement was born. Vito Russo, a 23-year-old film student, was among the crowd. Over the next twenty years until his death from AIDS in 1990, Vito would go on to become one of the most outspoken and inspiring activists in the GLBT community’s fight for equal rights. He was a pivotal part of three well-known organizations during their formative years: the GAA (Gay Activists Alliance), which staged subversive works of protest performance art to secure rights and dignity for all gay people; GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), formed to ensure that media representation of gays and lesbians was accurate; and ACT UP (The AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power), a guerilla activist group that turned the fury over President Reagan’s refusal to do anything about AIDS into a series of highly telegenic acts of civil disobedience. In the midst of his commitment to activism, Vito was also a prolific writer. His seminal book “The Celluloid Closet” explored the ways in which gays and lesbians were portrayed on film, what lessons those characters taught gay and straight audiences, and how those negative images were at the root of society’s homophobia. Even before the book was published, Vito was taking “The Celluloid Closet” on the road, traveling to gay film festivals and college campuses for an entertaining and informative lecture-slash-clip show that intertwined Vito’s love of show business and radical gay politics. He continued writing, lecturing, speaking out and acting up until just months before his death.

Cloudburst is a romantic road movie with Oscar-winning actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker as Stella and Dot, an aging couple who escape from a nursing home in Maine and drive to Nova Scotia on a quest to be legally married. Stella and Dot have been together for 31 years and have faithfully accompanied one another through life’s ups and downs. Now in their seventies, Stella is hard of hearing and Dot is legally blind. Dotty’s prudish granddaughter, Molly, decides the best place for Dot is a nursing home that will provide all the necessities. This forces Stella and Dot to make a bold decision: they will leave their hometown and make their way to Canada, where same-sex marriage is legal. It’s a last-gap bid to stay together. En route to Canada, they pick up a young hitchhiker, Prentice, played by newcomer Ryan Doucette. A small-town boy turned modern dancer, he is returning to Nova Scotia to visit his dying mother. Despite his bravado, Prentice is a confused and wounded soul who has much to learn from Stella and Dot as they wage their own unexpected battle – after three decades, can they keep their family together?

Spiral Transition is a compelling, candid, interwoven documentary exploring the filmmaker’s relationship with his mother and how it is changing and evolving as he transitions genders.

In 1997, the year Ellen DeGeneres comes out, John is a little boy who dreams of becoming a cop. He wants to confide in his neighbor, Mr. Carter, that he is secretly in love with him. Time is of the essence as the 65-year-old hetero detective is moving away forever.

Kyle struggles to hold onto his ailing relationship with David, whose health is rapidly deteriorating from Alzheimer’s. But as tension between the couple reaches the breaking point, David wanders off into the cold…