TIGLFF 34 - St. Petersburg, FL
Kiss Me, Kill Me – Opening Night Film – FREE!
An innocent man wrongly accused of a murder of passion? Or conniving killer exacting revenge on an unfaithful lover? This tale of intrigue, mystery and drama unfolds in classic noir form from writer/director and TIGLFF alum, Casper Andreas. Dusty (the delicious Van Hansis) is madly in love with Stephen (a dapper Gale Harold) on the…
Deep Run – Annual Queer Youth Celebration – FREE!
In the Christian locked rural town of Deep Run, North Carolina, a brave queer teen faces the daunting conflict of faith and family as he embraces his authentic self. Called Jasmine at birth, Cole Ray Davis falls in love and fights for his soul as he confronts the weight of the world while refusing to…
That’s Not Us
A weekend trip to Fire Island at the end of the summer season brings three couples together at different phases of their relationships. Alex and Jackie are long-term girlfriends currently going through a dry spell. Alex's sister Liz is there with her new boyfriend Dougie, in the sex-crazed honeymoon phase of their relationship. James and…
Desert Migration
This compelling and contemplative documentary follows a dozen men who have survived HIV, emerging startled from a past littered with the deaths of the many who passed. These marginalized gay men flock to Palm Springs to die surrounded by the stark beauty of this desert oasis...only to find themselves very much alive. The mundane motions of their…
Beautiful Something
In downtown Philadelphia, four men wrestle with desire as they cross paths through the chill of the night. Brian is a poet looking for inspiration in all the wrong places. Drew is a sculptor obsessed with his young muse. Jim is not prepared for the adoration Drew gives him and rebels against the notion of relationships. Bob…
Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story
Legendary Falcon Studios founder Chuck Holmes had a vision of what gay porn should be and it was blond, clean-cut, and all-American. He almost singlehandedly took gay porn from the back alleys to the mainstream building a worldwide empire of flesh and fantasy. However, the AIDS epidemic changed everything that mattered to him, his passion, and even…
Drag Becomes Him
Jinkx Monsoon is the hardest-working woman in show business. The winner of Season 5 of Ru Paul's Drag Race is an incredibly talented and driven performer in the art form that is drag. Jerick Hoffer discovered theater as a young teen, channeled his talent into Jinkx, and built a critically acclaimed reputation as a singer/performer.…
Men’s Shorts
Tradesman’s Exit (Tom E. Brown, 2015, USA, 12 min) Breaking up is hard to do. Open Relationship (Carlos Ocho, 2014, Spain, 14 min) Serious negotiations are so complicated! The Future Perfect (Nicolas Citton, 2014, USA, 13 min) Zachary Quinto comes from the future. Health Class (Brad McDermott, 2015, Canada, 9 min) How was your sex…
Guidance
While buying tequila for some teenagers one afternoon, it strikes actor David Gold that he has a passion for helping today's youth. On the precipice of eviction and with only his raging alcoholism as support, David decides to reinvigorate his acting career by committing identity theft to land a gig as a guidance counselor. Teetering “between caring…
Sworn Virgin (Vergine Giurata)
In a remote Albanian village, the ancient laws of the Kanun allow a woman to eschew the burdens of her gender if she swears an oath to remain a virgin, forever. She takes a male name and is allowed to live her life as a man with all of the privileges and responsibilities of being…
Margarita With A Straw
Beautiful Laila has a loving, devoted family and she attends the University of Delhi where she writes lyrics for a rock and roll band. She falls in love with the lead singer who, as lead singers do, breaks her heart. Not to worry, Laila has another suitor. Ah, but she breaks his heart. She moves to New York and finds…
Out to Win
There was a time that it would have been unheard of for active professional athletes to come out publicly. Any athletes who did came out well after their playing days were over. With Jason Collins and Michael Sam, we are in the middle of an exciting wave of young players willing to be true to…
Nasty Baby
Sebastián Silva directs and stars as Freddy, a performance artist preparing for his next installation at the local gallery. He and partner Mo (TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe) are trying to have a baby with the help of their best friend Polly (SNL alum Kristen Wiig). After Freddy's sperm count comes back as less…
Those People
We all know those people, the beautiful ones who seem to have it all. On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, art school student Charlie is so smitten with his manipulative best friend that his self-portrait assignment becomes yet another depiction of the handsome Sebastian. They, along with friends Ursula, London, and Wyatt live without a care…
In the Grayscale (En las Gamas de Gris)
Handsome architect Bruno finds himself living alone after a recent separation from his wife. Their problems stem from Bruno's description of marriage in transitional terms instead of finite. A new monument project for the Chilean capital city of Santiago connects Bruno to history teacher Fer who is gay and out and sees sexuality as either black…
In the Grayscale (En las Gamas de Gris)
Handsome architect Bruno finds himself living alone after a recent separation from his wife. Their problems stem from Bruno's description of marriage in transitional terms instead of finite. A new monument project for the Chilean capital city of Santiago connects Bruno to history teacher Fer who is gay and out and sees sexuality as either black…
Portrait of a Serial Monogamist
Breaking up is hard to do, but it is not impossible. So says Elsie, a "not so square" Toronto lesbian on the next big cusp of her life. Leaving her girlfriend and facing a corporate takeover at work, Elsie navigates the uncertainty of her future in the shadow of her disapproving mother; disapproving not because…
Summer of Sangaile
Who remembers being seventeen? The angst, the despair, the ecstasy and the sublime, all boiling in a sea of hormones and insecurities. Sangaile is seventeen and locked away in her fear, shame and rebellion, miserably vacationing with her parents at their modern lake house. The summer is long and introspective until she meets Auste, who…
The New Girlfriend (Une Nouvelle Amie)
Claire and David bond over the loss of Laura, Claire’s best friend and David’s wife. As they grieve together, they help each other become their more authentic selves. Like a French perfume, this psychological bender of a romantic comedy has crisp, floral head notes, heavy heart notes, and dramatic base notes. Prolific French director Ozon’s…
Naz & Maalik
Two Muslim teens living in post 9/11 Brooklyn balance their mutual romantic attraction with their small-time scheming operation. Reserved Naz and outgoing Maalik have recently taken their relationship to a new level, though the teens have not declared their sexuality to family or friends. After a run-in with an undercover cop selling guns, they are…
Baby Steps
Taiwanese-American Danny and his partner Tate live in West Hollywood and they want to have a baby. Danny's mom, Mrs. Lee, (expertly played by The Wedding Banquet's Gua Ah-leh) travels from Taipei to oversee the proceedings and ensure the surrogate mother is exactly right. She has a vested interest, as she has no other grandchildren…
From This Day Forward
For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do you part … are you sure? This middle class family consists of mom and dad and two teen-age kids trying to, "just blend in with everybody else," while coming to terms with the truth that dad would be more comfortable being mom.…
Love Island
You know it is going to messy when a woman professes, “I love my husband” and then lunges into a mind-blowing kiss with the woman her husband fantasizes about… and, unknown to him, is her ex-lover. Marital bliss takes an unexpected turn on Love Island, a steamy vacation spot teeming with intrigue and not so subtle…
While You Weren’t Looking
“While you weren’t looking, I had an affair, our daughter grew up and began to explore her identity and sexuality, my politics swung a wide right, my value system changed and I lied myself into believing my capitalism is not incongruent with my activism.” Dez doesn’t actually say these things, but this is certainly what…
Eisenstein in Guanajuato
Rejected by Hollywood, Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to Mexico to shoot a new film funded by author and socialite Upton Sinclair. Eisenstein travels among Mexico's elite, including Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, but his greatest enlightenment comes from his guide Palomino Cañedo. Eisenstein follows as Palomino leads him into a world of pleasure and…
Women’s Shorts
When Mom Visits (Chiung-Wen Chang, 2015, Taiwan/USA, 19 min) Surprise! Cue complications. The First Session (Ryan Logan, 2015, USA, 6 min) Therapy is a great place to meet chicks. Pepper (Patrick Aubert, 2014, Canada, 7 min) Three is sometimes, for some people, a crowd. Moonlight (Janella Lacson, 2015, USA, 12 min) Memories can seem so…
The Wiz
“There’s a feeling here inside, that I cannot hide and I know I’ve tried. But, it’s turning me around.” The Wiz’s version of “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore” is just the beginning of this beautifully crafted film by Sidney Lumet, with a who’s who of 1978 cast. These songs have become classics, from “Ease on Down…
How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)
Oat, a young man in Bangkok, remembers the turning point in his life. At eleven, his idolized older brother, Ek, must participate in Thailand’s bizarre military draft lottery. Cards are drawn and the color of the card decides the fate of the young men. Working class, Ek and his affluent boyfriend are up for the lottery and Oat…
Darkness by Day (El Día Trajo La Oscuridad)
In a darkly beautiful Argentinian estate, Virginia waits at home alone. Her father, a doctor, has gone to help a sick cousin. Meanwhile, another cousin, the broodingly stunning Anabel, arrives and the two huddle in remote isolation as stories of a local rabies epidemic circle around them. Anabel too suffers from a mysterious illness, sleeping…
Liz in September
Death is God's greatest betrayal. Who is innocent? No one. Patricia Velasquez, (“The L Word” and The Mummy) “the world’s first Latin supermodel” and recently out lesbian is the beautiful Liz, who loves women with a passion and lives life the same way, even when both are slowly moving out of her grasp. The steamy…
The New Man (El Hombre Nuevo)
Every person has a unique story and shares that with the world accordingly. Stories of individuals transitioning their gender can also be told in vastly different ways. They can be lived in the limelight like Caitlyn Jenner or they can be quietly heroic like our protagonist Stephanía. Born Roberto in Nicaragua where he supported the Sandinista…
54: The Director’s Cut
Sex, drugs, disco, and at the center of it all, a bisexual anti-hero (Ryan Phillippe as Shane O’Shea)… Sounds perfect for 2015, or an underground movie from the 1960s. But in 1998 when the film was originally released, some felt it might be too edgy for a wide audience. And so it was recut –…
Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party
Henry Gamble wakes up next to his close friend on the morning of his 17th birthday and, as boys his age do, they talk about sex. After their morning rituals, the boys prepare for the big birthday party later that day. Guests show up, and they all take their traditional positions, kids in the pool…
S&M Sally
When your S&M pseudonym is Sally, you are obviously not a top! Even if you want to be the butchest, badass in the room, you are in for a world of hurt as Sally. Sally aka Jamie’s new paramour is the lovely Jill who, much to Jamie’s chagrin, knows a thing or two about being the top…
Reel in the Closet – screening & panel – FREE!
Filmmaker Stu Maddux wants to bring us out of the closet, again. This delightful documentary explores the films, tapes and videos that are languishing in the closets and attics of so many LGBT people and their families. Reels and reels of home movies are showcased, from as early as the 1930’s, and they chronicle LGBT…
Akron
Benny and Christopher are young freshmen at their rural Ohio college when they meet playing football and begin to fall for each other--hard. But when Christopher's mother reveals a tragic past event shared by the two boys, their young love must endure an unexpected test. Will love be able to conquer their families' mutual pain? This sweetly…
Best of Fest Shorts
Closets (Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, 2015, UK, 19 min) The ultimate queer time machine is a life saver. Vagina Is the Warmest Color (Trailer) (Anna Margarita Albelo, 2015, USA, 2 min) Sound familiar? Heavenly Peace (Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, 2014, USA, 5 min) A celestial Rolf König animated mediator. Tomgirl (Jeremy Asher Lynch, 2014, USA, 14 min) Everybody loves…
Two 4 One
Adam is rationing his testosterone while saving up for genital reconstruction surgery when an unexpected and complicated fling with his ex-girlfriend Miriam leads to them both getting pregnant. As if parenthood weren't complicated enough already. Maureen Bradley’s heartfelt comedic debut film delves into issues of masculinity, love, and what it means to be a parent.…
Fourth Man Out
When Adam, an average Joe car mechanic from Anytown, America finally comes out to his best buds on his 24th birthday, they struggle to understand the surprising news. Ultimately, dudes will be dudes, and loyalty in friendship prevails. They man up, and get behind Joe’s mission, teach him how to use apps to pick up…
PARIS 05:59: THEO & HUGO
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesOlivier Ducastel et Jacques Martineau, 2016, France, 97 mins. Sponsored by: Paul Sponseller, CFP, Raymond James An orgiastic opening scene lures the viewer into an erotic hypnotic state. Eighteen minutes later, two men, Theo and Hugo, leave behind the heady electronic beat of a Paris club’s sex-for-sex’s-sake soundtrack and begin pursuing each other singularly, as…
Where Are You Going Habibi?
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesTor Iben, 2015, Germany, 79 mins. In this sweet coming out story a young Turkish man living in Berlin is outed by his spiteful sister and subsequently kicked out to live on his own. All is not lost, as he finds acceptance from one of his uncles and falls in love with a blond-eyed German…
Coming Out (Free – Youth Film)
Alden Peters, 2015, USA, 72 mins. Queer Youth Celebration! - Free Admission Filmmaker Alden Peters is coming out of the closet to his friends and family...on camera. Their filmed reactions range from happy tears to denial, but the overall result is acceptance of Peters’ formerly painful secret. As his story unfolds, Peters investigates his new…
LAZY EYE
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesTim Kirkman, 2016, USA, 90 min Sponsored by TransAmerica After Alex and Dean's great love slipped away in a New York studio apartment fifteen years ago, they never spoke again. That is, until now. Finding each other again on the internet, they decide to rekindle their long-lost love in the middle of the Mojave during…
Arianna
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesCarlo Lavagna, 2015, Italy, 84 mins. Coming of age almost always involves a treacherous journey into grasping how those we have depended on our entire lives have violated and failed us. Eventually those murky waters of confusion and shame give way to truth as Arianna, bereft by the ignorant betrayal of her parents and her…
Fire Song
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesAdam Garnet Jones, 2016, Canada, 96 mins. Filmmaker Adam Garnet Jones says that, "Two-Spirited" is a category that is intended to capture a spectrum of Queer Indigenous people, and one that acknowledges the male and female spirits that Queer Indigenous people carry with them." Jones’s film tackles this and so much more. Fire Song is…
STRIKE A POSE
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesEster Gould & Reijer Zwaan, 2016, Netherlands/Belgium, 85 min When it comes to Madonna, the male dancers who vogued and let their bodies move to the music (move to the music!) are just as iconic as her cone bra. When it was released, Truth or Dare offered a daring message entangled in their backstage shenanigans:…
SUMMERTIME (La belle saison)
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesCatherine Corsini, 2015, France, 105 min Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. “You’ve changed. More Parisian, maybe.” So says Antoine after Delphine returns for the summer to help her mother run the farm when her father has a stroke. Delphine had been in Paris attending the university, a bastion of feminism and change in the…
SHARED ROOMS
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesRob Williams, 2016, USA, 75 min Sponsored by Hyde Park Dental Prolific storyteller Rob Williams' latest festival hit returns to Tampa after the special sneak preview this past May. SHARED ROOMS follows the stories of three interrelated groups of friends and their unique holiday traditions. Two roommates are forced to share a bed when Dylan's…
THE GUYS NEXT DOOR
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesAmy Geller & Allie Humenuk, 2016, USA/Italy, 74 min. The Guys Next Door is an intimate portrait of a real “Modern Family:” Meet Erik and Sandro, a gay married couple whose friend Rachel is a surrogate for their two daughters. Rachel, who is in her 40s, is married to Tony and they have three…
I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY (Te prometo anarquía)
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesJulio Hernández Cordón, 2015, Mexico/Germany, 100 min Middle-class skateboarder Miguel is having a torrid love affair with Johnny, the son of the family's maid. Johnny is bisexual and also has a girlfriend that Miguel is jealous of causing heightened tensions between them. The couple make their living in the gritty underbelly of Mexico City wrangling…
REAL BOY
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL, United StatesShaleece Haas, 2016, USA, 72 min – DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT When you’re coming out as a trans boy, it can feel like opening a door to nowhere. Despite a family that misunderstands Bennett, a community of transitioning men offers support, through the internet. He finds friends who Skype their testosterone injections and mentors who teach him…