Drone

FeatureVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

The central comma rivening the title signifies the split down the middle of this concise, incisive diptych. And reflects how Rome-based musician Ondina, like the legendary hero Orpheus, is gripped by a need to look back at her lost love—sad, beautiful Alexia—across the gap of time. Euridice, Euridice is a realist tale told in a mythic mode, its mirrored love stories woven through with imagery of ceaseless ocean waves and an inauspicious snake slithering, of bathing women winding among one another like water nymphs. And of Alexia (Sarantopoulou) reaching towards Ondina (Quadri) from beyond the divide, coaxing Ondina closer to or away from Daria (Menichetti), who wishes to dance away with her arrested heart. Also in this prgoramme : LA RIVIÈRE ÉLISE LEVY | FRANCE | 2024 | 15 MIN | FRENCH EST One afternoon, three high school students sneak out of their all-girls Catholic boarding school. Sunny, the new girl, has gone for a swim in the river. Sarah is eager to join her, even though Clémence disapproves.

FeatureVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

FINNISH • FRENCH ST | A 15-year-old Finnish girl—and her older incarnation—ponder the resemblance between first love and nuclear explosions under a sky heavy with Chernobyl clouds. Befriending a loner who seems radioactive to others, Mariia tries to keep their connection from melting down, basking in the light of devotion, however blinding. By-the-book Mariia (played at different ages by Rebekka Baer and Laura Birn) comes from a close-knit but struggling household, her mother affected by a mysterious cancer. Her situation is contrasted with that of self-possessed Mimi (Anni Iikkanen), whose home is blighted by alcoholism and neglect, its wallpaper peeling. But, swimming beneath crystalline surfaces and entwined in one another’s arms, they try to drown out the ills of the world. Crimped hair and oversized sweaters capturing the innocent 80s bubble Mariia thrives in and the euphoria Mimi strives to inhabit, despite the heaviness of experience. Guided by its source material, the 2011 novel by Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen, and inflected with the shifting haze of ennui and energy that is a hallmark of Sofia Coppola’s star-dusted tragedies, Inari Niemi’s film is a tonally precise mood piece about girlhood in all its ominous, scintillating paradoxes.

Short

PART OF THE PROGRAMME: LA RÉVOLUTION DES COORDINATEURS D'INTIMITÉ (SEX IS COMEDY) On the set of a film, Anna, a 30-year-old stuntwoman, falls in love with the star she is body double for. Will Ana—who thought she was happy in her relationship—have the courage to come out of her heterosexual shell to confront this overwhelming desire?

Documentary

Tegan Quin (of Tegan and Sara fame) has been the victim of identity theft and an ongoing catfishing scam for over 15 years. While investigating, she shares for the first time how she was ensnared in toxic fan culture that revealed the dark side of fame. As one of the most influential queer indie rock bands of their generation, Tegan and Sara worked hard to cultivate an inclusive and passionate fanbase around the world. Fans were drawn to the duo’s beautifully confessional lyrics and found within the community a safe space be queer during a time when few bands would declare allyship, let alone celebrate their own queer identity. But Tegan and Sara’s world turned upside down when Tegan’s personal files were hacked in 2011 and weaponized by a bad actor in a complex catfish scheme to ensnare members of this community. Told through Tegan’s own voice, the voices of deceived fans, a trove of communications between fake Tegan and their victims, and the visual history of the band’s behind-the-scenes archive, this documentary feature is a thriller, a caper, a whodunnit, and an intimate personal journey rolled into one.

CompetitionDocumentaryVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

Outspoken Micheline (81) and sensitive artist Yves (68) have “insatiable” longings for sexual and relational intimacy. Francis (70) is a proudly “loudmouth(ed)” activist who wants to ensure that yearnings become reality. All, under the banner of Grey Pride, have no less an ambition than to change the world. Able to detect, as a minority, things that are unjust to all, queer seniors in France are revealing universal truths about the cult of youth and the medicalization of old age. These Grey Priders are combatting indifference, overhauling the nursing home model, and rethinking how spaces for the elderly accommodate libidos. Micheline, Yves, and Francis may have had their sex lives stifled by repression, loneliness, or AIDS, but they are far from ready to enter “The Zone” of societal relegation. They are prepared to take on embedded prejudices, as well as partners and friends with divergent views on death, in their revolutionary intentions. With stirring poeticism—seasons redolent of adaptation; trees symbolizing how bodies bend or break; desire represented by a glowing red sex toy—filmmaker Alexis Taillant shows us what it means to live “a quiet, wild life.”

Short

A very powerful short animated film on what it means to be a queer person in a cisheteronormative society.

CompetitionFeatureVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

DUTCH • ENGLISH ST | Capturing the recklessness of youth and the excitement of newfound sexual liberties in sensuous black-and-white cinematography, Dennis Alink’s Out offers up a vivid and tender tale of being young and gay. Tom (Bas Keizer, in a star-making performance) and Ajani (an effervescent Jefferson Yaw Frempong-Manson) are closeted secondary school sweethearts who yearn for life outside of their small-minded, rural community in the Netherlands. Their solution is Amsterdam, where the queer scene is thriving and they can work at their dreams of becoming filmmakers. Quickly falling into the Dutch capital’s gay nightlife offers the pair some initial thrills: cheeky games of Never Have I Ever, limo rides across the city, eye-opening trips to the bathhouse. But the challenges quickly follow, pushing them to separately question: “Who am I, and where do I fit in?” Recalling such classic monochromatic films about wayward youth as The Last Picture Show and Gus Van Sant’s Mala Noche, Alink and his queer collaborators present a lived-in, piercing portrait that proves coming out isn’t just a pronouncement of one’s sexuality, it’s a simultaneously joyous and heartbreaking journey of self-discovery.

Short

From the tormented little mermaid to the fulfilled woman she is today, Gigi tells us about her gender transition with humor and sensitivity.

Made au CanadaDocumentaryVIRTUAL EXCLUSIVE

FREE ENTRANCE TO THE CINEMA // FREE SCREENING! conversation with Julien Cadieux at 18h15 FOR FREE ONLINE SCREENINGS, send a request to information@image-nation.org - a code will be sent to you. Thank you for your interest! // Acadian director Julien Cadieux trains his ingenious eye on Samuel LeBlanc, a trans musician in the band Écarlate, as Samuel travels across the Acadian region of the Maritimes, informing youth, paying homage to singer-songwriter Angèle Arsenault, and rubbing elbows with a surfeit of queer talent in this one-of-a-kind musical documentary. Gender dysphoria; rediscovering one’s indigenous culture; the inclusive, non-binary poetry of Chiac: a lot of crucial subjects are handled in exuberant, entertaining ways as Samuel confronts queer Acadians’ heartstopping lows and revels in their joyous highs, bearing witness to the region’s heartening cultural shifts. You will meet everyone from an asexual biromantic teacher to two viral drag superstars. So, come hop aboard a tractor, lobster boat, or hot air balloon. There are stories to hear and musical numbers to move you—mind and body—as the film delivers on the promise that “being unique doesn’t depend on the size of your wallet.” With the mesmerizing exactitude of Wes Anderson and a palette that gives the pastels of Barbie a run for their money, Julien Cadieux offers up a lively fantasy grounded in Acadian culture and history, then and most certainly now. Also in this programme: NOUS PARTIRONS JULIEN CADIEUX | CANADA | 2023 | 8 MIN | FRENCH Gilbert Mhanna is a queer Lebanese artist based in Toronto. His art is baladi, a dance traditionally reserved for cis women. Together, we'll explore the relationship of his Araboqueer body to this Canadian space. How does this country continue to flow through their veins?

CompetitionShort

This morning, Marina has an appointment with Charlie to sell her a mattress. This evening, she will cancel her plane for Reunion. But they don't know that yet.