The Paradise of Thorns

At the age of 14 the world around you changes at a dizzying speed. But what if actually it's you that changing? What if these changes take you away from what up until now, has been your world? Ibrahim and Rafa are going to suffer these changes for themselves, experiencing first love in a way they never could have imagined. And having to keep it Hidden away.

A confrontation between two swimmers in a locker room.

When the ongoing rivalry between farmers Michael and Jack suddenly escalates, it triggers a chain of events that take increasingly violent and devastating turns, leaving both families permanently altered.

A chef about to close for the night must reopen her kitchen, and old wounds, when an ex shows up unexpectedly, and asks for her favorite meal.

Dong-su, who is tired of living in the city, takes vacation and breaks his leg while riding long distances. Dong-su finds a farmhouse, wandering around a strange country road, and stays there for a few days with the help of In-pyo. Dong-su and In-pyo are attracted to each other but they are not sure about their feelings...

A birthday dinner turns uneasy when Min-jae’s past love walks in, and Geon-woo senses the spark that still lingers.

A young woman must follow her make-up routine before succumbing to the voices in her head.

When a young gay lawyer arrives on Fire Island to explore his sexuality, he becomes witness to a murder after being drugged. A stranger helps him to safety, but he soon discovers his saviour is friends with the killer.

With the world set to end in two days, cousins Roo and Joo are unexpectedly reunited when Roo slips into a church to confess their sins, hoping to make peace before it's too late. Reminiscing on a lesson their koro taught them both growing up,“when the rapture happens you gotta go home”, for Roo, that means it's time to go home. But for Joo, home is a little bit more complicated.

Antonio and Agostino grew up together in a small town in Sicily; they dreamt of living a different life, somewhere else. Now thirty-year-olds, they both live abroad but they lost touch years ago. When Antonio discovers that the house he grew up in, which had been empty for a long time, is about to be sold at auction, he decides to leave and reconnects with his childhood friend. But their lives have changed a lot. Old conflicts and new revelations bring them through Europe on a truck journey.

Warsaw, Poland, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. Josh Mansky, a troubled math genius and former US chess champion, is recruited to hold a dangerous public match against the Soviet champion, while playing the deadly game of espionage hidden in the darkest shadows of a hostile territory.

As Boys On Film reaches the end of its teenage years, we take a look at those unique boys who go one step further, who excite, invigorate, and always impress, who break boundaries, shape their worlds and are more than what they appear. Volume 19: No Ordinary Boy includes ten complete films: Scott T. Hinson's "Michael Joseph Jason John" also starring Eric Robledo; Abhishek Verma's animated "The Fish Curry"; Ben Allen's "Blood Out Of A Stone" starring Alex Austin and Oisín Stack; David Färdmar's "No More We" starring Jonathan Andersson and Björn Elgerd; Jannik Splidsboel's "Between Here & Now" starring Francesco Martino and Peder Bille; Amrou Al-Kadhi's "Run(a)way Arab" also starring Ahd and Omar Labek; Dean Loxton's "Meatoo" starring Calum Speed and Warren Rusher; Jake Graf's "Dusk" starring Elliott Sailors, Sue Moore, and Duncan James; Leon Lopez's "Jermaine & Elsie" starring Marji Campi and Ashley Campbell; and Marco Alessi's "Four Quartets" with Laurie Kynaston.

Porn Star Grayson Lange along with Addison Graham and Robby Valls star in a film about two mercenaries on a secret mission in the jungles of South America. Once captured, their last night together will reveal dark secrets and create sexual tensions. So much so that it will cause unforeseen collateral damage that stretches well beyond the jungle. This highly provocative and erotic film was part of Eroddity(s) 2. Now re-worked as a stand-alone short the film seems to take on new meaning.

It's the first time Adrien is entering a homosexual sauna. In the space of one night, he discovers this microcosm where the comic aspect of the individual tragedies encounters the passing of time and where hope mingles with melancholy.

Shawn is an introverted young homosexual who slowly assumes his sexuality. His life can be summed up only in her extravagant best friend, his authoritarian and closed-minded father, and her mother, absent and submissive to her husband. During a party, he meet Ted who will make him discover what love is despite family pressure on his shoulders.

Back! Stage

Oscar works in a public bath, where he murders several people.

The morning after a drunken night out, Harry's world is turned upside down when he awakens to discover a naked man, Thom, in his bed. Stunned and confused, he tries to make sense of his repressed desires. In an attempt to re-assert his heterosexuality he revisits an old lover, Lucy, but finds little comfort from the encounter. Harry is left to make a decision: to follow his set path and return to his doting girlfriend Jess, or attempt to understand his own wants and desires...

In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being. A distraught scientist, he’s nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel.

Sometimes eroticism lays hidden in that moment suspended within the space that separates two bodies which cannot touch each other.