Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

It's been one year since Xander was dealt a sudden and tragic loss - the loss of his friend Tobin. Now, he must confront the people from his life he has since pushed away.

Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specialising in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work – made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution.

Two different moments in his life. The first love and the real love. Traumas from the past stick like chlorine in water.

In times of strife it's important to have someone by your side. Whether it is a shoulder to cry on or a source of confidence, an imaginary friend or a distant lover, these six tales from Mexico, Brazil, France, the UK and the Netherlands prove that the search for companionship is a journey worth taking. The short films are: My Mother's Lovers [Los novios de mi madre] (2020); Bootyful (2019); Only What You Need to Know About Me [Apenas o Que Você Precisa Saber Sobre Mim] (2018); Junk (2011); High Tide [Stille Dorst] (2018).

Marco is a mess. He's lonely, depressed, and just barely going through the motions of life. When a surprise visit from his past turns him upside down, he discovers what's been holding him back all this time.

Indira decides to restart her life and move to London. However, on her last day, she dares to explore what she will leave behind.

Stories told along the river: a woman reunites with her ex-lover at a hydroelectric plant; meanwhile, a young man travels downstream to a temple in search of a cure for his insomnia.

In the brazilian countryside, Lais meets Leticia, with whom she spends a quiet summer afternoon.

Glenn is a disillusioned piano teacher, who once aspired to be a concert pianist. He is moving back to his parents house and is on the brink of giving up the piano for good when Kilov, a Russian gangster, offers him a unique opportunity: £10,000 if Glenn teaches his daughter Beethoven's "Fur Elise"... in a day.

Takumi left Japan to go live in France despite his father’s disapproval. After a long absence, he returns to his hometown Toyama, a small port in decline on the north coast of Japan...

The daily life of Mihajlo, a factory worker in a neglected industrial town. Testimonies about his life are given by the people around him. At times, these people are seen as part of Mihajlo’s daily routine, but after the character leaves the stage, their voices remain as the narrator. What they don’t know is that Mihajlo obsessively steals tools from the factory and suffers from lost love. And they can’t anticipate what is going to happen one morning.

For over a decade, toxic waste has been dumped illegally on the coastline of Somalia. The earthquake and tsunami in 2004 damaged the toxic containers and spilled waste, which caused the spread of diseases. Many people left their villages but some stayed and lived with the consequences.

On a remote island, a lost woman seeks shelter on a rocky beach. After a security guard demolishes her makeshift hut, she is once again forced into uncertainty. She finds refuge with a young man who longs to visit his estranged mother.

After fourteen years away from her homeland, Salomé is forced to return to Cape Verde to see her dying brother. During her stopover at Lisbon airport, Águeda, a cleaning lady, recognizes Salomé as "Mila", her childhood friend. Águeda invites Salomé to leave the airport and spend the stopover at her home, with the women of her family. The neighborhood transports her on a spiritual journey, whose destination reveals a painful bond with her homeland.

Two Fijian-Indian sisters escape their cousin’s wedding to get high on disobedience and drugs.

Two estranged friends stumble upon each other and reconnect over a shared loss.

A highschool kid is bullied for putting lipstick on himself in a bathroom. As he dries his clothes in the laundry, he meets a mysterious girl.

A young woman attempts to extract meaning from an intense loss as she encounters signs in her daily life and through the art of Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky. Point and Line to Plane portrays the phenomenon of magical thinking endured during an individual’s journey to process, heal and document a period of mourning.

The true story of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso that rises to international stardom after he creates the character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.” In the process, he upends not just the macho wrestling world but also his own life.

A wealthy man, who is financially depend on his wife, hits the car to kill himself. Car owners and friends bring the man home. After the man wakes up, he asks them to kill him and even offers money. Describing the gap and difference between rich and poor, the short film surprises everyone with unexpected final.