Manila in the Claws of Light

It's July 1976, and two Nova Scotian teens, Kit and Alice, are hitting the road with their sights on Sydney and their minds on the future. With them is Kit's new imaginary friend, who looks conspicuously like Andy Warhol, but who assures Kit that he is a spirit animal. Kit and Alice have big dreams, but do they really want the same things?

A young videographer is fascinated with filming a hunky skateboarder.

On his family's farm in rural Iowa, young Jack Gudmanson is wrestling with his sexual identity, not an easy thing to do in the macho world of the Midwest. But things become clearer for him when he discovers via a rusty old lunch box filled with gay magazines that his father, killed in Vietnam, led a double life down on the farm. But as liberating as the discovery is for Jack, it is painful for his grandfather and mother, who have tried for years to keep it a family secret. Now Jack must decide whether to share this new information with his younger sister or allow it to remain buried a while longer.

When a new boy moves into the area Cecilie and Peter's friendship is changed.

This collection of five short films by gay artists, and regarding gay subject matter showcases the work of emerging new filmmakers. "Is One of You Eddie?" makes fun of the stereotypes typical within the gay community. "Different" offers a twist on gay and straight high school students. "The Neighborly Thing" is a thriller about a man obsessed with his neighbor. "Meet Joe Gay" asks the quintessential question, why am I still single. "A Good Son" delves into a life changing experience between two teen boys.

Jose lives with his family in La Soledad, a dilapidated villa located in what used to be one of Caracas' most affluent neighborhoods. After learning that the owners are planning to sell the property, Jose seeks any solution that might keep his young daughter from growing up in the city's crime-sodden slums.

It is the last day before Victor has to move to another city with his parents. So he and his best friend Robert do all the things they liked to do together so much: skateboarding, spraying, hanging out. But something is different this time.

Fernando is on holiday with his closest male friends in a beautiful country house in a suburb of Buenos Aires. On their own without their girlfriends in a “men only” environment, the hunky young studs bask in the hot sun, play in the pool, smoke pot, and drink, most often semi-clad or naked. In this freewheeling and testosterone-infused environment, they talk of their desires and strengthen their individual bonds.

Martin moves around Buenos Aires at night, picking up guys, going to clubs, scoring drugs and having sex. Sometimes he’s paying and sometimes his trans sex-worker friend or another woman takes him along for a threesome.

A gay couple living in San Francisco takes in two strangers traveling from Italy to start a new life in America, discovering each other and forming the most unlikely of relationships along the way.

A door-to door cosmetics saleswoman in 1986 finds a new customer.

One father finds life nearly impossible to live as he attempts to raise his nine children on a pitifully small salary.

Tim and Julian are deeply in love, but the gay couple can't have sex with each other. When you can't sexually satisfy the person you love is this enough reason to quit a long relationship? On a weekend trip to the sea, the boys want to spend some time together away from the pulsating city of Berlin where they live. The trip ends with two cakes in the sand. What if two people love each other but can't live with each other?

A look at the lives of three generations of women. Monique and her daughter Sylvie run a brothel on the border of West Flanders and France. Eline, Sylvie's six-year-old daughter, is fascinated by the mysterious workplace of her mother and grandmother, but she is never allowed inside. A dramatic event turns their lives upside down and the family ties are put under pressure.

Set against the backdrop of construction activity promising to fill in the empty spaces of the urban landscape with entirely new neighborhoods, a story unfolds of an aging construction worker who, unlike his peers, has to drop all plans for the future after being diagnosed with a malignant tumor. This self-assured debut contemplates the dignity of the individual within the context of modern Turkish society.

College friends Derek and Mark slowly realize they mean more to each other than either had initially imagined. In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, their friendship blossoms into something much more enduring as time goes on - which challenges both to question who they thought they were and who they truly want to be.

On the eve of Independence, the chairman of the Border Commission, Sir Cyril Radcliffe decides to divide India and Pakistan into equitable halves. What the administration doesn’t account for is the line running through the middle of Begum Jaan’s brothel situated plonk on the border; with one half falling in India and the other in Pakistan.

The end of a love story between a young boy and a man with too many regrets which, for the latter, becomes an obsession.

It was a full moon day in July, a day on which many Vietnamese believe spirits of the dead can return home. Mrs Yen was sleeping and she dreamt about Hung -- her elder, adopted son, who died many years ago. Why is Hung’s spirit returning? Is it to seek revenge for his death? -- Mrs. Yen’s dream is a consequence of the relationship between her biological son and her adopted son. When they announced their love to the family, Mrs. Yen was devastated. She could not accept it and her efforts to keep them apart may have driven Hung to his death. In Vietnam, as elsewhere, parents are sure they know what’s best for their children. But the spirits may not be convinced...

17-year-old Claire spends her vacation in South Africa with her family, when a tragic accident takes the lives of her parents and younger brother. By a stroke of luck, Claire survives, but finds herself alone, far from home in a country where everything is unfamiliar and intense. Distraught and consumed by guilt in the belief that she is somehow responsible for the death of her family, she runs away and decides to let fate, which saved her from death, guide her from now on.