Rookie

Three "meetings." Two men. A rumbling volcano.

Eight-year-old Jesse lives in a twilight world of sadness and silence, squeezed into a tiny caravan with his grief stricken father. They're in limbo, existing more than living. The child intuitively understands that looking forward is harder than looking back, and that's where life happens. But they are stuck, until an accidental friendship with a V8 driving transsexual unlocks the means for Jesse to liberate his father and himself.

This story takes place in California in the 1990s. Xiao Lu, a young Chinese woman who has just immigrated to the United States, is struggling to learn a new language. At the same time she has elusive feelings for one of her colleagues. She wants to find out about them. However, the misunderstanding between them is not just due to the language barrier...

Two young men deal with strange feelings. But things are not as easy as it seems.

Fleeing a painful past, Nico travels from Spain to New Zealand to start over, but when a vibrant young actress pulls him into an ambitious student musical film competition, he’s forced to face his fears, open up to new friendships, and rediscover the spark of storytelling that might just heal him.

Living in the liminal space between worlds, two young women find themselves falling in love for the first time, while also being forced to unexpectedly confront their families, each complicated by legacies of love and loss.

A tale about the search for new sensorial experiences and territories. It’s a teaching and learning experience through body exploration and manipulation: two strangers dance with their passion, desire, gestures and contact.

An aspiring twenty-something writer accompanies her equally reluctant younger sister and their deliriously happy parents on vacation where she navigates her family's expectations and her own desires.

When hard-working single father Luke stumbles across an underground nightclub, he meets Aysha, a beautiful, seductive woman. Their first kiss yields fireworks — which are immediately followed by Luke’s sobering realization that Aysha is not the cisgender woman he thought, but a remarkably femme drag queen. Unable to deny the spark between them the pair are forced down the unexpected path of transformation, where they must question their identities and confront their individual truths.

Chen Qiu's investment met with a friend's deceit and betrayal, and she had no choice but to rent a room to earn living expenses. The tenant Shi Ran walked into her life, and Shi Ran's concern and enthusiasm gradually melted the ice in Chen Qiu's heart.

Take a trip on the wild side with these six daring short films from Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Spain and France that uncover the power of nature and mysticism, family ties that bond yet suffocate, the vagaries of same sex attraction, the pain of memory, the thrill of what's to come. The 6 short films are: Memory of An Afternoon On the Roof [Recuerdo de una tarde en la azotea] (2022); Afternoon Sun [À Tarde, Sob o Sol] (2020); Sweet Water [Água Doce] (2023); Cor Petit (2023); Haiku (2022); The Boy Who Wanted to Fly [El niño que quería volar] (2018).

A love story between a poet and a painter. Lani realizes her feelings for Mae go beyond a deep bonded friendship. With Maeve graduating and moving across the country, she must decide whether to speak those feelings or silence her heart.

The lives of twelve year old buddies Dustin, Albert, and Mark, sharing a carefree existence in the summer of 1970, suddenly changes when Dustin makes an unexpected friend after cutting the lawn of 75 year old Jonathan Sperry. As the old man shares lessons in faith with the preteen trio, a spiritual transformation occurs.

Set in the Clapham district of south London, England, the film is inspired by true events. The paths of several men intersect during a dramatic thirty-six hours in which their lives are changed forever.

A young gay, neurotic and ex-religious art student goes into a spin with the surprise visit of an eccentric childhood friend.

A kid risks everything after he is bullied into making a life and death decision.

17-year old Jesse lives in the shadow of his older brother Victor's failure to become surfing's Next Big Thing. Even when he's in his natural habitat of magnificent surf breaks, his blue-collar future is brought home by the coal barges that constantly line his horizon. Jesse has the natural skills to surf his way out of this reality and onto the international circuit but can he overcome his equally natural ability to sabotage himself? A momentous weekend away with his mates that includes first love and tragedy leads him to discover what's really important, and also to the performance of a lifetime.

One morning it is over. For Hampus it is a relief to break up from their destructive relationship, while Adrian is devastated. Will he be able to survive without the love of his life, or is there a way of somehow getting him back?

Kaimook, a 25-year-old woman, recounts her past love with Wayu, a rival gang member of her brother. Six years ago, in a rural town plagued by gang conflicts, their paths crossed when Kaimook helped Wayu escape her brother’s pursuit. Despite knowing the risks, they secretly met in a dark alley, falling in love amid deep-seated hatred and past tragedies. Caught between family loyalty and forbidden love, they struggled to find a way out—uncertain if their love could ever overcome the weight of their divided worlds.

The start of the Yugoslav civil war forces freshly graduated Mina to choose between being an obedient daughter or escaping abroad with her lover so he wouldn't serve in the army.