Boys on Film 24: Happy Endings

Dossier 51

A French diplomat is surveilled by a secret service to find a weakness for political control, his private life becoming 'File No. 51'.

Muscle

Ryuzaki, an editor of Muscle Magazine, which features photographs of men with sculpted bodies, becomes involved with a man named Kitami; their affair soon becomes dominated by sadomasochistic games, with a horrid result. Jump ahead one year, Ryuzaki is released from jail and goes in search of Kitami, perhaps to make amends.

Diferente

A young man from the gentry rejects all the values his family upholds while they rejects his own; so that, despite his efforts to please and the fact that he works in the family business, he ends up finding out that his uptight and competent brother calls him useless and effeminate.

Release

A prison story. Father Jack finds love with a male guard in the prison. Some of the other inmates suspect he's been sentenced for paedophilia.

Refracción

Eloísa, a 20-year-old girl, is in two relationships at the same time. One night, after having been with both girls, she feels overwhelmed by living in this situation of deceit, and in the middle of her confusion she goes out to ride her bike through the streets of Medellín, where she will realize that she does not want to acknowledge who she is — but will ultimately have to come face-to-face with herself.

FENNEL

Porn Theatre

A tale set in a decaying Parisian porn theatre, where within its dark confines, male patrons -- soldiers, transvestites, married men -- regularly engage in anonymous sex acts. In the ticket booth of the theatre, a wise Italian woman serves as benevolent gatekeeper, observing -- but never judging -- the proceedings occurring under her watchful eyes. One day, one of her regulars engages her in a conversation that leads to an unusual friendship, as these two worldly souls share their common experiences.

Small Deaths

Based on personal memories and experiences of childhood, set in and around a Glasgow housing scheme. A triptych of moments of reflection and loss in one girl's childhood and adolescence.

The Best Men

Moments before his best friend's wedding, Peter gets one last chance to rekindle mutual feelings long suppressed, but not abandoned. Sometimes the perfect reminder of first love's passion is but a simple kiss from the best man. The Best Men explores a universal heartache that every individual has experienced - the feeling of having missed out on true love.

The Disco Years

Tom Peters looks back to 1978, the year in high school that he came out of the closet. Tom's mom is both sweet and intrusive, urging him to take out girls. She also drags him to her disco-dancing lessons. His friendship with Matt becomes his first love, and then Matt turns on Tom with homophobic venom. Later, Matt and Matt's new girlfriend trash the classroom of an effeminate teacher with more vicious homophobia. At first, Tom joins in heaping scorn on the teacher, then he has to decide if it isn't time to open the closet door. A crisis of sorts ensues with his mom, and disco proves to be a balm.

Into the Night

A lost and fragile rent boy meets a wealthy man playing out a lonely game. Over one night, their lives intersect in unexpected ways, blurring the lines between betrayer and betrayed.

Postmortem

Two ex-lovers meet after years a part and examine the painful break up and what they should do now.

Just One Time

When the fiancé of a fireman reluctantly agrees to participate in a ménage à trois with another woman, she does so on the condition that he reciprocate the favor with another man, which ultimately puts their impending marriage in jeopardy.

Rock Bottom

A drug-addicted young street hustler gets picked up by a lonely john and finds himself in a sometimes tender, sometimes tense game of trust.

Serene Hunter

A randy gay Parisian moves in with his new boyfriend just as an old flame from Los Angeles comes back into town.

Super 8½

A down-on-his-luck adult film star sees a chance to make a comeback via a lesbian documentary film-maker, but she is exploiting him to get financial backing for her pet project.

O Silêncio Que Você Faz

The Rooftop

High schooler You Cheng fumbles a hookup with Wen Ting, making him panic. To solve this issue, he spies on others, but Jing Hao’s nude shocks him.

Resurrection

An old man who isolated himself from civilization receives an unexpected visitor.

Get on the Bus

Fifteen Black men gather in South Central LA to take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in October 1995. Among the attendees are an eclectic set of characters, including a laid-off aircraft worker, a man whose at-risk son is handcuffed to him, a Black Republican, a former gangsta, a Hollywood actor, a cop of mixed racial background, and a white bus driver. All make the trek discussing issues surrounding the March, including manhood, religion, politics, sexuality, and race.