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Poly 2023

All the Fires

“Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.” Jean-Michel Basquiat

Bruno is on a collision course with his greatest passion – fire. He’s a high school student that likes to upload videos of burning things onto social media. He is aided by his best friend Ian in order to document his petty arson acts that become more and more dangerous. Bruno is not happy with his mother’s new relationship, he also cannot deal with his growing attraction to his male best friend who is also interested in him. He spontaneously decides to run away to a small town where a girl he’s been messaging with on Instagram lives, only she has her own secrets. Reality will force him to confront his father’s death and the doubts he has about his sexuality, but not before leaving a trail of chaos behind him.
“All the Fires” has mysterious overtones, it’s full of deep passion that is threatening to erupt and consume everything around it. Young and different Mexican cinematic piece on exploration of sexuality, sexual diversity and self acceptance

The Persian Version

Screening on the 28.12 will include an Awards Ceremony for winners of TLVfest 2023 competitions

Leila is a young New Yorker. She’s a lesbian and an Iranian-American and contains within herself the cultures of two warring countries. She tries to find balance and embrace what’s different and contradicting in her identity and combine it all together. Leila’s dealing with her conservative parents who are still clinging to their homeland traditions, while trying to celebrate her identity and the freedom New York offers. She loves to challenge the labels society is fast to pin on her. While her family reunites in New York for her father’s heart transplant, Leila is trying to separate her family life and personal life. She tries to keep as much distance as possible from her judgmental mother Shireen, but when the secrets start to unravel, the similarities between Leila’s life and her mothers’ become apparent.
“The Persian Version” is colorful cinema that combines New York and Persian-Iranian humor, lively dances and a complex and chilling cross-generational story of women who decide to stay loyal to themselves and go against the traditions of their families and the society they grew up in. “The Persian Version” celebrates their stories and does that in an intelligent, fascinating and unapologetic way.

Commitment to Life

A fascinating and moving documentary that dives deeply into the real and complicated story of the Los Angeles fight against HIV/AIDS. This film was created by the legendary documentary director Jeffrey Schwarz, who had many of his films showcased at the TLVfest in the past, such as “I Am Divine”, “Boulevard! A Hollywood Story” and “Vito”. This film presents a thorough research of individuals and organizations that dedicated themselves to finding a cure for AIDS and dealing with the disease in the early 80’s, when the deadly virus began to spread. Doctors, activists and media personalities made major efforts to work in a society that wasn’t ready to accept the reality of this mysterious disease.

This documentary is full of heartbreaking moments, in-depth interviews and personal stories of celebrities such as Rock Hudson, Elisabeth Taylor and David Geffen. The film provides an intensive and extensive view of the influence of a world health crisis on everyone – from the most marginalized communities in Downtown LA to the rich and famous. “Commitment to Life” gives us an eye opening reminder that the fight with HIV/AIDS isn’t over, but at the same time offers a hopeful view of how people can make a profound change when they work together.

Chasing Chasing Amy

12 years old Sav Rodgers used to watch “Chasing Amy” repeatedly, and the film had changed his life forever. He developed an identification, maybe even an obsession, with the 1997’s hit which formed his queer identity. When Sav grows older he decides to produce and direct a movie that explores the role of “Chasing Amy” in the queer culture. He even manages to get the cooperation and support of Kevin Smith, the director of “Chasing Amy” and one of the most influential independent filmmakers of the 90’s. But as the production continues, Rodgers begins to realise the legacy of the original film is different than what he imagined and he discovers new things about himself, his relationship with his girlfriend and his gender identity.
“Chasing Chasing Amy” is a cinematic celebration of queer culture and identity. A fresh new look on a complex bi classic, how the idea to make “Chasing Amy” formed, what went on backstage, what happened to the actors of the film after the major success and how all of that affected filmmaker Sav Rodgers.
Kevin Smith, the director and writer of the original film, gives Rodgers a free hand and talks openly even on the less glamorous moments of the process. Other notable appearances in the film include Joey Lauren Adams who played Amy, screenwriter and actress Guinevere Turner (well known from the classic lesbian film “Go Fish”) who was personally involved in the film and director Andrew Ahn (“Fire Island”)

My Sole Desire

A striptease show to a techno remix version of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the sugar plum fairy”, nude reading of Chekhov and a satirical striptease on the theme of yellow vests protests. All these and more are part of a show in the Parisian strip club “À Mon Seul Désir”, a place where stripers with artistic flair can take professional risks and challenge their audience.
Manon (Louise Chevillotte, “Synonymes” by Nadav Lapid) is a young aimless woman with no real purpose in life. She spontaneously decides to start working at the club and is immediately drawn to her new colleagues, especially Mia (Zita Hanrot, “Angry Annie”), an ambitious actress with a partner and a child. The relationship between the two intensifies as they spend more and more time together and Manon finds herself falling for Mia. The two begin a secret affair in a place where you must draw the line between love and work.
Director Lucie Borleteau created a film about sex workers through a female non judgmental gaze. She describes the world of the women working in the club with all its complexities. The result is a surprising and unusual cinematic journey with excellent actresses in the lead roles and quite a few surprise guest appearances, such as Melvil Poupaud (“Time to Leave”), Félix Maritaud (“120 BPM”), legendary director Frederick Weisman and actress Ariane Labed (“Lobster”).

Viewing is 18+ due to explicit sexual content.

In association with the Embassy of France

Passages

Thomas is a German filmmaker, who is under a lot of pressure towards his last day of filming in Paris. In the evening there’s a party to celebrate the end of shooting. Thomas starts the night dancing with his British husband Martin, but ends it in the arms of Agathe, a young preschool teacher. She falls under Thomas’ spell and what starts as a flirtatious dance ends up as a passionate and surprising night. The next morning Thomas openly tells his husband he’s slept with a woman which throws the couple into a whirlpool of emotions that will change their life.

New York based gay filmmaker Ira Sachs (“Married Life”, “Love Is Strange”, “Keep the Lights On”) brings to the big screen an achingly beautiful film full of passion, a film full of laughter and sorrow about an unlikely throuple in Paris. This film stars some of the finest young actors of our age – Franz Rogowski (“Great Freedom”), Ben Whishaw (“Atlas Cloud”, “Paddington”), Adèle Exarchopoulos (“Blue is the Warmest Color”) and Erwan Kepoa Falé (“Winter Boy”).
Viewing is 18+ due to explicit sexual content.

Opponent

Iman is a former wrestling champion, a refugee from Iran, who is now wandering between refugee hostels in Sweden with his wife Miriam and their two daughters. Iman has escaped his homeland Iran in fear of persecution after a violent crime he committed. He is looking for ways to provide his wife and daughters a place to live and works delivering pizzas on a snow motorbike.
When Miriam becomes unexpectedly pregnant for the third time, and the talks with the Swedish immigration become tougher, Iman decides to renew his wrestling career, despite the promise he made to his wife never to engage in the dangerous sport again.
Iman is hoping that being included in the Swedish team will earn him a special staying permit as a sportsman. As his skills are very much appreciated by the local team and also by one of his fellow teammates (Björn Elgerd, “Are We Lost Forever”), the deeper reasons that lead Iman to fleeing Iran are about to surface.

In his second film, director/screenwriter Milad Alami is aided by a superb cast lead by Payman Maadi. He creates a complex and layered social drama dealing with culture clashes, identities, and how the individual is getting lost inside the political.
Swedish submission for the Oscar Awards 2024.

 

In association with the Embassy of Sweden
  

All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White

Bambino is a bachelor, living happily in Lagos, Nigeria. He works as a delivery driver and has a steady paycheck, even if the promotion he’s been long promised is held back. He is well regarded in his neighborhood, helping out as best he can and being generous when people are late to repay their debts. Bambino is in a relationship with his neighbor Ifeyinwa, but he’s not in any hurry to settle down with her. When Bambino meets charismatic Bawa the two become instant friends. He becomes a model for Bawa, who is taking part in a photography contest and the more they meet the more intimate the budding relationship becomes.

Director/screenwriter/producer Babatunde Apalowo brings to the screen a delicate, innocent and soft love story between two men, in a film about finding love where you least expect it.
“All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White” is a very brave film, since homosexuality is a taboo and a criminal offense in Nigeria – in the south of Nigeria the punishment for homosexuality can reach 14 years in prison and in the Muslim north the punishment is public stoning.

Un Prince

Botanical erotica. In his first feature film, documentary director Pierre Creton takes us on a journey in the life of a young man who arrives as a student to an horticultural school. As much as the hero of the film is passionate about learning and working, he’s also full of passion for the older men who work as farmers in the countryside, and even finds himself as part of a throuple with two of them.
“Un Prince” is a quiet cinematic piece where nature and male bodies unite in an organic manner in the pure surroundings. Botany and sexuality bloom in this surprising and unusual film, full of unforgettable images.
The film is accompanied by a VO by some of France’s veteran movie stars – Gregory Gadebois, Mathieu Amalric and Françoise Lebrun.

In association with the Embassy of France

Along Came Love

1947. On the Normandie beach, Madelene, a waitress and a young mother, meets Francois, a rich and pampered student. The two young people who are hiding dark secrets in their pasts, find each other. They just want to leave the past behind, but you can’t run away from yourself or your desires.
Katell Quillévéré, one of France’s current leading directors, provides her viewers with a periodic drama about an alliance that forms through shame, pain and escapism into a made up love story. This is also a film about the relationship between a mother and her son, who is a constant reminder of the past she wants to forget.
“Along Came Love” is a film about an alternative family, a family of choice, about lonely people who are very different but still find solace in each other during the complex time after WW2.

Partially inspired by director’s family history.

 

In association with the Embassy of France

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