Heartbeats: Tales of Love and Desire
This collection is all about the steamy, sweet, unexpected, and heart-wrenching ways we love each other. From flirty flings to ridiculous rom coms, this programme is sure to tug at your heartstrings.
Runtime: 74 mins
Program:
Space of Love (dir. Karizma Reyes, 2024, USA), 1 min
Space of Love is a microshort film that captures the tender and intimate moments shared between two young lesbians, Miz and Heaven, as they express their love in a photo booth recording.
Beyond the Golden Line (dir. SJ Rahatoka, 2024, Germany), 19 mins
Midnight. The moon is shining and the night is feverish in the colorful queer club. An injured Black transmasculine pole dancer is interrupted in his performance preparations by mysterious phone calls.
Genderfluid (dir. multiple, 2021, France & Germany), 7 mins
“In my dreams, I fuck girls all day long.” A poetic dive into the erotic imagination of a non-binary person.
To a Stranger (dir. Sara Layla Azouz, 2023, USA), 5 mins
The sun and moon exchange yearnful love letters while separated by the infinity of the space between them. The two get the rare chance to meet during a solar eclipse that ignites an overwhelming sensory experience.
Black Trans Miracle (dir. Tinaye Nyathi, 2022, Australia), 18 mins
Lindani, a neurotic young trans man, struggles to tell his partner Tam he loves them after a random encounter with a stranger shakes his self-confidence. But as he finds himself pushed and pulled in all directions by the perceptions of others, can Lindani reconnect with himself enough to figure out how he really feels?
Spiral (dir. Juliet Belisario, Canada, 2024), 2 mins
Experimental and documentary techniques converge to paint a dreamy picture of two twenty-somethings on a night out.
MY HOROSCOPE SAYS I SHOULD GO AHEAD WITH WHAT I’M DOING (dir. Aderet Fishbane, USA), 5 mins
A personal exploration of trans nonbinary self creation in community, trying to understand the intimacy and intensity of change in the body and in bodies of friends.
Alterous (dir. Arwynn Aristizabal, USA, 2024), 3.30 mins
This animated short film explores the concept of Alterous attraction, the feeling of being emotionally drawn to someone in a way that you wouldn’t describe as “just friends”, but also is not romantic. June is a teenager on the asexual spectrum who struggles to put his feelings for his best friend into words. He makes up scenarios in his head to try to understand his emotions, and he realizes that love and emotional closeness don’t need to fit into pre-determined categories.
Bodies of desire (dir. Varsha Panikar, 2020, India), 4 mins
Using Varsha Panikar’s poetry series by the same name, as the point of departure, Bodies of Desire is a visual poetry film co-directed by them and Saad Nawab. The film captures four sets of lovers amid passion; to create a portrait of tender intimacy, of longing, of discovery, of desire, of embrace and care, of profound companionship.
And Then There Was Her (dir. Alexander King & Nyala Moon, USA), 9 mins
At a heartwarming Friendsgiving dinner, two women from different worlds, one masculine and one transgender, find love and acceptance amidst the holiday chaos. Sometimes, the most beautiful connections happen when we least expect them.