The Gemini Has Two Faces

A world in lock-down. As a global pandemic unfolds, 13 international filmmakers pen cinematic letters from their places of isolation, whether home or far from home. A work of accidental science-fiction from the Bistrik7 collective, graduates of Béla Tarr's Sarajevo film.factory.

A collection of sensual and provocative male-centric LGBTQ+ short films including: Pedro Had a Horse, Monte, The Gemini Has Two Faces, Death is Not the End of the World, Cobalto, The First Kiss, and The Oddity in the Blue Crayfish.

A filmmaker has low self esteem. He hires an actor to play himself, a filmmaker with low self esteem, making a gay film about sex, the body and himself, inspired by the filmmaker’s sex, body and self.

It might just be the full moon, but a BOY is sad because he does not understand other boys, and their desires. Both lust for him but one feels no CHEMISTRY and the other likes his LEGS but does not want to meet. Confused he shaves his head, makes his body the internet, so through him they can ‘online’ date until a new full moon appears… and with it hopefully some clarity. Examining the queer millennial shift into online dating, pop-astrology philosophy and ever present effects of a pandemic that stripped us of touch, this film is a reflection of modern gay romance.

A horrific cycling incident leaves a young man, R., with damaged nerves in half of his body. Without much sensation, he can't feel himself. Watching a soothing video on YouTube gives him some pleasure at least. The video is ASMR: it features a guy who whispers and rubs his hands together to make soft noises that pleasures the viewer. When R. returns home from the hospital he is drawn more and more to the video guy who suddenly begins to talk directly to R. This bizarre exchange leads R. to a special video featuring the guy instructing R. to sniff poppers and watch porn clips. The experience is an epiphany for R.: a feeling of connection, primarily to himself.

The experiment presents a cinematic poem to filmmaking and film itself. Directed by eleven filmmakers, all under the vision of Bela Tarr's 'film.factory', delving into what keeps us making films.

When communities do not have the public space to meet, converse and grow they must use online platforms connect. However, when these online platforms exist to fulfil sexual desires opposed to civil action, is the community at risk of being reduced to just sex? For two weeks I travelled the Balkans, meeting men on homosexual dating applications. We would go for coffee and then somewhere more private. I would interview them about what it is like to be a homosexual man in the Balkans. This film is a culmination of that journey and those men.