Lost Wax

Knowing Gaze is a loving roast of gay culture. This animated short moves fluidly through a series of interconnected vignettes—from online personas to offline hookups, from the thrift store to the dance floor to the bathhouse. Rendered in expressive brush strokes, the story unfolds as candid conversations carried by acidic dialogue and vulnerable interior monologues. At its core, the film probes the tenderness and tension of modern gay identity. Beneath a million witty one-liners, the soul cries out.

A choir of tropical frogs performs infectious pop in delightfully unsettling animation from Costa Rican-Canadian artist Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes. Riffing on karaoke companion videos and the swipe-n-scroll conventions of handheld media, she infuses candy-coloured digital animation with the spectre of ecological collapse.

Figuring out who you are is messy—especially when the world is telling you you’re “not non-binary enough.” In this equally hilarious and heartwarming docu-series, comedian and host Ajahnis Charley raids their enby besties’ closets looking to affirm both their identity and their hotness. Ajahnis is joined by iconic comedian Bren D’Souza and enables their use of psychedelics—psychedelic prints, that is. Actor Amanda Cordner challenges Ajahnis to a dance-off, and improviser to the stars D.J. Mausner breaks down their upscale-playful-masculine-sleazy style. Creator Meg MacKay brings dress-up back, and Drag Queen extraordinaire Chelazon Leroux explores the deeper meaning behind their iconic red dress. Clothing will be swapped, laughs will be had and tears will be shed. That’s tears, not tears—no clothing was harmed in the making of this show!