Nidhal

This animated coming-of-age story explores the familial, societal, and religious challenges a boy faces because of his sexual orientation.

An imaginative child, Salim feels like his family, composed of his grandmother and sister Farida, treats him differently. He does all the work while his sister only has to study. He learns that this is because of rules established by the red fish in his village. Farida tries to help her brother change these rules by travelling with him to his fictional worlds.

On the cusp of adulthood, the world's longest running gay short film series is only getting started. Boys On Film 20: Heaven Can Wait includes eleven complete films: Bassem Ben Brahim's animated "Chromophobia"; Jimi Vall Peterson's "Sleepover" starring Hjalmar Hardestam and Simon Eriksson; Mickey Jones's "Just Me" starring Philip Olivier and Carl Loughlin; Matthew Jacobs Morgan's "Mine" starring Joshua McGuire and John Macmillan; Dale John Allen's "Don't Blame Jack" starring Jordan Tweddle and Kane Surry; Timothy Ryan Hickernell's "Foreign Lovers" co-starring Lucio Nieto; Layke Anderson's "Mankind" starring Ricky Nixon and Alexis Gregory; Christopher Manning's "Isha" starring Horia Săvescu and Dario Coates; Jay Russell's "ruok" starring Peter Mark Kendall, Zachary Booth, and Sydney James Harcourt; Chintis Lundgren's animated "Manivald"; and Zoe McIntosh's "The World In Your Window" starring Joe Folau and David Lolofakangalo Rounds.

A release that features 7 shorts from Italy, Israel, Tunisia, New Zealand, the United States and France, exploring those furtive first steps that men take as they decide to act on their sexuality. The 7 short films are: The First Time [La prima volta] (2012); Kiss Me (2022); Nidhal [نضال] (2022); Sparrow (2016); I Am Mackenzie (2019); The Place Between Us [Il posto fra di noi] (2010); By the End of the Night [Que la nuit s'achève] (2018).

Through a fusion of animation and real images, queer individuals from the Maghreb share their stories, from their homeland to various parts of the rest of the world. These individuals have fiercely broken societal taboos around gender and sexuality, defying social, legal and familial pressures, even among those who have chosen to break away from their families.

Salima, 15, accidentally discovers that she is intersex. A young ballerina, she escapes into an imaginary world where the Buraq — a mythical creature — becomes her guide. Together, they travel through a parallel universe in search of a buried truth: her identity, and the essence of who she is.