Sex & Violence

Growing Op

The story of a teenage boy coming of age in a suburban grow-operation, where every day is paradise or fresh hell. But it's always a trip. Sheltered all his life and home-schooled by loving parents who are also committed criminals, Quinn Dawson yearns to experience the normalcy of the suburban world which surrounds him.

Cloudburst

When Dot's granddaughter puts her into a nursing home, Stella stages a breakout, and takes Dot to Canada so they can get married. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way.

The Hanging Garden

William, a once obese and troubled teen, goes back to his family's home after being gone, without word, for ten years and finds it (and his family) haunted with his past. He had moved to the city and become a fit, well-adjusted gay man, but during his visit home, he becomes unhinged as the newly remembered reasons for his miserable adolescence come to life in each of their presents.

Stage Mother

A conservative church-choir director moves from Texas to San Francisco to run her deceased gay son's drag club.

3 Needles

A three-paneled look at the worldwide AIDS crisis: in Montreal, a porn actor schemes to pass his mandatory blood test; a young nun makes a personal sacrifice for the benefit of a South African village; in rural China, a black market operative posing as a government-sanctioned blood drawer jeopardizes an entire village's safety

The Event

Manhattan prosecutor Nick is charged with looking into the untimely death of city resident Matt, a musician who had AIDS. As she questions Matt's loyal family members — mother Lila and sister Dana — she comes to learn that his closest pal, health-care worker Brian, is an ardent believer in assisted suicide and that he threw Matt a big party before his death. This presents a dilemma for the humane but dutiful Nick.

Beefcake

A look at the 1950s muscle men's magazines and the representative industry which were popular supposedly as health and fitness magazines, but were in reality primarily being purchased by the still-underground homosexual community. Chief among the purveyors of this literature was Bob Mizer, who maintained a magazine and developed sexually inexplicit men's films for over 40 years. Aided by his mother, the two maintained a stable of not so innocent studs.

Wolf Girl

Tara Talbot is afflicted with the rare genetic condition hypertrichosis: she is covered head to toe in hair. She lives her life in Harley Dune's Travelling Freak Show, on display as the 'Terrifying Wolf Girl', but underneath she is just a teenage girl who longs to be normal.

The Wild Dogs

A pornographic photographer befriends a terminally ill British diplomat while traveling to Romania.

Good Morning

Good Morning comically examines the ideas of sexual identity and age anxiety via the story of a man who on the morning after his 30th birthday party wakes up with both a massive hangover, and a 17-year-old boy sleeping on his couch.

Cam Boy

When Aston finds himself left to his own devices with bills to pay while his boyfriend is in New York, he turns to camming to make ends meet.

North Mountain

Wolf, a young métis hunter living on the mountain. While hunting deep in the woods he discovers Crane, an older man with a mysterious past and the scars to prove it. Wolf nurses him back to health. Over time their bond gets deeper and they fall in love. When outsiders begin to show up looking for Crane, blood begins to flow. Cornered by an army of crooked cops, Wolf and Crane work together to boobie trap the mountain, taking them out one at a time until they come face-to-face with the man who pulls the strings…. Bretten Hannam’s debut feature is an ambitious action/thriller with outstanding performances from Justin Rain (Defiance) and Festival favourite Glen Gould (Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Charlie Zone).

Sugar Highs

Three roommates who can’t make rent would rather get high than work menial jobs. So they set out to find sugar daddies to pay their bills.

Splinters

Thom Fitzgerald explores interconnections of sexual identity, family, and small-town Nova Scotia life in this intimate drama about a young woman reassessing her relationship with her mother following the death of her father.

Cherries

A woman celebrates the 187th anniversary of her period.

The Book Lady

Pop culture icon and country music legend Dolly Parton is known around the world as a singer, songwriter and actress. But to a new generation of children in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., she is simply The Book Lady.