Thailand's only LGBT film festival, the Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (BGLFF), has returned for a second year, under the theme "Love Wins". From today until Jun 19, a total of 12 international LGBT films from within the past year will be screening at EmQuartier's CineArt theatre. Here's the handiest list out there of what to expect to help you plan an awesome gay movie-watching week.
[OPENING FILM]
TOMCAT
(directed by Handl Klaus; Austria)
A gay couple seems to have the most enviable romance, until one of them commits an atrocious act out of nowhere.
Vibes: A neurosis that creeps up on you.
A CAPPELLA
(directed by Hitoshi Yazaki; Japan)
Set in Japan in the late 60s, a high school girl becomes disenchanted with her rebel image and subsequently discovers a fearful new world among two alluring college boys in an alternative coffee shop.
Vibes: A coming-of-age, sexual awakening.
FROM AFAR
(directed by Lorenzo Vigas; Venezuela, Mexico)
A middle-aged man routinely picks up boys on the street, paying them for private company, but things change when he picks up a 17-year-old gang leader named Elder.
Vibes: Daddy issues and suspense.
LOEV
(directed by Sudhanshu Saria; India)
In homophobic India, two childhood friends spontaneously reunite for a weekend trip, which leads them to discover the honest nature of their relationship.
Vibes: Swoony and bittersweet.
MISS BULALACAO
(directed by Ara Chawdhury; Philippines)
After being crowned Miss Bulalacao in a local pageant, a drag queen encounters an outer body experience, from which he wakes up pregnant, sending the town into a religious frenzy for answers.
Vibes: SE Asian slapstick but with nice mood colouring.
NASTY BABY
(directed by Sebastian Silva; USA)
Freddy and his boyfriend Mo are passionate about conceiving a baby through their friend Polly and the whole arrangement rubs a few of the neighbours the wrong way.
Vibes: An awkward and obsessed dark comedy.
SPA NIGHT
(directed by Andrew Ahn; USA)
While trying to fulfil his obligations as the son of immigrant parents, a Korean-American boy stumbles upon the secret nature of Los Angeles Korean spas and finds his furtive sexual desires tempted.
Vibes: Modern Joy Luck Club.
SUMMERTIME
(directed by Catherine Corsini; France)
Set in France in the 1970s, a farm girl falls for a feminist lobbyist who, despite her activism against male domination, is in quite a conventional relationship with a man.
Vibes: French and complicated.
[GURU'S PICK]
WEEKENDS
(directed by Dong-ha Lee; South Korea)
Director Lee Dong-ha brings a camera into G-Voice, South Korea's first and only gay choir of which he is also a member.
Vibes: Shall We Dance set in Korea with a choir instead of ballroom dance.
4 MOONS
(directed by Sergio Tovar Velarde; Mexico)
Separate incidences of taboo attraction between adolescent family members, college boys and married people eventually intertwine into a connected plot.
Vibes: indiscreetly heartwarming
CLOSET MONSTER
(directed by Stephen Dunn; Canada)
Traumatised by his childhood, an artistic teen looks to getting away from his hometown.
Vibes: sensually eerie
THE BLUE HOUR
(directed by Anucha Boonyawatana; Thailand)
In an abandoned swimming pool, a bullied boy Tam meets Phum, an encounter that introduces love, tragedy and fear into his life.
Vibes: suspenseful melodrama
[CLOSING FILM]
PARIS 05:59
(directed by Oliver Ducastel, Jacques Martineau; France)
Theo and Hugo are quickly smitten after meeting in a Paris sex club, but it's in the daylight that the two really get to know each other.
Vibes: nightlife, hookups and next day feelings
Find the screening timetable on http://fb.com/bglff.For tickets, visit http://majorcineplex.com.
