GAZE: Queer Lisboa Shorts

CLUB 18+120 min

We are so excited to partner with Queer Lisboa, one of the most important queer film festivals in the world, to present a selection of their favourite contemporay LGBTQ shorts from Portugal. Queer Lisboa has pioneered LGBTQ film programming since 1997, bringing new voices to audiences and supporting the future of international filmmaking. We certainly share a vision and now we are excited to share new film work too.

Sob Influença (Under the Influence) Dir. Ricardo Branco / Portugal / 2022 / 20m

A trio of friends — played by multidisciplinary artist Odete the Slayer, João Abreu (Immaterial Girl), and Alexander David (To Die Like a Man) — retreat to a luxurious and isolated home in the middle of the woods for a weekend of hallucinogens and pool-lounging. But a strange nighttime encounter upends their queer holiday.

Azul Blue Has No Dimensions Dir. Ágata de Pinho / Portugal / 2022 / 20m

Ara had always believed she would disappear at twenty-eight years old. With that birthday approaching, she pursues the most basic feelings of existence in the water, the sun and the sublime. The state of trance is a wholesome place, alien-like, pervaded by invisible forces. When Ara realizes where her belief came from, she's propelled to catharsis: does she disappear?

Tornar-se um Homem na Idade Média (Becoming Male in the Middle Ages) Pedro Neves Marques / Portugal / 2022 / 22m

Mirene and André, and Carl and Vicente, are both couples in their mid-thirties. While Mirene and André struggle with their fertility, Vicente decides to undergo an experimental procedure, implanting an ovary in his body in the hopes of having a child with Carl. A love drama of

speculative undertones, “Becoming Male in the Middle Ages” is an intimate tale about queer sexuality, bodily autonomy, reproductive desires, and the ghost of normativity.

Um Caroço de Abacate (An Avocado Pit) Dir. Ary Zara / Portugal / 2022 / 20m

Larissa, a trans woman and Cláudio, a cis man, meet one night, in the streets of Lisbon. Two people, two realities, who dance their differences away till morning light. In challenge, in surprise, in awe and in recognition. An empowering story, free from violence and filled with light and hope for the better days yet to come.

Lugar Nenhum (Nowhere) Dir. Pedro Gonçalves Ribeiro / Portugal / 2021 / 19m

An electropop remix about places, loneliness, and the color blue.