The life of Raphaël, a young footballer, is based on a lie: apart from himself, nobody knows that he is homosexual. Those closest to him have no idea. Not even his girlfriend, let alone the team he plays with every day. Unable to express his feelings, Raphaël juggles the work his sport demands with his efforts to keep his secret.
The only documentary ever made by DEFA on the topic of homosexuality was this public education film commissioned by the Hygiene Museum Dresden and produced in cooperation with East German gay and lesbian activists. In interviews, GDR lesbians and gay men talk openly about their first sexual experiences and coming out. Though the film tries to convey an official GDR acceptance of homosexuality, they also talk about social discrimination against openly gay individuals.
The film explores the taboo subject of homosexuality within the Roma community through the personal story of a Roma activist who happens to be gay. Though his job has earned him respect among his peers, by coming out his status is in jeopardy. However, the desire to share his complex story prompted him to write a screenplay based on his life. Partly a documentary about his autobiographical script, the film switches between documentary and narrative storytelling. Owing to its distinctive style, the film offers a glimpse into the protagonist's world as he faces triple discrimination: as a Roma, as a gay man, and as a gay man in the Roma community.
Julian is in a dilemma. He loves the person, he is in a relation ship with, less than his best friend.
Journey of a man's visit to an all-male sex club bathhouse.
Until 1982, when homosexuality was decriminalized, homosexuals were caricatured, insulted and even condemned. They had to live hidden from the gaze of others and create their own spaces of freedom: balls, the night and especially art. Artists have contributed to making homosexuals visible, first through words, then through images, and finally by investing popular culture.
Between reality and animation, the story of Nidhal is told, a young homosexual Tunisian who defended individual freedoms in Tunisia through his work in radio. He found himself under a lot of pressure which forced him to leave the country and seek asylum in the Netherlands.
Tonight is the big party at Claire's and it's going to be so cool. Besides, Jimmy came. Everyone knows he is there for Maya. But does her heart beat for Jimmy?
In a home, a young woman, out of shot, questions four young adolescents without our knowing the reason. Question after question, the answers are either missing or followed by an "I don't know" or an evasive nod. Quickly, the plot is propelled into the near past, the crux of the film gives explanations to the first scene. Indeed, one of the young men, Sacha, continues to face homophobic discrimination when he thought he had escaped it. A hatred that will reach even to the personal effects of the main character. How sad !
Identifying himself intimately with serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the director uses the camera to take hold of the actors, constructing fantasies that lead them to believe they are the victims in a film yet to be made. The young men, aged 19 to 26, speak from the heart about love and prostitution. Their search leads us into another world. Is this the world of John Wayne Gacy?
Harems is a love story between a screen-writer and a gogo-boy, the latter being typically representative of the image of seduction in the 80's. The screenwriter leaves on a journey and asks the gogo-boy to accompany him. A scandal breaks out and the gogo-boy's antics lead to both men's meeting with the narrator. She introduces the spectator to the psychological state of the screen-writer - who is in the process of inventing a mythic character based on his lover - and befriends and helps the gogo-boy in his quest for happiness. The narrator relates the story taking place between the two men and questions the relationship between fantasy and the reality of love.
Lettre à un amant is the final chapter of Paradis’ video trilogy. It deals with a couple's break-up. It is both a letter and a reflection, and it concerns giving of one's self, sharing and exchanging. It is also a response to the other person's flight, the absence, the void. The images attempt to replace the fear and silence. A need sublimated in the exacerbation of pleasure conveyed by images and sounds, Lettre à un amant is a masterful conclusion to the series. At the same time, it poses several questions about the dichotomous love-image paradox present in love. This work also refers to an earlier work by Marc Paradis, La Cage, because of its erotic homosexual content and its many electronic applications. Richard Anger's original score was composed to emphasize the dramatic aspect while several processes proper to the video medium serve to peg the images in an aesthetic approach.
Created during a workshop focussing on the representation of the human body at the 2nd Video Biennial in Medellin, Colombia, Réminiscences carnivores engages the imagination and all of the senses. Memories of an incestuous relationship come to the surface as the apprehensive narrator waits for a reunion with his brother. With readings from Augustin Gomez-Arcos, Gide and Verlaine, the work has the rich texture of a cameo.
A short video in three acts that tells the story of an encounter between three men. Possibility, certainty and reality. The place: between Montreal and the Laurentians in the autumn of 1984. The misty and damp atmosphere of late November. The narration is singed by Yves Dionne.
Close-ups of lovers caressing and images of nearly motionless nude males are presented as a collage. A young man feverishly comments upon le mal d’amour by confronting desire and disappointment, including moments of his everyday life and moments which occur in a dream-like state. This results in an opposition between the primitive simplicity of sexuality and the complexity of love to which we traditionally associate it. This work focuses upon the omnipresence of sexuality and its inevitable changes and ramifications in long-term relationships.
La Cage seems to be divided into two parts: a homosexual writer visualises his fantasies and a collective joins what seems to be the story of an encounter between two men.
Erik had to leave Jehovah's Witnesses after coming out as homosexual, now he is going to celebrate christmas for the first time.
In nature, a couple is a male and a female. Well, not always! A couple is also a female and a female. Or a male and a male. You may not know it, but homosexuality isn't just a human story.
The story of a crazy passion and an heinous crime is also one of the first depictions of homosexuality in Portuguese literature.