Shorts Program: Bodies of Desire

Entwined in the day to day, our bodies flex, sweat, and pulsate with every small movement—breeding the envy, the lust, and desire for one another. These short films put us back into our physical forms, and remind us what it is to want. MASCULINITIES (dir. Terry Blade; U.S.) is a visceral exploration of the body that tears apart the calcified structures of gender to uncover the fluidity beneath them. UPON STARVATION (dir. Saurav Dattatraya Mahind; India) follows Vivek, a pick-pocket in the world of cruising, who after meeting soft-spoken student Kartik, begins to question the life he has chosen. After Nereu dials 145 (dir. Diego Morais Vieira Franco; Brazil), he is anonymously transported into the charged intimacy of Brazil’s most notorious HotLine—between desire and dread, pleasure and pain, his journey dissolves the fragile boundaries of reality. In JUST NOT NAKED ENOUGH (dir. Sean Au; Singapore/U.S.), when a writer returns to celebrate one last birthday with his estranged husband, old wounds and buried feelings threaten to boil over. In Pakistan, a group of aspiring male models step before the camera and quietly push against the boundaries of gender, masculinity, and taboo in BODY (dir. HU.S.in Qaizar, Saad Zuberi; Pakistan). SUBJECT OF DESIRE (dir. Benett Holgerson; U.S.) follows Moses, a twenty-something seasonal worker on Fire Island, who navigates the tempestuous waters of pleasure and connection in a journey to become an artist seen on their own terms. In HANGAR (dir. Joaquin Wall; Argentina) a group of homosexuals lick, stamp, and dispatch their erotic fantasies through a surreal postal service in an intensely experimental film exposed under the colors of the sky. Join us after the screenings for a lively discussion. Iona Bodem will moderate a fun, exclusive conversation with 145 director and screenwriter Diego Franco, alongside Just Not Naked Enough filmmaker Sean Au (director, producer, screenwriter) and actor David Pevsner.