Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen

Sam Feder : 2020

An unprecedented, eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. Leading trans thinkers and creatives, including Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, and Chaz Bono, share their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood's most beloved moments. Grappling with films like A Florida Enchantment (1914), Dog Day Afternoon, The Crying Game, and Boys Don't Cry, and with shows like The Jeffersons, The L-Word, and Pose, they trace a history that is at once dehumanising, yet also evolving, complex, and sometimes humorous. What emerges is a fascinating story of dynamic interplay between trans representation on screen, society's beliefs, and the reality of trans lives. Reframing familiar scenes and iconic characters in a new light, the director invites viewers to confront unexamined assumptions, and shows how what once captured the public imagination now elicit new feelings. Disclosure provokes a startling revolution in how we see and understand trans people. Sam Feder's documentary premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2020, and was selected to have its UK premiere at BFI Flare 2020.

The Calming

Song Fang : 2020
Ping jing

Lin only talks of the break-up once, at lunch with her friend in Japan, where her installation is being shown. It goes unmentioned when she visits her parents back in China or stays with her friend in Hong Kong, even though the removal company has taken her things to the new apartment already. Most of the time she's alone though. Lin is a filmmaker and often on the move, each trip blurring into the next. Her gaze is inquisitive wherever she goes, as if collecting material for a film: looking out of the window of the new apartment, observing the girl in the same hospital ward, examining light and foliage in the parks she hikes through. On trains, in cars, on boats, she watches different landscapes pass before her, snowy mountains, neon cityscapes, misty plains, as long as her eyes stay open. The hushed portrait of a woman alone in which looking and feeling go hand in hand. Song Fang's feature premiered in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Le sel des larmes

Philippe Garrel : 2020
The Salt of Tears

Driven by his desire to become a cabinet maker, Luc arrives in Paris. Lost in the banlieues, he asks Djemila for directions. In the girl's shyness, Luc glimpses the chance of an adventure. The two meet again but then Luc has to return home to his father, who is also a carpenter. There, he meets Geneviève, whom he knows from the past, and begins a romance with her. When Luc is offered a place at the renowned furniture-making school École Boulle, he follows his dream and moves to Paris, leaving Geneviève behind. Soon, a third young woman enters his small apartment, bringing the freedom of the big city with her. Time and again, Luc succumbs to glittering appearances, but with each conquest he loses something, the value of which he only realises later. Philippe Garrel's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Kelet

Susani Mahadura : 2020

20-year-old Kelet is a Finnish Somali trans woman living in Helsinki who dreams of becoming a model in Vogue magazine. Trans people, especially those of colour, continue to face disproportionate amounts of violence and discrimination all over the world, including Finland. Trans women of colour are in a clear minority when it comes to public visibility and are especially vulnerable, falling victim to transphobic hate crimes considerably more often than their white or male counterparts. They go through everyday life at the intersection of many different oppressive structures, as they are subjected to transphobia, racism and misogyny in addition to other forms of discrimination and alienation. The threat of violence, the difficulty of finding work, the lack of representation and supportive communities means that the need for works that include positive role models is immense, as is the urgency for change of societal attitudes. Through the story of one individual's exceptional life, Kelet seeks to highlight a number of issues that are of huge importance worldwide in the current political climate: LGBT and especially trans rights, racism, beauty standards and gendered norms in society. Susani Mahadura's documentary was winner of the Audience Award when it premiered at DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival 2020.

The Cloud in Her Room

Zheng Lu Xinyuan : 2020
Ta fang jian li de yun

Muzi's parents' old apartment is still there. A bed, an abandoned chair, a window falling off its hinges – the remnants of a relationship that has moved on. Her father has started a new family, her mother has friends abroad; it seems like only Muzi cares about this place as she wanders several times through this static past. We follow 22-year-old Muzi as she returns to Hangzhou, where she was born, for the New Year's celebration. She arranges to meet old friends, makes some new ones and visits her parents, with whom she is mostly on friendly terms. It's like she doesn't really fit in anywhere. Muzi is living in limbo: like the apartment, she has stopped, caught between past and future. The director's personal story about the fast pace of change in her country, yet also a universal story about love, relationships, the impossibility of keeping these going and the loneliness this causes. Zheng Lu Xinyuan's feature debut was winner of the Tiger Award when it premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Make Up

Claire Oakley : 2019

19-year-old Ruth travels alone to a seaside holiday park in Cornwall to be with her boyfriend Tom. It's off-season, so the resort is mostly deserted, except for a few residents and a handful of staff who are getting the mobile homes ready for the winter. Ruth gradually settles into her new environment, finding work and making a new friend in the form of make-up enthusiast Jade. But one afternoon, while giving Tom's caravan a spring clean, Ruth finds evidence that he might be cheating on her. In the emptiness of this life, there is plenty of space for new emotions and her imagination, fed by inexplicable events. As her desire to uncover the truth turns into an obsession, while also struggling with her feelings for Jade, Ruth begins to realise she might be looking for something else entirely. Claire Oakley's feature debut premiered at BFI London Film Festival 2019, and screened in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Emilia

César Sodero : 2020

Following a bust-up with her girlfriend, Emilia returns from the city to her mother's village, somewhere in Patagonia. Her mother isn't overjoyed about Emilia's return, as this disrupts her peaceful existence. Emilia tries to decide how she wants to carry on with her life, but is confronted with people and feelings from her past. Bored and frustrated, or just looking for intimacy, she seduces a number of men, including her childhood sweetheart, but also falls in love with a girl at the school where she teaches gym – an obsession that distracts her from her broken heart and musings about the future. César Sodero's feature debut premiered in the Voices section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Psychosis in Stockholm

Maria Bäck : 2020
Psykos i Stockholm

A surreal, stylistically on point, and deeply moving film about a girl seeking life as a teen, but who has to grow up very fast. Twenty years ago Maria Bäck went on vacation to Stockholm with her mother. It ended with her mother having a mental breakdown and the 14-year-old Maria wandering around in the capital city alone. With the help of actors, she has now processed the experience in this feature film. Through off-colour blonde jokes, poetic doubles, and a street choir singing bob hund songs, the director creates a powerful and engaging film about human yearning and the diffuse borders of existence. Maria Bäck's feature debut premiered in the Nordic Competition section at Göteborg Film Festival 2020.

By the Name of Tania

Bénédicte Liénard & Mary Jiménez : 2019

There is a place where rich men live. They are so rich that they sprinkle the girls they particularly like with gold dust. These tales of wonder are so tempting to a young Peruvian girl that she leaves her village and sets out on the river's currents for the country's gold mines. However, what she finds there is neither luxury nor fairy tale princes, but violence and forced prostitution. Step by step, she is robbed of her moral and physical integrity. Interweaving documental and fictional elements, this hybrid-form assembles a story which – despite the mesmerising and poetic imagery – cannot hide the horror which the protagonist experiences for long. A drastic and moving film which reconstitutes a space of dignity and gives a voice and an identity to one who has lost her name. Bénédicte Liénard and Mary Jiménez's documentary, their third collaboration, premiered in the Generation 14plus section at Berlin International Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition at Tromsø International Film Festival 2020.

Giraffe

Anna Sofie Hartmann : 2019

A tunnel will be built to connect Denmark and Germany, the present sets in motion towards the future, change hangs in the air. Dara, an ethnologist, arrives to document the houses tagged for demolition. The young Pole, Lucek, and his colleagues prepare the future construction site. Käthe works on the ferry, steadily moving people, their stories, and goods to and fro. Birte and Leif leave their house that has been passed down for generations. Agnes's life resounds in her diaries, collectibles and the walls of her home, which will soon be demolished. A Danish summer: long days turn into blue nights. People meet and part ways again. Anna Sofie Hartmann's second feature premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2019, and was winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Vienna International Film Festival 2019.

Death Inhabits at Night

Eduardo Morotó : 2020
A morte habita à noite

Greasy hair; grooved and unshaven face; emanating alcohol fumes. Raúl just doesn't care anymore. The unemployed writer pours himself another glass of cheap wine as an upstairs neighbour leaps to his death. His girlfriend is clearly more upset by the incident. A little later, she finds a letter by the door reminding them to pay the rent or be evicted. Raúl shrugs and suggests going back to bed. But all of this dismissiveness changes following a meeting with a troubled young girl. Based on the writings of Charles Bukowski, the story takes place in society's grungy underbelly. The characters hang around dilapidated hotel rooms and shabby bars. Brimming with melancholy, but also recognition; a cautious search for soulmates in a world full of self-destruction. Eduardo Morotó's feature debut premiered in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Si yo fuera el invierno mismo

Jazmín López : 2020
If I Were the Winter Itself

Four friends meet on a remote estate to create a cinematic re-enactment of three iconic works that embodied the social and artistic revolution of 50 years ago: La Chinoise (1967) by Jean-Luc Godard, Inextinguishable Fire (1969) by Harun Farocki and the performance Untitled (Facial Hair Transplants) (1972) by Ana Mendieta. The estate is a living backdrop for dreams and phantoms. In all its faded glory, it symbolises the privilege of these young artists who gather there to discuss the meaning of their activist examples. Carmen, the project's initiator, is overwhelmed by feelings and thoughts about her ex-lover, Valentin, whom she can't get off her mind. In long takes, the mobile camera explores the rooms of the estate, where the boundary between acting and being seems to dissolve. The spatial dimensions of the location are used to condense time and link Carmen's subjective and objective realities. During the artistic process the friends undergo and between the lines of their cerebral conversations, this gives rise to a mysterious, deep exploration of the complex mourning of lost love. Jazmín López's second feature premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020.

Instinct

Halina Reijn : 2019

Nicoline, an experienced psychologist, starts a new job at a penal institution. She meets Idris, a sex offender who, after five years of treatment for a series of extremely violent sexual assaults, is about to go on his first unaccompanied probation. His team of practitioners are enthusiastic about his development but Nicoline is vehemently opposed, concluding after only a few short meetings that he still poses a great danger to society. Unable to sway her colleagues, she concedes, but also begins to notice her own inability to resist the rush of Idris's manipulation. As her intrigue quickly escalates to infatuation, Nicoline recognises in Idris something unsettled in herself. And where intent is both unimportant and unclear, the two then find themselves face to face in a grippingly quiet yet stomach-churning battle for power and control, in which there can be no true winner. Halina Reijn's feature, her directorial debut, was winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award when it premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2019. The film received the Cineuropa Prize, Youth Jury Award and the award for Best Actress when it screened in competition at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.

Nocturnal

Nathalie Biancheri : 2019

Newly arrived from Dublin, 16-year-old school running champion Laurie lives alone with her single mother in a Yorkshire coastal town. Something of an outsider, the aspiring athlete struggles to connect with the other girls on her track team, distancing herself with a quietly combative demeanour. But Laurie can't deflect the attention of Pete, a handyman in his thirties performing some odd jobs at her school. Frustrated and lonely, Laurie overcomes her initial fear of Pete. After a couple of curt interactions, she eventually agrees to hang out with her new admirer and almost immediately a connection is apparent. As they spend more time together, a unique bond grows, yet Pete's intentions remain ambiguous. Until one day when Pete's real predicament and intentions come to light and the truth emerges. Nathalie Biancheri's feature debut premiered at BFI London Film Festival 2019, and screened in competition in the Hauteur section at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.

Daughter

Daria Kashcheeva : 2019
Dcera

An innovative and heart-wrenching puppet animation in which the bond between a father and a daughter is imperiled by matters that go unspoken and hurts that are slow to heal. The interruption of a small bird transports a woman back to memories of her father. Should you hide your pain? Withdraw yourself into your inner world, full of longing for your father's demonstrative love? Or, should you be understanding and forgive before it is too late? An expressionistic recollection of missed opportunities, the film depicts the relationship between a father and daughter as they overcome a mutual lack of understanding to find their way back to each other. Daria Kashcheeva's short was winner of the Cristal for a Graduation Film, and the Junior Jury Award for a Graduation Film when it premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2019.

Daughter – official trailer (vimeo)

Psychobitch

Martin Lund : 2019

The coming-of-age story of two young people: an unexpected encounter between the best student in the class and a psychotic and rebellious girl. Frida is different – not because she is, but because she wants to be. The 15-year-old has no desire to be part of "Generation Perfect" where all kids end up alike – in stark contrast to Marius, the golden boy of the class, who wants to be the best at whatever he does. When the two are put together in class study tandem, Marius sees a good opportunity to prove how great he is again. Frida for her part has no intention of letting herself be helped or 'fixed'. Yet in his fights with Frida, Marius also experiences something exciting, challenging and completely new. Soon, learning becomes loving – and Frida and Marius, despite their differences, plunge into an unusual, turbulent relationship. Martin Lund's feature screened at Filmfest Hamburg 2019, and was winner of the Audience Award at ArteKino Festival 2019.

Dust and Ashes

Park Hee-kwon : 2019
축복의 집

Hae-su, a frail young girl who works at a factory, is always covered in dust. There seems to be a problem at home, and she seems to be taking care of it in a mysterious way. Her mother has died and the girl runs around anxiously in order to hold the funeral in secrecy. She is clearly in distress, but what is the truth behind Hae-su's suspicious behaviour? Unanswered questions trigger lingering, disquieting feelings about what really happened, how it happened and what lies in the future for her. Park Hee-kwon's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Isaac

Jurgis Matulevičius : 2019
Izaokas

The infamous Operation Barbarossa, the code-name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, expanded to Kaunas in June of 1941. Between forty and sixty Jews were tortured and brutally killed in the incident known as the Lietūkis Garage Massacre. During the massacre a Lithuanian activist, Andrius Gluosnis, kills his Jewish neighbour, Isaac. Twenty-five years later in Soviet Lithuania, movie director Gediminas Gutauskas returns from the USA with a screenplay of a film that portrays, in details, the Lietūkis Garage Massacre and describes a particular situation where Isaac is killed. The screenplay is later brought to the attention and investigated by the KGB. Why does a director, who once relocated to the USA, return to Soviet Lithuania? Why is his scenario so unusually historically accurate to the massacre, as though he would have witnessed it himself? Perhaps he knows someone who attended the massacre themselves? The aftermath of the murder returns many years later to cripple life and love, triggering a chain of fateful coincidences. Jurgis Matulevičius's feature debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019.

Nour

Maurizio Zaccaro : 2019

As two women scroll through their holiday photos at dawn aboard a boat, they hear cries that sound like they're coming from people in the sea. Little by little, they make them out in the water. They're immigrants whose boat has sunk in the Lampedusa waters. Nour is ten years old and she crossed the Mediterranean by herself to reach Europe. What is she doing on her own in Lampedusa, among the survivors of a shipwreck? Pietro Bartolo, the doctor on the island, takes care of her and, step by step, he tries to reconstruct not only the girl's past, but also her present and a new future. Maurizio Zaccaro's feature premiered in the Festa Mobile section at Torino Film Festival 2019.

Cleo

Eva Cools : 2019

Cleo is a 17-year-old girl who survives a devastating car crash which kills her parents. After that fatal night she is raised by her caring grandmother who tries to offer Cleo and her little brother a loving home but finds herself faced with a rebellious teenager. Cleo's father was a renowned concert pianist and she too has been playing the piano since childhood. Although she often listens to contemporary music, the piano – and in particular Rachmaninov's work – plays a central role in Cleo's cathartic processing. Cleo begins to lose herself in Brussels and seeks refuge in the older, mysterious Leos whom she meets in a nightclub and who seems to understand the struggle she is in. Viewing him as a stranger with whom she can reinvent herself, unencumbered by her past and her trauma, she is unaware of the tragic circumstances linking him to herself and her family. Eva Cools's feature directorial debut premiered at Film Fest Gent 2019, and screened in competition in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.