One night, the young, lonely protagonist Paint, styled as an archetypal Pierrot, captures the attention of a sexy biker named Leather. A wordless, romantic fantasy ensues, capturing the thrilling feeling of lust at first sight with an erotic, campy glamor that calls to mind James Bidgood and Kenneth Anger.

Sakura’s illustrated essay film takes on respectability politics and trans literary porn, asking why certain sexual desires must remain unseen—even in progressive contexts that are willing to “discuss” them. Anchored by cheeky analyses of Marquis de Sade, Torrey Peters, and Naty Menstrual, the filmmaker makes a case for the explicit.

Inspired by Rose Bamberger, a founding member of the Daughters of Bilitis, this experimental short revels in the joyful possibilities of opacity over visibility. The flickering tactility of celluloid film invokes a private world of lesbian desire.

This lush 16mm short awakens centuries of rage embedded in the tropical landscape of Borikén (now known as Puerto Rico). A queer retelling of a Taíno legend, Muerde Sin Miedo summons the island’s history of colonialism and resistance through contemporary cruising culture, culminating in a passionate act of revenge.

When Rom Sheratzky discovers a local livestream in Frankfurt, he becomes fixated on the stranger behind the camera. Largely told through webcam footage, Notes app confessions, and social media screenshots, Follow Back charts the filmmaker’s escalating desperation to connect, offering an unsettling study of loneliness, obsession, voyeurism/exhibitionism, and surveillance in the digital age.