Some of the best queer films slated at 49th Frameline, the longest and largest running LGBTQ+ film festival in the world (June 18 – 28 2025)
By Oliver Carnay
Yearly, Frameline, holds the largest and longest running queer film festival in the world. Now on its 49th anniversary, another eleven days of some of the best new features, documentaries, shorts, and more share stories, experiences that create conversations. The storytelling is crucial and the opportunity to come together, celebrate and bring joy through films. More than 150 films from around the world are expected to be presented, with cast, crew, filmmakers, and other creatives coming to the Bay area to attend and do a Q&A after the screening.
Here are some of the films I’ve watched and I highly recommend each of them for you not to miss:
SOME NIGHTS I FEEL LIKE WALKING is the third feature from Filipino director Petersen Vargas (2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten, A Very Good Girl). It will screen at Frameline49 on June 26, 8:30 pm at the Roxie Theatre. A Q&A with producer Alemberg Ang will follow the screening. It will also be available to stream at Frameline from June 23 through June 30.
In Manila, it premieres at the QCinema Film Festival on June 26 at 7pm, with additional screenings on June 27, 4pm and 9pm.
Set in Manila’s seedy environment where masseurs, pimps, prostitutes, and cruisy porn cinemas, and alleys, where a group of young teen hustlers do their tricks on a daily routine. Zion, a rich teenage runaway (beautifully played by singer Miguel Odron, in his film acting debut) meets Uno (Jomari Angeles) and develops a deeper liking after both were hired in sex trafficking. Zion later meets Uno’s other friends — the group’s leader, stocky and muscled Bayani (Argel Saycon), the shaggy-haired Rush (Tommie Alejandrino), and the youngest among the group, Miguelito aka Ge (Gold Aceron). When Ge was overdosed by a client, Zion is forced to divulge his identity and help Ge and the group finds his family’s town folk, much to Bayani’s resistance. Zion realizes the brotherhood he is always seeking, a sense of belonging with a new brotherhood. With lush cinematography, great performances from an ensemble cast, and careful direction from Vargas, the film is such a treat from start to finish.
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WE ARE FAHEEM & KARUN
Shot on the border of India and Pakistan, this film transcends love knows no borders, but identity and society becomes the biggest hurdles, challenges culture and idealism. A groundbreaking film from Onir, which he also produced, the film almost didn’t make it due to budget constraint and abandonment of cast. Inspired by a true story of a gay army man and initially banned by India’s Ministry of Defence, writer/director/producer Onir was surmounted by the hurdles of censorship on this queer love story. A tale of forbidden romance about a young border security officer from South India (played by the very charismatic Akash Menon), and Faheem (Mir Tawseef), a local Kashmiri amidst the backdrop of Gurez Valley, blossoms a taboo relationship amid the chaos of geopolitical conflict. This is the first Kashmiri language LGBTQ+ themed film.
When college student Faheem flirtatiously hands Karun an apple as they make their first acquaintance at the Indian border checkpoint, as Faheem passes through on his way home to Gurez valley, we can see an immediate attraction between the two. Both being closeted and since homosexuality is being considered as a taboo, it is an impossible relationship to pursue. This sensual and poignant romantic drama is worth watching.
WE ARE FAHEEM & KARUN is playing at Frameline49 on June 25, 6:00 pm at the Vogue Theatre. Director Onir and actor Akash Menon are scheduled to attend the Q&A after the screening.
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SILENT SPARKS, playing at Frameline49 on June 20, 6 pm at the Roxie Theater, also streaming June 23 through June 30.
A tragic drama from writer/director/producer Ping Chu. Ex-convict “Pua” (Guan-Zhi Huang) is drawn back to gangsters’ world to support his mother. He plans to reconnect with former cellmate “Mi-ji” (Ming-Shuai Shih) but to his surprise, his efforts were met with resentment. Finally, when both decided to work on a mission, consequences were made. Both need to make a difficult decision on how in the end, they’ll still end up together.
Writer/director/producer Ping Chu graduated as a film major from the Radio, Television and Film Department at Shih Hsin University. Born in 1992 and raised in Sanchong Dist., New Taipei City, despite his urban upbringing, he focuses on the development of Taiwan’s local culture and the underprivileged. His works are primarily inspired by characters from the grassroots. Founder of ByThe-Blueprint production company, Chu specializes in screenwriting, directing, and editing. “I hope this is a love story that resonates with people, whether they are same-sex or not. I hope it makes people recall their own persistence and confusion about love. Is it a comedy or a tragedy? We will each have our own answers, just as we have our own choices in love.
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SANDBAG DAM is a coming-of-age film that deals with self-identity and family culture, homosexuality, and belief. In a small village in Croatia threatened by river floods, Marko (Lav Novosel), a local arm-wrestling champion is threatened when Slaven (Andrija Zunac), a former secret teenage romance, returns from Berlin to attend the father’s funeral. Secrets are revealed leading to confront a family and make difficult choices. From director Čejen Černić Čanak, this beautiful love story is a must to watch.
SANDBAG DAM is playing at Frameline 49 on June 21 at 3:30 pm.
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OUTERLANDS is playing on June 22 at 6:00 pm at New Parkway Theater, with added screening on June 27 at 12:45 pm at Vogue Theater. Non-binary newbie Cass (beautifully played by Asia Kate Dillon, in a breakout performance) hardly makes both ends meet in San Francisco, nannying for wealthy kids, as well as waiting tables, and just enough party drugs to cover rent for a small apartment. A one-night stand with a girl co-worker leads to caring for an 11-year old girl. Cass starts to question her own problems and needs when the little girl starts to act up and the mother doesn’t reply at all.
Director Elena Oxman, Producer Marc Smolowitz, Co-Producer Yves Averous, and Editor/Co-Producer Chris Brown will attend the Q&A after the screening.
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QUEERPANORAMA
One of my favorites at this year’s Frameline, actor turned-director Jun Li gives a provocative look at the reality of life. Shot in stark black and white, the film follows a young gay man (magnificent portrayal of Jayden Cheung, in a remarkable, daring debut), an erotic travelogue of Hongkong, hooking up with different men while quietly mimicking the persona of his latest encounter. A movie destined to be a classic.
QUEERPANORMA is playing on June 22 at 6:00 pm at the Vogue Theatre. Note: graphic content. The screening will follow a Q&A with director Jun Li. Don’t miss it! Get your ticket here: https://www.frameline.
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PLAINCLOTHES is an erotic thriller-drama from Director Carmen Emmi, set in the 90’s era in the gritty streets of Syracuse, where a promising undercover agent (Tom Blyth) assigned to lure and arrest gay men in public toilets, defies professional orders when he falls in love with a target, Lucas (Russell Tovey), a married man with mysterious background.
PLAINCLOTHES is playing at Frameline49 on June 19 at 5:30 pm at the Vogue Theater. A Q&A with director Carmen Emmi follows the screening.
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#300 LETTERS
A new romantic comedy from Director Lucas Santa Ana, the film is playing at Frameline49 on June 25, 8:30 pm at the Vogue Theater. The screening will follow a Q&A with director Lucas Santa Ana and actors Gastón Frías and Cristian Mariani.
On the day of their anniversary, Tom (Gastón Frías), an expressive queer performance artist, sends a box of letters containing reasons why he is breaking up with boyfriend Jero (Cristian Mariani). Jero has no idea of his boyfriend’s sudden departure. Reliving the romance through Tom’s brutally honest reflections, from casual Grindr hook-up and being a crossfit jock, Jero questions what went wrong.
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“BABY” from Dir. Marcelo Caetano (Body Electric) #June22 8:30pm @VogueTheatersf .. Director Marcelo Caetano will attend the Q&A after the screening.
Set in São Paulo, 17-year old Wellington, nicknamed “Baby” (a stunning newcomer João Pedro Mariano) is fresh out of juvenile detention, and his parents are nowhere to be found. Alone and poor, he forms a special but complicated relationship with a charismatic old hustler Ronald (theatre veteran actor Ricardo Teodoro). Confused with his connection with Ronald, whether as a lover-boyfriend, business partner-pimp, or a father guiding and protecting a son, in a world of survival, Baby’s freedom and security is undistinguishable. There will be a Q&A w/ director Marcelo Caetano after the screening.
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SAUNA follows Johan (Magnus Juhl Andersen), a young gay man exploring his blossoming sexuality, through his experiences with love and sex. He has just started working as a receptionist at Adonis, Copenhagen’s only gay popular sauna, where he works and spends much of his time. For Johan, the city is like a boundless paradise of opportunities with bars, parties, and one-night stands, but it is only when he meets transgender William (Nina Rask) through an online hook-up that he experiences an up close exciting experience. Johan, at first is taken aback, but is immediately attracted to William’s charm. Suddenly, Johan is open to a torrid affair, meeting William’s friends but als unexpectedly confronted with William’s problems regarding hormones and pending surgery. The love between the two is put to a tough test as their relationship develops within a society governed by rigid ideas about gender, love, and identity.
SAUNA is playing at Frameline49 on June 25, 6:00 pm at the New Parkway Theater. It will follow a Q&A with Director Mathias Broe and screenwriter William Lippert.
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19th Annual South East European Film Festival kicked-off with honorable leaders attending, and Pascal Ladreyt (Executive Director of ELMA, Foundation of European Movies in America) receiving the prestigious 2024 Legacy Award before screening the Opening Night Film “GUARDIANS OF THE FORMULA”
May 6, 2024
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