David (2018)

An existential sugar shock which takes us on a fun, candy-filled roller-coaster ride between cruel violence and extreme cuteness - which prove to be disturbingly close together.

In artist Su Hui-yu’s signature style, a moody slow-motion pan captures a wild, glitter-scattered, blood-splattered orgy during the Tang dynasty. The film is an invocation of scenes from 1985 Taiwanese cult film Tang Chao Chi Li that only existed in the screenplay, unfilmed until now due to what can only be imagined as budgetary restrictions and censorship pressures during the Martial Law era. Presented without narrative context, the orgiastic murder scene plays out like an unsettling nightmare.

At a public car park cars can be seen parked or slowly moving around with drivers ready to sexually engage with others. This is a refuge for men with diversity of age, physical attributes, marital and social status. These men take a break from their daily lives and put into practice some of their innermost desires and fantasies. This place is no longer available for cruising but during its glory days it used to be one of the busiest cruising areas located at the Jamor National Stadium near Lisbon, Portugal. The park was never empty and activities continued from morning to evening hours. This documentary short film was made in collaboration with Miguel de Arroja who had been capturing action on camera since 2001.

Among grand mal seizures and geomagnetic storms in São Paulo, André looks for his mother and his lost affections.

Ecosexual is a poetic monologue set in the Portuguese Mediterranean coast in Algarve about loving and making love with nature. It presents the male body as erotic object and as thinking, feeling subject. Through the senses of taste, touch, smell and sight, the protagonist loses himself in a communion with the natural world.

Spunk is an experimental documentary where reality and virtual reality blend into a surrealistic sexual collage. 36 minutes long, it showcases digital sex with webcams, mobile phones and the fantasies the participants live through the digital media. Spunk has two parts. In the first it references the internet aesthetics and online gay cruising through time. In the second it transports the viewer into a fantasy world. In those virtual settings horny men openly demonstrate their cyber sexuality.

Nude Dudes is about my experience during my visit in Tel Aviv. I was hosted by Matan and Menache, two young guys who practice nudism in their own house. While being flatmates they openly expose their sexual interests to each other and their guests. Managing their online dating profiles is a part of their daily routine. I was intrigued by their non-tabooed dynamic.

There is always the first time you are called a daddy. It’s more than just a question of age. Leather Daddies, Daddy Bears and Daddies that don’t fit into the usual categories. They talk about their Daddy identity, gay relationships, polyamory, and appetite for sex. Monogamy and open relationships co-exist in San Francisco as they do everywhere, but nowhere else has so many polyamorous men, men who embrace multiple love in their own personal way within the community. It is not just daddy/son, there are also guys in a number of relationships, or men in triads or foursomes.

Limanakia is a wild rocky area located on Leoforos Poseidonos, south of Athens. At those three distinct steep coves, gay Greeks and tourists of all ages and body types find escape away from the commercial beaches of Attiki. It is considered one of the most beautiful place to swim and not only... António takes this opportunity to create a fantasy world.

A voyeuristic hunt during a trip to Rio de Janeiro with lots of sea, sun, sweat and personal encounters. Brazilian men care about their physique and they freely allow admiration of their sculpted bodies. The sensuality of those men creates blurry sexual identities. An outdoors gym in the Arpoador area unveiled to me the vibrancy of the country and the diversity of men.

Francisco is unhappy about his body.

A hidden camera portrays sexual interactions between bankers in a public restroom during their lunch break. No words, just signs, few body sounds, it is a choreography around the urinal at lunch time.

Thirty-five Portuguese dancers undress in front of the camera. They become the object of desire with a sensual provocative performance. Eclectic dance disciplines help this film to explore an exhibitionist view of the male nude. This is a statement about the current financial situation in Portugal and the lack of fundings to support artistic initiatives.

Redheads. Fire crotches… This film collects samples of their testimonials and their body hair and skin. About being different genetically, about gay gingers, doubly in a minority, from Ireland to Israel to Brazil. A film made especially for ginger lovers.

Laëtitia, Roca, Nico and Naël are in a band. As per usual, they meet late afternoon before rehearsal in a vacant lot. The group will soon no longer exist; they will be forced to disband because Laetitia is moving away to study. This is the story of four young adults who do not want to say good-bye.

Daniel Schwartz is humouriste. Trash tendency. He does his show all over France. It is a great success. But Daniel is tired and alone. Is there a woman ready to share his solitude? A woman or two?

A woman and four men who barely know each other find themselves in an apartment in the sky above Paris. They have all been the victim of the same domineering pervert who is locked in a room. That night, they decided to finish it. In turn, they tell each other memories that bind them to this man and enter the room to confront him. But what happens between the monster and them remains their secret.

After the death of her mother, 17-year-old Prudence finds herself living alone in her Paris apartment. Then she meets Maryline, a rebel of her own age, who introduces her to the thrills of motorcycle racing on the biker circuit at Rungis. Prudence’s newfound lease of freedom becomes complicated when she falls for a boy Franck who wastes no time in taking advantage of her naivety...

In a middle-class neighbourhood in a city in the countryside of Brazil, the real estate speculation is a menace to the affective memory of a group of friends. Their answer to this imminent transformation is to fuck in the construction sites. And what about love? Is love just a construction?

An existential sugar shock which takes us on a fun, candy-filled roller-coaster ride between cruel violence and extreme cuteness - which prove to be disturbingly close together.