Michael Achtman

A young, non-binary visitor to London returns to their Airbnb to find an older gay man has moved in. In a small studio flat over one turbulent night, Orin and Anto confront the queer generation gap and decide to make space for each other.

This existential comedy tells the story of Anna, a chronically ill woman, who is visited by Doreen, a door to door proselytizer who slowly overstays her welcome. Together, they walk in the park, bake a cake and watch an Ingmar Bergman film.

This existential comedy tells the story of Anna, a chronically ill woman, who is visited by Doreen, a door to door proselytizer who slowly overstays her welcome. Together, they walk in the park, bake a cake and watch an Ingmar Bergman film.

This existential comedy tells the story of Anna, a chronically ill woman, who is visited by Doreen, a door to door proselytizer who slowly overstays her welcome. Together, they walk in the park, bake a cake and watch an Ingmar Bergman film.

A young blind woman dumps her oppressive boyfriend at the motorway service station and hitches a ride with a recovering sex-and-love addict.

A young blind woman dumps her oppressive boyfriend at the motorway service station and hitches a ride with a recovering sex-and-love addict.

A young blind woman dumps her oppressive boyfriend at the motorway service station and hitches a ride with a recovering sex-and-love addict.

A response to World Catholic Youth Day and the Pope’s 2002 mass in Toronto, "save myself" is a personal meditation on faith and loss. Why does thought require words, and is anybody listening?

A response to World Catholic Youth Day and the Pope’s 2002 mass in Toronto, "save myself" is a personal meditation on faith and loss. Why does thought require words, and is anybody listening?

A response to World Catholic Youth Day and the Pope’s 2002 mass in Toronto, "save myself" is a personal meditation on faith and loss. Why does thought require words, and is anybody listening?

A response to World Catholic Youth Day and the Pope’s 2002 mass in Toronto, "save myself" is a personal meditation on faith and loss. Why does thought require words, and is anybody listening?

A response to World Catholic Youth Day and the Pope’s 2002 mass in Toronto, "save myself" is a personal meditation on faith and loss. Why does thought require words, and is anybody listening?

Drawing on pre-biblical mythology, "flesh of my flesh" is a queer retelling of the "first" murder. Abel returns from the wars of God our Father to a bombed out and pillaged Canaan. His brother/lover Cain leads him to a barren field where, in an effort to reinstate the garden of paradise, he performs the sacrificial ritual. The consequence (for Cain and all his tribe) is banishment, to the land "east of Normal."

Drawing on pre-biblical mythology, "flesh of my flesh" is a queer retelling of the "first" murder. Abel returns from the wars of God our Father to a bombed out and pillaged Canaan. His brother/lover Cain leads him to a barren field where, in an effort to reinstate the garden of paradise, he performs the sacrificial ritual. The consequence (for Cain and all his tribe) is banishment, to the land "east of Normal."

Perfect...a summer day, a sandbox...a meditation on the transience of consciousness.

"Shinto" is an examination of the meaning of objects. Do objects have powers or energies of their own? If so, can we see or feel it? While this may sound heavy and philosophical, the film is actually a lively argument between two neurotic gay men who have been together for too long. As they discuss whether or not to rid themselves of some extra junk, we watch a memory film of one of the character's childhood toy trucks being burned, and a handful of Asian film clips, meant to parody the characters' ridiculous, half understood adoption of Asian philosophy and spirituality.

"Shinto" is an examination of the meaning of objects. Do objects have powers or energies of their own? If so, can we see or feel it? While this may sound heavy and philosophical, the film is actually a lively argument between two neurotic gay men who have been together for too long. As they discuss whether or not to rid themselves of some extra junk, we watch a memory film of one of the character's childhood toy trucks being burned, and a handful of Asian film clips, meant to parody the characters' ridiculous, half understood adoption of Asian philosophy and spirituality.

Midnight cowpoke scrounges the streets of Mike Harris' mean megatropolis, looking for a good time or just a bite to eat. "Hard time living, too young to die. Lord, lord, lord: hard times town."

Romance gone wrong sparks this visually poetic meditation on love, promises and destruction, with reference to Mrs. Danvers, that icon of perfectly executed revenge in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rebecca.

Contemplating suicide, a young gay man is heartbroken over his lost love.

A woman stares at her reflection in the mirror, drawn like Narcissus to swim in her own perfection. Or did she forget to take her pills?

Tubbé describes the ongoing dissociation between two solitudes (English and French Canada) in the form of one queer-in-a-tub's reflections on his amorous escapades.

Freely drawing from a variety of film genres, including musicals, the sudsy melodramas and documentaries and combing them with a free-flowing narrative and bright pop-art sensibilities, this hard-hitting experimental romp from Canadian filmmaker John Greyson packs a political wallop while satirically comparing and contrasting the issues of censorship and circumcision. The tale centers on the exploits of three homosexuals named Peter. Peter Koosens is obsessed with the semi-scandalous behavior of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau while college student Peter Cort, ponders the significance and necessity of male circumcision. Peter Denham is an artist who seduces the other two and freely borrows from their work to make something of his own. Their exploits land the trio in prison after an operatic number (the police sing songs adapted from Bizet's Carmen).

Based on a poem by R.M. Vaughan about the torture and murder of a Somalian teenager by members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, this haunting work examines individual responsibility versus systemic corruption and the homophobic and racist elements central to the military enterprise.

A queer, tongue-in-cheek dissection of hip attitude, "cool" alternates between the education in pick-up technique of a naive gay man and the meditations of a recently dumped drag queen strung out all over town.

A queer, tongue-in-cheek dissection of hip attitude, "cool" alternates between the education in pick-up technique of a naive gay man and the meditations of a recently dumped drag queen strung out all over town.