Program 04: Tamara

Elia K. Schneider / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Saturday, Oct. 7 / Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela / 2016 / 114 mins

On December 6, 2015, Tamara Adrian made history by becoming the first transgender person ever to be elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly. Elia K. Schneider directs this intensely sensitive and tightly woven drama depicting the story of Tamara’s journey. Offering an honest and balanced insight, this excellent biopic examines some of the doubts, fears, sacrifices, and decisions that face many trans individuals

Program 06: I Dream in Another Language

Ernesto Contreras / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Saturday, Oct. 7 / Mexico, Netherlands / 2017 / 103 mins

In this beautifully evocative tale of love and loss, a handsome young linguist named Martín (Fernando Álvarez Rebeil) travels to a remote village in Mexico, hoping to preserve a dying language. To Martín’s knowledge, the elderly Jacinta (Monica Miguel) and Isauro (José Manuel Poncelis) are the sole remaining locals to speak the ancient dialect known as Zikril. But he soon learns of a third person fluent in the language: the ill-tempered Evaristo (Eligio Meléndez).

Program 08: Signature Move

Jennifer Reeder / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Saturday, Oct. 7 / USA / 2017 / 80 mins

Giving a fresh spin on the usual romantic love story, Signature Move follows Zaynab (co-writer Fawzia Mirza), a Pakistani lesbian lawyer (say that three times fast!) living in Chicago with her aging mother, Parveen (Shabana Azmi). Their relationship is very superficial. They talk and cohabitate, but Zaynab doesn’t talk about who she really is with her mother, mostly because her mother is a traditional Pakistani woman who still expects her to marry a man, going so far as to scan the street for potential suitors ... with binoculars while sitting in her living room.

Preceded by: Happenstance

Program 10: Extra Terrestrials

Carla Cavina / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Saturday, Oct. 7 / Puerto Rico, Venezuela / 2017 / 110 mins

The Diaz family is well known in Puerto Rico. A leader in the business of poultry farming, it’s run with an iron fist by Arcadio, the conservative and authoritative patriarch. But between new government regulations and some underhanded moves by the competition, Arcadio’s business is facing trouble.

Program 11: Tom of Finland

Dome Karukoski / ASL Interpreted, Subtitled, Spotlight Feature, Narrative Feature, Saturday, Oct. 7 / Finland / 2017 / 115 mins

Is there any example of queer art more iconic than the beefy biker studs, moustachioed police officers, and randy cowpokes of Touko Laaksonen? Better known by his nom de “peen” Tom of Finland, the influential artist is now the subject of this crowd-pleasing biopic, following the life of the man responsible for images that have fueled generations of gay men’s filthy fantasies.

Program 13: Like Foam

Roberto Pérez Toledo / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Sunday, Oct. 8 / Spain / 2016 / 93 mins

Desperate times require desperate measures. When Gus attempts to cheer up his friend Milo on his birthday, it goes disastrously wrong. Milo has been confined to a wheelchair following an accident, and Gus’s attempt to reintroduce him to the gay club scene backfires horribly, making Milo even more bitter than ever.

Program 18: Screwed

Nils-Erik Ekblom / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Sunday, Oct. 8 / Finland / 2017 / 97 mins

Seventeen-year-old Miku is about to embark on a dreadfully dull summer. With his parents away at the family cottage, Miku’s older brother Sebu has blitzed into town just long enough to destroy the house with an epic party. But when Sebu disappears and leaves Miku to take the fall for the rager, their parents force Miku to return to the cottage with them for the rest of the summer. Mom is so angry that not only does she take Miku’s phone away, she throws it into traffic. Now Miku is sequestered at the cottage with a very angry mother, a narcoleptic father, and no phone. Miku is screwed... but everything changes when attractive neighbor boy Elias boats into his life.

Program 25: Chavela

Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi / Subtitled, Documentary Centerpiece, Documentary Feature, Wednesday, Oct. 11 / USA / 2017 / 93 mins

An icon of Mexican ranchera music, Chavela Vargas was described as “the rough voice of tenderness.” Singing with a fiery passion, of heartbreak and desire, she was a legend of bohemian Mexican culture, and rumored to have seduced any woman she desired including Ava Gardner, Frida Kahlo, and the wives of many politicians and dignitaries. With a reputation for drinking many a man under the table, she defiantly dressed in men’s clothes, smoked cigars, and at times carried a pistol.

Program 27: 120 Beats Per Minute (120 battements par minute)

Robin Campillo / Subtitled, Narrative Centerpiece, Thursday, Oct. 12 / France / 2017 / 144 mins

With a deeply felt humanity, the vital 120 Beats Per Minute melds piercing docudrama with a passionate love story to deliver a ground-level view of AIDS advocacy group, ACT UP-Paris during the early ‘90s. From drenching public officials with balloons of fake blood, to invading high school classrooms to hand out condoms, the organization uses radical, sometimes deliberately shocking, methods (much like their American counterparts) to educate the public, effect change, and make the establishment stand up and take notice.

Program 30: The Constitution

Rajko Grlic / Subtitled, Narrative Feature, Friday, Oct. 13 / Croatia / 2016 / 93 mins

Set in a Zagreb apartment building, The Constitution tells the story of four neighbors who have allowed their differences to divide them. But when circumstance forces them into each other’s lives, they will need to open themselves up and find a common understanding.