Half waking dream and half fiery polemic, THE GARDEN was born of director Derek Jarman's rage over continued anti-gay discrimination and the sluggardly response to the AIDS crisis-he had been diagnosed HIV-positive in 1988. Starring Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), this uniquely kaleidoscopic film shows the filmmaker's genius at its most coruscating, making space in its breadth of vision for an over-the-top Hollywood-style musical number, nightmare images of tar-and-feather queer persecution, and footage of the particularly menacing-looking nuclear power plant that overlooks Jarman's own garden, the point from which his film begins, and a cherished spot which he must keep tending to even as his body begins to betray him. Writhing with sorrow and anger, and yet so vividly alive to the loveliness of being, THE GARDEN is a baleful and beautiful epistle from the brink of beyond.

Shot on location at the ancient and ghostly Stoneleigh Abbey, THE TEMPEST is Derek Jarman's (War Requiem) acclaimed 1979 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's final great play. It is the story of Prospero the magician, who lives on an island with his nubile daughter on an enchanted island and punishes his enemies when they are shipwrecked there. Essentially a study of sexual and political power in the guise of a fairy tale, in Jarman's hands, THE TEMPEST becomes an original and dazzling spectacle mixing Hollywood pastiche, high camp, and gothic horror. The film recalls the innocent homoeroticism of Pasolini's versions of classics, while its lush sense of decor and color is worthy of Minnelli. The master stroke in THE TEMPEST is the finale, a wedding feast designed and choreographed as a full-scale production number, with the veteran black musical comedy star Elisabeth Welch wafting her way through a chorus line of hunky sailors as she belts out "Stormy Weather." It is one of the great scenes in contemporary British cinema.

TROPICAL MALADY is the lyrical and mysterious new film by maverick Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Blissfully Yours), one of the most prominent young directors of the Thai New Wave. Tropical Malady chronicles the mystical love affair between a young soldier and the country boy he seduces, soon to be disrupted by the boy's sudden disappearance. Local legends claim the boy was transformed into a mythic wild beast, and the soldier journeys alone into the heart of the Thai jungle in search of him.

A pop sci-fi lesbian extravaganza set in the year 2700 in the fictional burned-out city of Asche that follows the tangled lives of three women. This story of obsession and revenge is also an anti-romantic plea for love in all its many forms. A truly underground film shot on Super 8 and newly restored, Flaming Ears is original for its playful disruption of narrative conventions, its witty approach to film genre, and its punk visual splendor.

When lonely nurse Clara is hired as a nanny by wealthy Ana, she hardly expects anything like the friendship she finds with the lonely, pregnant woman. However, both women have dark secrets which will engulf all that they hold dear. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the **Locarno International Film Festival.** Winner of the José Luis Guarner Critic's Award at the **Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival**. *"...a haunting tale of love -- and the burdens that come with it." - Noel Murray, **The Los Angeles Times***

A fresh take on the coming-of-age story, this surreal tale follows the artistically driven Oscar (*American Crime*'s Connor Jessup) hovering on the brink of adulthood. Struggling to find his place in the world after a rough childhood and haunted by images of a tragic incident, Oscar dreams of escaping his small town. After he meets a mysterious and attractive new co-worker, Oscar follows the guidance of his pet hamster Buffy (voiced by Isabella Rossellini) and faces his demons to find the life he wants. Nominated for the LGBTQ Film of the Year by the **Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association**. Winner of Best Canadian Feature Film at the **Toronto International Film Festival**. *"One way to tell a promising director is by the acting in his or her film, and the performances in CLOSET MONSTER are solid all the way around, no matter how small the role." - G. Allen Johnson, **San Francisco Chronicle***

This charming, whimsical story about a waifish daydreamer with artistic aspirations is structured around a video-recorded confession. In Patricia Rozema's fanciful character study, aspiring photographer Polly (comedian Sheila McCarthy) lands a job at a Toronto art gallery run by Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon), who is also a painter. Polly is impressed with Gabrielle's paintings, but as Polly gets to know her lover Mary (Ann-Marie MacDonald) and becomes entangled in their lives, she realizes Gabrielle isn't exactly who she appears to be. The gauche absent-minded temp with spiky orange hair and the polished, bourgeois curator with a gift for gab are like night and day, yet a strong connection builds between these two women through their shared love of art, and their genuine curiosity and appetite for love. Winner of the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

The debut feature from Bertrand Mandico tells the tale of five adolescent boys (all played by actresses) enamored by the arts, but drawn to crime and transgression. After a brutal crime committed by the group and aided by TREVOR - a deity of chaos they can't control - they're punished to board a boat with a captain hell-bent on taming their ferocious appetites. After arriving on a lush island with dangers and pleasures abound the boys start to transform in both mind and body. Shot in gorgeous 16mm and brimming with eroticism, genderfluidity, and humor, THE WILD BOYS will take you on journey you won't soon forget. Nominated for a Queer Lion at the **Venice International Film Festival.** Winner of the Best Director Award at the **Vilnius International Film Festival.** *"...an exciting sail on the waters of gender fluidity that energetically skewers any notion of the binary." - Katie Walsh, **Los Angeles Times***

Unlike any other horror film you'll see this year, DER SAMURAI is a German mind-bender about shape-shifting cross-dressers, bloody decapitations, repressed sexual desires and small town life. But while director Till Kleinert's film is a surreal mix of dark comedy and eerie creep-out that recalls David Lynch. Jakob is a policeman in a village deep in the woods, where little happens until the arrival of a mysterious wolf that is causing havoc. Working the night shift, Jakob is tracking the wolf...only to discover that the lupine lurker is actually a man clad only in lipstick and a ladies' slip, and toting a samurai sword that he uses to lop off the heads of the townspeople, including Jakob's tormentors. Jakob and the transvestite samurai seem to share a bond, and as the night gets darker, events get even weirder. Completely bizarre yet wildly entertaining, DER SAMURAI is a horror must-see for the adventurous!