Hands down the sexiest, queerest opening sequence of any film in this year’s festival, Desire Lines tells the eye-opening, heart-opening, shirt-opening stories of gay men who are trans and trans guys coming out as gay. Mixing documentary and interviews, the film follows a beary Iranian American man, Ahmad (Aden Hakimi), who seems to fall through time via his days spent inside a queer historical archive. Ahmad gradually begins to understand his sexuality and assert his identity when the archive doubles as a mythical gay bathhouse, opening up past and present in a genuinely erotic journey of discovery. At the heart of the film is the figure of Lou Sullivan, the gay trans man who pioneered sexual and HIV healthcare, visibility and pride for his community.

Seen through documentary interviews alongside contemporary trans men and trans masc voices, the result is one of the most formally inventive queer films of the past decade. Keep your history sexy.

PRE-FEATURE SHORT:

SKIN

Dir. Leo Behrens. Film info: 7 mins, USA, 2023, Digital

With the help of their inner manifestation, the ice man, the protagonist sheds their old skin and embraces their true identity.

Tickets on sale on the GAZE website here.