NEW IRISH SHORTS↪

Friday 4th August
17:45
Light House Cinema
1hr 44m

Another stellar year for the Irish short. We were overwhelmed with the high standard of storytelling on display and the sheer pool of talent that's out there. Be sure to check out the rest of the programme for more Irish shorts popping up across the festival as pre-feature screenings. Last year we had a packed house for this celebration of Irish filmmaking, this year we want to sell out completely so come along, bring a friend, and stick around to chat with the artists afterwards. If you'd prefer to experience a relaxed screening of this selection in a smaller venue, turn to the Saturday line-up for more info, plus you will have chance to see Irish shorts as part of GAZE Online. Wherever you choose to watch, enjoy!

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WORTHY
Dir. Zainab Boladale / 2023 / 3m
Sewa is a black woman struggling to get over her ex-girlfriend. Through her monologue we experience the emotional rollercoaster of a first break up.

THE TALK
Dir. Jonathan Hughes / 2022 / 10m
The Talk chronicles the life changing conversation that takes place between father and son when staunchly unionist father Dennis walks in on his son Barry in bed with a man. But Barry isn't the only one hiding a secret from the family.

LET ME LIVE
Dir. Éadaoin O'Shea Costley / 2022 / 4m
Documentary short film on the experience of a trans young person in Dublin Ireland.

TRY AND TOUCH
Dir. Nell Hensey / 2022 / 12m
Emer Danagher is a school girl in rural Ireland who is battling with the overwhelming agony of unrequited love. We see her build up the courage to come clean to her crush as she realises that she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. But at 17, it feels like her life will be over if she doesn't get the response she so desperately wants.

LAMBING
Dir. Katie McNeice / 2022 / 18m
A young dad in rural Ireland must face his anxiety around gender and bullying when his baby is born intersex.

MALCOLM
Dir. Caleb Roberts / 2023 / 12m
Emotionally unstable Joe seeks couples' counselling with a sock puppet likeness of his ex-boyfriend, Malcolm.

HOW TO LIVE HERE
Dir. Alisha Doody / 2022 / 3m
How to Live Here is a short film that is part of a wider biographical multimedia project that explores the trajectory of a queer woman who leaves their rural upbringing in search of community only to return to the conditions she once ran away from.

SNUFF
Dir. Louise Nesbitt / 2021 / 9m
A woman in the middle of an affair arrives home to find her wife making a snuff film in their living room.

AGAPE
Dir. Ethan Donoghue / 2022 / 17m
Agape follows Margret, a young Traveller Women who is forced into a marriage she has no say in with a man she can never love. While she battles confronting her new reality, the woman Margret really loves has no choice but to watch as everything goes downhill.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG
Dir. Caroline Quinn / 2023 / 17m
Six best friends decide to go camping to spend one last fun weekend together before they go their separate ways, to escape their stresses ... well that was the plan anyways.

THREE NIGHTS A WEEK↪

Friday 4th August
17:45
Light House Cinema

Dir. Florent Gouëlou
France, 2022
1hr 43m

Drag queens are so often fierce, funny, fabulous, and surrounded by fanatics - but how often are they the real object of desire, of love, lust and intimacy? Three NIghts A Week follows a confused young man's life as it gets turned upside down and covered in sequins when he falls for a hardworking drag star with a tough veneer and a vulnerable interior. The looks and turns throughout this uplifting feature are to die for, and the dialogue snaps hard in a witty and fast rollercoaster of laughs and lipstick. The backdrop of gay nightclubs, queer cabaret, hedonism and HIV activism gives this film an authentically queer setting for a totally unconventional romance to unfold. France excels at both the contemporary queer drama and sophisticated rom-com, and Three Nights A Week is the very best of both - something to give your Friday night all of the necessary glamour and romance. J'adore.

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Pre-Feature Short:

DARCELLE: ON LIFE, LOVE AND DYING
Dir. Christina Carol Dowsett / USA / 2023 / 14m
Darcelle, at the age of 91, is the Guinness World Record holder for the oldest working drag queen. On stage Darcelle is harolded as a prominent figure in the Portland, Oregon LGBTQ+ scene but at home Walter Cole is just like anyone else who loves, laughs, and cries. In this short film, friends and family reflect with Darcelle on a long and accomplished life as the end draws near.

KOKOMO CITY↪

From Friday 4th August
Irish Film Institute

Dir. D. Smith
USA, 2023
1hr 13m

Twice daily screenings, afternoon and evening, from Friday 4th onwards. Head to ifi.ie for times and bookings.The Irish Film Institute brings the Irish premiere of a groundbreaking transgender documentary to Dublin that they are thrilled to support at GAZE. Kokomo City is a trans-made cinematic venture that follows the lives of a group of charismatic Black transgender women in America as they navigate life, sex work, romance, bodily autonomy and an increasingly transphobic country. Director D. Smith brings a stylish flourish to proceedings, borrowing from music video aesthetics to give a unique energy to an urgent piece of storytelling. Prepare to listen up, learn, and fall in love with Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver, as they speak up and speak out for themselves. The film gives space and voice to a plethora of life experiences from trans women and the people who love them in a way that breaks new ground for transgender life depicted on screen. Timely, necessary, brilliant cinema.

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QUEER EXILE BERLIN↪

Friday 4th August
20:15
Light House Cinema

Dir. Jochen Hick
Germany, 2023
1hr 45m

Queer people from all around the world have helped make Berlin what it is today. Many LGBTQIA people leave their home and make their way to Berlin because they want to, others because they have to. Queer life in Berlin means exploring what freedom can be and fighting for it when the time comes. Director Jochen Hick's sensitive and intimate documentary follows a few of these queer life experiences, exploring the interactions of queer Berliners with their new or native city as they navigate work, play, gender, transition, change, language, pleasure and activism. QUEER EXILE BERLIN is the third in a trilogy of thorough and artistic historical and cultural explorations of the queerest city on Earth. The queer universe of Berlin mirrors the movements of the world and is constantly evolving. The film interweaves personal stories and ambitions of queer protagonists with historical events and current issues. The result is a true image of Berlin as a perpetual place of longing and a challenge to all those who arrive there. A city in constant transition. How do you make a life in Berlin? Come and see for yourself.

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Pre-Feature Short:

SKIN TO SKIN TALKS
Dir. Pradeep Mahadeshwar / Ireland / 2023 / 12m
'The dark skin alien landed in the unknown, unfamiliar and unique landscape from the infinite darkness…' Completed as part of the artist's residency at IMMA, Skin To Skin Talks explores themes of alienation, otherness and outsiderness using abstract imagery, prose and sensation-invoking techniques to reflect on the intersections of race and sexuality.

DAVID HOYLE: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS↪

Friday 4th August
20:30
Project Arts Centre

The living legend, queer icon and performance art maestro David Hoyle brings his critically-acclaimed live show The Ten Commandments to Dublin for a premiere and one-night-only performance at Project Arts Centre for GAZE FIlm Festival. Survivor of a shame-inducing religious upbringing, David revisits his Biblical initiation with his very own version of The Ten Commandments designed to spark a revolution in human consciousness. This is a live experience that will wash all of your sins away and then some. Dark comedy meets righteous anger meets queer revolution as only David Hoyle themselves can conjure…

Head to projectartscentre.ie for further information and to book.

David Hoyle is our special guest at this year's GAZE FIlm Festival and on Sunday evening you can catch him in conversation at Light House Cinema with film director Jen Heyes and Festival Director Greg Thorpe following a one-off screening of Hedda (After Ibsen), a cinematic and musical reimagining of the Henrik Ibsen classic Hedda Gabler in true Hoyleian avant garde fashion. David also appears in Afterparty, part of the Mighty Real shorts selection on Saturday evening.

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MY ANIMAL↪

Friday 4th August
22:35
Light House Cinema

Dir. Jacqueline Castel
Canada, 2023
1hr 40m

Self-possessed teenager Heather (Bobbi Salvör Menuez) is a high school loner, big sister and competent ice hockey goalie from a troubled but loving home. Her family shares a chilling supernatural secret that ultimately cannot be kept hidden as Heather begins to assert her sexuality upon meeting the beautiful neighbourhood girl Jonny, played with enigmatic perfection by Amandla Stenberg of The Hunger Games, The Hate U Give and Bodies Bodies Bodies. As their relationship deepens and her parental troubles accelerate, the dark power that lives inside Heather will soon be unleashed. The 1980s setting for this brilliant teen horror allows for a sensational soundtrack and a super-cool Stranger Things aesthetic that you will adore. We are thrilled to present the European Premiere of this future queer classic to our audience in Dublin. Bring a friend, a cushion, and beware the blood moon…

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Pre-Feature Short:

LATE BLOOMERS
Dir. Sarah Ahern / Ireland / 2023 / 9m
Sue and Ellie share an unspoken love that is gradually transforming into something much deeper, sweeter and more meaningful. Often when we are the ones closest to the truth, we are the very last people to see it.

ASK ANY BUDDY↪

Friday 4th August
22:40
Light House Cinema

Dir. Elizabeth Purchell
USA, 2019
1hr 18m

Ask Any Buddy was an Irish Premiere at GAZE back in the home-viewing days of 2020. This unique cine-collage is a voyage into the classic porn of yesteryear and it's had a film festival life like few other movies. For GAZE 2023 we are bringing it back for a glorious in-the-flesh late night screening. Both erotic and anthropological, Purchell's filmic essay is a kaleidoscope of beautiful men from bygone days. Filled with the warmth of grainy pre-digital footage and the hot pulse of disco, it pieces together work by famous adult directors, including William Higgins, Tom DeSimone and Joe Gage. Elements of 126 feature films, spanning the years 1968-1986, go to create a cut-up of urban gay life and a snapshot from a different time. Ask Any Buddy is a joyful homage to the radical act of being a happy and fulfilled homosexual, and to the gleeful smut-makers who captured the nightlife, the cruising, the baths and the fun.

Part of our celebration of the history of gay sexuality, marking thirty years since decriminalisation in Ireland. Check out our Saturday night screening of Le Beau Mec for more vintage gay goodness with a lovingly restored almost-lost French skinflick classic.

Contains explicit sexual content. Strictly over 18s only.

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Pre-Feature Short:

BIG SUR GAY PORN
Dir. Ryan A. White / USA / 2023 / 12m
Cult filmmaker Tom DeSimone revisits the production of a lost gay porn film, resurrecting youthful adventures on the Californian coast, but nostalgia isn't always 20/20 vision.