A questioning Rabbi, a sexual encounter, candidly described, which led to some harsh realisations, an mother and son’s escape from the Soviet Union, the preparations of a young Indian man’s coming out to his parents and a celebration of gay erotica are just some of the stories making up this year’s collection of men’s shorts.

THE FISH CURRY  ABHISHEK VERMA | INDIA | 2017 | 12 min A young man, Lalit, decides to come out to his parents. In the hope that it will ease the news, he prepares his father’s favourite fish dish, in order to confront his sexuality over dinner.

BEDDING ANDREW  BLAIR FUKUMURA | CANADA | 2015 | 5 min On the eve of his 30th birthday, Andrew Morrison-Gurza reflects on his life as an LGBTQ man with Cerebral Palsy, and the event that helped shape his identity as a gay man.

RUSALKA  WES HURLEY (POTATO) | USA | 2017 | 9 min  An eclectic mix of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid retold by Tom of Finland and a homage to early gay erotic films, equals Rusalka, set to the music of Antonín Dvořák’s opera of the same name and starring burlesque icons Luminous Pariah and Chris Harder.

THE RABBI  URIYA HERTZ | ISRAEL | 2016 | 20 min  Michael is a charismatic and much-admired Rabbi at a Jerusalem Yeshiva. When his favourite student, Gadi, shares with him his innermost secrets, Michael’s familiar, secure world comes into question.

MINE  MATTHEW MORGAN | UK | 2017 | 6 min  The non-donor father in a gay relationship struggles to come to terms with being the father to a child which is not biologically his.

HALF A LIFE  TAMARA SHOGAOLOU | EGYPT, NETHERLANDS, USA | 2017 | 12 min  After a traumatic encounter, a young, gay Egyptian joins the LGBT rights movement. When his safety is jeopardized, he must choose whether to stay in the country he loves or seek asylum elsewhere as a refugee.

LITTLE POTATO  WES HURLEY (POTATO) | USA | 2017 | 14 min Autobiographical tale of growing up gay in the Soviet Union, only to escape with his mother, a mail order bride, to Seattle to face a whole new oppression in his new Christian fundamentalist American dad.

THE WHOLE WORLD  JULIAN QUINTANILLA | SPAIN | 2016 | 30 min  Every year Julián visits his mother’s grave in the village cemetery, and every year she appears to him and they make plans; or rather, she makes plans and he obeys. This year, however, La Chary has something different in mind, a special request that will surprise the whole world!

THE RABBI IS SCREENED WITH THE SUPPORT OF: