If They Knew

A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.

Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen, Sean, struggling with his sexuality and the hardships of high school. After his father finds some questionable magazines in his room, this devout Christian will go to any lengths to get his son to find the light and "perform" the way a man should. Sean is introduced to Katie, a prostitute that understands the stigmas of modern society and helps him see the true light that is within him.

Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.

After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.

A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.

An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her friends at school, keeping her double life a secret. But soon rumours spread and Miriam becomes the subject of vicious online attacks and unwanted attention. Miriam fights back: she talks to the media, saying her new line of work empowers her as a feminist. But her confident stand has unintended consequences. Miriam is shunned by her conservative family and her colleagues in the adult film world. One impulsive decision has quickly spiralled out of control - and Miriam's problems are just beginning.

In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

A poetic and powerful story of a father forced to choose between love and duty.

An animated short based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a poor young girl with a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames filled with images of loving relatives, bountiful food, and a place to call home.

At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.

A destitute WWI veteran is hired to help carry out restoration work on a medieval mural in a rural Yorkshire church. While living in the quiet village, he forms a close friendship with an archaeologist and begins to come to terms with his trauma.

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

A decade after the death of an American TV star, a young actor reminisces about the written correspondence he once shared with the former, as well as the impact those letters had on both their lives.

A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.

An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.

Sixteen-year-old Clément spends a hot summer evening home alone by the pool. Determined to lose his virginity, he swipes through guys’ profiles on Grindr.

Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.

Jonas lives in a seaside town and has to deal with people leaving his town all the time. After his friend Giovanna has to move to the big city, Jonas isolates himself in his room taking turns between reading and watching with curiosity his neighbor, Gaspar, through the window. However, one day he hears a strange, incessant noise coming from his neighbor's house, a noise that seems to be being transmitted by a new girl in town, Sophia.

Co-directed by Blackwood and Julien, the first full-length feature film by Sankofa Film and Video offers a radical and necessary interrogation into what constitutes 'post-colonial' identity at a time of political and social restlessness in Britain. Set within an isolated desert landscape contrasted with recognizable scenes of the intensity of family life, this vanguard work demonstrates the richness and variety of the black experience; it is a poetic and hard-hitting commentary on the complexities of race, gender and sexuality.

Two actresses take us through a series of 'raps' and sketches about what it means to be beautiful and black.

During a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.

After a long absence it is hard for Soo Min, a young mother and cello player to resume her place in the family. She feels she has to compete with her six-year-old daughter for her husband's love.

In a small town of France, Martin shares his everyday life between his family and the local brass band. At the fanfare, Francis disturbs his well-ordered life. To stop the impulses, Martin will try to go to the end of his fantasies.

Young Romanian Adrian works as a hustler in Zurich's underground in order to get his sister Ioana out of Romania and to Zurich, where they can both have a better future.

Founding a social Muay Thai project in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Mestre BG and his competitors face the adversities of an underfunded project and fight to win their place on the podium. The challenges intensify when one of the students, Raíssa Pacheco, secures a spot to compete in a South American championship in Uruguay.

A poetic story about the first love of boy Sanya to girl Lena.

Visit He visits a city. The city already forgot him. The city is still sinking in his dream. The flicking segments of real life and illusion. Only the lighthouse has his memory. But the memory will may be vanished.

Unfolding during a 2004 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, fitness trainer Richard Simmons makes an appearance. Amid the chaos and liveliness of the behind-the-scenes, Richard encounters David, an overlooked and underappreciated segment producer struggling with self-esteem. In a serendipitous twist, Richard sees beyond David's invisibility, offering his unique brand of honest, uplifting kindness.

Josh Thomas is an artist grieving the loss of his wife, channelling inner turmoil into art. When presented with an opportunity, Josh must decide whether he’s selling art or his emotions.

How far is a father willing to go

What do Bingo and Sponge Bob have in common? Dusan, an eight year old boy trapped in limbo between two polar opposite worlds, spends his time amongst gambling adults in a casino while his imagination is captivated by children's television series. When does one grow up? Let's play and find out!

Jennifer wakes up with a bad headache and unsure of what happened the day before. She finds unpleasant clues in her apartment. When the doorbell rings, she assumes the worst but is pleasantly surprised to have forgotten her Tinder date.

A married man calls the wrong number for phone-sex and winds up being stalked by a psychotic man.

After running away from an abusive relationship that lasted for 8 years, Alec moves to Ireland to start over and rediscover himself. However, his journey takes an unexpected turn after Jonathan enters Alec's life.

After a plague wipes out most of humanity, transforming them into mindless creatures, The Grim Reaper struggles with boredom as he kills time more than he does people. Kali Kaminski, the lone human survivor, struggles to maintain her sanity while keeping creatures and lethargy at bay. These two individuals inevitably meet and find kindred spirits in one another changing both of their outlooks on the world they find themselves trapped in.