Boys Briefs 5: Schoolboys

Francis of Assisi

September 1966 •Italian

A 1966 biopic of Francis of Assisi presents him as a troubled rebel and champion of radical brotherhood, reflecting the spirit of 1968 student protests. Praised and condemned, the film sparked controversy for its bold, dissenting portrayal of faith.

I Could Read the Sky

September 1999 •English

The film concerns an old Irish immigrant living in London who is looking back over his life. He recalls his early life in the west of Ireland, his first love, emigrating to England, searching for his brother Joe, who disappeared after he emigrated several years previously. His marriage and wife's later depth is also remembered.

In Half

September 2014 •English

After his twin's wake, James spends an afternoon with his brother's ex-boyfriend, learning more about his brother and more about himself.

Inefable

November 2022 •Spanish

Two strangers constantly meet on public transportation, until one decides to take the first step to talk to the other.

Kapag Puso'y Sinugatan

January 1985 •Tagalog

A mother urges the father of the child she bore out of wedlock to fulfill their son’s yearning for his father.

Whiplash

January 2013 •English

A ferocious, bullying music teacher teaches a dedicated student.

Wisdom

December 2013 •English

Emily Eximo finds herself sat in a strange room, with a strange man, who's sitting in a strange chair. Denton Elicient wants her to settle a debt she didn't even know she had.

Lena's Complicated Machine

January 2015 •English

Three years after her partner's untimely death, Dr. Lena Thierry, a neuroengineer, has been unable to move on. After years of research and development, she attempts to upload his consciousness into a computer software program.

Butterfly

December 2004 •

Flavia is a thirtysomething married teacher. She has suppressed the memory of her adolescent lesbian fling with Jin and is stuck in a stifling marriage. A chance encounter in a supermarket with the playful and seductive singer Yip reawakens dormant feelings and she begins to think back on her teenage affair with Jin.

Best Men

October 1997 •English

Four tuxedo clad men show up at a penitentiary to meet a friend who has just been released after three years in prison and is going straight from the jail to marry his girlfriend. En route to the wedding, one of the men asks to stop by a bank to pick up some cash. As it turns out, he is a wanted bank robber who uses Shakespeare passages during his robberies and thus has become known as "Hamlet". Soon all five men are caught up in the bank and involved in the robbery as they end up in a hostage situation. The hostage negotiator shows up who turns out to be Hamlet's father.

Loggerheads

October 2005 •English

A troubled woman seeks out the child she gave up for adoption; a gay motel owner takes in a handsome drifter; and the wife of a preacher frets that a gay couple has moved in across the street. All of their lives will intersect as Loggerheads subtly draws out their secret losses and desires.

The Exterminating Angels

August 2006 •French

A filmmaker holds a series of boundary-pushing auditions for his latest project: a thriller on the subject of female pleasure.

Mulligans

May 2008 •English

When Tyler Davidson brings his college buddy Chase home for the summer holidays a secret is revealed that threatens to tear his perfect family apart.

The Prince & Me: A Royal Honeymoon

October 2008 •English

At last! The newly crowned King of Denmark, Edward, and his wife and Queen, Dr. Paige Morgan, find time to fly to Belavia for their secret honeymoon. What better way to spend the Christmas holidays than at a fabulous ski resort? But as they take a tour of Belavia's natural beauty, Eddie and Paige discover that the evil Prime Minister Polonius has given orders to bulldoze the precious forests - to drill for oil. Then, the couple bump into Paige's ex-boyfriend, Scott. Eddie immediately becomes jealous - furthermore he suspects Scott cannot be trusted. Paige and Eddie must do everything they can to save the forest, even if it means putting aside their honeymoon.

Victim or Hero

February 2025 •Arabic

"Victim or Hero" is a short film about the battle between fate and willpower. Do we accept the role of the world’s victim, or take control as the hero of our own story?

Hotel Paradijs

April 2007 •English

Every day Paul crosses a canal that separates the Amsterdam city center from the north side, where his lover Christiaan lives and waits for him. A dear routine for both - until one day Paul meets Claire, who starts seducing him into her very own universe, the Hotel Paradijs. Claire makes Paul the audience of her own play: a play where the roles are reversed and into which Paul is undeniably drawn.

The Return of the Prodigal Son

April 2003 •Italian

In Italy, immediately subsequent to the war, a group of people who lost all they possessed during the conflict, settle in a village in ruins. They intend to restore the city from the rubble and re-start life, in imitation of the women of Messina who rebuilt their city, destroyed as it was by an earthquake. Oscillating between respect and suspicion, co-existence between group members is tense. Things become complicated when an envoy from the government arrives to say that nothing there belongs to them. The film is a free adaptation of fragments of the novella ‘The Women of Messina’, by Sicilian writer Elio Vittorini.

Pelageya

October 2022 •Russian

Limit of Wooded Country

August 2018 •English

In Alaska, two estranged brothers find their fates entwined after a disastrous run-in with a local cop.

Valley Girl

April 1983 •English

Julie, a girl from the valley, meets Randy, a punk from the city. They are from different worlds and find love. Somehow they need to stay together in spite of her trendy, shallow friends.