Tue, 21 Oct, 6/8.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen Fri, 31 Oct, 7 pm, JUB Bremerhaven approx. 93 min | original languages with German subtitles
In AS YOU ARE, an interabled queer couple prepares to be intimate for the very first time. Before they can take this step, they must confront their insecurities around sexuality and bodily autonomy.
After years in the design world and queer life in Iowa, Marc returns to Guam to create costumes for a children’s play. What begins as a professional project turns into a tender reconnection with his estranged parents in WOULDN’T MAKE IT ANY OTHER WAY.
SKIN offers a sensorial meditation on queer identity, self-discovery, and the body. In NEO NAHDA, a London barista uncovers traces of a once-thriving cross-dressing community of lesbian, queer, and non-binary people in Lebanon’s past.
Teenager Yael navigates questions of identity in WAKING UP IN VEGAS, caught between his older brother and his queer best friend Aaron. But can their friendship withstand this search for self?
When Zooey Zephyr loses SEAT 31 in the Montana House of Representatives, she turns a public bench into her new “office.” In doing so, she transforms political loss into an opportunity to defend her community, safeguard her identity, and make a pivotal personal choice.
The poetic stop-motion short TWO BLACK BOYS IN PARADISE imagines Eden and Dula’s tender love in a utopian refuge—an escape from the trauma of their past lives.
Content notes
As You Are: –
Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way:: Queerphobia, violence, alcohol consumption, flashing lights
Wed, 10 Oct, 5.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen HU/USA 2023 | Documentary | Dir: Kata Oláh | 83 min. | Hungarian OV with German subtitles
Gergő and Lénárd, a gay couple from a Rom*nja community in Hungary, dream of writing a musical about their lives—despite facing family rejection and religious conflict. To pursue this vision, they move to Budapest, where they find greater visibility, creative freedom, and a vibrant queer community.
When a death in the family calls them back to their village, they embark on a journey that intertwines questions of origin, self-acceptance, and artistic expression.
This documentary captures not only moments of romance and creative passion but also the tensions around faith, heritage, and politics in a country where an increasingly authoritarian government fuels queerphobic sentiment. Despite limited resources and an uncertain future, the couple remains both defiant and hopeful.
Wed, 22 Oct, 7.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen IT 2023 | Documentary | Dir: Chloé Barreau | 95 min. | French–Italian OV with German subtitles
For over 30 years, Chloé Barreau has been filming her love life between Paris and Rome. While in relationships, she documented her experiences through film, photography, and writing. But what do her former partners remember? How do they tell the story?
This film traces the life of a woman entirely through the eyes of those who loved her. Intimate testimonies and personal artifacts reveal the universal pathways of love.
Thu, 23 Oct, 5.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen MEX 2023 | Feature | Dir: Diego del Rio | 82 min. | Spanish OV with Spanish Sign Language and German subtitles
Miriam, raised as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), works as a sign language teacher in the mornings and in a professional theater production in the afternoons. Alongside her stable and passionate relationship with Lola, she is part of a queer community that connects sign language and spoken Spanish. Despite her deep ties to the local Deaf community, her world shatters when she realizes she is losing her hearing.
TODO EL SILENCIO tenderly depicts the power of community and how new perspectives emerge, teaching how to fill silence with life.
Thu, 23 Oct, 8.15 pm, CITY 46 Bremen AUS 2025 | Animation | Dir: Emma Hough Hobbs | 86 min. | English OV with German subtitles
Followed by a Q&A with director Emma Hobbs in English.
Princess Saira from the queer planet Clitopia is fed up with royal life—and even more so with her ex-girlfriend Kiki, who broke her heart. But when Kiki is kidnapped by the sinister Straight White Maliens, a wild intergalactic rescue mission across the cosmos begins. On board: a chaotic crew, plenty of queer humor, and a fierce determination to defy every norm.
This animated film blends sci-fi parody, queer empowerment, and coming-of-age storytelling, delivered with humor, political edge, and a generous dose of camp. LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS won the Teddy Award at Berlinale 2025 and is also this year’s recipient of the Queerscope Debut Film Prize.
Fri, 24 Oct, 5.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen UK 2025 | Feature | Dir: Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor | 79 min. | English OV with German subtitles
Living in the UK for two years without papers, Nigerian migrant Isio was taken to a deportation center. She hopes for a fair asylum process. She will definitely get out of here if she just follows the rules strictly. As Isio slowly settles in, she begins to fall in love with her charismatic roommate Farah. When Isios asylum applications are rejected, Farah suggests they escape together so their love has a chance. Isio initially refuses, but when an unexpected event threatens to destroy everything, she gradually realizes that she must start playing by her own rules.
This film compassionately portrays the often difficult reality of life for asylum seekers. It shows that freedom is hard to achieve, but love is eternal.
Content Notes
Trans*phobia, sexualized and physical violence, flickering light
Fri, 24 Oct, 7.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen USA/HKG/CHN 2025 | Feature | Dir: Jun Li | 87 min. | English and Mandarin OV with German subtitles
A man searches for one-night stands in Hong Kong through dating apps. At each new meeting, he takes on the identity of his previous sexual partner. Through this role-playing, he seeks his own identity and a deeper meaning in his encounters. The conversations during these meetings are often political, intimate, or existential, reflecting his search for connection and self-understanding.
The black-and-white film uses a circular narrative that emphasizes the protagonist’s fragmentation and inner emptiness.
Fri, 24 Oct, 9.45 pm, CITY 46 Bremen Wed, 29 Oct, 7 pm, JUB Bremerhaven Malaysia/Indonesia 2025 | Documentary | Dir: Yihwen Chen | 88 min. | English-Malaysian OV with German subtitles
“Shh…Diam!” roughly translates to “Shut up!” and is the name of the Malaysian punk band that shouts its truth to the world. For the group, punk is a form of resistance against the restrictive military state’s treatment of queer people and the associated fear. But being together also means for them to form a loving chosen family, who have each other’s backs. The band members Faris, Yoyo, and Yon are creating a space for self-realization, physical transformation, love, and political engagement under a government that offers no film funding, pits religion, longings, and identity against each other, and criminalizes the LGBT scene. What a relief that there is a band that laughs, flirts, plays music, and lets off some steam.
Sat, 25 Oct, 3 pm, CITY 46 Bremen USA 2023 | Dokumentary | Dir: Sandra Itäinen | 75 min. | English-Arabian OV with German subtitles
Eman, a queer Muslim from Brooklyn, struggles with her faith, her sexuality, and the difficult decision of coming out to the most important person in her life—her devoutly religious mother. She is determined to maintain her unique, close bond with her. To delay her coming out, she decides to marry her current boyfriend Q in order to maintain the appearance of a heterosexual relationship.
The film shows the contrasting expectations of different identities. At the climax, past, present, and future intertwine during a drive from St. Louis Airport to Columbia.
Sat, 25 Oct, 5 pm, CITY 46 Bremen D 2025 | Feature | Dir: Lotta Schwerk | 89 min. | German OV
Followed by a Q&A with director Lotta Schwerk & co-producer Carlotta Saumweber in German
At 18, Leonie and Marlene are total besties and swear to be there for each other forever – until Leonie falls in love with Naomi and throws herself into her first big love. Leonie moves further and further away from Marlene and only realizes how isolated she has become after the breakup. She begins an apprenticeship at a nursery to see the world around her.
She starts to sort things out and slowly rekindles her relationship with Marlene. However, 8 years have passed and both have changed. A poignant portrait of three young people as they grow up and navigate their relationships.
Content Notes
Self-mutilation, alcohol and drug consumption, flickering light
Sat, 25 Oct, 7.30 pm, CITY 46 Bremen CAN/PHL/UK 2023 | Documentary | Dir: Seán Devlin | 101 min. | Tagalog OV with German subtitles
On the way to a drag competition for money and fame, the non-binary and overworked 40-plus teacher Jaya is accompanied by a student who wants to move in with his father. On their road trip through the Philippines, the two meet locals from the island of Sicogon who were stripped of their land and rights, in 2013, by the country’s largest real estate company, ALI, after Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest and deadliest tropical storms since records began. In their voices and stories, Jaya also learns a lot about herself.
With a cast consisting only of typhoon survivors, a lot of humor, and social portrait realism, the fictional documentary film fights to this day for the rights of the victims. Local performances are still being boycotted by ALI.
Sat, 25 Oct, 9.45 pm, CITY 46 Bremen ARG/USA 2023 | Feature | Dir: Michael Taylor Jackson | 85 Min. | English-Spanish OV with German subtitles
A California backpacker travels to Buenos Aires to pay homage to the Argentine pirate who conquered his hometown of Monterey in 1818. After being robbed, he is picked up by a group of young theater actors. Before he knows it, he finds himself entangled in polyamory, theater rehearsals, and plans to kidnap the US ambassador.
Through the fusion of genres and the incorporation of fantasy into everyday life, the film comments on the influence of imperialist US interests in the historical exploitation and destabilization of Argentina. In the end, the pirate life may not be so bad after all.
Sun, 26 Oct, 2 pm, CITY 46 Bremen D / CHN 2024 | Experimental | Dir: Menghzu Xue | 30 min. | English-Chinese OV with English subtitles
With Filmmaker Conversation with Menghzu Xue
For an art project, Mengzhu visits her grandmother and asks her to read a poem aloud. Although the characters are all Chinese, she does not understand what she is saying. The international audience does, though. In this way, Mengzhu can finally express to her what is close to her heart.
The film becomes the starting point for a conversation with Bremen based filmmaker Menghzu Xue about the contemporary conditions of queer and transnational filmmaking. Which local and international structures are helpful and supportive, and which ones cause difficulties? And does coming out actually have to play a role in this?
Sun, 26 Oct, 3.45 pm, CITY 46 Bremen USA 2024 | Documentary | Dir: Deborah Craig, Jörg Fockele, Ondine Rarey | 96 min. | English OV with German subtitles
Gearhart was a lesbian-feminist pioneer, professor of Women and Gender Studies, and science fiction author. In the 1970s and 1980s, she led the lesbian-feminist movement in the USA. SALLY! peels off proverbial (and patriarchal) layers to reveal the collectivist reality behind the story of our heroine. The film examines the complex relationship between Sally and other activists and movements for social change. A long overdue monument to the forgotten key figure of lesbian self-determination.
Sun, 26 Oct, 6 pm, CITY 46 Bremen UK/USA 2024 | Documentary | Dir: Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian | 73 min. | English-French-Arabic-Armenian OV with German subtitles
Followed by a Q & A with director Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian in English
Three doppelgangers meet in space to imagine a queer, ecofeminist future. Through encounters with scientists and visionary creatives, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian and her doppelgangers offer an experimental vision and blueprint for a future diaspora beyond Earth. The film culminates in a space mission rehearsal in a deep cave in Spain, where we accompany Ben Hayoun-Stépanian and her doubles as they experience a lunar utopia. But things are not going according to plan.
A humorous and galactic experimental documentary that draws on the experiences of diasporas to question the colonization of the moon.
