Festival favourite Ferzan Ozpetek (Ignorant Fairies; Saturn in Opposition) returns to with a light-hearted tale of family obligation and repressed desire that is as playful and sunny as a weekend on the Italian Riviera. Tommaso is the youngest son of the well-to-do and ultra-conservative Cantone family, who own a pasta factory in Puglia. He returns home for an important family dinner at which his father plans to hand over the business to Tommaso and his brother Antonio. But Tommaso has a comfortable life in Rome as an aspiring writer and a steady relationship with his boyfriend Marcoa life he has kept secret from his family. He has no desire to move back to his hometown or to give up his writing career, so he plans to announce to his family at the dinner that he is gay. That evening, however, just as Tomasso begins his speech, he is upstaged by his brother, who, to everyones surprise, reveals his own secret! Antonio is promptly disowned and their father Vincenzo collapses from a heart attack. With the family in a state of turmoil, Tommaso reluctantly steps in to run the factory with Alba, the daughter of their new business partner. The comedy follows Tommaso as he balances running the firm, consoling his outraged family and keeping his homosexuality a secret in case the news altogether kills his stricken father. A surprise visit from some of Tomassos friends, including boyfriend Marco, uncovers some well-hidden family secrets and helps to change some long-held beliefs among the family. Loose Cannons is a witty, penetrating drama, beautifully acted by its ensemble cast. The film takes a lighthearted approach, revealing each family member’s quirks in a story that meanders through an emotional terrain of unspoken feelings that are played out against a backdrop of sumptuous beauty. (Description courtesy of Inside Out: The Toronto LGBT Film Festival.)

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Carlos is spending the summer in the country with his family in order to help out with things. Perhaps he won’t even be returning to the capital, as economic prospects are hardly rosy there either. Extremadura on the other hand, sparsely populated and for a long time one of the most neglected regions in Europe, is experiencing a tentative upturn. Tourism and modernisation rub shoulders with almost archaic customs and a conservative, mostly elderly population here. Sleepless Knights depicts all this in casual, unobtrusive fashion, in images that have at times a truly otherworldly beauty. The central theme is the love story between the newly returned Carlos and the young policeman Juan. “You don’t look like you’re from here,” remarks Juan when they meet. “I’m not from here,“ replies Carlos, “I live in Madrid.” Whether to be from here or elsewhere is a decision that many here have to make. Extremadura, Madrid, maybe even Munich? This uncertainty suffuses their love story with a peculiar sense of tension before the backdrop of a seemingly relaxed, uneventful summer. It is only the old men striding through the austere landscape in their strange knight costumes who remain blissfully untroubled.

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Set during a tumultuous period of FrenchCanadian history, Funkytown follows the lives of eight people who are linked to a world famous Montreal nightclub called The Starlight in the late 1970s, when disco, casual sex, cocaine, and corruption reigned supreme. The action pivots around Bastien (Patrick Huard), a larger-than-life TV personality with a heroic appetite for booze, drugs, women, and outlandish clothes. We also follow aspiring singer Adriana, who has her sights set on record producer Gilles as her ticket to fame, and club dancer Tino, who becomes confused about his sexuality when he meets the openly gay Jonathan. By 1980, as the disco lifestyle fades, the characters feel the hangover acutely and are forced to make some difficult life choices. With many characters based on real-life figures from the era, Funkytown is a realistic portrait of Montreal.

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