Once upon a time there was a war… In the darkness of the night, a young soldier goes AWOL. Tonia, a veteran transsexual in Lisbon’s drag shows, watches the world around her crumble. The competition from younger artists threatens her star status. Under pressure from her young boyfriend Rosário to assume her female identity, the sex change operation that will transform her into a woman, Tonia struggles against her deeply-held religious convictions. If, on the one hand, she wants to be the woman that Rosário so desires, on the other, she knows that before God she can never be that woman. And her son, whom she abandoned when he was a child, now a deserter, comes looking for her. Tonia discovers that she’s ill. To get away from all her troubles she travels to the countryside with Rosário, on the excuse of visiting his brother. Rosário takes the road of his childhood but will never find the right way. Lost, they find themselves in an enchanted forest, a magical world where they come across the enigmatic Maria Bakker and her friend Paula. And that meeting will turn their whole world on its head… (Description courtesy of Cannes Film Festival)

Ten years ago ‘The Screech’ was the hottest lesbian band around. Iris and Lily were the lead vocalists, MJ the producer, and Carol always went on tour with them. But the days of big dreams and wild nights have long since past. Sexy Iris now drinks too much and fantasises about a comeback that has yet to materialise. She and MJ split up years ago, but just can’t let go. Carol and Lily are so bored by their relationship that they can’t seem to decide on anything, except perhaps to have a child together. And then Cricket enters this Bermuda triangle of fallow desire, disappointment, anger and boredom. This argumentative twenty-year-old is looking for trouble – and finds it. After a pool party awash with cocaine and alcohol, Iris winds up on Cricket’s lap. This makes MJ – to whom Iris has been unfaithful so often before – even more furious. An argument ensues and escalates into a fight during which Cricket is badly injured and dies. The girlfriends decide to overcome their differences, pull together and get rid of the corpse. Their complicity creates a firm bond. But then, a year later, Skye turns up on Lily and Carol’s doorstep. Revenge is her aim and seduction her strategy … (Description courtesy of The Berlinale)