A Look Back

Bobby Stone is 13 and in love. Problem is that he's in love with his best friend Dylan and Dylan doesn't feel the same way.

Two boys dream of a life together in heaven.

Nearly 3 hours of LGBTQ and Coming-of-Age short films and music videos await you in the debut of Altered Innocence’s cinematic mixtape supreme! Films from established auteurs like Peter Strickland, Cam Archer, João Nicolau, and Yann Gonzalez join fresh new voices such as Alexis Langlois, Shaun Hughes, Caroline Poggi, and Jonathan Vinel. Cruising, dancing, naked wrestling, trans terrorism, first love, bullies, femme fatales, band practice, and more is in store!

An amplified sense of place that nonetheless leaves one feeling unmoored, the destabilization of loss layered with a new, raw potential...these relatable states of being are invoked through image and voice in Cam Archer’s new film His Image.

A lyrical telling of the coming of age of a 13-year-old boy who learns to cope with his new found sexuality and his unrequited love for the cool kid in school.

Filmmaker Cam Archer examines and explores his ordinary, suburban neighborhood in search of hidden truths, new narratives and a better understanding of his fading, creative self. Combining heavily degraded video with personal photographs and real life neighbors, Archer re-imagines the concept of 'home video'. In an attempt to distance himself from his subjects, actress Jena Malone narrates the piece as Archer in the first person.

Cam Archer revisits the life of child actor Jonathan Brandis who committed suicide in 2003. Lydia Lunch narrates this meditation on fame, the actor’s pressure to remain in the public eye and the surreal events in the lead up to his unexplained death.

Renowned actress Colleen West abandons her successful career for a secluded life in the hills. But the quiet and peace of mind she longed for is disrupted by the noisy construction of neighboring housing developments. Before long, Colleen discovers that she really can’t stand herself now that she has given up the only thing that she has ever truly been passionate about. As an alternative to isolation, she reluctantly befriends her jubilant, whimsical neighbor and reconnects with her estranged brother. Haunted by loneliness and past desires, Colleen begins to feel as if she has lived her life through the characters she has played on stage and screen. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

Cam Archer's hypnotic short film takes form as a letter into the void. A middle-aged woman reads a note to a lost friend while slowed home movies of an adolescent boy flash across the screen. With movements blurred and the picture flaring with light, the image seems to register the uncertain memory of one left behind. "Have you forgotten about me," the woman asks. "We left a mark on each other, didn't we?" We don't know the nature of the relationship or the loss but the haunting conjuring power of cinema works its primal spell. ABOVE BELOW is another remarkable selection from the Cinemad Almanac.