Festival MIX MILANO di Cinema Gaylesbico e Queer Culture
Formerly known as: Milan International Lesbian & Gay Queer Film Festival
MiX Festival thrives for high quality content and performances, blending the beauty of words and drama with its film programme.
Where the best of the visions in circulation are gathered around the themes of identity. MiX Festival is a special opportunity to see films of international independent productions and Italian premieres, avant-garde and innovative films.
Telling the past, exploring the present, imagining the future.
The 38th edition will be held at the Piccolo Teatro Strehler in Milan from September 26 to September 29, 2024.
Dal 1986, il MiX - Festival Internazionale di Cinema LGBTQ+ e Cultura Queer è l’evento milanese dedicato alla proiezione di film a tematica lesbica, gay e transgender, e nel corso degli anni è diventato, per affluenza di pubblico, uno dei festival italiani più rilevanti.
Il MiX Festival è una miscela di qualità, dove ai film si uniscono le pagine dei libri e le parole del teatro. Dove intorno ai temi dell’identità si raccoglie il meglio delle visioni in circolazione. Il MiX Festival è un’occasione speciale per vedere film di produzione indipendente internazionale e anteprime italiane, opere all’avanguardia e innovative. Raccontando il passato, esplorando il presente, immaginando il futuro.
Il Festival si terrà anche quest'anno al Piccolo Teatro Strehler di Milano, dal 26 al 29 settembre 2024.
Best Feature Film: 1.500 €
Best Documentary: 1.500 €
Best Short Film: 250 €
Best Music Video
Audience Award
It is the faculty of the jury to award further prizes or special mentions for the most deserving works.
2024 films...
A Pelsule Barata / A Cheap Film
Salo De Baile (This is Ballroom)
Huling Palabas – Love and Videotapes
(Revolution, fulfill your promise) Red Love
BODY TALK
Short film program – V.O. with Italian subtitles
This collection explores three stories related to identity and body: An essay reflects on the difficulties of being trans in Italy. The protagonist of “Fat Dance” challenges the social judgment after taking 40 kg, redefining his image and sensuality beyond the conventions on the size. Finally, a documentary that celebrates the term “Parents Cavalluccio Marino” as a metaphor for pregnancy in transgender men.
The Real Life Test
De Isabella, Italy, 2023, 9th
V.O. Italian
An essay in an alternative format on frustration and the difficulties that being trans in Italy entails
Fat Dance
Kirsikka Saari, Finland, 2023, 30
Finnish V.O., with Italian subtitles
Evaleena Vuorenmaa faces the judgment after taking 40 kg. Fat Dance shows how he redefines his image and sensuality beyond the size.
Seahorse Parents
Miriam Guttmann, Netherlands, 2023, 9th
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
Seahorses are the only males to live the pregnancy, inspiring transgender pregnant people to proudly call themselves "Parents Horseback Rick Sea".
(IM)PERFECT ENDING
Short film program – V.O. with Italian subtitles
Hollywood movies have accustomed us to effect endings, and often, let’s face it, a bit of a discounted – a kiss in the rain, a car that gets lost in the landscape at sunset, and all* lived felic* and content*... In the five shorts of this program, the endings are as unexpected as they are imperfect: those who are looking for each other not to find each other, and those who imagined themselves alone for life to one’s suddenly eyes in their eyes with a new flame. Then there is a couple who feel lost and bored, and discover a new kink to explore; while those who wanted to realize their own sexual fantasies of a lifetime, they seem to need to chat more than to put them into action. Six films that remind us that in everything – from flirting to making life-changing decisions – we are at the mercy of encounters and destiny.
Ripe! Ripe!
Tusk, 2024, Spain/USA , 18’
V.O. English and Spanish, with Italian subtitles
The football rivalry between Sophie, an American student, and Gloria, a Catalan girl, turns once off the field.
Kasbi
Farah Jabir, USA, 2024, 12’
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
A middle-aged Pakistani housewife, looking for herself, hires a young prostitute confident to keep her company for the night.
Collage
Màrius Conrotto Diaz, Spain, 2024, 10’
Spanish V.O, with subtitles in Italian
A girl who works in a museum tries to convince a colleague that two visitors are flirting - the six unmistakable signs are all there.
Saigon Kiss
Hong Anh Nguyen, Vietnam/Australia, 2024, 22’
Vietnamese V.O. with subtitles in Italian
Mo and Vicky meet on the face of one of Saigon's noisy streets - it will be a failure of the bike to bring them close.
If I Make it to the Morning
Andre Tianyang Shen, USA, 2024, 9’
V.O. Mandarin and Shangainese, with Italian subtitles
During a tour of some American colleges, a Chinese teenager considers living in New York City with her aunt, who seems to have a perfect life.
Foraging
Matthew Jacobs Morgan, UK, 2024, 12’
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
A bored gay couple cruising for the first time, but when they get lost in the woods, the crepes of the relationship become an abyss.
CRUEL SUMMER
Short film program – V.O. with Italian subtitles
90s tales of terror, dangerous obsessions, extreme fanaticisms, dystopian worlds: gay porn serial killers, dangerous stalkers, fans who would do anything for their idol and forbidden techno-mori are the ingredients of these stories that mix queer themes with the horror/fiftiscientific genre. Welcome to a very cruel summer.
The Deep Queer Massacre
Mathieu Morel, France, 2023, 29’
V.O. English and French, with subtitles in Italian
A group of queer boys spend one of them’s birthday in a remote castle in Normandy. The seral killer Billy is lurking.
RAT! RAT!
Neal Mulani, USA, 2024, 17’
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
When a journalist accuses a young pop singer of queerbaiting, some popstar fans organize to make him change his mind.
Stink
Matias Breuer, USA, 2024, 11’
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
Obsessed with the boys' odors and organic fluids, a stalker meets Levi, his new victim, and follows him into the house.
Friends of Sophia
Alden Peters, USA, 2023, 25’
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
In the dystopian future, Connor is in love with the android Dox and their relationship is forbidden. Will they not be able to get arrested and escape?
OUT IN SHORT
Short film program – V.O. with Italian subtitles
Coming out means deciding once and for all to see each other, and being a vist* for those who are for those you love. The six feature films of this program capture that crucial moment, of freedom and affirmation, after which nothing will be the same as before: children who, sitting at the table, tell who they are to their parents in surreal dialogues and tear tears; fathers unsuspable in drags discovered by their children (sometimes when it is too late); girls with the desire to celebrate, know themselves, and discover on their own skin how complicated it is to distinguish the friendship. Six feature films to say, sometimes laughing, and sometimes crying, no shame.
I, Lina
Luana Lou Fanelli, Italy, 2023, 12’
V.O. Italian
Apulia 1970. Lina is 14 years old. This evening, together with his neighbor, he will join his brother at a party. Cost what it costs.
Dear Mom
Sky Neal, UK, 2024, 25
v.o. English and Italian with Italian subtitles
When Naissa, an acrobatic dancer, tells her mother Daniela that she is a man and will begin the transition, a three-year-old exchange begins.
The Dinner Dinner
Jesus Martinez Note, Spain, 2023, 12’
Spanish V.O., with Italian subtitles
A coming out set perfectly - at dinner with the parents - triggers for the protagonist a dialogue blow and a surreal and sharp response.
The Puffs
Chaya Moshayev, Israel/Uzbekistan, 2024, 14’
V.O. Russian, Hebrew, Usbec, with Italian subtitles
Ella and Erik arrive at their parents' house for the holidays. Waiting for them is only their father - pouring on the floor, dead, and dressed as a woman.
Louanne & Tha?s
Josephine Jeltsch, Austria/Germany, 2024, 30’
German V.O., with Italian subtitles
Louanne is young and hungry for life when the doorbell of the Vienna apartment rings where Thas lives, which will reveal a world to her.
I Don’t Know If I’ll Have to Say Everything Again
Vitaria Fallavena and Thassilo Weber, Brazil, 2024, 14’
Portuguese V.O. with Italian subtitles
Today Fernando will tell his mother he's getting married. And even today, Ana, Alzhaimer’s sick man, forgot that her son is gay.
DRAMA QUEEN
Short film program – V.O. with Italian subtitles
The characters of these five stories are linked by a common thread, that of the tension – high – of their respective dramas: some meet again after years, understanding how time has made them almost unrecognizable; others, who believe they are, are discovered in flagrant. Sometimes it’s the words that like radio waves that reach the most hidden corners of the planet, give the characters the chance to get naked, or to find each other. There are those who take the opportunity, and those who do everything to hide – or not to see – a truth that is very clear to others. Unique stories, in which, however, it is easy to recognize: After all, we are all drama queens.
Songs of Love and Hate
Saurav Ghimire, Nepal, Belgium, 2024, 17th
V.O. Nepalese, with subtitles in Italian
Prem, a radio host tormented by love, seeks refuge in the mountains, while desperate listeners call him for advice on the heart.
All the Words But One
Nava Mau, USA, 2024, 18th
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
Maya and Santiago, former lovers, find themselves at a dinner with new partners, facing old trauma and tensions as the past resurfaces.
Bust
Angalis Field, USA, 2024, 10'
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
A trans NYPD policewoman goes undercover to carry out a drug operation.
7 Fois
Christine Wiederkehr, Switzerland, 2024, 16th
French and Italian V.O. with Italian subtitles
One afternoon, Elio meets her teacher’s secret lover and, revealing a burning secret, is mocked for saying it seriously.
All the Lights Still Burning
Dominic Leclerc, UK, 2023, 15th
V.O. English, with Italian subtitles
From Sex Education director All the Lights are Burning tells the story of a classical violinist and drug dealer who meets in a queue romance set on the streets of Bradford.
QUEERPHONE - Four people and a phone
Biquette, Italy, 2024, 15th + 15th
Or. Italian
Milan Suspesa
Lorenzo Avanzi, Italy, 2023, 2nd
Suspended Milan is the multicolored portrait of those who live this the city every day, between love and hatred, looking for their own space in the order of things.
Corona-Man
Shacham Rubin, Israel, 2023, 2nd
A tribute to the American and Japanese animations of the 1980s and 1990s, with a gay, bold and subversive approach.
Boundless
Nicolas Medy, France, 2023, 5th
Somewhere between 1981 and 2081, in the shadow of a dead city, the military is looking for a man. The hunt leads them to an underground club: leather, at night.
If he says
Belén Asad, Argentina, 2023, 3rd
Viktoria, a trans woman, is fleeing the “vetoping police,” a large cis-straight mouth that persecutes trans identities. Team play will make a difference...
Amor – The Tune of Love
Jijo Jessy Kuriakose, India, 2023, 5th
A Malayalam music video, dedicated to all those who believe in the power of love and in the campaign for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Hands Tied – Ukulele Death Squad
Sam Osborn-Rassaby, Australia, 2024, 5th
A music video that explores being queer in a heterosexual world, to give up lies and live fully.
Ride It
Xiaotian Cai, China, 2024, 4th
“Ride It” is Enema Stone’s second single, and includes a tutorial on how to ride – “laughs” – a giant thing. A metaphor for queer desire.
Nightmare
Mohamad Razazian, Iran, 2024, 5th
Filmed at various intervals during the protests of the Women-Life-Freedom movement in Iran, Nightmare cost the director’s arrest and symbolizes the struggle against the country’s tyrannical regime.
Call Me
Alexis Langlois, France, 2024, 5th
A lesbian pop-trash reimagining of a wrestling meeting.
Fast Life
Cyprien Bourrec, Belgium, 2024, 4th
What’s behind Fast Life? A deeply personal story, a nine-month job that revolves around a shared feeling: the fear of love.