The selection of queer shorts for Orlando 2023 is surprising, colourful and rich in emotion. Each short film tells the story of a personal experience yet also the collective story of a generation in constant transformation.

In 2023, ORLANDO SHORTS reaches its 4th edition and, as like every year, the project is curated and led by a group of people under 25 from Bergamo and, this year, also from Brescia. The 2023 selection is surprising, colourful and rich in emotion. Each short film tells the story of a personal experience yet also the collective story of a generation in constant transformation. The 2023 ORLANDO SHORTS will have specific subtitling, thanks to a collaboration with The Blank Contemporary Art that includes not only dialogue but also all the sounds necessary for understanding and pertinent to deaf culture. This project is in addition to standard subtitling in the Italian language.

The Short Films:

Um Caroço de Abacate (An Avocado Pit) by Ary Zara (Portugal, 2022) – running time 20 minutes

Two different people with two different destinies inevitably find themselves bound together in a night of curious glances and conflicting feelings.

Dildo by Jake Consing (Philippines, 2022) – running time 1 minute

A brief flash on self-care and discovering one’s sexuality. 

Warsha by Dania Bdeir (Lebanon, 2022) – running time 16 minutes

A young man harbours within himself a grand dream that has never been expressed, perhaps as grand as the difficulties he has to face each day at work as a labourer on a dangerous worksite.

Persona by Moon Su-jin (South Korea, 2022) – running time 7 minutes

A Miyazaki-like journey into the human heart – what happens when we show anything but our masks? Where do we end and our Person begin? And is it actually ours or that of the viewer? A short film that makes us think, that moves us … that tears us apart and pushes us to stand before a mirror, dripping. A tale about looking but from what perspective?

Hideous by Yann Gonzalez (United Kingdom, 2022) – running time 22 minutes 

Content Warning: details of injuries, violence and blood, HIV stigma 

A short film with a musical flavour takes us into a world completely mediated by TV and image, which constructs identities, points of reference but also unpredictable and uncontrollable monstrous creatures …

Tank Fairy by Erik Rettstadt (Taiwan, USA, 2021) – running time 10 minutes 

Content Warning: homophobia, bullying

Dream or reality? What happens when the search for one’s identity leads to finding a mentor figure … brilliantly weird? Tank Fairy is a commemoration of the self and its discovery, without prejudice or fear.