Sparring Partners

China, 1997. An unhappy marriage, a love affair and a child who holds all the secrets.

A bride walks on the desert. She takes off her bridal ornaments and turns into a harlot. A multitude of people crawl on their bellies, become sick and soon die. A volcano erupts. White ashes of lahar cover the earth. The bride remembers her betrothal and repents--symbolically paving the way for the resurrection of her people. A final bridal march into a new heaven and earth takes place.

Kaveh is an LGBT sculptor. He lives in Iran and lives in isolation because of his sexual orientation. He has a lover named Farhad. Their relationship is not very good. It is Kaveh who is not happy with this relationship, he lives in his workshop because of the repression of LGBTs in Iran. He is making a statue when he suddenly realizes that this statue is talking to him. The words of the statue are not clear and are more like chatter. He breaks up his relationship with Farhad like his previous relationships, because something more than sex requires a relationship. He enjoys being alone more, but now he realizes that Farhad has destroyed the only statue they made together. The whispering sound of the statue increases and every moment Kaveh's mental state is more disturbed, to the point that he works day and night to build that statue. The statue is completed as if the statue is the lost lover of Kaveh. By completing the statue of Kaveh, he becomes a statue.

Aro heads to the city on a business trip. There is a sadness between all the faces and cityscapes that she meets and passes through. Where does this sadness come from? As she delves deeper into the city, we come closer and closer to the heart of her sadness.

An intense and brutal evening between two long-time friends… Secrets will be revealed as they dance through the night between anger, humiliation and happiness…

Shawn, an optimistic intern, working for a 'well-respected' councilman, is tasked with covering up a major scandal; But is he willing to sacrifice his morals to do so?

Boyfriends Hampus and Adrian are in a destructive relationship. When Hampus finally works up the nerve to call it quits, he finds himself relieved. Adrian, however, is not quite ready to say goodbye. Examining the final week of a gay love affair, award-winning short film director David Färdmar begins with the end.

Ryan meets Nathan and they fall in love over the course of their first date. It's only later, as their relationship progresses, that Ryan starts to wonder: is my boyfriend who I thought he was? Am I who I thought I was? They experience joy and pain together, trying to overcome the painful fear of whether or not you can truly know another person.

Benok, robbed off his childhood, had to work due to poverty. While his mother spends time on gambling. In his eyes, the world has changed where children work and adults play. Benok finds his way to experience how to become a real kid again.

A young musician named Ansel has an unexpected encounter with Niall, an endearing, deaf dancer.

After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.

Thomas, 12 years-old, and his brother Arne, 8 years-old, come back from a walk in forest. They've got blood on their clothes.