Nowness

In the first of a new series of Define Beauty, Berlin-based directer Matt Lambert—known for his often-NSFW work exploring sex and intimacy—gets under the skin of our infatuation with sweat. Read more on NOWNESS

A young astrophysicist in a war-torn country watches the stars and black holes, holding a dialogue with her unborn daughter about the nature of light and darkness.

What does it mean to be goth—to be an outsider, to live both on the margins and in the midst of society? Filmmakers Jordan Hemingway and Alban Adam prize open the coffin on a world of darkness and light, exploring its multiplicities and intersections with subcultures and the ever-present experience of queerness.

A frazzled adulteress played by Parisian beauty Zoë Le Ber wakes up in the familiar surroundings of Bar Chateau Marmont, only to find herself trapped in a prank at the hands of her restaurant-owner lover, Fred.

Lou, a teenage tomboy in a small Californian town, idolizes her single father. When he has a date over one night and she is cast out of the house, Lou wanders to the outer reaches of town and into a new era of teenage identity.

Two Asian-American teenagers meet in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant while having dinner with their families.

Two girls find themselves locked in an Oslo public swimming hall and bond over school gossip, boys and dancing to the psychedelic sounds of Lindstrøm.

A moving recording of the late writer and renowned jazz singer Abbey Lincoln is captured in this new film from Brooklyn-born director Rodney Passé, who has previously worked with powerhouse music video director Khalil Joseph. Reading from her own works, Lincoln’s voice sets the tone for a film that explores the African American experience through fathers and their sons.

After recently going blind, a young gay man struggles to navigate his new life in the shadows.

Two young people discover each other as they explore a labyrinthine derelict Glasgow swimming pool. A high-energy contemporary dance piece shot in the emptied Govanhill Baths in Glasgow.

In the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into males and females. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call “muxes” - men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned limbo between the two genders.

Artist and filmmaker Quentin Jones joins forces with Miley Cyrus in a kinky collaboration, stripping away the pop phenomenon's cartoonish persona in "Miley Cyrus: Tongue Tied".

Emerging filmmaker Jade Ang Jackman shares a fierce new film about Olympian fencer Ysaora Thibus and her journey to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Countdown consists of archive footage of Thibus in training, a stylized sequence that isolates the fencing lunge, and a self-shot video diary that gives viewers an insight into the athlete’s tireless training practice and what it takes to compete at an elite level.

Sohaila, Zahra and Zeinab train every day. Their dream is to become professional fighters and to show the world that all people are equal. Director Lukas Tielke and his team spent a week in Malakasa refugee camp, outside Athens, getting to know these inspirational young Afghan women.

A 16mm account of the power of wearing a headscarf.

Arab-American filmmaker Yumna Al-Arashi embraces the rhythmic rituals that have run alongside Islamic tradition throughout the centuries in this surreal and poetic short film. Piecing together old and new, Al-Rashi's dream-like imagery breathes fresh air to a subject hardly seen in positive light.

“Sex work. The phrase evokes so much emotion, yet we understand it so poorly,” rising director Yago Hunt-Laudi wrote on an Instagram post celebrating the premiere of his new film, The Chrysalis. In this documentary profile, he paints an intimate portrait of stripper Haley Rolland, a young woman from Missouri who speaks about taking control of her body and the difficulties she encountered during the pandemic.

Meet Giovanni Mancusou, a small-town Italian man who lives on Italy's Mediterranean coast. The wisened Calabrian invites the viewer into his sun-washed world of bright orange sun umbrellas, cool blue seas, freshly baked pastries and fresh vegetables. Directed by Jan Vrhovnik, written by Ana Kerin and music score by Oscar-winning Nico Casal, Paradiso is less story and more a poetic thought piece. Dipping into a snapshot of life for an aging man from Italy, whimsical moments like the swatting of a fly are interspersed with provocative thoughts on life that can only come with the wisdom of an older man who has seen it all.