What’s wrong with men?

We gather a selection of ten international short films seeking to expose patterns of masculinity that must be left behind, as well as alternative views on how men are dealing with manhood today. We need new male referents, new ways of understanding masculinity, and pedagogy to overcome the gender divide.

When? Starts Friday 9 April 19:30. Available until Friday 16 April 23:55.
Where? Available online UK-wide. Watch it in Festhome and our CinemaAttic Player
Tickets? Standard ticket price is just £5. Tickets are priced according to a Pay What You Can, in order to make the programme more accessible. Get your tickets using the red button or click here
Language: Multiple. All films with English subtitles and CC
Age: 16+.  Some films include nudity, some films contains violent scenes.

“At its most basic, masculinity seems to be a need for dominance, and the oldest way of asserting it is by force. Men still seem innately capable of violence. But it is one thing to be physically stronger, it is another to use that strength to harm others.” These extracts from the celebrated essay ‘The Descent of Man’ by Grayson Perry resonate strongly with the films we have selected for this programme.

In this selection of films we seek to delve into manhood in the 21st century, hoping to leave ill-conceived ideas of “what it is to be a man” behind. Confused men in between resistance to change and the need to adapt, rethinking their role within feminism. The term “toxic masculinity” has become even more widely used recently, but beyond the commonplace of the fashionable word, what do we mean when we talk about toxic masculinity?

In particular, these films look at the tension between the individual experience of masculinity and group (or gang) masculinity, where anger, dominance and violence are often the only emotions reinforced. These films offer monstrous, pathetic, and empathetic encounters with men around the world as we explore masculinity through stories that take place in Bradford, Edinburgh, Galicia, Catalonia, Philippines, Chile, Argentina or El Salvador.

Cinematically speaking this is a particularly strong selection, extended to ten short films. We are amazed by the remarkable cinematographic quality that you’ll find in some of these films and the human stories captured in the short docs part of the programme. We managed to put together films that have won in the world’s top festivals, shorts awarded in Berlinale, IDFA, HotDocs, Clermont-Ferrand, Locarno, IndieLisboa, as well as films shortlisted for the Oscars and nominees to Premios Goya. Brace yourselves for a first-class selection of shorts!

The issues surrounding toxic masculinity aren’t new: feminist networks like Reclaim the Night , Sisters Uncut, Women’s Aid, Zero Tolerance or Reclaim These Streets (and many more) have been campaigning to end men’s violence against women for many years. Progress towards greater gender equality has been slowing over the past few years and the levels of men’s violence against women are rising. The causes of men’s violence against women are rooted in gender inequality which is why our programme this year looks at tackling toxic masculinity as one of the social norms that allow this inequality to continue.

We hope this programme will help to reframe the debate by looking at the root of the problem: the need for a profound change in the way men deal with masculinity.

This selection of films was conceived in the summer of 2020 and it seeks to broaden public’s understanding of the cause of violence against women, help men to unpack some of the problematic aspects of manhood and encourage everyone to become allies in ending men’s violence against women.

This event is organised in partnership with Zero Tolerance, a Scottish charity working to end men’s violence against women by promoting gender equality and challenging attitudes that normalise violence and abuse. Read more about prevention of violence against women here: https://www.zerotolerance.org.uk/what-is-primary-prevention/

Some films in this programme include scenes of sexual assault that some people might find upsetting. If you or anyone you know experienced violence help is at hand. Here is a list of helplines for people living in Scotland: https://www.zerotolerance.org.uk/contact-help/ .

Proceeds of this event will be donated to Zero Tolerance and Scottish Women’s Aid. 

FILMS INFORMATION

EL NOMBRE DEL HIJO (The Name of the Son)

Director: Martina Matzkin
Year: 2019
Duration: 14 min
Language: Spanish

Synopsis: Lucho, a 13-year-old trans boy, doesn’t usually share much time with his father. When he goes on holiday with him and his younger sister, the new closeness puts their relationship to the test.

Festivals & Awards:
Berlin Film Festival, Crystal Bear for Best Short Film, Winner
Stockholm Film Festival, Best Short Film, Winner
Palm Springs Film Festival

LONELY RIVERS

Director: Mauro Herce
Year: 2019
Duration: 28 min
Language: English

Synopsis: Men of many ages gather in a featureless room. We don’t know much about them nor whether it is day or night. Only some signs spread out along the footage will allow us to learn something about their particular circumstances.

Festivals & Awards:
Festival de Málaga, Special Jury Mention, Winner
Festival de Cine de Gijón, Best Short Film, Winner
Torino Film Festival

16 DE DECEMBRO (16th December)

Director: Álvaro Gago Díaz
Year: 2019
Duration: 14 min
Language: Galician, Spanish

Synopsis: Saturday. Nightfall. The ball travels fast across the court. Lucía leaves handball training and sets off to pick up her brother under the lights of a city she thinks she knows.

Festivals & Awards:
2021 Goya’s Awards, Best Fictional Short Film, Nominee
Festival de Cine de L’Alfàs del Pi, Best Director, Winner
Alcalá de Henares Short Film Festival, Best Actress (Cris Iglesias), Winner
Locarno Film Festival

#LOCKDOWN

Director: Alex Della Ciana
Year: 2020
Duration: 09 min
Language: English, Italian

Synopsis: Tony’s idea of live-streaming his daily life to his followers does not help him escape the monotony and loneliness of a national lockdown.

Festivals & Awards:
London Independent Film Awards, Best Actor, Winner
Cyrus Film Festival of Toronto, Best COVID Film, Winner
Roma Short Film Festival, Best Actor, Winner
Venice California Short Film Festival

GANG

Director: Alex Sardà Fuster
Year: 2020
Duration: 17 min
Language: Catalan, Spanish

Synopsis: GANG is a journey into group-mentality, impulse, and those experiences that men very often keep quiet, to the masculinity that devours us.

Festivals & Awards:
Festival de Málaga
Festival de Cine de Cartagena
ABYCINE – Festival de Cine de Albacete

GÜNST UL VÁNDRAFOO (Gusts of Wild Life)

Director: Jorge Cantos
Year: 2019
Duration: 24 min
Language: Catalan, Spanish

Synopsis: It is said he has someone locked up. People have seen him looking over from the other side of the fence. That kid will disappear any day.

Festivals & Awards:
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Grand Prix, Winner
Festival de Málaga, Best Director, Winner
Alcalá de Henares Short Film Festival, Best Cinematography, Winner
Madrid Short Film Week, Best Short, Winner

CITY OF CHILDREN

Director: Arantxa Hernández Barthe
Year: 2019
Duration: 16 min
Language: English

Synopsis: This is England, today at the gates of Brexit. What is daily life like for those who are growing up in the outskirts? How is the future being considered? City of Children sketches the portrait of a deprived district in the north of England through its teenagers–who spend their time roaming the streets.

Festivals & Awards:
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Youth Student Award, Winner
Odense Film Festival
Cinema Jove – Valencia Film Festival
Leeds Film Festival

ANIMALES EXTINTOS (Extinct Animals)

Director: Lucas Quintana Argomedo
Year: 2020
Duration: 13 min
Language: Spanish

Synopsis: On their last field trip before graduation, a group of male classmates blow off steam in the woods before entering the real world. But for one of them, the rocky road to adulthood starts early.

Festivals & Awards:
Palm Springs ShortFest

L’INTRÚS (The Outsider)

Director: Oriol Rovira
Year: 2020
Duration: 10 min
Language: Without dialogues

Synopsis: Sito hates the countryside, but he has never left the rural area where he was born. Attracted by a strong desire towards the male erotic, Sito lives immersed in a crusade to destroy the stimuli that connect him with those repressed feelings that he has latent inside him.

Festivals & Awards:
ALCINE Festival de Cine de Alcalá de Henares
IbizaCineFest

IMPERDONABLE (Unforgivable)

Director: Marlén Viñayo
Year: 2020
Duration: 36 min
Language: Spanish

Synopsis: A ruthless hitman for the 18th Street gang serves his sentence in an isolation cell in El Salvador. But in prison, Geovanny is not just guilty of crimes, but of an unforgivable sin under God and gang: being gay.

Festivals & Awards:
Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival, Best Short Documentary, Winner
Hot Docs Canadian Documentary Festival, Best International Short Documentary, Winner
Slamdance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize, Winner
Guanajuato Film Festival, Festival Prize & International Short Film Competition, Winner