Still from the film “Feriado” [Holiday] by Ecuadorian filmmaker Diego Araujo. Courtesy Lunafilms

If three daily soccer matches aren’t enough to pack your days, try to include in your agenda some of the exquisite presentations from the Frameline Film Festival, which begins on June 19.

Since 1977, Frameline has shown films that portray different realities to the masculine-feminine and heterosexual binary, which are often overlooked in conventional circles.

The 38th Annual San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Film Festival, the longest of its kind in the world, presents an engaging program — international, varied and multicultural.

For eleven days, it will show 214 films from 31 countries, 10 of which are Latino.

From Ecuador comes Feriado (Holiday), a well-made film about the sexual awakening of a young boy from a well-to-do family that becomes fascinated by a boy of modest background. Filmed in Imbabura, Quito and Mindo, this debut feature—nominated for Best Picture—is current with the context of the country’s social reality and with the Quechua population.

From Brazil, the splendid Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho (The Way He Looks) will too be shown. The movie is also the first film that Daniel Ribeiro willpresent in person on June 23. Leo, a middle-class blind boy, is a close friend of Giovana, whom helps and defends him in school. The arrival of Gabriel, a new student who Leo falls in love with, makes Giovana jealous. It is a beautiful story of adolescent love with a good script.

Also from Brazil comes Praia do futuro (Future Beach) from producer Karim Ainouz, who directed the wonderful Madame Satã (2002). Praia do futuro, Ainouz’s most recent movie, is interesting but somewhat slow and the characters lack development. With little dialogue and long takes, it portrays the troubled romance between a lifeguard at the beach in Fortaleza and a German tourist. With many naked torsos and several steamy sex scenes, the majority takes place in Germany.

Argentina is represented by the simple, brief and direct El tercero (The third one), in which a gay couple invites a young person to dinner and has an ménage à trois. It’s an entertaining and tender proposal, with original camera work and lengthy, non-graphic sex scenes.

From the U.S. comes the beautiful What It Was, also nominated for Best First Feature, in what appears to be a song in English and Spanish wrapped in beautiful images. In poetic narrative, the camera examines the enigmatic beauty of Adina (Arlene Chico-Lugo) and her passionate attraction to another girl in New York.

Still from the film “What It Was” by Daniel Armando. Courtesy Novo Novus Productions

Venezuela comes with two films: the wonderful Pelo malo (Bad Hair), with nuanced interpretations of the characters Junior—a ten-year-old boy who would like to have straight hair and be a singer—and his mother, who struggles to get ahead in a popular neighborhood in Caracas. The other Venezuelan film Azul y no tan rosa (My straight son), is an entertaining, bittersweet comedy in the form of a telenovela that follows the character Diego, a fashion photographer, who receives his son from Spain while his partner Fabrizio faces homophobic violence.

From Mexico comes two productions of online art house film: Todo el mundo tiene a alguien menos yo (Everyone’s Got Somebody… But Me), a black-and-white from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) film school, in which an upper-class woman becomes infatuated with a young woman, and Yo soy la felicidad de este mundo (I am happiness on earth), an experimental melodrama with extended erotic scenes.

The Frameline Festival takes place from June 19 to June 29 in the Roxie, Castro and Victoria theaters in San Francisco and the Elmwood and Rialto theaters in Berkeley. For more information, visit: www.frameline.org

Frameline 38 — Films of Latino interest
Feriado [Holiday] (Diego Araujo, Ecuador/Argentina, 2013, 82 mins)
Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho [The Way He Looks] (Daniel Ribeiro, Brasil, 2014, 95 mins)
Praia do futuro [Futuro Beach] (Karim Ainouz, Brasil/Alemania, 2014, 97 mins)
El tercero [The third one] (Rodrigo Guerrero, Argentina, 2014, 70 mins)
What It Was (Daniel Armando, USA, 2013, 86 mins)
Pelo malo [Bad Hair] (Mariana Rondón, Venezuela/Perú, 93 mins)
Dyke Central (Florencia Manovil, USA, 2013, 85 mins)
Azul y no tan rosa [My straight son] (Miguel Ferrari, Venezuela/España, 2012, 110 mins)
Todo el mundo tiene a alguien menos yo [Everybody’s Got Somebody… But Me] (Raúl Fuentes, México, 2012, 95 mins)
Yo soy la felicidad de este mundo [I am happiness on earth] (Julián Hernández, México, 2013, 124 mins)