Like eggnog to Christmas the worldly cinema grandeur of the Calgary International Film Festival defines the taste of fall.

This year ‘Long Live the Director’ marks the theme of the 11-day festival span, which will take place September 19th to 29th at various screens throughout the city centre.

The list of LGBT tagged films in this year’s line up is a sweet mix of romantic and downright sizzling.  GayCalgary Magazine is proud to once again sponsor some of these films and to highlight their intriguing storylines for you to peruse as you plan your CIFF itinerary this year.

Gerontophilia Canada – Bruce LaBruce

As the cover shot suggests, this is a film about an attractive young man and his intimacy with seniors in a retirement home. Part of the Canadian Cinema Series, Gerontophilia (literally meaning ‘love of the elderly’) follows the 18-year-old Lake (played by the dreamy Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) who, upon taking a job at a nursing home, finds himself drawn to its residents and the stories of their youth. When Lake discovers the residents are being drugged to keep them sedentary, he breaks one man free for a final Thelma and Louise style road trip.

This Alberta premiere plays at Eau Claire Tuesday, September 24th at 10pm and Thursday, September 26th at 5:15pm.

Blue is the Warmest Color France – Abdellatif Kechiche

This coming of age story follows Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) a 15-year-old girl who believes in the classic love story, until she meets Emma (Léa Seydoux) a blue-haired vixen who introduces her to ‘a whole new dimension of love, desire and attraction’.  Based on the French graphic novel Blue Angel, this film took home the Palme d’Or, FIPRESCI Prize at this year’s Cannes and promises much more than an average teenage love story.

Blue is the Warmest Color plays in part of the Headliner Series at Eau Claire Sunday, September 22nd at 6:15pm. Get your tickets in advance.

Oil Sands Karaoke Canada – Charles Wilkinson

Brace yourself for a look at Fort McMurray like you never thought you’d see; a look through the lens of a heartfelt karaoke competition at Bailey’s Pub. Five contestants – including a towering drag queen – belt out more than a song in this strange documentary, and alter the perceptions we all have of the isolated, industrial oil sands community.

See it Wednesday, September 25th at 7pm or Sunday, September 29th at 4:30pm at the Globe.

Unhung Hero United States – Brian Spitz

Does size really matter? It sure did to Patrick Moote’s girlfriend. After a giant public rejection to a marriage proposal made on the jumbotron of a UCLA basketball game, Moote embarks on a documentative journey to find out what people really think of the small penis. To get his answer he meets with the world’s leading sex pundits – including interviews with Dan Savage, Annie Sprinkle, and Jonah Falcon: the man currently holding title for world’s largest appendage. Moote journeys to porn conventions, Korean sex museums and witch doctors in Papua New Guinea all to discover why the world is so interested in phallic measurement.

This show plays at Eau Claire Saturday September 21st at 9:45pm and at the Globe on Friday, September 27th at 5pm.

Vic + Flo Saw a Bear Canada – Denis Côté

The experimental and prolific Brayon director takes on an atypical adult love story in this bittersweet thriller. Victoria (Pierrette Robitaille) is a recently released convict in her mid-sixties who decides to settle in a sugar shack nestled deep in the Quebec woods with her former cellmate and lover Flo (Romane Bohringer). Amidst this ethereal setting both women must face their demons in order to begin living a life that resembles normalcy. Vic + Flo Ont vu un Ours received the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Award at this year’s prestigious Berlinale.

The film plays Friday, September 20th at 4:30pm at the Globe and Thursday, September 26th at 9:45pm at Eau Claire.

In the Name Of Poland – Malgorzata Szumowska

Father Adam is a good man, but a man nonetheless. When he moves to a small Polish parish he is cruelly tempted by young, troubled men of age. As his struggle against repressed desire surmounts, the village begins to notice the Father is not the man they thought he was.

This Alberta premiere takes place at Eau Claire Wednesday, September 25th at 9:45pm and shows again on Friday, September 27th at 4:45pm.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Taiwan – Arvin Chen

Welchung (Richie Jen) lives seemingly in domestic bliss. His wife is beautiful, his son is affectionate, his job is good. That is until his mother-in-law plants a bee in his wife’s bonnet to have a second child, and simultaneously an old male flame reappears in his life to remind him of the romance he truly longs for and the different life he once lived.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow offers audiences a fresh look at a modern love triangle at Eau Claire on Monday, September 23rd at 5pm and Saturday, September 28th at 9:15pm at the Globe.

Goltzius & The Pelican Company Croatia/France/Netherlands/UK – Peter Greenaway

This bizarre, erotic drama is director/screenwriter Greenaway’s second instalment in a three-part ‘Dutch Masters’ trilogy. Hendrick Goltzius is a 16th-Century printmaker and engraver of erotic art, famed for his detailed interpretations of the human form. To secure funding, the artist promises his proprietor erotic stories from court in addition to his personal passion – steamy takes on stories from the Old Testament. The film tantalizes its viewers with an alluring perspective on voyeurism and an x-rated view of the Bible.

See it Wednesday, September 25th at 9:30pm or Saturday, September 28th at 2pm at Eau Claire.