A warm, bawdy Spanish musical delight, 20 CENTIMETERS is among the most unlikely crowd-pleasers of the year. Writer/director Ramón Salazar’s gorgeous and funny portrait of a narcoleptic, pre-op transsexual prostitute is brimming with Almodóvar-like camp and energetic high style. Unconventional beauty Marieta (born as Adolfo) walks the streets of Madrid, earning the cash to subsidize her dream of surgical transformation. More than anything Marieta wants to lose those pesky-but-eyepopping 20 centimeters (you do the math), which enthrall her clients but remain an obstacle to full womanhood. Her hilarious but poignant saga is complicated by a tendency toward ill-timed unconsciousness, which gives the filmmakers license to stage some of the lushest fantasy musical sequences this side of CHICAGO. The increasingly wacked-out yet gratifying musical numbers feature material as varied as Madonna, Queen and Ani DiFranco as well as ultra-stylish design, saturated colors and elaborate choreography. But Salazar never allows these visually striking sequences to overwhelm 20 CENTIMETERS, which stays rooted in Marieta’s passionate quest for love and completion. Embodied with fearless grace by Monica Cervera, Marieta remains the romantic heart that beats at the center of this delightful, accomplished film.

BOY CULTURE, Q. Allan Brocka’s sexy, smart and deliciously funny follow-up to EATING OUT, introduces us to a uniquely queer family. A sizzling hot, high-end hustler, who chooses to be known only as X (read defense mechanism, fear of intimacy), lives with two roommates - newly-out Andrew (Noah’s Arc stunner Darryl Stephens) and outspoken Joey, their sharp-tongued, barely legal “son.” X is secretly in love with Andrew; Joey is none too secretly in love with X. This knotty love triangle widens when X meets Gregory (the superb Patrick Bauchau), an erudite elderly client with a few secrets of his own. X is a whore but he’s not a slut, and therein lies his dilemma. With Gregory as mentor, confidante and surrogate father, X finally breaks through his well-guarded walls and risks taking a chance on love. With arresting performances from its eye-catching stars and a saucily clever screenplay from Brocka and Philip Pierce, BOY CULTURE celebrates the boundary-defying possibilities of gay relationships while comically exposing the very thorns we face as we rebelliously tread uncharted, distinctly queer paths to happiness.

Julián Hernández, writer-director of the award-winning A THOUSAND CLOUDS OF PEACE (MIL NUBES DE PAZ), reprises his unique and sensual cinematic vision with the stunningly gorgeous and deeply moving BROKEN SKY (EL CIELO DIVIDIDO), his second feature-length film. Set in Mexico City, the film introduces two beautiful and amorous college boys, Gerardo and Jonas. Their seemingly perfect young love is filled with passionate sex and blissful romance. However, one night at a disco, Jonas hooks up with another boy, Bruno, whom he can’t get out of his head. This leaves Gerardo heartbroken, and he later begins an affair with Sergio, the college’s sexy, brooding maintenance man. Although Gerardo and Jonas are still in love, they are now faced with the challenge of defining and accepting the next stage of their relationship. With exquisite cinematography, minimal dialogue and spare voice-over narration, Hernández choreographs his actors like dancers who communicate through the exchange of looks, gestures and movements. Their silences and the ambient noise of the film add another rich dimension of emotion. Hernández’s bold approach to filmmaking is unyielding to tradition - the power of his aesthetics, his attention to detail and the film’s lyrical pacing enhances the eroticism, intense longing and romance in this modern-day story of two boys in love.