Sunflower

In a suburb of Melbourne, 17-year-old Italian-Australian Leo leads a typical teenage life: He slogs through his school days, plays sport, chills out with his friends and snogs his girlfriend. He doesn't really want to admit to himself that he actually likes guys. But he feels more and more attracted to his best friend Boof. When rumours about his sexuality start doing the rounds at school and the heteronormative pressure increases, Leo has to take a stand.

In his debut film SUNFLOWER, Gabriel Carrubba empathises with the moving time in our lives when everything - shame and anger, love and hope - feels simply overwhelming. With luminous images and the great newcomer Liam Mollica, the film varies the familiar coming-of-age narrative into a rousing ode to self-acceptance.