With an alternative authorial voice, Toronto film maker Mark Pariselli perceptively explores themes of sexual awakening, identity and acceptance in his short films After, Frozen Roads and Kiss. Suffused with visual storytelling and queer sensibility, Divergent Desires: The Short Films of Mark Pariselli showcases the writer/director's outsider perspective and sensitivity.

After  was the winner of the Best Short Film Award at the 2011 Sicilia Queer Film Festival, shortlisted for the 2009 Iris Prize and screened at over 40 international film festivals spanning 19 countries.

Kiss (his most recent short, which we saw at this year's Inside Out Festival and loved!) - screens at MIX Copenhagen (Copenhagen's queer film festival) this month and I will travel to NYC for the film's U.S premiere as part of MIX NYC (New York's experimental queer film festival) mid-November.

Career highlights of this cute, young talent include a retrospective of his short films as part of the Sicilia Queer Film Festival this past June in Sicily, Italy, where he was also a member of the international jury and attended the Berlinale Talent Campus during the Berlin Film Festival this past Feb. 

Andrew Murphy, Director of Programming at Inside Out will be facilitating the post screening discussion, so stick around afterwards!

Divergent Desires: The Short Films of Mark Pariselli takes place at Videofag, 187 Augusta Ave. Thurs Nov 8
videofag.com