In Paris in the early 1990s, a group of activists goes to battle for those stricken with HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish government agencies and major pharmaceutical companies in bold, invasive actions. The organization is ACT UP, and its members, many of them gay and HIV-positive, embrace their mission with a literal life-or-death urgency. Amid rallies, protests, fierce debates and ecstatic dance parties, the newcomer Nathan (Valois) falls in love with Sean (Biscayart), the group’s radical firebrand, and their passion sparks against the shadow of mortality as the activists fight for a breakthrough. Simultaneously a period-piece, a heartbreaking love story, a medical drama, and an activist procedural, BPM is one of the most emotionally gripping films of the year. Undeniably powerful in its ability to connect with the viewer on multiple levels, Campillo doesn’t shy away from the messy details of life, sex, death, or parliamentary procedure but he marries the bad times to transcendent moments of cinematic bliss.

In focusing his attention on the competitors of Mr Gay Syria, director Ayse Toprak shatters the one-dimensional meaning of “refugee”. Using the pageant as a means of escape from political persecution, the organiser Mahmoud — already given asylum in Berlin — hopes to offer the winner a chance to travel as well as bring international attention to the life-threatening situations faced by LGBT Syrians.