Among the 355 film titles unveiled by the Vancouver International Film Festival for this year's edition, 12 of them will be of particular interest to LGBT audiences.

The life of openly gay British artist David Hockney is detailed in the documentary Hockney.

Kristen Wiig stars in the Chilean-American coproduction Nasty Baby, about a gay couple who enlist their crazy female neighbour (Wiig) in their bid to have a baby.

From Canada, there's The Amina Profile, a documentary about a fake blog about a lesbian in Syria; Fire Song, a drama about an aboriginal young man who is torn between caring for his family or moving to the city with his secret boyfriend; and Ville-Marie, which follows four characters in Montreal on one fateful night.

Here's the list of films identified as queer interest by VIFF (of course, there may be others but these ones prominently feature LGBT content).

Absence (Ausência; Chile/Brazil/France)

Director Chico Teixeira (Alice’s House) returns with a drama of sexuality and desperation. Confusion is a part of everyone’s adolescence, but Serginho (Matheus Fagundes) has more of it than any kid should have to face. Abandoned by his father and saddled with an alcoholic mother, he’s desperate for someone to reciprocate his desires. It’s all mixed up for our hero: men and girls, father and mother, sex and family. There are two key adults in his life: touchy-feely mother Luiza (Gilda Nomacce) and Ney (Irandir Santos), an older man for whom Serginho feels much more than lust.

The Amina Profile (Canada)

Sophie Deraspe’s investigative documentary is the latest reminder to be skeptical of everyone you encounter online. Deraspe tells the cautionary tale of the infamous Gay Girl in Damascus Internet hoax. A blog that purported to be a boots-on-the-ground look at life as an out lesbian in fractious Syria turned out to be something else entirely. "What begins as an account of an online affair gradually morphs into a commentary on identity in the Information Age. [A] slippery, deftly woven narrative…"—Variety

Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories (Cha Và Con Và; France/Vietnam)

As Freudians will guess from the title, Phan’s stunning film has a lot to do with patriarchy and the penis. When Vietnam’s government offered cash incentives to fathers to undergo vasectomies, they didn’t expect that unmarried, fun-loving kids would sign up, just for pocket money. Student slacker Vu resists his father’s order to get married, but down which deviant paths will life take him?

Fire Song (Canada)

In Adam Garnet Jones’ first feature, a teenage girl commits suicide in a remote Anishinaabe community and it’s up to her brother Shane (Andrew Martin) to take care of their family. Shane was supposed to move to the city for university in the fall and was desperately trying to convince his secret boyfriend (Harley Legarde-Beacham) to come with him. When forced to choose between devotion to his family or his desire to dictate his own future, what will he do?

Hockney (UK/USA)

The art and unbridled personality of acclaimed British artist David Hockney are brought to vivid life in Randall Wright’s treatise on the man’s memorable and influential career and personal history. Encompassing a bracing mix of archival footage, stories from friends, models and the artist himself, as well as a consideration of the art and its progression from his early drawings and paintings, through his experiments with theatre and photography, to his more recent iPad imagery, the film offers a great appreciation of Hockney’s life and philosophy. And nothing in his eventful life goes unremarked: from swinging-60s London to New York’s contemporary art boom, to his life in Los Angeles and the horrible memories from the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s, when he lost more than half of his friends, it’s all here…

I Promise You Anarchy (Mexico/Germany)

Middle-class Miguel (Diego Calva) and barrio-dweller Johnny (Eduardo Martínez) are young lovers who finance their skateboarding lifestyles by selling their blood--and the blood of others--to underground clinics in Mexico City. One day they take on a delivery for some gangsters and things go wrong... Meshing a romance, an ultra-realistic depiction of the skate scene and some noirish tropes, Julio Hernández Cordón's beautifully shot drama takes young love to the limit...

Nasty Baby (USA/Chile/France)

Having cajoled a friend (Kristen Wiig) into carrying their baby, a Brooklyn artist (director Sebastián Silva) discovers that his sperm count isn’t up to snuff and taps his unenthused partner (Tunde Adebimpe). His disastrous video installation and increasingly unstable neighbour ensure that chaos reigns in Silva’s incisive, merciless satire.

The Royal Road (USA)

Awash in nostalgia, Jenni Olson’s essay film is cinepoetry at its most eloquent and accessible. Assembling immaculately framed images of California’s beguiling landscapes and architecture, Olson lends mesmerising narration that proves both introspective and amusing as she ruminates on colonialism, Hitchcock’s Vertigo, unattainable love and the impermanent beauty of the world we’ve constructed. Lulling and provocative in turns, this is the assured work of a filmmaker exceedingly comfortable in her celluloid skin and yet eager to uncover new veins of expression.

The Summer of Sangailé (Sangailė; France/Lithuania/Netherlands)

A flight of fancy from Alanté Kavaïté, this dreamy, coming-of-age story focuses on 17-year-old Sangailé (Julija Steponaitytė), a young woman with a fascination for flying and a contradictory fear of the same. Until, that is, she meets the fearless Auste (Aistė Diržiūtė) and the two young women fall in love… Punctuated by a charmingly aestheticized eroticism that is entirely appropriate to this crisply told tale, Sangailé is a touching and deeply empathetic gem.

Thanatos, Drunk (Zui Sheng Meng Si; Taiwan)

On the fringes of Taipei, Rat, who’s dating a mute prostitute, holes up with both his brother Shanghe, who dances in gay bars, and their friend Shuo, a successful gigolo, who also happens to be sleeping with Shanghe’s cousin… Using a deck consisting only of wild cards, Chang Tso-Chi deals out a succession of surprises in a drama that leads us through the city’s nightclubs and alleyways, and sets the brothers on a collision course with a gangster hell-bent on revenge.

Three Stories of Love (Japan)

The protagonists are a bereaved bridge-repairman, an unhappy housewife with creative ambitions and an elite gay lawyer. Their stories are largely separate, but briefly intersect. Nobody will fail to recognize and empathize with the ups and downs in their lives; director Hashiguchi Ryosuke says he wanted to give voice to “a sense of loss, frustration and indignation felt by many”—and adds that some of the incidents and emotions are drawn from his own experience. The film is wildly funny in parts, but the overall tone is worldly and very, very wise.

Ville-Marie (Canada)

Guy Édoin brings us the engaging story of an internationally famous French/Italian actress (Monica Bellucci) who arrives in in Montreal to shoot a movie and reconnect with her university-aged son (Alyosha Schneider). Their fates collide with those of a nurse (Pascale Bussières) and paramedic (Patrick Hivon) during a disturbing event in Ville-Marie Hospital’s emergency room.

There are also several LGBT–related shorts to take note of.

"Crazy House" (Canada)

While housesitting for the parents of a friend who committed suicide, Beckett finds the world reflecting his inner turmoil.

"Gloria" (Mexico)

A day in the life of José María, a bus driver/drag-queen-performer/family man utterly comfortable in the contradictory worlds he lives in.

"In My Shoes" (Australia)

What’s it like growing up transgender? Five transgendered young people talk about what life has been like for them.

"Never Steady, Never Still" (Canada)

Overwhelmed by past mistakes, a young man returns home and finds solace in the strength of his recently widowed mother.

"She Stoops to Conquer" (Canada)

After bombing with a new character, an aspiring comedian encounters the real-life version of the man she’s been playing.

Check out this year's film schedule and visit our guide for complete VIFF coverage.