Spread across three continents, this year’s sexy, romantic Worldly Affairs program is a quartet of magnificent shorts that places eight characters in moments of discovery through unexpected encounters.

Reminiscent of a gay Before Sunrise set in Brazil, an Argentine man goes on holiday with no set plans, hoping to find someone to show him the Top 10 Places to Visit in São Paulo. At a gay sauna, a young man, something of a regular at the baths, finds his otherwise routine visit dramatically changed when he meets a bewildered older gentleman, in the beautiful, surprising Set Me As a Seal Upon Thine Heart. Two twenty-somethings—newly transitioned Alexe and her gay best friend Carl — pregame at their apartment before meeting a group of old friends out on the town, not realizing the overflowing glasses of wine might lead them to a new stage in their relationship, in Pre-Drink, winner of the Best Short at the Toronto International Film Festival. To close the program, we return to Brazil through the lens of San Francisco–based filmmaker Travis Mathews (Interior. Leather Bar., Frameline38; Discreet, Frameline41). In Just Past Noon on a Tuesday, two strangers meet inside a beautiful São Paulo apartment; they are both lovers of the recently deceased tenant, and the encounter forges a physical and emotional connection.