Outside the Aquarium

Jonas is a painter preparing to open a new show, and he has named it Outside the Aquarium. On his canvases he works through what life has been like as a Black immigrant and a member of the gay and lesbian community in Germany — the fear, the isolation and the hopes he still carries for the years ahead. As the exhibition comes together, the film follows the man behind the paintings, setting his private world beside the images he is about to share with the public. Alex Mello wrote the film with Fabio Brandi Torres, directs it and plays Jonas himself, with Julius Dombrink, Johannes Langolf, Mimi Marcia and Frank Rafael Bosse in the cast. Running 25 minutes, this German drama and romance treats painting as a way to be seen on one's own terms, and offers a personal look at identity, belonging and the nerve it takes to hang an inner life on a gallery wall.