This winner of the world’s most prestigious award for queer cinema – Berlinale’s Teddy Award – is a bold and colourful dive into the double life of an isolated gay man and his work as an erotic webcam performer.

Pedro is reclusive, on the wrong side of the law having to answer for a past transgression, and earning money at night online as NeonBoy, stripping and using neon paint in his performances. But when he learns another performer is copying his act, Pedro is nervously compelled to re-enter the world.

Exploding out of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Hard Paint is a beautifully sensual mood piece, hypnotically and unpredictably investigating loneliness and self-discovery. The sophomore feature for directing duo Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, their portrayal of a troubled soul learning to reconnect in the online and offline world of Brazil’s queer scene offers an intense and vividly cinematic experience.

"This year’s breakout queer hit … Matzembacher and Reolon perform a deft balancing act, crafting a character study that is empathetic and emotionally engaging, but unflinching and unsentimental." – Sight & Sound