Gary is a creepy recluse who lurks around elementary school bathrooms sniffing the toilet seats. Obsessed with the idea of reproducing himself, he collects his own semen in refrigerated jars in anticipation of some unknown future use. When he meets a toothless, mentally-handicapped Asian bag lady who aggressively zeroes in on his feeble masculinity, their encounter and what follows makes for the most squirm-inducing and nauseating 20 minutes you are likely to spend in a cinema.

GARY'S TOUCH is one of those films that people are going to be talking about for decades to come, as a pioneering work of transgressive fiction in the same selective canon that includes SALO, NEKROMANTIK, AFTERMATH, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and CUTTING MOMENTS. When the film premiered in director Ken Takahashi‚s hometown of Ottawa, it prompted a police investigation. This is an unclassifiable film that doesn't fit into any of the festival‚s loosely-defined genres, but we couldn't resist inflicting the trauma of GARY'S TOUCH on our favourite audience in the world, one that's proven so hungry for assaultive cinema. Prepare to be touched - in a bad place. (Kier-La Janisse)