In 1973, teenaged Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) leaves her rural Southern hometown to study at New York University where her beloved Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) is a revered literature professor. She soon discovers that Frank is gay, and living with his longtime partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi) — an arrangement that he has kept secret for years. After the sudden death of Frank’s father — Beth’s grandfather — Frank is forced to reluctantly return home for the funeral with Beth in tow, and to finally face a long-buried trauma that he has spent his entire adult life running away from.

TWO EYES is a cinematic triptych which follows three main characters in three distinct time periods. In late 19th century Montana, an artist seeking inspiration for his art, explores the landscape with his Native American guide and finds his conceptions of himself and the world around him challenged. In 1979 Barstow, California, a questioning youth’s mundane existence is given a shot of adrenaline by the arrival of a new exchange student who envelopes them with her own lust for life. In present-day Wyoming a trans teenager works through his self-destructive feelings with his perceptive, non-binary therapist. Exploring themes of gender, love, personal truth and the power of art to transcend time, the seemingly unrelated narratives are ultimately interwoven into a single powerful storyline that reveals the deep and eternal connection between all three characters.

Adapted from an award-winning short story by David Bezmozgis, director Eric Steel’s first narrative feature exists at the crossroads between 1980s New York’s gay scene in the era of the emerging AIDS crisis and Brighton Beach’s bustling Jewish community. At the center is 17-year-old David, the son of Russian immigrant parents whose coming-of-age is influenced both by his budding relationship with a handsome East Village bartender, and his friendship with an elderly gay Jewish couple in his building who might find themselves on the wrong end of their community’s strict rules. Brimming with authenticity, both to the period and the cultural traditions it explores, Steel’s film is a revelatory examination of family, tradition, and the occasional need to break free from both.