(from left) Bobby (Billy Eichner) and Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) in Bros, directed by Nicholas Stoller.
Atlanta’s OUT ON FILM rolls out impressive lineup of films and events for 35th Anniversary edition
Atlanta’s Out on Film presented by GILEAD and WABE has announced the lineup of films and events for the 35th Anniversary edition of the Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ film festival.
The Oscar® qualifying film festival, which was recently included on MovieMaker Magazine’s “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” list, once again offers a diverse selection of films from highly anticipated studio efforts to independent films, and international to local Georgia and Atlanta productions as part of its carefully curated hybrid presentation.
Taking place September 22-October 2, Out on Film will open with Nicholas Stoller’s comedy Bros co-written by and starring Billy Eichner, with Todd Flaherty’s Chrissy Judy taking the Closing Night slot.Spotlight screenings include Micheal Rice’s Black As U R, Connie Cocchia’s When Time Got Louder, Daresha Kiyi’s Mama Bears, and the world premiere of Yuval David’s Wonderfully Made — LGBTQ+R(eligion) from executive producer Mark McDermott, and advocate producers including Lance Bass.
Out on Film’s lineup includes 40 features (23 narrative films, 17 documentaries) and 16 shorts programs with 143 films representing 27 countries. Nearly all of these films will be available for nationwide streaming.
Colman Domingo will be on hand to receive this year’s Out on Film Icon Award, and additional special events will include a 40th Anniversary screening of Grease 2 and the film festival’s first screenplay competition, sponsored by Warren Gump.
Out on Film Festival Director Jim Farmer said, “Our 35th Anniversary presentation will hit all the notes that Out on Film has become celebrated for over the past four decades, with a wonderful combination of films from around the world, as well as from our amazing city of Atlanta. We’ve got a great honoree in Colman Domingo who somehow will manage to be on hand in the middle of his incredibly packed production schedule, and new wrinkles in store, including our very first screenplay competition coupled with a queer filmmaker celebration.”
Out on Film will open on Thursday, September 22 with Nicholas Stoller’s Bros, the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men maybe, possibly, probably, stumbling towards love, co-written by and starring Billy Eichner. The Georgia premiere of Todd Flaherty’s dark comedy Chrissy Judy will take place on Closing Night, Sunday, October 2. The film follows two gay men as they face a crossroads with their two-queen drag act, which may cause one of them to and rediscover his true self in the process.
Centerpiece screenings include Micheal Rice’s documentary Black As U R puts a mirror up to Black America a asking the question: “Why do we as a people protest against racial injustice, but disregard the injustices experienced by black queer people?” Daresha Kiyi ‘s festival-favorite documentary Mama Bears focuses on the mothers of LGBTQ+ children via the journeys taken by Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two “mama bears”— whose profound love for their LGBTQ+ children has turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community—and Tammi Terrell Morris, a young African American lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance perfectly exemplifies why the mama bears are so vitally important. Daresha Kiyi will attend the screening and participate in a post-screening Q&A. First-time filmmaker Connie Cocchia’s When Time Got Louder follows a young woman who leaves home and her autistic brother for college and finds herself torn between the new life she is establishing and her love for home and family. The film stars Willow Shields (The Hunger Games) and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost). Connie Cocchia will attend and participate in a post-screening Q&A. Emmy winner Yuval David’s documentary Wonderfully Made — LGBTQ+R(eligion) will make its world premiere at Out on Film. Produced by Mark McDermott, with advocate producers including Lance Bass, the film looks at the root of anti-LGBTQ attitudes by exploring the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ+ Catholics with a focus on the process of a fine art project creating unprecedented, photographic iconography depicting Jesus as a member/ally of the LGBTQ+ community. Director Yuval David and Executive Producer Mark McDermott will be on hand to talk about the film post-screening.
Additional world premieres include Kimya Motley’s documentary Intentionally Erased about the experiences of Black trans women in the United States. Following the screening, Out on Film will host a panel discussion to expand upon the conversation illuminated by the film. Myles Clohessy’s thriller Love Island follows a group of friends as they attempt to survive what began as an idyllic pandemic getaway to the LGBTQ party haven of Fire Island, as they find themselves methodically being targeted and killed by an obsessed madman.
Special events at Out on Film will be led by the presentation of this year’s Icon Ward to Colman Domingo. A 2022 Emmy Award, two-time Film Independent Spirit Award, Gotham Award, SAG Award, Critics Choice and NAACP Award nominee, Colman Domingo recently won a Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series/Anthology and an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his work in Euphoria. In addition, Domingo is a Tony®, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Drama Desk, Drama League, and NAACP Theatre Award nominated, OBIE and Lucille Lortel Award winning actor, playwright, director, and producer. A prolific and ubiquitous presence on screen and stage in recent years, Domingo has made an indelible impression in films such as Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Lee Daniel’s The Butler, Ava DuVernay’s Selma, Nate Parker’s Birth of a Nation, Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, and Janicza Bravo’s Zola. Domingo has also made his mark on television in Fear the Walking Dead, Euphoria, and The Knick. As a writer, his plays and musicals include “Dot,” “Wild with Happy” and “A Boy and His Soul,” Upcoming projects include the fourth season of his series, Bottomless Brunch at Colman’s, as well as the debut of his new series West Philly, Baby, for which he will write, direct and executive produce for ALLBLK/AMC+.Colman. Domingo will also star in the Netflix/Higher Ground film Rustin as Bayard Rustin in 2023. He also will star as ‘Mister’ in the Warner Brothers/Oprah Winfrey/ Steven Spielberg produced The Color Purple musical motion picture, filmed in Atlanta and due next year as well. Colman Domingo will participate in a “Conversation on Film” following screenings of his short films New Moon and New Star.
Additional highlights during the 35th Anniversary edition of Out on Film include a focus on local Atlanta-based films and filmmakers led by Mercedes Kane’s documentary Art and Pep about
Art Johnston and Pepe Peña, the owners of the iconic bar Sidetrack in Chicago. The longtime romantic partners are civil rights leaders who have been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality for decades, activists during the AIDS crisis and co-founders of Equality Illinois. Jono Mitchell, another Atlanta-based director, will attend the film festival with his latest film, Miles From Nowhere. The drama focuses on a dying man on a cabin retreat who is forced to confront past mistakes after learning he may not know his friends as well as he may think. Former Atlantan Travis Fine’s latest is the drama Two Eyes which tells the story of three main characters in three distinct time periods: a young artist traveling to Montana in 1868 to paint the wild, untamed land, a young photographer in 1979 who befriends a foreign exchange student, and a young trans musician in 2020. Atlantan Cara Consilvio’s For the Love of Friends looks at Brent Nicholson Earle, who, in 1986, awoke America to the AIDS crisis and honored the friends he lost by running the perimeter of the United States.
Finally, Out on Film will combine its anniversary celebration with a 40th Anniversary screening of Allan Carr’s Grease 2. Festival goers will be encouraged to grab their leather jacket and prepare to sing along to “Cool Rider” and the rest of the beloved score of this criminally underrated musical including “Reproduction,” “Back to School,” “Score Tonight” and “Turn Back the Hands of Time.” Matthew Caulfield is the dreamy but nerdy foreign exchange student with eyes for Michelle Pfeiffer’s seemingly unattainable Pink Lady Stephanie if he can just somehow get around Adrian Zmed’s perfect hair. If that wasn’t enough, on Saturday, October 1 there will be a free-to-the public reading of the winning screenplay from the film festival’s first screenplay competition as well as a queer filmmaker
For information on purchasing passes, tickets, and additional details on Out on Film, please go to: outonfilm.org.
The 2022 Out on Film official selections:
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
Bros
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Country: USA, Running Time: 115 min
This fall, Universal Pictures proudly presents the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men maybe, possibly, probably, stumbling towards love. Maybe. They’re both very busy.
From the ferocious comic mind of Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street, 2019’s The Lion King, Difficult People, Impeachment: American Crime Story) and the hitmaking brilliance of filmmakers Nicholas Stoller (the Neighbors films, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Judd Apatow (The King of Staten Island, Trainwreck, The Big Sick), comes Bros, a smart, swoony and heartfelt comedy about how hard it is to find another tolerable human being to go through life with.
Starring Billy Eichner, the first openly gay man to co-write and star in his own major studio film — and featuring an entirely LGBTQ+ principal cast, including Luke Macfarlane (Killjoys), Ts Madison (The Ts Madison Experience), Monica Raymund (Chicago Fire), Guillermo Díaz (Scandal), Guy Branum (The Other Two) and Amanda Bearse (Married …with Children) — Bros is directed by Nicholas Stoller from his screenplay with Eichner. The film is produced by Judd Apatow, Stoller and Joshua Church (co-producer Trainwreck, Step Brothers) and is executive produced by Eichner and Karl Frankenfield.
CENTERPIECE SELECTIONS
Black As U R
Director: Micheal Rice
Country: USA, Running Time: 75 min
Black As U R poses to Black America a highly confrontational and much avoided question. Why do we as a people protest racial injustice, but disregard the injustices experienced by black queer people? In this incendiary documentary, filmmaker Micheal Rice takes the audience on a journey through the homophobia that characterizes many black spaces, both contemporarily and via an autobiographic look into his own upbringing in the south. BLACK AS U R is the first step in confronting the African American community about queerphobia, via the searing stories of queer black people.
When Time Got Louder
Director: Connie Cocchia
Country: Canada, Running Time: 114 min
Departing for college, Abbie leaves her parents and brother who has autism and is non-verbal. As she explores her independence and sexuality, she’s torn between her new life and her love for her brother. This beautiful drama by first time feature filmmaker Connie Cocchia stars Willow Shields (The Hunger Games) and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost).
Mama Bears
Director: Daresha Kiyi
Country: USA, Running Time: 90 min
Did you know there are more than 32,000 mothers in America — many from conservative, Christian backgrounds — who fully accept their LGBTQ+ children? Mama Bears is an exploration of the journeys taken by Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two “mama bears”— whose profound love for their LGBTQ+ children have turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community—and Tammi Terrell Morris, a young African American lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance perfectly exemplifies why the mama bears are so vitally important.
Wonderfully Made — LGBTQ+R(eligion) World Premiere
Director: Yuval David
Country: USA, Running Time: 94 min
Directed by Emmy winner Yuval David and produced by Mark McDermott, the extraordinarily moving Wonderfully Made — LGBTQ+R(eligion) is a feature-length documentary that strikes at the root of anti-LGBTQ attitudes by exploring the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ+ Catholics. The film focuses on the Catholic Church because it is one of the largest religious organizations in the world, and because its anti-LGBTQ+ stance is well known and growing more hardline around the world. The narrative of the film is shaped by the process of a fine art project creating unprecedented, photographic iconography depicting Jesus as a member/ally of the LGBTQ+ community, portrayed by multiple LGBTQ+ models of diverse ethnicities, genders, races, sexualities, and identities. Advocate Producers include Lance Bass, Bishop Gene Robinson, Reverend Mel White, former Ireland President Mary McAleese, Andrew Tobias, Mitchell Gold, and Jane Clementi.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
Chrissy Judy Georgia Premiere
Director: Todd Flaherty
Country: USA, Running Time: 96 min
Everybody has that one friend who can’t get their act together, but you can’t help but love them to pieces anyway. For thirty-something Chrissy, that’s his bestie, Judy, an endearing but perpetually messy ride-or-die who’s always got more than a few cocktails in the tank.
After hustling for years together in the New York City bar scene, Judy is convinced that this is the summer their two-queen drag act will finally get its big break. That is, until Chrissy’s priorities suddenly shift, forcing a disillusioned Judy to closely examine his trajectory as a queer artist, and rediscover his true self in the process. In this dark comedy, Chrissy Judy peers into the underbelly of queer culture and examines the struggles gay men face in the pursuit of love, acceptance, romance, and identity.
ADDITIONAL FEATURE FILMS (IN-PERSON)
All Kinds of Love
Director: David Lewis
Country: USA, Running Time: 75 min
Amid the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s upholding of marriage equality in 2015, a long-time gay couple divorce just as everyone else is getting married. After his commitment-phobic husband divorces him, a stuck-in-his-ways gay man tries to start over. When he becomes accidental roommates with a younger hip nerd who is as romantically challenged as he is, sparks fly.
All Man: The International Male Story
Directors: Bryan Darling and Jesse Finley Reed
Country: USA, Running Time: 83 min
This fascinating new film journeys across three decades of the International Male catalog’s unlikely but lasting impact on fashion, masculinity, and sexuality in America. Gene Burkard, a once-closeted Midwesterner, and GI found freedom in San Diego, where he transformed men’s fashion into something cosmopolitan, carefree, and trendsetting. International Male reached gay and straight customers alike as it redefined images of masculinity in American culture, generating revenue and circulation in the millions.
Art and Pep
Director: Mercedes Kane
Country: USA, Running Time: 90 min
Art Johnston and Pepe Peña are the owners of the iconic bar Sidetrack in Chicago, as well as longtime romantic partners. They’re also civil rights leaders who have been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality for decades, activists during the AIDS crisis and co-founders of Equality Illinois.
El Houb
Director: Sharif Nasr
Country: Netherlands: Running Time: 102 min
Moroccan-Dutch Karim returns to his family home and opens up to his traditional parents about being into men. Their reaction inspires a journey of discovery through Karim’s isolation as he attempts to break an ingrained culture of silence and eventually locks himself in his parent’s closet. Based on the life of lead actor Fahd Larhzaoui, this new film is darkly comic and bold.
For the Love of Friends
Director: Cara Consilvio
Country: USA, Running Time: 97 min
In 1986, to awaken America to the AIDS crisis and to honor the friends he lost, Brent Nicholson Earle runs the perimeter of the United States. In The American Run for the End of AIDS, Brent runs almost a marathon a day for 20 months straight. After enduring blisters, exhaustion, ignorance, and fear, he returns home to his own HIV diagnosis. Though the run finishes, Brent’s activism never stops, in Atlanta filmmaker’s Cara Consilvio’s exquisite documentary.
Framing Agnes
Director: Chase Joynt
Countries: USA/Canada, Running Time: 75 min
In 1958, a young trans woman named Agnes entered a study about sex disorders at UCLA to get the gender-affirming care she needed, by any means necessary. Her story was long considered to be exceptional until never-before-seen case files of other patients were found in 2017. Directed by Chase Joynt (No Ordinary Man) and featuring an all-star cast of transgender artists and performers, Framing Agnes uses re-enactment and genre-blurring storytelling techniques to breathe new life into previously unknown people who redefined gender in the midcentury. Featuring Angelica Ross, Jen Richards, Zackary Drucker, Silas Howard, Max Wolf Valerio, and Stephen Ira.
Grease 2 (1982)
Director: Allan Carr
Country: USA, Running Time: 114 min
Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the leader of Rydell High School’s Pink Ladies, a gang of girls who are counterparts of the school’s group of greasers called the T-Birds. Stephanie is tired of her relationship with top T-Bird Johnny Nogerelli (Adrian Zmed), so she breaks up with him and quickly catches the eye of English exchange student Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield). Hoping to win her over, Michael tries to overcome his nerdy ways while holding off the jealous Johnny.
In From the Side
Director: Matt Carter
Country: USA, Running Time: 134 min
Following a drunken encounter, two equally attached men from a cash strapped and divided gay rugby club unwittingly sleepwalk into an adulterous affair but must conceal their growing feelings or risk destroying the club they love. Set amidst the British rugby world, this is a gorgeous and stirring love story, directed by Matt Carter.
Intentionally Erased World Premiere
Director: Kimya Motley
Country: USA, Running Time: 60 min
Kimya Motley is an educator, activist, author, director, and producer working to end violence against all women and girls. She has directed, co-wrote, and co-produced this absorbing documentary about the experiences of Black trans women in the United States.
Jimmy in Saigon
Director: Peter McDowell
Country: USA, Running Time: 89 min
Generations after his brother’s death, director Peter McDowell uncovers secrets related to Jimmy’s sexuality and drug use. Jimmy died as a civilian in Saigon during the Vietnam War when Peter was only 5 and through hundreds of his letters and a truth-seeking journey that takes him around the world, Peter gets to know Jimmy and finds peace in his own life. This haunting documentary is executive produced by Dan Savage.
Lonesome
Director: Craig Boreham
Country: Australia, Running Time: 95 min
In this sexually explicit drama, Casey, a country lad running from a small-town scandal, finds himself down and out in big city Sydney. When he meets city lad Tib both men find something they have been missing but neither of them knows quite how to negotiate it.
Love Island World Premiere
Director: Myles Clohessy
Country: USA, Running Time: 90 min
The perfect summer vacation escape away from COVID locked down NYC quickly spirals out of control for a group of friends on the infamous, picturesque, LGBTQ party haven of Fire Island, as they find themselves slowly being picked off one by one by a manic, obsessed killer, played with menace by Jonathan Bennett.
Love Without Fear (Amar Sin Miedo)
Director: Juan Jose Frausto
Country: USA, Running Time: 120 min
Love Without Fear is a sexy romantic story about Josh Adams and his self-discovery in the city of Taxco, Mexico, as well as an intimate depiction of two men from different parts of the world that unexpectedly are drawn to one another. When Josh meets musician Leo, his life changes in this erotic, humane drama.
Manscaping
Director: Broderick Fox
Country: UK, Running Time: 62 min
An Afrofuturist, a naked fetishist, and a community activist walk into a barbershop… Black American visual artist Devan Shimoyama, Australian fetish barber/porn producer Richard Savvy, and transgender Canadian barber Jessie Anderson are three queer men reimagining the traditional barbershop and restyling masculinity along the way.
Mars One
Director: Gabriel Martins
Country: Brazil, Running Time: 115 min
The Martins family are optimistic dreamers, quietly leading their lives in the margins of a major Brazilian city following the disappointing inauguration of a far-right extremist president. A lower-middle-class Black family, they feel the strain of their new reality as the political dust settles. Tércia, the mother, reinterprets her world after an unexpected encounter leaves her wondering if she’s cursed. Her husband, Wellington, puts all his hopes into the soccer career of their son, Deivinho, who reluctantly follows his father’s ambitions despite secretly aspiring to study astrophysics and colonize Mars. Meanwhile, their older daughter, Eunice, falls in love with a free-spirited young woman and ponders whether it’s time to leave home.
Maybe Someday
Director: Michelle Ehlen
Jay, a non-binary 40-something photographer, attempts to move across the country to start her life over again in the midst of separating from her wife. Along the way, she takes a detour to stay with her high school best friend who she used to be secretly in love with and befriends a charismatic gay man who has long given up on love. Struggling to move forward with the next chapter of her life, memories of the past resurface as Jay grapples with the inevitable cycles of love, loss, and letting go.
Miles From Nowhere
Director: Jono Mitchell
Country: USA, Running Time: 76 min
During an annual cabin retreat, a dying man must confront past mistakes after learning he may not know his friends as well as he may think. This thoughtful drama from prolific Atlanta director Jono Mitchell features an impeccable ensemble cast.
Nana’s Boys
Director: Ashton Pina
Country: USA, Running Time, 78 min
When an explosion rattles NYC into a lockdown and without power, Amari and Q are forced to confront the fragility of their partnership. Ashton Pina has set out to create an intimate and honest reflection on the experiences that cause pressure on a relationship. NANA’S BOYS is a bittersweet love story about two Black men, who despite their history, current circumstances and sometimes callousness attitude have a deep care for each other.
Nelly & Nadine
Director: Magnus Gertten
Countries: Sweden/Norway/Belgium, Running Time: 92 min
Nelly & Nadine is the unlikely love story between two women falling in love on Christmas Eve, 1944, in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Despite being separated in the last months of the war, Nelly and Nadine manage to later reunite and spend the rest of their life together. For many years their love story was kept a secret, even to some of their closest family. Now Nelly’s grandchild, Sylvie, has decided to open Nelly and Nadine’s unseen personal archives and uncover their remarkable story.
Pat Rocco Dared
Directors: Bob Christie, Morris Chapdelaine
Country: Canada, Running Time: 90 min
In the 1970’s Playboy magazine dubbed Pat Rocco the King of the Nudies, but he is much more than an erotic filmmaker. Rocco is an activist, artist, filmmaker, and entertainer. He’s the whole Hollywood package, with one more story to tell: his own. He arrived in Hollywood with his parents at the age of eleven. By seventeen he knew he was gay, had moved away from home, and was living out of the closet. It was 1951. Having sung in choirs as a youth, he managed to find gigs in radio, nightclubs, theatres, and church basements. With his true talent and undeniable charisma, he made his way to television variety shows, starring alongside legends like Phyllis Diller.
Sissy
Directors: Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes
Country: Australia, Running Time: 103 min
Cecilia and Emma were tween-age BFFs who were going to grow old together and never let anything come between them, until Alex arrived on the scene. Twelve years later, Cecilia is a successful social media influencer living the dream of an independent, modern millennial woman… until she runs into Emma for the first time in over a decade. Emma invites Cecilia away on her bachelorette weekend at a remote cabin in the mountains, where Alex proceeds to make Cecilia’s weekend a living hell.
So Damn Easy Going
Director: Christoffer Sandler
Countries: Sweden/Norway, Running Time: 91 min
Eighteen-year-old Joanna needs her ADHD meds to keep her mind in order. When she can no longer afford her medication, she must get creative in her hunt for money. Amid this, she meets charming and confident Audrey. This encounter changes her life in this award-winning crowd pleaser.
Swallowed
Director: Carter Smith
Country: USA, Running Time: 93 min
After a drug run goes bad, two childhood friends must survive a horrific night in a backwoods hell of drugs, bugs, and obscene intimacy Jena Malone and Mark Patton (A Nightmare on Elm Street) headline the cast in this queer horror nightmare.
Two Eyes
Director: Travis Fine
Country: USA, Running Time: 107 min
Two Eyes explores queerness, gender, & love…art and passion…chasing after your muse…and finding your true people along the way. The story follows three main characters in three distinct time periods – a young artist travelling to Montana in 1868 to paint the wild, untamed land, a young photographer in 1979 who befriends a foreign exchange student, and a young trans musician in 2020.
Unidentified Objects
Director: Juan Felipe Zuleta
Country: USA, Running Time: 100 min
Peter (New Amersterdam’s Matthew Jeffers) is a flamboyant, misanthropic dwarf hiding from the world in his shabby New York City apartment. But an unexpected visit from his upbeat—and possibly unhinged—neighbor Winona forces him out of his shell and onto an impromptu road trip. Their destination? What she believes to be the site of an upcoming alien visitation in the wilderness of rural Canada. On their increasingly surreal odyssey, Peter and Winona will encounter bickering lesbian cosplayers, shroom-addled survivalists, and even extraterrestrial highway cops. But the further they go and the more their trauma comes to light, it becomes clear that the only thing more nerve-wracking than being abducted is being alone in the universe.
Where Butterflies Don’t Fly
Director: Roman Nemec
Country: Czech Republic, Running Time: 126 min
Daniel is an odd guy who lives with his endlessly quarrelling parents uncomplaining about his destiny. He keeps a distance from other people, he has no friends, nobody understands him, he is different. He will be turning nineteen and the last thing he would spend his time on is a preparation for his approaching graduation. Adam is his class teacher. He is gay and lives in a relationship with his younger partner David and his strictly guarded secret keeps locked behind a door of their apartment. Daniel and Adam live in their own bubbles until a moment when they both happen to be together in a life-threatening situation.
Youtopia
Director: Scout Durwood
Country: USA, Running Time: 91 min
Scout Durwood’s musical comedy is bound to make you smile. After a devastating break up an elder millennial inadvertently forms a hipster cult. When members start to disappear, the leader is confronted with the knowledge that her journey of self-discovery may trigger the end of civilization as we know it, forcing her to face her most challenging enemy yet: herself.
ADDITIONAL FEATURE FILMS (VIRTUAL)
Country Love
Director: Wapah Ezeigwe
Country: Nigeria, Running Time: 45 min
Kambili returns home after fifteen years when his sister, Nneka, writes him a heartfelt letter of reconciliation. Upon his return, he is confronted by the bitter-sweet memories of his childhood, his estranged relationship with his family and his deep affection for his boyhood friend Ifediora. Hopeful that things would now work for better-he would rebuild his relationship with his sister and reunite with Ifediora- his expectations are crushed when it dawns on him that Ifediora despite being homosexual has moved on with a woman he is engaged to and Nneka has still not changed from being who she is.
Dawn, Her Dad and the Tractor
Director: Shelley Thompson
Country: Canada, Running Time: 91 min
When a young woman with a startling resemblance to John Andrew’s wife Miranda appears days before her funeral, he begins an odyssey towards understanding. His son Donald is now Dawn, home to mourn her mother and repair the estrangement with her dad. As Dawn reconnects with her sister Tammy and her fiancé Byron, a new family order begins to emerge. An ancient tractor becomes a focus for the mechanically minded Dawn, but John Andrew’s long-simmering resentments about the tractor heighten family tensions.
Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls
Director: Julianna Notten
Country: Canada, Running Time: 90 min.
As middle school is ending, Erin, the only out person in her grade, and Liz, fellow comic nerd and track star, find their friendship tested when Liz is accepted to private high school and Erin falls hard for new girl and ex child-star, Sydni. Erin believes the only way to save herself from certain doom next year is to ask Sydni to the big dance and get in with the popular kids, but the plan goes awry when she starts to lose Liz along the way. Erin’s Guide To Kissing Girls is a story of friendship, first loves, and deciding what’s important to you when everything is changing, all told through a queer lens.
Game on, Queer Disruptions in Sport
Director: Mária Takács
Country: Hungary, Running Time: 107 min
Gay runners, a lesbian boxer, an intersex rower, and a transwoman footballer, all on one team! Can you imagine them? They are athletes whose lives are unseen, unimaginable to society. In recent years, LGBTIQ+ people in sport have become more visible yet so many still stay in the closet, especially in professional sport. The film portrays 5 protagonists from 4 different countries, each disrupting amateur sport with their gay, lesbian, trans and intersex identities. They talk candidly about their sports journeys, their individual experiences, and their private life.
A Journey to Pride
Director Christopher Wesley Moore
Country: USA, Running Time: 57 min
After a decade of not having a pride in Jackson, Mississippi, a local pride committee is formed to plan the largest and safest pride Mississippi has ever had as the COVID pandemic threatens to cancel the event for the third time.
Screens with:
The Hollidays in Mississippi
Director: Christina Huff
Country: USA, Running Time: 35 min
The Hollidays in Mississippi focuses on the relationship between Eric White (GoDiva Holliday) and Justin Tyler (DeePression Holliday), two drag performers born and raised in small-town Mississippi. While the film highlights the importance of queer families (the families we create outside of our biological families) through the lens of White and Tyler, this story will ultimately follow the unique relationship between White and Tyler. The two drag performers work together to create and celebrate queer space in small-town Mississippi. However, when COVID-19 stops them in their tracks, White loses his passion for show directing and passes the baton onto Tyler to finish his legacy of building queer communities in Tupelo, Mississippi.
No Siren Left Behind
Directors: Shirin Barghi, Martine N. Granby
Country: USA, Running Time: 31 min
No Siren Left Behind is a documentary short chronicling the history of New York City’s oldest and largest women-run motorcycle club – its place in queer history, the lives of its members, and the sisterhood of a chosen family.
Our Dad, Danielle
Director: S.E King
Country: USA, Running Time: 98 min
Danielle Joy “DJ” Healey was terrified of being her true self for 57 years, fearing she would lose her wife, two daughters, and prestigious law career. She almost died trying to shield those she loved from her reality. For over half of her life Danielle had privilege and power on the outside while suffering tremendously on the inside. The traditional nuclear-family dream in idyllic Sugar Land, Texas was forever changed once she revealed in 2017 to her Facebook community the secret she’d kept for decades: Danielle is trans.
A Run for More
Director: Ray Whitehouse
Country: USA, Running Time: 82 min
As a transgender woman in Texas, Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe expected to encounter resistance to her campaign for city council. She did not anticipate questioning her relationship to identity, activism and civic engagement. On the campaign trail, she finds herself on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and healing.
The Unabridged Mrs. Vera’s Daybook
Director: Robert James
Country: USA, Running Time: 80 min.
The Unabridged Mrs. Vera’s Daybook tells a story of historic activism and community art through the works of two San Francisco artists and long-term AIDS survivors. During one of the darkest periods in US history, two men decide to bring joy and color to a broken community for which an entire movement has emerged. Supporters, fellow activists and members of the queer art community join the film to help paint this vivid portrait of perseverance, compassion and outrageous dime-store fashion.
SHORT FILM PROGRAMS (IN PERSON)
EVERYTHING UNDER THE RAINBOW SHORTS
The Baldwin Archives
Dir. Tory Devon Smith and Laura Seay, 8 min, U.S.
Beast
Dir. Urvashi Pathania, 9 min, U.S.
Body Language
Dir. Odu Adamu, 10 min, U.S.
Church Camp
Dir. Andrew D. Bourne, 14 min, U.S
Coming Out with the Help of a Time Machine
Dir. Naman Gupta, 15 min, U.S.
Half
Dir. Jacob Roberts, 11 min, U.S.
Hard
Dir. Robin Takao D’Oench
Leatherboy
Dir. Jack McGreal, 8 min, U.S.
Taffeta
Dir. Lovell Holder, 11 min, U.S.
Troy
Dir. Mike Donahue, 16 min, U.S.
TRANSEXCELLENT
100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu
Dir. Gbenga Komolafe, 14 min, U.S.
Do I Know You from Someone?
Dir. Gwen Rathbone, 11 min, U.K.
How Not to Date While Trans
Dir. Nyala Moon, 12 min, U.S.
Just Benjamin
Dir. Paige Murphy, 24 min, U.S
Pronouns in Bio
Dir. Frankie Shaftain-Fenner, 20 min, U.K.
Transit: A New York City Fairytale
Dir. Emily Dinova, 18 min, U.S.
LET’S LAUGH AGAIN
Brutal
Dir. Sam McConnell, 13 min, U.S.
Cock N’ Bull 3
Dir. Nathan Adloff, 24 min, U.S.
F^¢k ‘Em R!ght B@¢k
Dir. Harris Doran, 12 min, U.S.
Gay Haircut
Dir. Jude Hope Harris, 7 min, U.S.
Gay History Tour
Dir. Adam Enright and Aaron Fuksa, 7 min, U.S.
The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night
Dir. Fawzia Mirza, 11 min, U.S.
Tank Fairy
Dir. Erich Rettstadt, 10 min, Taiwan
Unicorn
Dir. Matt Porter, 14 min, U.S.
BEING WHO WE ARE
Close-Up
Dir. Benett Holgerson, 15 min, U.S.
Dads
Dir. Martin Luca, 5 min, U.S.
Foreign Uncle
Dir. Sining Xiang, 20 min, U.S.
The Letter Men
Dir. Andy Vallentine, 9 min, U.S.
Parrot
Dir. Kyle B. Thompson, 11 min, U.S
Punch Line
Dir. Becky Cheatle, 10 min, Ireland
Ripples
Dir. Dylan Mitro, 20 min, Canada
Queer Parivaar
Dir. Shiva Raichandani, 27 min, U.K.
Sequin
Dir. Averi Israel, 4 min, U.S.
TAKING A STAND
CANS Can’t Stand
Dir. Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka, 18 min, U.S.
Dawn, A Charleston Legend
Dir. Ron Davis, 34 min, U.S.
Peach Paradise
Dir. Shiva Raichandani,12 min, U.K.
Rooted Out
Dir. Julie Casper Roth, 27 min, U.S.
INSPIRATIONS
Blind Angels: Richmond, Virginia
Dir. Umbreen Butt, 9 min, U.S.
Love, Barbara
Dir. Brydie O’Connor, 15 min, U.S.
One Lift at a Time
Dir. Flo Singer and Ben Dame, 9 min, U.S.
Taking the Long Road Home
Dir. Qiydaar Foster, 35 min, U.S.
Twinkleberry
Dir. Daisy Ifama, 12 min, U.K.
LATINEXTRAORDINARY
Azulejos
Dir. Maria Paula Arboleda, 19 min, U.S.
Hijo
Dir. Oscar Perez-Chairez, 33 min, U.S.
Novena
Dir. Fernand Lopez, 15 min, U.S.
Six Feet Apart
Dir. Monty Cole, 13 min, U.S.
AROUND THE WORLD
All the Awards I Never Gave You
Dir. Ciao Scott, 17 min, Brazil
I Am Leo
Dir. Tajo Hurrle, 18 min, Germany
Little Sky
Dir. Jess X. Snow, 14 min, Canada
Makassar is a City for Football Fans
Dir. Khozy Rizal, 20 min, Indonesia
Paternity
Dir. Vicente De Ramos, 5 min, Spain
Swim
Dir. Michael Gamarano Singleton, 9 min, U.K.
FOR THE LADIES
The Birth of a Beautiful Butch
Dir. Gia-Rayne Harris, 3 min, U.S.
Blue Hour
Dir. Stacey Rushchak, 27 min, Poland
Eye of the Veil
Dir. Dorothy A. Atabong, 23 min, Canada
Melting Point
Dir. Mindy Stricke. 5 min, Canada
Oisín
Dir. Alba Fernandez, 21 min, Ireland
Second Parent
Dir. Penny PJ Chen, 16 min, U.S.
ANIMATION EXPLOSION
Bi the Way
Dir. Amir Ovadia Steklov, 15 min, Germany
Black Box
Dir. Alana Mango, 4 min, U.S.
The Girl Behind the Mirror
Dir. Iuri Moreno, 12 min, Brazil
It’s a Gray, Gray World
Dir. Seyed Mohsen Pourmohseni Shakib, 6 min, Iran
Inner Wound Real
Dir. Carrie Hawks, 15 min., U.S
The Magentalman and The Gentlemint
Dir. James Crang, 5 min, U.K.
¡Nails!
Dir. Eliana Pipes, 5 min, U.S.
New Moon
Dir. Jeff Le Bars and Jérémie Balai, 11 min, U.S.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Beautiful Stranger
Dir. Benjamin Bellor, 26 min, France
Firsts
Dir. Jesse Ung, 17 min, New Zealand
Naked Men in the Woods
Dir. Paul Ploberger, 30 min, Austria
Too Rough
Dir. Sean Lìonadh, 15 min, U.K.
Veils
Dir. Erika Nakayama, 18 min, Japan
Too Rough
Dir. Sean Lìonadh, 15 min, U.K.
HOMEGROWN SHORTS
Amina
Dir. Shanrica Evans, 13 min, U.S.
Capacity
Dir. Marlee Archer, 7 min, U.S.
Held Together
Dir. Alvin Agarrat, 16 min, U.S.
I Can Tell You Anything
Dir. Kevin Anthony, 12 min, U.S.
Making a Scene
Dir. Jono Mitchell, 12 min, U.S.
My Abortion Saved My Life
Dir. Ruby Fludzinski and Tiler Wilson, 9 min, U.S.
One Days
Dir. Alexandra Faith, 7 min, U.S.
Perfect First Date
Dir. Kyle Hamlin, 11 min, U.S.
Pierce Me
Dir. John e. Kilberg, 10 min, U.S.
HORROR SHORTS – THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
The House Sitters
Dir. Sydne Horton, 22 min, U.S.
Infested Hearts
Dir. Michael Varrati, 17 min, U.S.
Mom, If I Were a Vampire
Dir. Deborah Chuang, 17 min, Taiwan
White Wedding
Dir. Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, 16 min, U.K.
CONNECTIONS – DRAMA SHORTS
Iago and Tristan
Dir. Miguel Ibáñez Monroy, 12 min, Spain
The Letter Men
Dir. Andy Vallentine, 9 min, U.S
Like Father, Like…
Dir. Urvashi Pathania, 12 min, U.S.
Masaru
Dir. Ruben Navarro, 12 min, U.S.
North Star
Dir. P.J. Palmer, 30 min, U.S.
The Spirit God Gave Us
Dir. Michael Donte Jemison, 20 min, U.S.
FOR THE LADIES 2 (Virtual)
Frida
Dir. Aleksandra Odic, 21 min, Germany
Keep/Delete
Dir. Krizz Gautier, 19 min, U.S.
Killing Myself
Dir. Jillian Junco, 12 min, U.S.
Static Space
Dir. John Klein and Kate Black-Spence, 28 min, U.S.
A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT (Virtual)
The Drawer
Dir. Tonika Huff, 16 min, U.S.
Fever
Dir. Angele Scott, 19 min, U.S.
Fireworks
Dir. Sam McGowan, 15 min, Australia
Lumber
Dir. Harry Sabulis, 11 min, Australia
Man & Wife
Dir. Rahul Roye, 8 min, India
Man of My Dreams
Dir. Tristan Scott-Behrends, 5 min. U.S.
The Truth of a Thousand Nights
Dir. Chris Molina, 15 min
Atlanta’s OUT ON FILM rolls out impressive lineup of films and events for 35th Anniversary edition