Official Selections: 1st-7th LA Queer Film Festival
Congratulations to our accepted filmmakers!
Films are listed in alphabetical order, index to the left.
Scroll Down to learn more about each film.
Febrero
West Coast Premiere
Feature
On her 64th birthday, Zoe, a Cuban widow exiled in Miami, receives an unexpected visit from Helena, her childhood best friend, after more than 40 years without seeing each other. When one of them confesses to be gay, they both have to reconsider their friendship.
Director: Hansel Porras Garcia
Producer: Sebastian Barriuso
Writer: Hansel Porras Garcia
Cast: Lili Renteria, Amarilys Nuñez.
Cinematographer: Gilliam de la Torre
Editor: Ricardo Acosta C.C.E
- Knight Made in MIA Award - Miami Film Festival
- Official Selection Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ Film Festival
- Official Selection OUTShine Film Festival
Instagram: @hansel_porras
Forever Flowers
Los Angeles Premiere
Short Film
Director: Joe Solomon
Producer: Joe Solomon/ Dom Riley
Writer: Francesca Lin
Cast: Janet Amsden, Petra Markham, Sophie Delora, Jacob Meadows, Olivia Le Andersen, Freya Evans
Cinematographer: Charlie Jenkins
Editor: Giorgia Zarantonella
Website:Forever Flowers webpage
Instagram: @2foreverflower
Twitter: @2foreverflower
Facebook: @2foreverflower
Gay-ish
World Premiere
Short
A young woman reevaluates her sexuality when she attends a college reunion party with her long time boyfriend... and an unrequited female love.
Director: Michelle Askew
Producer: Angela Gulner
Writer: Michelle Askew
Cast: Michelle Askew, Gianmarco Duin, Chase Simone, Michaela Boutros-Ghali
Cinematographer: Luísa Dalé
Editor: Olivia Sorley
Gay-ish was filmed by a completely female, non-binary, and/or queer crew in all principal roles.
Instagram: gay__ish
Gender Outlaw, a body surfing story
Short Film
A documentary that navigates the tumultuous waters that Tyler Wilde, a transgender bodysurfer and teacher has had to move through as he searched for big surf, his true self, and his chosen family.
Director: Peter Williams
Producers: Peter Williams, Tyler Wilde
Writer: Peter Williams
Cast: Tyler Wilde, John Scheer, Dave Hazard
Cinematographer (if applicable): Gabriel Vargas
Editor: Nick Gartner
Best Short Documentary, Berlin Indie Film Festival; Second Place Overall, Incluvie Film Festival
Instagram: @genderoutlawfilm
Twitter: @thegenderoutlaw
Girl Like Me
USA Premiere
A girl like me is a musical short set to original songs by Peppermint and tells the story of a one-night stand turned into unlikely love between a transgender woman and one of her suitors. As they navigate the rocky road of love the threats to the relationship coming unexpected forms.
Director: April Maxey
Producer: Rosa Costanza
Writer: Peppermint
Cast: Peppermint, Levi Smith, Jamie Wilson, Ricardo Zayas, Scott Brewington
Cinematographer: Valentina Caniglia
Editor: April Maxey, Dekel Lazimi Lev
House Husbands
Los Angeles Premiere
Web Series
An elite social circle in Palm Springs falls apart when one man's husband leaves him for a new model.
Director: Michael Monteiro Wise
Producer: Michael Monteiro Wise, Katie Gilligan, Iris Almaraz
Writer: Michael Monteiro Wise
Cast: Sam Pancake, Bruce Vilanch, Michael Henry, Barry Brisco, Jason Cacares
Cinematographer: Ronnie Blake
Editor: Scott Hatcher
Website: househusbandsseries.com
Instagram: @househusbandsseries
Twitter: @houseseries
Facebook: House Husbands: A Digital Series
Josephine
Music Video
Queering the narrative of the 1959 gender bending smash hit “Some Like It Hot”, “Josephine” follows TYA falling head over heels in love instantly with her co-star Jo. Celebrate love, self-expression, and the freedom to be yourself.
Director: Miranda MacDougall
Producer: Reegan Price
Writer: Miranda MacDougall
Cast: TYA, Katie Findlay, Jazz McLaughlin, Kate Johnson, Zabrina Hay
Cinematographer: Callum Gunn
Editor: Spencer Browne
Website: tyamakesmusic.com
Instagram: @tyamakesmusic
Twitter:@tyamakesmusic
Facebook: @tyamakesmusic
Kouraj
USA Premiere
Short Film
Kouraj follows a Haitian woman's immigration journey, raising a family and her thoughts around her son's sexuality.
Director: Teddy Dumont
Producers: Fabienne Colas & Émile Castonguay
Writer: Teddy Dumont
Cast: Guelie Milord, Teddy Dumont
Cinematographer : Matthew A. Macdonald
Editor: Jamie deRooy
Teddy Dumont is a Haitian-Canadian actor, writer, producer and film director. Teddy has been writing songs, poetry and short stories since he was 8 years old. He has been in the entertainment industry since 15 joining AMTI, a local talent agency in his hometown, Ottawa, in which he pursued modeling and acting. Over the past few years, he has been featured in commercials, short films, print campaigns, and billboards. He's eager to pursue filmmaking as another vehicle to share personal stories around his intersectional identities being a Black Queer Haitian man. Furthermore, he would like to explore different types of genres throughout his career.
His documentary, Kouraj has been screened at numerous Black Film festivals in Canada, in cities such as Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa and Calgary. Later this year, it will be featured at the Montreal and Vancouver Black Film Festivals. This will be the film's first U.S/ L.A Premiere!
Instagram: @TeddyAnson95
FLOAT!
West Coast Premiere
Short
Azza Cohen's FLOAT! is a short documentary that takes a dip into her octogenarian grandmother's journey as she checks 'learn to swim' off her bucket list. Media is notorious for devaluing older women, and cinematic portrayals of aging too often lament the process. What if instead we considered getting older through a lens of agency, exploration, and satisfaction? What if 82 was just right for Bubbe to strip off her clothes and inhibitions (and our expectations), wrestle on a wetsuit, and dive headfirst into something new? FLOAT! encourages audiences to adjust our goggles and reframe our nostalgia for youth, our notions of beauty, and our assumptions about aging women's attitudes and utility. Join the wise, magnetic Bubbe as she boldly looks forward and inspires viewers to jump in with her. The water’s warm.
Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Azza Cohen
Producer: Kathleen Borschow
Cast: Judy Miller, David Miller, Nora Roussel, Caryl Zamb, Tink
FLICKERS' Rhode Island International Film Festival (Official Selection)
Website: www.azzacohen.com
Instagram: @therealbubbe
Facebook: bfb.com/therealbubbe
From Darkness to Light
“From Darkness To Light” is a documentary film that tells the story of the Peter Kruger Clinic (PKC) – one of the first HIV/AIDS clinics in the United States, which was established at Beth Israel Hospital in 1989. Started during the height of the epidemic in New York City, PKC boldly stood against the stigma of the disease and served as a beacon of hope and a model of care for those New Yorkers diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. This powerful film traces the clinic’s origins and its impact over the last 3 decades, as told by the patients and staff that have called it home.”
Director: Joe Fox
Producer: Matt Baney
Writer: Joe Fox
Cast: Liz Krueger, Matt Baney, Nina Howes, RN, Dale Mandelman, RN, Usha Mathur-Wagh, MD, Donna Mildvan, MD, Stanley R. Yancovitz, MD, Dina Franchi, LCSW, Sondra Middleton, MHS, PA-C, Wilfred Bright, James Kiernan, Josephine DeLeon, Nilsa Ramos Santiago, Vivian Richardson, April Drew, John Romaro, Angela Jones
Cinematographer: Marsh Chamberlain, James Nubile, Boris Shirman, Mano Alexandre
Editor: Benjamin Klema
Gnaw
Horror Short
A pesky hangnail sends Cote into an obsessive state while creating a disconnect her relationship with her girlfriend resulting in an unsettling terror.
Director: Rosalee Yagihara
Producer: Rosalee Yagihara
Writer: Meg Turner
Cast: Luvia Petersen, Bethany Brown
Cinematographer (if applicable): Angelica Perez Anzures
Editor: Arlien Wharf-Garcia
Instagram: @rosalee_y
Harbor by The Wheel Workers
West Coast Premiere
Music Video
A sapphic fever dream and a tender memory projected in the rear view, reflecting on the madness, inertia, beauty, and despair of love. Harbor is dedicated to the memory of Zachariah Jawad Mustafa.
Director: T Lavois Thiebaud
Writer: T Lavois Thiebaud
Cast: Ashley Beshara, Ann Christensen, Sarah Moessner, Jacob Mustafa, T Lavois Thiebaud
Cinematographer: James Douglas Templeton
Editor: T Lavois Thiebaud
Additional Editing + Color: James Douglas Templeton
“Harbor(...) is a strange, colorful, high-contrast ride — a sexy, scary, thrilling exercise in surreal, short-form narrative. Full of radiant color, dark recesses, and excellent threads (Harbor depicts) a pair of lovers on the run, robbing banks, rolling around in their purloined wealth, and upending convention at every turn. Yet, as exciting as their lives are, one miracle is beyond them. They can satisfy their cravings but cannot rescue each other from despair.” - Skope Magazine
IG: @tlavois
FB: T Lavois Thiebaud
I Know Him So Well
USA Premiere
Animation, Music Video
The jewel-toned animation of queer teenage love is chronicled by guitar-playing mermen and the vocals of AJ Rafael and Chance Calloway.
Director: Chance Calloway
Producer: Chance Calloway, G // Basco
Writer: Chance Calloway
Animation: Studio Goblin
The video was inspired by various Disney animated projects and Madonna’s “Cherish” music video. Studio Goblin animators Fraser Brown and Luke Green incorporated elements of the board game chess throughout the visuals.
Website: chancecalloway.com
Instagram: @csrcalloway
June
Short
June is a gas-station attendant, withered by the mundaneness of her central-valley life. She has recently come out as bisexual, much to the confusion of her manager Claudia who wants the best for her favorite (and only) employee.
Director: Lauren Stevens
Producers: Julia Ribas, Lauren Stevens, Karima Karkori, Amy Lyn Williams, and Joanna Gaspar
Writer: Julia Ribas
Cast: Julia Ribas, Nemi Brooks, Rae Rodriguez
Cinematographer (if applicable): Ziggy Jaz Van Koeverden
Editor: Justin Marquez
Instagram: @junefilm23
Follow Her
Los Angeles Premiere
Short
A self-obsessed influencer is experiencing strange visions and being hunted by a creature in her photos that everyone else can see... except for her!
Director: Shawn A. Baker
Producer: Jacqueline Vagnone
Writer: Shawn A. Baker|
Cast: Katherine Ruiz, Emmeline Chuy|
Cinematographer: Aaron Roberts
Editor: Riley Allen
Instagram: @followher_shortfilm
Facebook: fb.com/followhershortfilm
Forged in Chaos
Los Angeles Premiere
Short
Patricia Gloum, met Rob three years ago and filmed a pro LGBTQ+ passion dance project,
Do U for U. Fast forward they are doing another art piece together, a docu-poem-experimental short. An interesting mix of genres. Rob a former ballet dancer from Juilliard NYC dance school, narrates a poem inspired by his life as he is having a conversation with Josiah, his adopted son in the LGBTQ ballroom Voguing scene. This is common practice, to adopt each other to survive in NYC being both 19 & 21 years old. This is Rob's way of creating his own family.
Director: Patricia Gloum
Producer: Anaïs Ohresser & Lesly Lynch
Cast: Robert Jamie Mason, Josiah Martinez-Wade
Cinematographer (if applicable):
Director of Photography : Frank Apollonio
Scout location: Sasha Zabelina
Post Producer : Anaïs Ohresser
Editor: Dean Lenoir
Sound Mixer : Matt Leibowitz
Music: TT Neana [ stormy Mayweather ] & Eartheater [tide die ]
Digital Artist : Jonas Ersland
Coloring: Adam Clarke
Graphic Titles: Haotian Dong
Production companies: Braw Haus & Space Cowboys Studio
Any awards, accolades or additional details about the process you would like to mention:
Website: spacecowboys.studio/
Instagram: spacecowboys.studio/
F**K You
Music Video
F**K You (Laura von Mari) is a tongue-in-cheek, pop song take on relationships that go sour...But that doesn't mean there weren't happy memories along the way.
Director: Nate Shapiro
Producer: Nate Shapiro
Cast: Laura von Mari, Angela Lopez
Cinematographer: Marcus Giesen, Josh Hughes
Editor: Heather Nguyen
This music video has previously been selected at the California International Shorts Festival and won "Best First-Time Director" at the Music Video Awards (Spring '23) film festival.
Instagram: @frozenlakefilms @lauravonmari
GoodNight
Los Angeles Premiere
After sneaking out of a ritzy, uptight bachelorette party, Ree and Casey spend a spontaneous and vulnerable night together.
Director: Lain Ewing
Producers: Rollin' Laila, Banana Man Films
Writer: Deb Foster
Cast: Kaela McNeill, Deb Foster
Cinematographer: Erik Smith
Editor: Sadie Jones
Instagram: @rollinlaila @debfoster
Heart of Stone
Los Angeles Premiere
Short
Following the loss of his parents, Evan Stone returns to his childhood home to pack things up and say goodbye, unearthing a family secret that will shake his entire identity.
Director: Daniel Ellis
Producer: Shaun Baer
Writer: Shaun Baer
Cast: Shaun Baer, Nelson Rodriquez, Cooper Shaw, Tom Taylorson
Cinematographer: Shaun Baer
Editor: Shaun Baer
- Cinema Diverse LGBTQ+ Film Festival of Palm Springs 2023: Audience Favorite and Director's Favorite
Website: Heart of Stone | Shaun Baer
Heart of Stone | Shaun Baer
Instagram: @heart_of_stone_film
Twitter: @shaunbaer
Facebook: fb.com/profile.php?id=100090974807592
Inside Out
United States Premiere
LGBTQ Pride Month Brunch/Ball at Audubon Hall (New York, NY), featuring Drag Queen Jackie Dupree and No Label Vogue Dancers
Director: Adam Taylor
Producer: Obadiah Baker
Writer: Jackie Dupree, Avery Giral, and Jazmine Perez
Cast: Jackie Dupree, Avery Giral, and Jazmine Perez
Cinematographer: Adam Taylor
Editor: Adam Taylor
KEVIN
Short
A chance encounter with a stranger, Alex, (Rique) at a record store leads Kevin (Tony Moore) on an over-thinker's journey to discover what this new relationship is.
Director: Tony Moore and Wesley Quinn
Producer: Tony Moore
Writer: Tony Moore
Cast: Tony Moore, Rique, Percy Smith, Jaye Fleurant, Nik Oekerman, Mel Mehrabian
Cinematographer Wesley Quinn
Editor: Wesley Quinn
Hollywood Gold Awards Best LGBTQ Short
Paris Film Festival Best LGBTQ Short
Freedom International Film Festival Best Drama and Best Short