Spanning 12 days from November 8-19, the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (SFTFF) presents the 26th annual edition dedicated to films by transgender and gender-nonconforming filmmakers, comprising five short film programs showcasing 33 films.
Films include Belonging: An Indian Trans Immigrant Story directed by Amir Jaffer, City Folx directed by Rae Dawn, Prittyboi directed by Nicolas Collins and Last Call directed by Drew de Pinto.
SFTFF 2023 will be presented in person at the Roxie Theater (3117 16th St., SF) Nov. 8-10 and stream on-demand beginning Nov. 11.
Curated by Shawna Virago, the festival’s longtime artistic director, SFTFF features a range of film genres – from animation, comedy, dance, music, documentary, erotica, and fantasy – to topical themes surrounding drag; dating, sex and romance; Covid lockdown; immigration, and more.
SFTFF 2023 – FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS (in alphabetical order by title):
Belonging: An Indian Trans Immigrant Story – directed by Amir Jaffer (San Francisco) follows Anjali Rimi and her gender journey as a trans immigrant woman and the challenges she faces in leading the US’s first and only Transgender-led South Asian Organization called “Parivar” (meaning family).
City Folx – directed by Rae Dawn (San Francisco) is a comedy web series exploring the theme of Bay Area housing insecurity as experienced by two Drag brothers “Raq” and “Cin” — opposites who are forced to go to extreme measures to survive and hold onto their Mission-area apartment.
Do Digital Curanderas Use Eggs In Their Limpias? – directed by Roberto Fatal (Bay Area) is about a struggling Latinx healer who considers abandoning the physical world for promises of a digital utopia.
Last Call – directed by Drew de Pinto (Queens, NY) is a realist 16mm short focusing on the caretakers of three historic queer bars in San Francisco as they close their establishments, temporarily and permanently, amidst the 2020 COVID lockdown.
Prittyboi – directed by Nicolas Collins (Oakland) is a romantic hip-hop ballad about coming out as Genderqueer. This docu-style music video follows two lovebirds on a romantic getaway traversing the beautiful Bay Area as they go thrift shopping, play fight with ice cream cones, and take in Marin County landscapes.
The Hanky – directed by Ramses Rodstein (Bay Area). While on a stroll in a park in Berlin, Ramses encounters a handsome stranger who drops their hanky while passing by and becomes determined to return the lost item to its sexy owner.