The 37th Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF), taking place in person September 11-21, 2025 and online September 22-28, 2025, revealed the entire lineup featuring 100 films from 25 countries centering 2SLGBTQIA+ creators and stories.
Led by new Artistic Director Mary Galloway, the Festival will kick off with the Opening Presentation: Then. Now. Forever., an “electrifying collection” of 7 short films from across 2SLGBTQIA+ communities that celebrate queer past, present, and futures.
“Stories are medicine,” says Galloway. “This year’s program honors our past and makes space for the queer and trans voices rising now. It’s about who we are, how we got here, and where we are going.”
Under the direction of Galloway, a Cowichan filmmaker, at the helm as the festival’s first Indigenous and Indigiqueer Artistic Director, the festival shifts to an Indigenized vision that highlights Two Spirit and Indigiqueer stories and artists. The 2025 Festival artwork is designed by Vancouver-based Cowichan artist Charlene Johnny, blending traditional Coast Salish art with contemporary queer and Indigenous symbolism. Galloway introduces the new Matriarch of the Year Award (MOTY Award) honoring an Indigiqueer or Two Spirit (2S) Matriarchal leader in the film and television industry across Turtle Island who has made a significant impact on Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ storytelling.
VQFF also presents the hometown premiere of the Indigenous feature-length musical drama Starwalker directed by Corey Payette, about an Indigiqueer Two Spirit call boy finding family and identity through drag.
This year’s Centrepiece Presentation: Just Kids is a timely and powerful documentary about three families living in states that have banned gender-affirming care. Directed by documentarian and journalist Gianna Toboni and featuring Jacklyn Toboni (The L Word: Generation Q), Just Kids exposes the inhumane politicization of trans healthcare and its devastating impacts on trans youth and their families.
This year’s program includes 4 feature film world premieres: local documentary A Place Where I Belong about a group of people fighting for queer disabled rights directed by Rheanna Toy; queer Muslim filmmaker and actor Pantah Mosleh’s (Eternity) deeply personal documentary Pride & Prayer; sapphic French drama Amantes directed by Caroline Fournier; and of LA filmmaker Maritza Navarro’s Another Take which exposes a broken film industry.
The Festival’s Closing Presentation: Four Mothers from Darren Thornton, is a heartwarming and moving Irish comedy and the Winner of the Audience Award at the BFI London Film Festival, about a gay novelist who is saddled with the care of his friends’ eccentric, strong-willed mothers over Pride weekend.
Familiar faces in this year’s program include Actor and activist Vico Ortiz (Our Flag Means Death, The Sex Lives of College Girls) moderating Q&A’s, Elliot Page and Laverne Cox in documentary Heightened Scrutiny about trans civil rights attorney Chase Strangio’s fight for gender-affirming care at the Supreme Court; Lea DeLaria (Orange Is the New Black) in feature drama Outerlands and the short Old Dykes; Asia Kate Dillon (Billions, Orange Is the New Black) in Outerlands; comedians Murray Hill, James Tom, Roz Hernandez and others in We Are Pat; comedian Vic Michaelis (Dropout TV) in the opening narrative short Dandelion; and beloved local stars including artist Phranc and business owner Burcu in their respective short documentaries Phranc: The Butch Closet and Burcu’s Angels.
2025 Vancouver Queer Film Festival Feature Film Program:
The complete list of feature films:
JUST KIDS, Vancouver Premiere (Centrepiece Presentation)
Gianna Toboni | United States | 2024 | 93 min | English with captions
In this powerful documentary, three families living in states that have banned gender affirming care face a heartbreaking choice: stay and risk their children’s health and safety, or leave everything behind to seek refuge elsewhere. Over the course of a year, we witness these families confront immense challenges and show remarkable resilience as they fight to protect their children’s lives.
Directed by documentarian and journalist Gianna Toboni, JUST KIDS amplifies the voices of trans community pioneers and civil rights experts, exposing the inhumane politicization of trans healthcare and the dire consequences on trans youth and their families. Drawing on evidence from America’s leading medical associations, the film underscores that gender-affirming care is life-saving care. The film shows the steadfast strength of the trans community and their allies in the face of an onslaught, and their refusal to give up the fight for justice and compassion.
FOUR MOTHERS, Vancouver Premiere (Closing Presentation)
Darren Thornton | Ireland | 2024 | 89 min | English with captions
Edward, a single gay novelist in his thirties living in the suburbs of Dublin with his ageing mother, is finally on the cusp of literary success. However, just as his long-anticipated U.S. book tour approaches, Edward’s friends jet off on a Pride holiday—leaving him in charge of not only his own mother but also their eccentric, strongwilled mothers. Over one chaotic weekend, his life is transformed into a battleground of competing needs, biting wit, and unexpected tenderness.
Winner of the Audience Award at the BFI London Film Festival, Four Mothers is both hilariously sharp and quietly moving—a richly Irish take on queer community, caregiving, and chosen family. James McArdle charms as the talented writer and frustrated son Edward, backed by a stellar ensemble cast. Sparkling dialogue and emotional warmth are at the forefront of this witty, perceptive comedy. Indeed, in modern queer life, our love for our mothers—and for each other—can sometimes be both a burden and a blessing.
AMANTES, World Premiere
Caroline Fournier | France | 2025 | 104 min | French with English subtitles
AMANTES explores the tangled contradictory nature of contemporary queer relationships through the lives of a close group of friends and lovers. Musician Nour falls headlong into a passionate new romance with Camille who wants to slow things down; Laura shakes up her throuple with Rebecca and Ophélie by proposing they start a family together, stirring up both hope and tension; meanwhile, psychologist Gabrielle struggles with feelings of neglect as her workaholic partner Ruby pulls away. Rooted in romantic, platonic, and polyamorous bonds, this sexy, dramatic comedy unpacks vulnerability, desire, and the complexities of making love and life work in unconventional ways.
MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE, British Columbia Premiere
Elegance Bratton | United States | 2024 | 87 min | English with captions
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House traces the origins of house music through the life of Vince Lawrence, who recorded the first house track following the infamous racist attack of “Disco Demolition Night” in 1979 Chicago. For Vince, the same oppressive forces that tried to silence disco, and later house, sought to confine him as a young Black man living in a segregated city.
Blending archival footage, re-creations, and interviews director Elegance Bratton explores how house music emerged as both cultural expression and political resistance–born in defiantly, joyfully queer, Black, and brown spaces. The film affirms the origins of house in a radical movement of joy, unity, and defiance. Centering Black bodies in motion as resistance, Move Ya Body captures house music’s evolution from its roots as an underground movement to the global phenomenon it has become today.
REALLY HAPPY SOMEDAY, Vancouver Premiere
J Stevens | Canada | 2024 | 90 min | English with captions
Set in Toronto’s vibrant theatre scene, Really Happy Someday follows Z, a trans-masculine performer navigating the shifting terrain of his identity, voice, and artistic passions. As he strives to find harmony between who he was and who he is becoming, Z is buoyed by a circle of support: his vocal coach, his partner, and a kind bar owner who help him rediscover the music within.
Jointly penned by director J Stevens and lead actor Breton Lalama, this intimate, deeply personal film resonates with authenticity, offering a moving meditation on resilience, self.
TO THE MOON, Vancouver Premiere
Kevin Hartford | Canada | 2024 | 85 min | English with captions
A heartwarming, offbeat comedy about love, self-discovery, and the beautiful mess of growing up—at any age. Sam (Jacob Sampson), a closeted single dad on the cusp of an empty nest, is trying to figure out what’s next for himself, while his savvy teen daughter Ella (Phoebe Rex) keeps things in check. When their eccentric new neighbour Claire (Amy Groenig) arrives on the scene, their lives begin to intertwine in surprising and delightful ways.
With sharp humor and tender moments—and dancing—director Kevin Hartford, joined by celebrated Halifax producer Thom Fitzgerald (Cloudburst, The Hanging Garden), delivers a winsome story full of heart, hope, and the unexpected rhythms of connection.
OUTERLANDS, British Columbia Premiere
Elena Oxman | United States | 2025 | 100 min | English with captions
In the margins of San Francisco, nonbinary gig worker Cass unexpectedly finds themselves caring for the child of a casual hook-up. When this small favour turns into a greater responsibility than Cass is used to, they are forced to reckon with the past they’ve tried to outrun.
Quietly powerful and emotionally layered, director Elena Oxman’s feature debut is a raw and nuanced portrayal of what it takes to care for a young person while healing your own inner child. Featuring an outstanding lead performance by Asia Kate Dillon (Billions, Orange Is the New Black). Outerlands premiered at SXSW 2025.
STARWALKER, British Columbia Premiere
Corey Payette | Canada | 2025 | 116 mins | English with captions
Star (Dillan Chiblow), a lonesome Indigiqueer Two-Spirit call boy, discovers a new sense of purpose in the vibrant world of drag after being welcomed into The House of Borealis led by charismatic matriarch Mother (Stewart Adam McKensy). As Star immerses themself in this chosen family and embraces their artistry, they reconnect with a long-buried cultural identity–and resurface painful memories. Star leans on a new connection Levi (Jeffrey Follis) and their drag sisters to transform grief into power, emerging as Starwalker, a fierce fusion of ancestral spirit and unapologetic self-expression.
Screening at VQFF in its hometown premiere, musical drama Starwalker is written, directed, and composed by Oji-Cree theatre veteran and filmmaker Corey Payette of the Indigenous focused theatre company Urban Ink. Payette takes this universal story of self-discovery and acceptance to dazzling musical heights with sensational drag numbers and original music, shot in the familiar streets of East Van.
WHERE YOU FIND ME (OBEN OHNE), North American Premiere
Willi Andrick, Juan Bermúdez, Isis Rampf, Anna Schröder | Germany | 2025 | 79 mins | German & English with English subtitles
Alex, a trans-femme nightclub manager, faces public scrutiny while preparing for parenthood with her pregnant partner. Meanwhile, Beatrice, a successful gynecologist, grapples with whether to have an abortion while caring for a dying loved one. The two women’s paths converge unexpectedly, intersecting in and around the charged space of a queer nightclub. Together, their stories explore bodily autonomy, queer kinship, and the quiet resilience needed to navigate life-altering choices.
Rooted in real-life cases and informed by activist voices, this boldly queer feminist drama centres queer bodies, identities, and experiences in a deeply human exploration of what it means to claim ownership over one’s own body
SAUNA, British Columbia Premiere
Mathias Broe | Denmark | 2025 | 105 min | Danish, English, and Swedish with English subtitles
Johan, a young gay man in Copenhagen, spends his days working at Adonis, the only gay sauna in the city, and his nights in a blur of parties and fleeting encounters. To him, the city is a playground of desire. Everything shifts when he meets William, a transgender gay man whose quiet confidence and depth open Johan to a newfound desire for intimacy and connection. As their relationship blossoms, Johan and William must balance private desire and public perception. Introducing each other into their respective worlds proves far from simple, as prejudices—both subtle and overt—challenge their bond at every turn.
Through its bold storytelling and emotional honesty, SAUNA challenges rigid ideas about queerness and sexuality, offering a deeply honest and human portrait of vulnerability, desire, and the transformative power of love.
LA CERRILLANA, World Premiere
Andrea Urquiola | Argentina | 2025 | 13 min | Spanish with English subtitles
When a young trans man visits her kiosk on the side of the road, a mother learns to understand and unconditionally love her trans teenage child.
BETWEEN GOODBYES, Canadian Premiere
Jota Mun | United States, South Korea | 2024 | 96 min | English, Korean, and Dutch with English subtitles
BETWEEN GOODBYES is an intimate and insightful documentary centred around Mieke, a queer Korean adoptee raised in the Netherlands, and her birth mother Okgyun who was forced to give her up under South Korea’s harsh one-child policy and the pressures of social stigma and financial hardship. Six years after her emotional reunion with her birth mother, Mieke returns to Seoul with her wife to celebrate their marriage—an occasion filled with joy and shadowed by decades of separation. As they navigate love, loss, and cultural gaps, mother and daughter confront the lasting impacts of international adoption.
In a heartfelt and deeply personal directorial debut, director Jota Mun, a Korean adoptee herself, expands the adoptee documentary far beyond the drama of initial reunion. BETWEEN GOODBYES tenderly explores the enduring individual journeys of reconciliation, identity, and belonging for adoptees, as well as the decades-spanning historic legacy of South Korea’s international adoption program which saw over 200,000 children sent abroad between 1950 and 2020.
A PLACE WHERE I BELONG, World Premiere
Rheanna Toy | Canada | 2025 | 64 min | English with captions
Amyn, Alison, Lyle, Noah, and Brian are each on unique journeys of love, acceptance, self-empowerment, and family but share a common experience as 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals with intellectual disabilities. They are also all a part of Connecting Queer Communities (CQC), a social group for 2SLGBTQIA+ people with intellectual disabilities to connect with each other and the broader queer community in the Lower Mainland. As each person finds safety and solidarity within CQC, they navigate a range of experiences from the joys of coming out to dealing with family rejection.
With CQC’s future in peril due to funding challenges, A Place Where I Belong shines an urgent light on the unique challenges at the intersection of disability and 2SLGBTQIA+ justice and serves as a powerful reminder that everyone deserves to find a place where they belong. World Premiering at VQFF 2025, director Rheanna Toy’s feature documentary debut is a moving portrait of queer and disabled resilience in our local community and a call to action to create true inclusion.
SUMMER’S CAMERA (여름의 카메라), Canadian Premiere
Divine Sung | South Korea | 2024 | 82 mins | Korean with English subtitles
“Whenever I see you, I hear the shutter click…”
Summer is a young high school student mourning her late father with whom she shares a love of photography and capturing fleeting moments. When she becomes fascinated by Yeonwoo, a standout on the girls’ soccer team, a spontaneous photograph sets off a subtle unraveling.
Poetic and gently mysterious, Summer’s Camera (여름의 카메라) is a tender meditation on memory, first crushes, and the invisible threads of intergenerational queerness.
ANOTHER TAKE, World Premiere
Maritza Navarro | United States | 2025 | 95 mins | English with captions
In this gripping documentary, six visionary female and nonbinary filmmakers from across the globe are handed a dream opportunity: to direct fully-funded features under a bold new Hollywood studio that vows to shatter the industry’s status quo. But, as the cameras start to roll, deep-rooted power structures, clashing ideals, and industry pushback threaten to derail the studio’s lofty mission. Battling gender and racial biases at every turn, the filmmakers fight to stay true to their visions—while the studio’s leaders grapple with what it really means to build something different.
ANOTHER TAKE is a gripping exploration of art, power, and the messy urgent work of creating real change in a system built to resist it.
HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY, Vancouver Premiere
Sam Feder | United States | 2025 | 81 mins | English with captions
From the director and team behind the award winning Netflix documentary DISCLOSURE (2020) comes Heightened Scrutiny, a searing, urgent portrait of trans resistance in a time of escalating attacks on trans healthcare, safety, and dignity. The film follows Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney and the first known trans person to argue before the Supreme Court, as he fights a high-stakes legal battle to overturn Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth (United States v. Skrmetti).
Featuring expert insights from journalists such as Jelani Cobb, Lydia Polgreen, and Gina Chua, and trans activists like Laverne Cox and Elliot Page, Heightened Scrutiny exposes the dangerous role mainstream media plays in fueling anti-trans legislation and threatening democratic processes. Set before the devastating Supreme Court decision to allow bans on lifesaving care for trans youth, the film is a snapshot of the moment before the fall as well as a beacon from the near past to carry on the fight for justice.
QUEERPANORAMA (眾生相), British Columbia Premiere
Jun Li | Hong Kong, United States, China | 2025 | 87 mins | Mandarin, English, Persian, and Thai with English subtitles
In this provocative, black-and-white drama from director Jun Li (Tracey, Drifting), a nameless young gay man drifts through the homes and arms of strangers in Hong Kong, assuming the personas of each successive lover—an actor, a teacher, a delivery man—in an effort to find something real. Portrayed by newcomer Jayden Cheung with a raw intensity, the film’s protagonist begins to lose grip on reality as he slips from hookup to hookup, persona to persona, in a city obsessed with performance and superficiality. Premiering at Berlinale 2025 and in competition for the Teddy Award, QUEERPANORAMA (眾生相) is a bold and dark meditation on intimacy, identity, and the masks we wear. Beneath the film’s erotic charge lies a deeper inquiry about what it means to be truly seen.
SPEAK, Vancouver Premiere
Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman | United States | 2025 | 99 min | English with captions
Five top-ranked high school students from across the U.S. step onto the national stage to compete in the world’s most intense public speaking competition. Against a backdrop of rising anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and political division, they channel personal conviction into powerful performances that confront injustice head-on. Speak. offers an intimate, stirring portrait of youth who refuse to stay silent, crafting stories that challenge those in power, demand change, and prove that our voices are a force to be reckoned with.
THE NATURE OF INVISIBLE THINGS (A NATUREZA DAS COISAS INISIVÉIS), British Columbia Premiere
Rafaela Camelo | Brazil, Chile | 2025 | 92 min | Portuguese with English subtitles
10-year-old Gloria is spending her summer among patients at the hospital where her mother works long shifts as a nurse. One day, she meets Sofia, a curious, imaginative girl who believes the hospital is slowly draining her great-grandmother’s spirit. As their newfound friendship blossoms in hidden corners and quiet moments, reality begins to shimmer with the surreal. Guided by wonder and a shared bond, the girls imagine a world beyond the hospital. Both families journey to the countryside to find closure at the end of an unforgettable summer. With a lyrical blend of magical realism and emotional clarity, director Rafaela Camelo crafts a deeply moving portrait of childhood, identity, and the unseen bonds that tether us. Winner of the Outstanding Feature Award at the 2025 Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco, The Nature of Invisible Things (A Natureza das coisas invisivéis) is a beautiful story where our invisible grief, courage, and transformation come gently into view.
THE LIBRARIANS, Vancouver Premiere
Kim A. Snyder | United States | 2025 | 92 min | English with captions
As an unprecedented wave of racist and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ book bans rips through the United States, librarians join forces to defend intellectual freedom and the communities targetted by the bigotry behind the bans. As tensions escalate, a nationwide coalition of librarians comes together to lay bare the underpinnings of White Christian Nationalism fueling these censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work, the librarians unite under a rallying cry for the freedom to read.
Peabody Award winner and Academy Award nominee Kim A. Snyder (Newtown, Us Kids, 2025 Oscar-nominated Death By Numbers) takes us to the front lines where these knowledge-keepers emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and free access to information. The Librarians, which World Premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, reminds us that we have powerful allies, everywhere.
THE LAST FIRST TIME (EL FIN DE LAS PRIMERAS VECES), Canadian Premiere
Rafael Ruíz Espejo | Mexico | 2024 | 76 mins | Spanish with English subtitles
When 18-year-old Eduardo leaves his small town for Guadalajara to take a university entrance exam, the city opens up to him in unexpected ways. In just one day, chance meetings and unfamiliar feelings blur the line between innocence and awakening. The Last First Time (El fin de las primeras veces) is a tender, emotionally charged coming-of-age journey that captures that dizzying first taste of freedom, the rush of fleeting connections, and the bittersweet beauty of growing up.
BECAUSE OF YOU: A HISTORY OF KILAWIN KOLEKTIBO (DAHIL SA ‘YO: ANG STORYA NG KILAWIN KOLEKTIBO), British Columbia Premiere
Barbara Malaran, Desireena Almoradie | United States | 2025 | 41 min | English and Tagalog with English subtitles
Joyful, raw, and revolutionary, Because of You unearths the vibrant history of Kilawin Kolektibo—a pioneering collective of queer Filipinx’s who carved out space for love, protest, and belonging in 1990s New York. Blending decades of archival footage with intimate reflection, this powerful documentary explores chosen family, political resistance, and the enduring impact of creating home between cultures.
OUTLIERS AND OUTLAWS, Canadian Premiere
Courtney Hermann | United States | 2024 | 65 mins | English with captions
Have you ever dreamed of escaping to an idyllic lesbian community? That’s exactly what hundreds of women and lesbian couples chose to do when they descended upon the small town of Eugene, Oregon in droves in the 1960s to 1990s in search of a life and community free from the constraints of patriarchy, misogyny, and homophobia. Through intimate archival footage and endearing interviews with the now-elders that lived this history, Outliers and Outlaws reveals the untold story of this large, vibrant lesbian community.
Part of the Eugene Lesbian History Project, this film not only documents a unique local history, but also affirms the profound liberatory possibilities of daring to imagine–and to try to build–a world that uplifts love between and among women. Directed by veteran documentarian Courtney Hermann and featuring music by Dolly Parton.
WE ARE PAT, British Columbia Premiere
Rowan Haber | United States | 2025 | 92 min | English with captions
“At ten years old, I didn’t know why I was fixated on a bizarre ’90s sketch comedy character. I just knew something about Pat felt familiar, unnerving, and oddly comforting. Years later, I realized the punchline wasn’t about me—it was me.”
Nonbinary filmmaker Rowan Haber revisits the Saturday Night Live sketch “It’s Pat” that was their first glimpse of androgynous possibility and examines its complicated legacy in this laugh-out-loud documentary. How has the sketch aged? How has our culture shifted? Can a problematic character be redeemed and reimagined? We Are Pat explores these questions and more, tracing the evolution of gender representation in comedy and media from the cultural anxieties of 90s to the double-edged sword of trans visibility of the present day.
The film invites an absolutely stacked cast of trans and nonbinary comedians (including Murray Hill, James Tom, Ally Beardsley, Sabrina Wu, and Roz Hernandez) to rewrite and reimagine the original Pat sketches, reclaiming the character as a site of radical trans joy.
PRIDE & PRAYER, World Premiere
Panta Mosleh | Canada | 2025 | 62 mins | English and Persian with English subtitles
Torn between devotion and identity, filmmaker Panta Mosleh embarks on a soul-searching journey to reconcile her queerness with her Muslim faith. Through raw conversations, moments of solitude, and spiritual questioning, she invites us into a deeply personal quest for belonging—where love, belief, and selfhood collide in a moving meditation on what it means to live between worlds.
ROW OF LIFE, British Columbia Premiere
Soraya Simi | United States | 2025 | 82 min | English with captions
In a daring voyage spanning 2,400 miles of open ocean, Paralympic medalist and 16-time world-record-holder Angela Madsen set out in 2020 on her most ambitious journey yet: to row alone and unassisted across the Pacific from Los Angeles to Hawaii.
Told through tender letters and breathtaking footage, this lyrical documentary is as much a harrowing hero’s journey as it is a tragic love story between Madsen and her wife Deb, two women separated by a vast ocean who supported each other’s dreams even as it drifted toward tragedy.
THE NEST, British Columbia Premiere
Chase Joynt, Julietta Singh | Canada | 2025 | 89 min | English and Japanese with English subtitles
When her mother decides to sell their house, decolonial writer Julietta Singh returns to her childhood home on the Assiniboine River to say goodbye. As Singh listens to the stories embedded in its walls, the house reveals 140 years of overlooked histories—Japanese, Deaf, Métis, Indigenous, and Irish women whose lives, like Singh’s, were shaped by resistance and care. In this genre-defying, cross-community film, the home becomes more than a personal archive, transforming into a site of radical feminist possibility.
Weaving the metaphor of a “nest” as both sanctuary and layered history, The Nest connects Singh’s fraught upbringing to a legacy of matriarchs and activists, building bridges across time, identity, and silence.
RAINS OVER BABEL (LLUEVE SOBRE BABEL), British Columbia Premiere
Gala del Sol | Colombia, United States, Spain | 2025 | 111 min | Spanish with English subtitles
In this tropical-punk fantasy, purgatory takes the form of a dive bar called Babel, where the living and dead converge under the watch of La Flaca, the city’s Grip Reaper. Here, souls can gamble precious years of their lives with Death herself. A group of misfits confronts their pasts and dare to roll the dice.
This bold and stylish reimagining of Dante’s Inferno is filmmaker Gala del Sol’s feature debut. With dark humor, lush visuals, and rebellious spirit, Rains Over Babel (Llueve Sobre Babel) explores what it means to risk everything to reclaim the parts of yourself you thought were lost forever.
World premiering short films in the program:
THE REVEAL, World Premiere
Jackie Hoffart | Canada | 2025 | 14 min | English with captions
An upcoming gender reveal party has Stevie grappling with how to tell their family about their own gender journey. Winner: Crazy8s Film Society Top 6.
OLD DYKES, World Premiere
Ezra Rose | United States | 2025 | 19 min | English with captions
When Mel (Lea DeLaria) visits Laurie in hospice to say goodbye, Laurie finally confesses the feelings she’s held onto since they were eighteen.
THE PLEATS OF THE SKIRT (PLIEGUES DE LA FALDA), World Premiere
Blanca Muñoz Ávila | Colombia | 2025 | 20 min | Spanish with English subtitles
When Linda is offered the lead “male” role in the school play “The Ugly Duckling”, her father tries to forbid it while her mother Maria decides to help her, even if it means swimming against the tide.
THE PALACE, World Premiere
Lauren Marsden | Canada | 2025 | 9 min | English with captions
At a secret forest hideout, suburban teen Dani meets up with her crush Jayde, only to discover an otherworldly presence has joined them.
JEEZ LOUISE, World Premiere
Ana AJ Jimenez | Canada | 2025 | 4 min | English with captions
A devout Catholic teen makes a steamy confession–and her irreverent, sex-positive classmate overhears it.
MY DEAREST DARLING, World Premiere
Vahn Leinard C. Pascual | Philippines | 2025 | 20 min | Tagalog with English subtitles
Overcome by loneliness, an aging trans woman tries to contact the spirit of a lost loved one. An emotionally-rich dark comedy from emerging Filipino filmmakers.
FINE, World Premiere
Kris von Kleist | Canada | 2024 | 3 min | English with captions
Xavier insists they’re fine–but, as they struggle to confront buried emotions, the weight of honesty becomes both a burden and a breakthrough.
I TURN GRILLS ON, World Premiere
Lizzy De Vita | United States | 2025 | 15 min | English with captions
Newly widowed Ruth is drowning in post-death logistics and barbecue sauce when she meets a stranger in crisis.
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