SHORTS: QUEER LIVES ACROSS TIME & AMERICA (with the American LGBTQ+ Museum)

This celebratory short film program, presented in partnership with the American LGBTQ+ Museum, captures a holistic portrait of queer life in the USA. Travel through history and our vast national landscape—from New York to Pennsylvania to Texas to California—and discover contemporary nonfiction films that center specific spaces alongside universal experiences we share as a community.

The in-person screening of this shorts program will be followed by a Q&A*



HERE COME THE DYKES!
Dirs. Devon Blackwell, Paul Moakley, 15 min, USA
From 1979 to 1984, photographer Joan E. Biren (JEB) created a slideshow entitled Lesbian Images in Photography: 1850-the Present, aka The Dyke Show. She toured the USA and Canada in a beat-up VW van made by women, couch surfing and photographing the community of women she worked with. In this short documentary, JEB revives the show before donating it to the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay Art.




TRANS HEAVEN, PENNSYLVANIA
Dir. Hansen Bursic, 12 min, USA
In the early 2010s, hundreds of transgender women took over a small American town each year for a legendary weekend-long party – one that changed their lives and the town forever.




DON’T CRY FOR ME ALL YOU DRAG QUEENS
Dir. Kristal Sotomayor, 9 min, USA
“Don’t Cry For Me All You Drag Queens” pays homage to the legendary Mother Cavallucci by weaving together the present and past to provide a striking portrait of belonging and memory.




BARBETTE + FONTAINE
Dirs. John-Carlos Estrada, Zak Zeh, 15 min, USA
A century apart, two Texas drag icons unite through art, resilience, and a shared legacy of self-expression & freedom.




MOTHER
Dirs. Meg Shutzer, Brandon Yadegari Moreno, 23 min, USA
In San Francisco, a city known for its vibrant gay community, nowhere feels like home to Malia Spanyol, a self-identified dyke who sets out to build a space for women and femmes.