Homegrown Shorts 2019

“Homegrown” shorts program 2019
Sunday, June 23, 9:30 pm, Victoria Theatre

Origin, dir. Simone Lyles, 2019, USA, 20m • Bay Area première • 👍
Trans 128, dir. Jimmy Zhang, 2018, USA, 6m • WORLD PREMIÈRE •👌
Eat the Rainbow, dir. Brian Benson, 2019, USA, 19m 👌
Nice Chinese Girls Don’t!, dir. Jennifer Abod, 2019, USA, 22m • West Coast première •👍
Verasphere: A Love Story in Costume, dir. Robert James, 2019, USA, 20m • WORLD PREMIÈRE • 👍


Origin

“You’re not a victim, you can control your tendencies”

Origin (Kora and Gina)

In Oakland in 1982, a young woman, Gina (right), is getting married (to a man), and wants her best friend Kora (left) to be her maid of honor, but Kora is conflicted, secretly in love with Gina, going home and watching meditation videos about how to rewrite your personal history to get rid of those hideous lesbian tend­en­cies. Well done, highly recom­men­ded.

• IMDb • official: SimoneLyles.com •

---

Trans 128

Trans 128

Frida Ibarra is a multimedia deejay, but also a transwoman of color, specializing in electronic music. She talks about the sense of community she has found with other trans­women of color in the EDM scene, with the clubs as a form of sanctuary for queer and trans people of color. An interesting glimpse into her world, recommended.

• IMDb • official: JimmyZh.com • WORLD PREMIÈRE •

---

Eat the Rainbow

Eat the Rainbow

A quiet cul de sac in a lovely residential neighborhood is shaken to its core when “one of those people” moves in. The neighbors pride themselves on being tolerant, but there are limits, after all. Cute and funny, but the pacing sagged in several places, and the message was as unsubtle as the costumes. Recommended.

• IMDb • official: CousinWonderlette.com •

---

Nice Chinese Girls Don’t!

Nice Chinese Girls Don’t!

Kitty Tsui, born in Hong Kong, moved to San Francisco as a child and became a poet, athlete, and activist, breaking down narrow definitions of what a nice Chinese girl should be and do. She speaks about her life with its twists and turns, with grace and poise, but with the self-effacing defer­ence she was taught as a child replaced with a con­fi­dent, assertive presence. Worth seeing, highly recom­men­ded.

• IMDb: Jennifer Abod • official: JenniferAbod.com • Facebook: @KittyTsuiFilm • Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC) • Kitty Tsui on Amazon § Facebook § Tumblr •

---

Verasphere: A Love Story in Costumes

Verasphere:
A Love Story in Costume

In the mid-1990s, the focus of San Francisco Pride was largely on anger and activism, with groups like ACT-UP and Queer Nation gathering much of the attention. David Faulk and Michael Johnstone, both HIV-positive, created the character of Mrs. Vera largely for Pride, to reinject a sense of playful fabulousness into the proceedings. Over the years since then, both have had to come to terms with being long-term survivors, no longer consigned to an early, gruesome death, and they have gathered dozens of acolytes who join them in costume for the Pride parade (and a few other events). It’s a wonderful testament to indomitable joie de vivre, phenomenal color and fashion, and stupendous theatricality. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • official: VerasphereFilm.com • Facebook: @VerasphereFilm • WORLD PREMIÈRE •