- Sir Valence Presents: Watching U, dir. Sir Valence, 2023, USA, 6 min. 🙂
- Ordinary, dir. Atlas O. Phoenix, 2022, USA, 12 min. 💖
- Papergirl, dir. Jack Warren, 2023, USA, 5 min. 👎
- A história de Mafalda (The Story of Mafalda), dir. Daniel Herz & Luis Felipe Sá, 2021, Brazil, 6 min., in Portuguese with English subtitles 👎👎
- The Little Piratemaid, dir. Luke Beatrice, 2023, USA, 3 min. 💖
- Not All Boys Look the Same, dir. Felix Conroy, 2023, USA, 5 min. 💖
- Procuro teu auxílio para enterrar un homem (I Seek Your Help to Bury a Man), dir. Anderson Bardot, 2023, Brazil, 20 min., in Portuguese and other languages with English subtitles 🚫
- Shipping Them, dir. Ryan Rox, 2022, USA, 15 min. 💖
Sir Valence Presents: Watching U, dir. Sir Valence, 2023, USA, 6 min. 🙂
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| Sir Valence: Watching U |
After an experience of police brutality, Sir Valence (a.k.a. Rev. g. Yi) does an exorcism of the masks we wear and the selves we sell to surveillance capitalism. The program describes it as “the hellish Zoomscape of drag dæmon Sir Valence.” It was interesting, but beyond weird. People dance around in costumes with the entire head covered by a single eyeball. Recommended.
Ordinary, dir. Atlas O. Phoenix, 2022, USA, 12 min. 💖
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| Ordinary |
Atlas Oggun Phoenix muses on their gender journey, as well as the other elements of their identity, including footage taken both before and after top surgery. It’s a personal essay that draws the audience in for an interesting and worthwhile experience.
MUST SEE.
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| Papergirl |
Papergirl, dir. Jack Warren, 2023, USA, 5 min. 👎
A lonely partygoer discovers that their skin is literally turning to paper. It’s weird and disjointed, with bizarre metaphors that make no sense. Not recommended.
A história de Mafalda (The Story of Mafalda), dir. Daniel Herz & Luis Felipe Sá, 2021, Brazil, 6 min., in Portuguese with English subtitles 👎👎
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| Mafalda |
A song honors an apparently fictional (?) transgender woman who was murdered by her lover, but you only know that from the program notes, because it’s not at all clear in the film. The song goes on about “you hurt me” and various variations, without ever letting us know who “you” and “me” represent. Definitely not recommended.
The Little Piratemaid, dir. Luke Beatrice, 2023, USA, 3 min. 💖
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| The Little Piratemaid |
A mermaid finds a young pirate washed up on a beach, and together they explore the possibilities of who they could become. It’s a play on the experience of discovering yourself as a trans person in a cis-normative world … full of pirates and mermaids. It’s a low-budget animated film, but beautifully drawn and well thought out, cute and sweet.
MUST SEE.
Not All Boys Look the Same, dir. Felix Conroy, 2023, USA, 5 min. 💖
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| Not All Boys |
A young trans boy struggles to come to terms with the way he looks, but with help from friends and trans content creators on a certain video sharing platform, he realizes that he is FTM and starts his journey of self-acceptance. Affirming, well done,
MUST SEE.
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Procuro teu auxílio para enterrar un homem (I Seek Your Help to Bury a Man), dir. Anderson Bardot, 2023, Brazil, 20 min., in Portuguese and other languages with English subtitles 🚫
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| I Seek Your Help |
The story is set in Brazil in 1870, well after Brazil’s independence from Portugal but before the first republic, meaning that Brazil was a constitutional monarchy that saw itself as an empire. Gita is a transgender woman doomed to die or suffer the consequences of her traditions. The dialogue is in Portuguese, Romany, and some unspecified indigenous language(s). Normally that alone would garner some of my interest, but this is a bizarre, disjointed story with several bits of on-screen violence.
AVOID.
Shipping Them, dir. Ryan Rox, 2022, USA, 15 min. 💖
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| Shipping Them |
A non-binary daydreamer pines for the life of the girl who lives in the shipping container next door, but the daydream takes some dark turns, leading them to the realization that the grass isn’t always greener. Production footnote: the mother is played by the filmmaker’s real-life 5th-grade teacher. Well done,
MUST SEE.
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