Saturday, June 29, 2024, 1:30 PM, Roxie
Streaming encore: 3 of 7 shorts in “Come to My Window: Date Night” plus 4 of 8 shorts in “Love Lies Scheming” will be combined into the “Come to My Window + Love Lies” streaming program
- After Hours, dir. Star Amerasu, 2024 USA, 6 min., streaming, World premiere 👏
- Burrow, dir. Leaf Lieber, 2023 USA, 14 min., streaming 👍
- Bust, dir. Angalis Field, 2024 USA, 10 min., NOT streaming 👏
- Kai Hali‘a (Sea of Memory), dir. Angelique Kalani Axelrode, 2024 USA, 9 min., in English and Hawai‘ian with English subtitles, streaming 😐
- Kasbi (کسبی), dir. Farah Jabir, 2024 USA, 12 min., in English and Urdu with English subtitles, streaming 💖
- Die Räuberinnen (The Robbers), dir. Isa Schieche, 2023 Austria, 15 min., in German with English subtitles, NOT streaming 👏
- Stranger, dir. Jehnny Beth & Iris Chassaigne, 2023 France/USA, 18 min., in English, NOT streaming 🙂
- Белые Вороны (Les corneilles blanches) (The White Crows), dir. Denis Liakhov, 2023 France/Estonia, 17 min., in Russian with English subtitles, NOT streaming 👏
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| After Hours |
After Hours, dir. Star Amerasu, 2024 USA, 6 min., streaming, World premiere 👏
Two transwomen meet in the bathroom of an after hours club. One is trying to blow her troubles away with ketamine; the other works at the bar and can’t leave her alone in crisis. Powerful and heartfelt, highly recommended.
I can’t quote you the dedication from the end of the film (spoilers), but definitely watch for it at the very, very end of the credits.
• IMDb [director] • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • profile of Star Amerasu on KQED •
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| Burrow |
A former soldier has been alone in his cabin for six years, following some apocalyptic war that has killed most (perhaps all) of the other humans on earth. One day, he finds a stranger alive and they take comfort in the company of any other living person, but there is the question of on what level they will connect. It’s an interesting premise — what would life be like without other people, even in the distance? It’s also heavy, with minimal humor to leaven the bleak situation. Recommended, but definitely not a “feel good” movie.
Bust, dir. Angalis Field, 2024 USA, 10 min., NOT streaming 👏
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| Bust |
Laura, a transwoman, is working for the NYPD to make a drug bust. She feels a connection with the transwoman she’s supposed to be buying from, leaving the question, will she go through with the bust? Well made, highly recommended.
• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •
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| Kai Hali‘a |
Kai Hali‘a (Sea of Memory), dir. Angelique Kalani Axelrode, 2024 USA, 9 min., in English and Hawai‘ian with English subtitles, streaming 😐
A kanaka (native Hawai‘ian) woman does some rituals to reconnect to the land and the people. Much of the imagery is beautiful — except for several bits with flashes of light and what is meant to look like scratches on an actual analog film — with pleasant music and a soft voiceover that kind of gets lost in the mix. It’s not a bad way to spend 8 minutes, but not recommended unless you’re into ethereal visual poems or Hawai‘ian culture.
• IMDb [director] • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • YouTube video explaining the chant • my review of the filmmaker’s previous short, L’apprenante •
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| Kasbi (کسبی) |
Kasbi (کسبی), dir. Farah Jabir, 2024 USA, 12 min., in English and Urdu with English subtitles, streaming 💖
Maryam, a Pakistani housewife in New Jersey has known all her life that she’s attracted to women but never acted on it. She finds “Aisha,” a Muslim woman sex worker, on an app and meets her at a motel. Maryam is still wrestling with her conscience, finding it difficult to set aside a lifetime of inhibition, but she and Aisha begin talking. Very well done, created two complex and interesting characters in a short time. Must see, especially for Muslim lesbians, but really for anyone.
The title, Kasbi (کسبی) is Urdu for “whore” — not “prostitute” or “sex worker” — as an act of subverting and reclaiming a label of oppression. “If you need this film, it is for you.”
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| Die Räuberinnen (The Robbers) |
Die Räuberinnen (The Robbers), dir. Isa Schieche, 2023 Austria, 15 min., in German with English subtitles, NOT streaming 👏
Three transwomen meet at a house in the country to plan a robbery. They decide to disguise themselves as men, and they rehearse masculine mannerisms and also the robbery itself. The situation brings up a wild mixture of emotions. Well done, worth seeing, highly recommended.
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| Stranger |
Stranger, dir. Jehnny Beth & Iris Chassaigne, 2023 France/USA, 18 min., in English, NOT streaming, U.S. premiere 🙂
This film is from France, but the dialogue and the lyrics of the music are in English. “Stranger” is closer to a music video — for some pretty good songs, but with a very thin storyline about a woman who says she hasn’t felt alive in 548 days (in other words, a year and a half), so she goes out in search of something that will make her heart beat again. Most of the visuals (except one brief scene of violence) are pretty, and I liked the music, but I found it unsatisfying as a film. Recommended.
Белые Вороны [Belye Vorony] (Les corneilles blanches) (The White Crows), dir. Denis Liakhov, 2023 France/Estonia, 17 min., in Russian with English subtitles, NOT streaming 👏
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| Белые Вороны (Les corneilles blanches) (The White Crows) |
Pay attention near the end for some anti-war and anti-Putin graffiti in the background (translated in the subtitles).
• IMDb • Official website [fr] • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • watch online [available in France, not in USA] •
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