Queer Places, Spaces, & Shorts (shorts program)

“Queer Places, Spaces, and Shorts” (2024 shorts program)

Monday, June 24, 2024, 9:00 PM, The Stud (already at Rush: see note)

Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 1:00 PM, Roxie

plus Digital Screening Room streaming encore (except Mother)

• Mother, dir. Meg Shutzer & Brandon Yadegari Moreno, 2024 USA, 23 min. 💖 (also screens in the “Homegrown Shorts” program) [not included in the streaming program]
• One Night at Babes, dir. Angelo Madsen Minax, 2024 USA, 29 min. 👏
• Stud Country, dir. Lina Abascal & Alexandra Kern, 2024 USA, 11 min. 👏
• Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania, dir. Hansen Bursic, 2024 USA, 12 min. World Premiere 💖
• Vollúpya, dir. Éri Sarmet & Jocimar Dias, Jr., 2024 Brazil, 21 min., in Portuguese with English subtitles, World Premiere 👍

If a program you want to see is shown in the Frameline guide as “at rush,” do not despair. Just show up early and look for the Rush Line. There are always some seats that were reserved that are released just before the show begins.

Mother, dir. Meg Shutzer & Brandon Yadegari Moreno, 2024 USA, 23 min. 💖

(also screens in the “Queer Places, Spaces, and Shorts” program)

[not included in the streaming program]

Mother

San Francisco used to have quite a few lesbian bars and night clubs, but the Lexington, the last lesbian bar standing, closed about a decade ago. A group of San Franciscans decided it was time to do something about it, so they opened Mother, a “dyke of center, all queers welcome” bar in the Mission District space where Esta Noche used to be, so you should stop by after a screening at the Roxie!

This documentary chronicles the optimism and the drive that led Malia to take on this project shines through, along with the enthusiasm of the staff and the patrons. It’s an uplifting story, beautifully told, definitely a MUST SEE.

• IMDb [Shutzer] [Moreno] • Official website • bar website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • Women Make Movies • coming to Hulu? •

---

One Night at Babes, dir. Angelo Madsen Minax, 2024 USA, 29 min. 👏

One Night at Babes
(cropped from middle)

A trans gay couple from Chicago had long dreamed of having a bar. On a trip to Vermont to see the new baby in the family, they found an opportunity to realize their dream. Bethel, Vermont, a town of less than 2,000 people, has its share of racism and homophobia and other facets of small-mindedness, but by and large, the bar owners and their friends have been accepted and welcomed. The old-timers who used to be regulars under the previous management, are still regulars, and mix quite comfortably with the new folks. It’s an upbeat story, a ray of sunshine that will give you hope for the future. Highly recommended.

very, very small print

My one knock — and fortunately one that should be relatively easy to correct — is that the title cards are in much too small a typeface. You could double or maybe even triple the font size, so that all those lovely bits of context and color don’t get lost.

• IMDb [director] • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram:@MadsenMinax • Facebook • preview • vimeo channel •

---

Stud Country, dir. Lina Abascal & Alexandra Kern, 2024 USA, 11 min. 👏

Stud Country

Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City, Los Angeles (not to be confused with the club of the same name in Austin) survived for a half century, pioneering the gay line dancing scene back when it was still illegal for men to dance together, but Covid combined with the real estate market to bring it to an end in 2021. Stud Country keeps the spirit alive and is spreading it to new cities. 

When I was growing up in Texas, I mostly associated country music with people I wanted nothing to do with and who wanted nothing to do with me. It has taken decades for me to appreciate the music and the very different sorts of folks who gravitate to it. We should all be so lucky as to experience the feeling of community that this film embodies. Highly recommended.

• IMDb [Abascal] • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • YouTube channel [no content as of 2024-06-10, but check back later] •

---

Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania, dir. Hansen Bursic, 2024 USA, 12 min. World Premiere 💖

Frameline description: “In the 1970s and 1980s, the small Pennsylvania town of New Hope was among a few safe havens outside of major cities for gay men to find community. Over 30 years later, the town’s legacy remained, but now for a different community: transgender women.

Trans Heaven, PA

“Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania explores the untold story of legendary, weekend-long parties that saw hundreds of transgender women and self-identified crossdressers take over the town, traveling from all over the country to meet other people like them. Through both interviews and stunning animation sequences that utilize never-before-seen archival photography, audiences not only get a glimpse into the heyday of these events in the early 2010s but also the iconic gay bar The Raven which became the unlikely cornerstone of these weekends.”

My thoughts: This short documentary is a well-made profile of a remarkable haven for trans people to be themselves and celebrate. Definitely a MUST SEE.

• IMDb [director] • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •

---

Vollúpya, dir. Éri Sarmet & Jocimar Dias, Jr., 2024 Brazil, 21 min., in Portuguese with English subtitles, World Premiere 👍

Vollúpya

Vollupya (1992-2005) was the longest-running LGBTQIA+ nightclub in the city of Niterói (directly across the bay from downtown Rio de Janeiro).

The real story of Vollúpya is interesting, with archival footage to tell it. Unfortunately, the filmmakers added a superfluous and rather clunky frame of an intergalactic explorer some time in the post-apocalyptic indefinite future, stumbling upon the site where the club once thrived. Worth seeing for the real footage, though. Recommended. 

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other • Eri Sarmet Niteroi