Sunday, June 16, 2024

Shared Navigation (QWOCFF Closing Night)

“Shared Navigation” shorts program, QWOCFF 2024 Closing Night Screening
Sunday, June 16, 2024, 5:00 PM, Presidio of San Francisco; total runtime: 96 minutes
all QWOCFF films are fully open-captioned with audio description available
⚠️Content Warning: several of the films have content warnings; see below
Expanding Sanctuary by Kristal Sotomayor, 2023 USA, 20 min. πŸ’–

On a city street, A Latinx bride and groom hold up protest posters that read “Abolish ICE” and “Expand Sanctuary, End Pars.”
Expanding Sanctuary
A Latinx immigrant mother makes waves with a historic campaign to end the sharing of the Philadelphia police database with ICE.

Bio: Kristal Sotomayor is a nonbinary bilingual Latinx documentary filmmaker, journalist, and curator based in Philadelphia.

⚠️Content Warning: Mention of racism and deportation

This lovely documentary centers on a Dreamer, mother of 3, in Philadelphia, getting ready to get married. She wants to bring her mother from Mexico City for the wedding, but needs help getting the paperwork done. She finds a program that will help, but they require that you join some sort of local organization in your area; she joins Juntos. She came mainly to check the box on the application for help getting her mother to the wedding, but stayed for the social justice mission and for her kids’ future. It’s a compelling story, well told. Definitely a MUST SEE.

• IMDb [director] • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram: @KristalSotomayor • Facebook: @KristalASotomayor • Twitter: @KristalSotomayr [note: -yr instead of -yor] • preview • other •
Mi Abuelita, La Campeona by Isa Moreno, 2023 USA, 3 min. πŸ‘

A cartoon illustration of a Mexican-American girl trying to pull her grandmother up out of her wheelchair.
Mi Abuelita, la Campeona
A Mexican girl steers her abuela’s boxing dreams in a new direction.

Bio: Isa Moreno is a queer and trans filmmaker and graduate student in animation from Watsonville, California.

The title translates as “My grandmother, the champion.” Dedicated to “our elders who fought so we can play,” this animated short tells the story of a girl trying to get her grandmother more engaged with life. The grandmother had dreams of being a competitive boxer, so the granddaughter figures out a way to build a bridge from that dream to the present. It’s cute and imaginative. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram: @IsaIllustratez • Facebook • preview • other •
Prism: A Nonbinary Documentary by Ginger Chen, 2024 USA, 5 min. πŸ’–
World Premiere

A white anti-binary person smiles brightly, accentuating the trans flag colors painted on their lower lip.
PRISM: A
non-binary documentary
A gentle exploration across the nonbinary spectrum.

Bio: Ginger Yifan Chen (they/them) is an interdisciplinary writer, filmmaker, and artist.

Ginger Chen interviewed several nonbinary people about their experiences, plus one person who defines themself as “anti-binary,” by which they mean they not only define themselves outside the binary construct, but actively work to tear it down. It’s an interesting doc on a marginalized group (even within the LGBTQ+ community), well worth 5 minutes of your time. MUST SEE.

• IMDb [director] • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •
Quears by Shabnam Singla, 2023 Austria, 24 min. 🫀

A nonbinary person dangles a pair of Lebanese coin earrings between two fingers.
Quears
A nonbinary person dangles a pair of Lebanese coin earrings between two fingers.

Conversations about earrings dip into queerness and gender norms.

⚠️Content Warning: Description of queerphobic incident

Bio: Shabnam Singla is a queer Indian student in Austria and Estonia combining her work of social epistemology and feminist philosophy.

People talk about their earrings and how they relate to their queerness and gender identity. There’s some interesting stuff in there, but it’s too long, and circles back to the same points multiple times. It would be much more engaging if it were edited down by a factor of 2 or 3. “Recommended, I guess.”

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •
Where Do We Go by Jade Blackthorne, 2024 USA, 4 min. πŸ‘
An agitated mixed-race older transgender woman glares in frustration, her long hair blowing across her face.
Where Do We Go?

On a quest to find a restroom, a trans woman is obstructed by an AI device.

⚠️Content Warning: Transphobia, Misgendering

Bio: Jade Blackthorne is a musician who has lived life in the margins of society.

A trans woman is out and about and needs to use the restroom. They find a pair of public restrooms, but there is an artificially intelligent gatekeeper that has to scan you and determine whether you are male or female, by its criteria, and they do not compute. It’s an interesting glimpse of a not-too-distant dystopian future. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • SoundCloud •
Adulthood? by Mehak Chahal, 2024 USA, 2 min. πŸ™‚

The view from a MUNI bus window, looking at tall buildings along a street in downtown San Francisco.
Adulthood?
A South Asian woman embarks on an expedition to question life’s complexities.

Bio: Mehak Chahal is a line cook turned aspiring filmmaker and creative dualist.

The audience liked this one, but I couldn’t follow it as it jumped to talking about “The Big One” earthquake in Southern California, which I couldn’t connect to “life’s complexities.” Recommended on the basis of the audience response.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •
Exhale by Sara Lopez Martinez, 2024 USA, 4 min. πŸ˜‘

A mixed-race person clutches their head and rolls their eyes to the side, purple glitter smeared beneath their eyes.
Exhale
A trek through the growing pains of releasing and reconciling with your true self.

⚠️Content Warning: Grief, Flashing images

Bio: Sara Lopez Martinez is a film student that loves to hit the gym.

This was another short that I had trouble following. With no context, we are given a series of abstract quotes. At the end, I was saying, “Huh??” Not recommended.

• IMDb [director?] • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •
Clocky by Power, 2024 USA, 6 min. πŸ‘
World Premiere

A closeup of hands tearing apart juicy orange segments.
Clocky
A clock comes to life, plunges into the world, and rescues their trapped friend.

⚠️Content Warning: Flashing images, Emotional pain

Bio: Power is a storyteller.

A person, frustrated with human relationships, decides their clock is the ideal partner. They go everywhere together, almost inseparable. It seemed like Clocky was a metaphorical stand-in for something, but I couldn’t figure out what, or maybe I was looking for something that wasn’t actually there. This short is Weird-with-a-Capital-W, but tolerably amusing. Recommended.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other •
Rhombus by Noel King, 2022 USA, no dialogue, 4 min. πŸ’–πŸ€Ÿ

Kneeling in white sand, a Korean-American womxn smiles peacefully and lifts a glowing rhombus up toward the sky.
Rhombus
A Deaf Korean adoptee travels on a soul-searching journey.

⚠️Content Warning: Flashing images

Bio: Noel King (she/her) is a Deaf Korean-American transracial adoptee, queer mental health clinician, and art therapist.

A deaf person wanders through a landscape of portals reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland or maybe a funhouse at the beach, or something similar to Burning Man by the Sea. The film is totally silent, with no spoken dialogue but also no ambient sounds, putting you in the experience of deafness in an intriguing way. MUST SEE.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview •
• related: Instagram: @DeafQueer / YouTube: @DQRC •
To Glow at H.U.M. University by Naya Ryan, 2024 USA, 5 min. πŸ‘

A bright glow emanates from a group of students and a professor as they join hands in a circle and look up towards the sky.
To Glow at H.U.M. University
A queer Black student stows their powers from new classmates.

Bio: Naya Ryan is a Southern filmmaker who brings people together onscreen and in the real world.

Maybe they didn’t say or maybe I blinked and missed it, but what does H.U.M. University stand for? My guess is How to Use Magic, but in any case it’s a school for people to explore and develop their magical powers. In the first class, several students show their powers, but one finds that using their special power alone, drains them physically and emotionally, so they hold back. It’s interesting, though definitely still rough around the edges. Recommended.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram: @NayasWordOfMouth • Facebook • preview • other •
Courtside Bouquet: The Legacy of Leigha Rose by Jasmine LeBlanc, 2024 USA, 8 min. πŸ’–
World Premiere

A Black woman grins brightly with her mother and cousin behind her, holding a basketball and wearing pink and black jerseys.
Courtside Bouquet:
The Legacy of Leigha Rose
Buoyed by family, a queer Black woman charts her years playing basketball.

Bio: Jaz Le Blanc is a filmmaker, event producer, storyteller and community hype woman.

This is a beautiful portrait of an interesting person, who draws upon strong family bonds and acceptance to be genuinely present with all sorts of people, giving back to the community and to the next generation. MUST SEE.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram: @Jaz_LeBlanc • Facebook • preview • other •
SK8RGRLS by Jean Zamora & Florence Middleton, 2023 USA, 9 min. πŸ’–πŸ›Ό
World Premiere

A young Asian girl wearing a pink helmet gazes determinedly across a skatepark.
SK8RGRLS
Constellations of women and nonbinary people of color map out a quad skating community.

⚠️Content Warning: Mentions of sexual harassment and assault

Bio: Jean Zamora and Florence Middleton are documentary filmmakers whose work focuses on women and other marginalized communities.

I love skates of all sorts: skateboards, old-school roller skates, Rollerblades, and the newest addition to the family: quad skates. Quads are closest to old-school roller skates, but with modifications that allow them to be used for tricks very similar to skateboards. Both skateboarding and inline skating are heavily male-dominated, only grudgingly allowing space for girls and nonbinary folks to join in the fun. Quad skating is much more inclusive, and a group of women and NBs come together as a community to keep the skate parks accessible and safe for all. Definitely a MUST SEE if you’re a skate enthusiast, but highly recommended even if you’re not.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker [Middleton] • Instagram: @ShotByJeanZ • Facebook • preview • watch on YouTube •
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)