I saw as many films as possible, and then some, but I still didn’t manage to see all of them. Here are the ones I missed.
The symbols:
⚠️ content advisory,
🔞 not suitable for minors,
🌐 world premiere,
🌎 North American premiere,
🌊 West Coast premiere
🏆 Frameline49 jury award for best documentary feature (honorable mention)
The first link is to the Frameline page, followed by a link to the IMDb page.
I’m about to head out to the last in-person screening of Frameline49, but we don’t have to say goodbye just yet. The Digital Screening Room has a very limited selection of the films from the in-person festival. The choices are few, but they chose quite well — most of them I rate “must see.”
Note that Frameline added two streaming-only compilation shorts programs, “Wild Combination” and ”Queer Quartet,” with shorts from various in-person programs.
A Mother Apart 💖💔❤️🩹💝, dir. Laurie Townshend, 2024, Canada, 89 min.
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
and available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
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| A Mother Apart |
Row of Life 💖, documentary, dir. Soraya Simi, 2025, USA, 82 min.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
also available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
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| Row of Life |
gen_ [note the underscore at the end] 💖, documentary, dir. Gianluca Matarrese, 2025,
France/Italy/Switzerland, 104 min., in Italian and English with English subtitles (note: you must manually turn on the subtitles)
Monday, June 23, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
also available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
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| gen_: Dr. Maurizio Bini |
If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart Into Your Mouth and Smile (Wenn du Angst hast nimmst du dein Herz in den Mund und lächelst) 💖, dir. Marie Luise Lehner, 2025, Austria, 87 min., in German, German Sign Language, and English, with full open captions in English
Friday, June 27, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
🌎 North American premiere
🏆 Winner: 2025 Berlinale, Teddy Award (jury) and CICAE Art Cinema Award (Forum section) — among other honors
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| If You Are Afraid… Wenn du Angst hast… |
Trans Memoria 💖, dir. Victoria Verseau, 2024, Sweden/France, 72 min., in Swedish, French, and English, with full English subtitles throughout
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 4:30 pm, Roxie Theater
available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
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| Trans Memoria |
Night Stage (Ato Noturno) ❓, dir. Filipe Matzembacher & Marcio Reolon, 2025, Brazil, 119 min., in Portuguese with subtitles
Saturday, June 28, 2025, 5:45 pm, Herbst Theatre
🌎 North American premiere
⚠️ content advisory: graphic violence
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| Night Stage (Ato Noturno) |
Long story short: I thought the last film by this duo (which actually won the Teddy at the Berlinale; this one was only nominated) was awful, so I decided not to spend my precious Pride Weekend time on this one. Here’s my review of Hard Paint (Tinta Bruta) from 2018.
Only Good Things (Apenas Coisas Boas) 💩,
dir. Daniel Nolasco, 2025, Brazil, 104 min., in Portuguese with English subtitles
Friday, July 27, 2025, 8:15 pm, Roxie Theater
🇺🇸 U.S. premiere
⚠️🔞 content advisory: violence, brief explicit sex
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| Only Good Things (Apenas Coisas Boas) |
TL;dr: Don’t waste your time. Note: the rest of this review may contain spoilers.
A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint 💖, dir. Oriel Pe’er, 2025, USA, 86 min.
Thursday, June 26, 2026, 8:30 pm, Herbst Theatre
🌐 World premiere
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|
Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint |
Some Nights I Feel Like Walking 👏, dir. Petersen Vargas, 2024,
Philippines/Singapore/Italy, 103 min., in Tagalog with English subtitles
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 8:30 pm, Roxie Theater
available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
⚠️ content advisory: graphic drug misuse, disturbing themes
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| Some Nights I Feel Like Walking |
It’s Dorothy! 💖, dir. Jeffrey McHale, 2025, USA, 100 min.
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 6:00 pm, Roxie Theater
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| It’s Dorothy! |
Jean Cocteau 💖, documentary, dir. Lisa Immordino Vreeland, 2024, USA,
94 min., in English and French
Thursday, June 26, 1:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
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|
Jean Cocteau © Boris Lipnitzki |
Lucky, Apartment (럭키, 아파트) (also known as Leogki, apateu) 👏,
dir. Kangyu Garam (강유가람), 2024, South Korea, 96 min., in Korean with subtitles
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 1:00 pm, Roxie Theater
🇺🇸 U.S. premiere
⚠️ content advisory: homophobic language
🏆 honorable mention: 2025 Frameline Best First Narrative Feature jury award
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| Lucky, Apartment (럭키, 아파트) |
Diciannove 😐, dir. Giovanni Tortorici, 2024, Italy/UK, 108 min., in Italian with English subtitles, some parts in English without subtitles
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 7:45 pm, Roxie Theater
⚠️ content advisory: flashing lights, drug/alcohol abuse, talk of self-harm
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| Diciannove |
Drive Back Home 💖, dir. Michael Clowater, 2024, Canada, 100 min.
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 5:30 pm, Herbst Theatre
⚠️ content advisory: homophobic violence
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| Drive Back Home |
#300Letters (#300cartas) 💖, dir. Lucas Santa Ana, 2025,
Argentina/UK/Germany, 91 min., in Spanish with English subtitles
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 8:30 pm, Vogue Theatre
⚠️ content advisory: simulated sexual activity
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| #300Letters (#300cartas) |
Coming Attractions: An Orgy of Gay Erotic Movie Trailers 🥱,
dir. Elizabeth Purchell, 2025, USA, 76 min.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 10:00 pm, Roxie Theater
🌐 World premiere
(preceded by the short 🙂 GANGBANG; see below)
🔞⚠️ content advisory: the main feature contains abundant explicit sex
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|
Coming Attractions: An Orgy of Gay Erotic Movie Trailers |
Perro Perro 💖 dir. Marco Berger, 2025, Argentina,
101 min., in Spanish with English subtitles
Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 5:45 pm, Vogue Theatre
🌐 World premiere
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| Perro perro |
Sandbag Dam (Zečji nasip) 👏,
dir. Čejen Černić Čanak, 2025, Croatia/Lithuania/Slovenia,
88 min., in Croatian with subtitles
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 3:30 pm, Vogue Theatre
⚠️ content advisory: homophobic language
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| Sandbag Dam (Zečji nasip) |
Skinny Love (Einskonar ást) 👏, dir. Sigurður Anton, 2024, Iceland, 92 min., in Icelandic with English subtitles, but large portions in English without subtitles
Monday, June 23, 2025, 6:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
🌎 North American premiere
also available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
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| Skinny Love |
A Night Like This 👏 (also known as On a Winter Night),
dir. Liam Calvert, 2025, UK, 97 min.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 8:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
⚠️ content advisory: discussions and depictions of self-harm, homophobic language
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| A Night Like This |
In the Best Interests of the Children 💖,
dir. Frances Reid, Elizabeth Stevens, & Cathy Zheutlin, 1977, USA, 53 min. (newly restored)
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 4:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
(screens with Lesbian Custody in the in-person screening only)
also available in the Digital Screening Room
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| In the Best Interests of the Children |
Lesbian Custody 💖, dir. Samuael Topiary & Molly Skonieczny, 2025, USA, 18 min.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 4:00 pm Vogue Theatre
(screens in person before 💖 In the Best Interests of the Children)
also part of “Queer Quartet Streaming Shorts” in the Digital Screening Room
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| Lesbian Custody |
I’m Your Venus 💖,
dir. Kimberly Reed, 2024, USA, 85 min.
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 6:00 pm, Roxie Theater
🏆 winner: 2025 Frameline Best Documentary Feature jury award
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|
I’m Your Venus Venus Xtravaganza’s two families meet |
To Live, to Die, to Live Again (Vivre, mourir, renaître) 💖,
dir. Gaël Morel, 2024, France, 104 min., in French with subtitles
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 3:30 pm, Vogue Theatre
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|
To Live, to Die, to Live Again (Vivre, mourir, renaître) photo ©2024 ARPSelection |
We are Faheem and Karun,
💖 dir. Onir, written by Fawzia Mirza & Onir, 2024, India, 75 min.,
in Kashmiri, Hindi, Urdu, English, and Malayalam, with full open captions for the hearing impaired
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 6:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
🌎 North American premiere
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| We are Faheem and Karun |
Thesis on a Domestication (Tesis sobre una domesticación)
💩🙄🥱👎,
dir. Javier van de Couter, 2024, Argentina/Mexico, 113 min.,
in Spanish with English subtitles
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 8:30 pm, Roxie Theater
⚠️ content advisory: transphobia, explicit sex
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|
Thesis on a Domestication (Tesis sobre una domesticación) |
Outerlands 👏, dir. Elena Oxman, 2025, USA, 100 min.
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 6:00 pm, New Parkway, Oakland
Friday, June 27, 2025, 12:45 pm, Vogue Theatre
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| Outerlands |
Silent Sparks (愛作歹) 👍, dir. Ping Chu, 2024, Taiwan, 79 min., in Mandarin and Min Nan with English subtitles
Friday, June 20, 2025, 6:00 pm, Roxie Theater
available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 – June 30, 2025
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| Silent Sparks (愛作歹) |
Note: the short film Like What Would Sorrow Look (愁何狀) precedes the in-person screening, but is not available in the Digital Screening Room and was not available for advance review.
The Nature of Invisible Things (A natureza das coisas invisíveis) 💖, dir. Rafeala Camelo, 2025, Brazil/Chile, 90 min., in Portuguese with subtitles
Friday, June 20, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
🏳️🌈 Queer premiere
🏆 winner: 2025 Frameline Best First Narrative Feature jury award
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|
The Nature of Invisible Things (A natureza das coisas invisíveis) |
“Queer Quartet” (streaming-only shorts program)
available in the Digital Streaming Room, June 23 to June 30, 2025
(each short also screens in person in the festival, but not together as a group)
Another compilation program of shorts for streaming only:
Mahu: A Trans-Pacific Love Letter
Valencia 🫤, dir. Aubree Bernier-Clarke, Silas Howard, Cheryl Dunye, et al.,
2013, USA, 106 min.
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
followed by a walking tour with Michelle Tea herself, hence the program title “(Return to) Valencia”
film available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 to 30, 2025
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| Valencia |
The Meatrack 🫤, dir. Mike Thomas, 1970, USA, 65 min.
Thursday, June 26, 2025, 3:30 pm, Vogue Theatre
🌐 World premiere of the 4K restoration
⚠️ content advisory: homophobia, frontal nudity, graphic sex scenes 🔞
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| The Meatrack (1970) |
Between Goodbyes 💖, dir. Jota Mun, 2024, USA/South Korea, 96 min.,
in English, and in Korean and Dutch with English subtitles
Thursday, June 19, 2025, 3:30 pm, Roxie Theater
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| Between Goodbyes |
Carpobrotus 👏, dir. Simon Frenay, 2024, France, 22 min., in French with English subtitles
screens before Queerpanorama, Sunday, June 22, 2025, 6:00 pm, Vogue
part of the “Wild Combination” shorts program in the Digital Screening Room
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| Carpobrotus |
Four Mothers 💖, dir. Darren Thornton, 2024, Ireland/UK, 89 min.
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 6:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
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| Four Mothers |
Queerpanorama (眾生相) 👏, dir. Jun Li, 2025, Hong Kong/USA/China, 87 min., in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Persian/Farsi, and Thai, with subtitles only for the Mandarin dialogue
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 6:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
(preceded by the short film Carpobrotus; see separate review)
⚠️ content advisory: sexually explicit content 🔞
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| Queerpanorama |
Really Happy Someday 💖, dir. J. Stevens, 2024, Canada, 90 min.
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 1:00 pm, Vogue Theatre, 🇺🇸 US Premiere
(screens with the short Tessitura, reviewed separately)
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| Really Happy Someday |
River of Grass 💖, dir. Sasha Wortzel, 2025, USA, 83 min.
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 3:30 pm, New Parkway, Oakland
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| River of Grass |
Room Temperature 💩🙄🥱😑, dir. Dennis Cooper & Zac Farley, 2025, USA/France, 92 min.
Friday, June 20, 2025, 8:30 pm, Roxie Theater
⚠️ content advisory: disturbing themes
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| Room Temperature |
Tessitura 👏, dir. Lydia Cornett & Brit Fryer, 2025, USA, 18 min.
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 1:00 pm, Vogue Theatre
(screens before the feature film Really Happy Someday)
🏆 winner: 2025 Frameline Best Documentary Short jury award
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| Tessitura |
“Wild Combination” (shorts program)
available in the Digital Screening Room only
(each short screens in person, but not together as a group)
For each film, the first link is to the Frameline page for that specific short. The second link is to the Film Queen Review entry containing my full review.
Three days, 49 films (five shorts programs and two feature-length documentaries), glow-in-the-dark bowling (sorry I had to skip out on that part!) and a reception for the 25th anniversary of QWOCMAP (the organization). That’s a wrap on the 21st annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival.
QWOCFF delivered again with consistently high-quality films on a range of topics. I can’t say that I loved every film, but even the few I didn’t much care for were okay, and there were 17 shorts plus both features that I rated as “must see,” and only 7 shorts I rated anything less than “highly recommended.”
If you see something in the program that you really want to see, don’t despair just yet: there will be a streaming encore in mid-September, so get on the QWOCMAP mailing list to get all the details.
“We’re Here, We’re Queer” (shorts program)
Closing Night Screening
Sunday, June 15, 2025, 7:00 pm, Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
⚠️ content advisories: (see individual listings below)
(This program is a mix of short documentaries, narrative shorts, and other works.)
“Unapologetic Legacies” (shorts program)
Centerpiece Screening
Sunday, June 15, 2025, 12:00 noon, Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
⚠️ content advisories: (see individual listings below)
“Queer Mischief” (shorts program)
Saturday Centerpiece Screening
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 7:00 pm Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
⚠️ content advisories: (see individual listings below)
Standing Above the Clouds 💖, dir. Jalena Keane-Lee, 2024, USA, 82 min.
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 5:00 pm Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
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| Standing Above the Clouds |
QWOCFF blurb: Through the stories of Indigenous mothers and daughters who have sustained the largest political movement in modern Hawaiian history, this film explores intergenerational healing and the social and emotional labor of retaining ancient ceremonies in a rapidly modernizing world.
“Best social impact documentary” at hotdocs 2024; “Best made-in-Hawai‘i feature documentary” at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival 2024, “People’s choice” at the Māoriland Film Festival 2025.
Despite the presence of 13 telescopes atop Mauna Kea, each project promising to be the last one, each promising to be environmentally responsible and then releasing toxic chemicals into the soil, scientists wanted to build a massive new telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), with a mirror 100 feet in diameter, housed in a building 18 stories tall. Some of the local native Hawai‘ians decided they had had enough, and began protests that successfully stalled the project until finally, just a few days ago, the National Science Foundation dropped funding for the TMT, putting the plans in indefinite suspension.
I will admit to a certain degree of split loyalties. Building a 30-meter telescope would truly advance science tremendously, increasing our understanding of the entire universe, and Mauna Kea is uniquely well suited as a location for that telescope. But at the same time, the disregard for the indigenous population over many decades, even by their own state government, is shameful. If a way can be found to move forward on the Thirty Meter Telescope, it will have to be arm in arm with the native Hawai‘ians, not over their entrenched objections.
Standing Above the Clouds is a powerful documentary about the ability of people to organize for a cause they hold dear, a cause with resonances not only throughout Hawai‘i and the Pacific islands, but for indigenous communities worldwide. It’s a must see.
• IMDb • trailer • watch the 2019 documentary short • official website •
“Think Global, Act Local” (shorts program)
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 12:00 noon, Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
⚠️ content advisories: (see individual listings below)
“Liberatory Black Futures” (shorts program)
Friday, June 13, 2025, 7:00 pm Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
⚠️ content advisories: (see individual listings below)
💖
Can’t Stop Change: Queer Climate Stories from the Florida Frontlines
(No se para el cambio: Historias climáticas queer desde la primera línea de Florida),
dir. Vanessa Raditz, Natalia Villarán-Quiñones, and Yarrow Koning, 2024 USA,
in English and Spanish with open captions in both languages throughout, 97 min.
Sunday, June 15, 2025, 3:00 pm, Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave., SF
(This film screened in Frameline48. Here is my review from that screening.)
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|
Can’t Stop Change: Queer Climate Stories |
Florida is at the epicenter of the right-wing project to reshape America. Florida and Wisconsin are the testbeds for legislation put forward by ALEC, and in his laughable pursuit of the Presidential nomination, Governor Ron DeSantis went after LGBTQ+ (especially trans people and anyone standing in the way of Development, specifically including drill, baby, drill. In the face of that onslaught, some activists are holding their ground and trying to raise awareness and hopefully at some point turn the tide. Filmmakers Vanessa Raditz, Natalia Villarán-Quiñones, and Yarrow Koning interviewed activists in North Florida, Central Florida, and South Florida, plus some who felt they had to leave Florida for their own safety. They talked particularly about the intersection of climate change activism with communities marginalized by the white heteropatriarchy.
The result is a call to action and a beacon of hope, and draws clear connections between issues we often think of separately. For example, climate change has brought devastation to many parts of Florida in the form of stronger hurricanes, but the burden of that devastation has fallen disproportionately on Black and brown people, poor people, immigrants, and other people just trying to hang on. Climate is a “threat multiplier,” magnifying existing injustices. It’s a necessary film, and one that everyone should watch, definitely a MUST SEE, but unfortunately, the people who most need to see it will tune out pretty early on when they hear the radicals talk. They’re not exactly fiddling while Rome burns, but they’re playing 🙈🙉🙊 even as experts predict that as much as 60% of the land area of the city of Miami could be underwater by 2060.
• IMDb • trailer • Official website • Instagram: @Queers4ClimateJustice • Facebook: @QueerEcoProject • other • Historias climaticas queer desde la primera linea de Florida Natalian Villaran-Quinones
The festival is three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 13 to 15, 2025, at the theater in the Presidio National Park, not to be confused with the Presidio Movie Theater, a commercial venue on Chestnut & Divisadero. The address for your GPS or rideshare is 99 Moraga Avenue.
Tickets are free (but please give what you can) at QWOCFF.org.
The programs are:
