“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)
- ⚠️ Mi Ofrenda, dir. Melba Martinez, 2024, USA, 5 min., in English, Spanish, and Spanglish with full English and Spanish subtitles 👏
- The Boy Who Cheated Death, dir. Pipou Phuong Nguyen, 2025, France, 5 min., no dialogue 🙂
- Trance, dir. Bahr Tama, 2025, USA, 6 min., no dialogue 🫤
- ⚠️ Eternal, dir. Lusi Wang & Lazuli Trujano, 2025, USA, 6 min. 👏
- ⚠️ GHOST TOWN, dir. Sophia Leál, 2025, USA, 5 min. 🫤
- ⚠️ I’m Dead, Right? dir. J. Mehr Kaur, 2024, USA, 15 min. 💖
- ⚠️ Sister Salad Days, dir. Adesola Thomas, 2023, USA, 18 min. 💖
- ⚠️ FORever feroshUS, dir. Naya Ryan Rashad, 2024, USA, 13 min. 💖
- Don’t Cry for Me, All You Drag Queens, dir. Kristal Sotomayor, 2023, USA, 9 min. 💖
- ⚠️ To Build a Monument, dir. Laissa Alexis, 2024, USA, 11 min. 👏
Mi Ofrenda, dir. Melba Martinez, 2024, USA, 5 min., in English, Spanish, and Spanglish with full English and Spanish subtitles 👏
⚠️ content advisory: grief
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Mi Ofrenda (photo cropped from center) |
QWOCFF blurb: A Chicana mother comes to terms with the death of her beloved father.
It was a little disjointed, but heartfelt and expressive. Highly recommended.
• IMDb • trailer • official website • Instagram: @FrutaMala •
The Boy Who Cheated Death, dir. Pipou Phuong Nguyen, 2025, France, 5 min., no dialogue
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The Boy who Cheated Death |
QWOCFF blurb: A young boy and his mother transform into different creatures to hide from Death.
The Boy Who Cheated Death is a beautiful animated allegory about … something. I didn’t really follow the story, but the pictures were pretty. Recommended. 🙂
• IMDb (director) • trailer • official website • Instagram: @pipou.png •
Trance, dir. Bahr Tama, 2025, USA, 6 min., no dialogue 🫤
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Trance |
QWOCFF blurb: An Iraqi person records things to send to their father in the afterlife.
I really didn’t feel I had sufficient context for the images, so I didn’t track what I was seeing. Meh.
• IMDb • trailer • official website •
Eternal, dir. Lusi Wang & Lazuli Trujano, 2025, USA, 6 min. 👏
⚠️ content advisory: death, grief
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Eternal |
QWOCFF blurb: Two queer and trans soulmates explore love, intimacy, and belonging within their nonromantic connection.
Eternal is a bit unpolished in its execution, but expresses a strong connection to being fully seen. Highly recommended.
• IMDb (Lusi Wang [placeholder]) • trailer • official website •
GHOST TOWN, dir. Sophia Leál, 2025, USA, 5 min. 🫤
⚠️ content advisory: death, grief, displacement
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GHOST TOWN |
QWOCFF blurb: After the death of her aunt, a Native Mexican person explores grief and quilt-making as resistance.
It didn’t speak to me. There are some beautiful images, but nothing that grabbed me. Meh.
• IMDb • trailer • official website • Sophia Leal •
I’m Dead, Right? dir. J. Mehr Kaur, 2024, USA, 15 min. 💖
⚠️ content advisory: grief, homophobia
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I’m Dead, Right? |
filmmaker’s description: Desperate to sell her childhood home, Nikita, a queer South Asian woman, discovers what is making the house unsellable - the ghost of her recently deceased religious mother, who will do whatever it takes to get into Heaven.
I’m Dead, Right? takes the time to explore the conflict between mother and daughter without rushing to a simplistic resolution. Great writing, acting, and directing: must see.
• IMDb • trailer • official website • Instagram: @ImDeadRightFilm •
Sister Salad Days, dir. Adesola Thomas, 2023, USA, 18 min. 💖
⚠️ content advisory: grief
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Sister Salad Days |
filmmaker’s description: When a double dutcher's religious father forces her to get married, she enlists her friends and fiancé to stop the wedding and free her deceased older sister whose soul is trapped on their father's land.
The father, Winston, is insistent on his authority in the house, unable or unwilling to acknowledge other points of view or his own shortcomings. The main character, Deborah, is heading into an unwanted arranged marriage with someone from the church, but older sister Esther’s spirit is still hanging around, waiting for Deborah to “vanish” her (using some form of magical gift that Winston tries to deny and suppress). Something will have to give.
It’s a well crafted story, well acted, beautifully filmed. Definitely a must see.
• IMDb • trailer • official website • Instagram: @Sister.Salad.Days •
FORever feroshUS, dir. Naya Ryan Rashad, 2024, USA, 13 min. 💖
⚠️ content advisory: grief, emotional pain
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FORever feroshUS |
filmmaker’s description: As he reconciles with his murder, Shae, a man murdered in a homophobic attack, awakens in a mysterious room where the entirety of his life is projected across a series of screens. As he journeys through these memories, he must reach the final screen to uncover the truth about his death. But to get there, he must first make peace with the life he's lived. This film is an homage to O'Shae Sibley.
On July 29, 2023, O’Shae Sibley and some friends were dancing to some Beyoncé music outside a gas station in Brooklyn. Some random people were somehow offended by that and demanded that the voguing stop, leading to a violent confrontation that ended with O’Shae stabbed through the heart; he died from his wounds not long after.
In FORever feroshUS, O’Shae wakes up in what he figures out must be the afterlife, dressed fabulously and sparkling with glitter from head to toe. He is surrounded by tv screens showing pivotal moments from his life: his first crush, his first time seeing a male dancer and having the courage to approach the teacher, and so on. He revisits some of the scenes until he is ready (or is allowed) to cross through the barrier to whatever is beyond.
It’s beautiful, powerful, emotive, and celebrates the life lost rather than focusing on the circumstances of the death. Definitely a must see.
• IMDb • trailer • official website • Wikipedia article about O’Shae Sibley • forever ferocious, Beyonce •
Don’t Cry for Me, All You Drag Queens, dir. Kristal Sotomayor, 2023, USA, 9 min. 💖
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Don’t Cry for Me, All You Drag Queens |
filmmaker’s description: Don't Cry For Me, All You Drag Queens pays homage to the legendary Mother Cavallucci by weaving together the present and past to provide a striking portrait of belonging and memory. Poetically merging archival photographs and present day footage from a community drag show in New Hope, Pennsylvania, the film sparks conversation about the modern day issues Mother Cavallucci revolutionized.
Going back to the 1950s, when it was illegal for a man to appear in public (including on stage) in full drag, the town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River about an hour north of Philadelphia, has been a bubble of acceptance and welcoming. The figure of Mama Cavallucci loomed large for decades, and she was honored years after her passing for her enduring legacy. It’s an important bit of history and local color. Must see.
• IMDb • trailer • official website •
To Build a Monument, dir. Laissa Alexis, 2024, USA, 11 min. 👏
⚠️ content advisory: grief, death
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To Build a Monument |
QWOCFF blurb: Three queer Black people prepare for their own ancestorhood.
If you are tired, keep going.
If you are scared, keep going.
If you want to taste freedom, keep going.
— Harriet Tubman
Sakia Gunn was a 15-year-old lesbian who was murdered in a hate crime in Newark, New Jersey, in 2003. The city rose up, honoring her memory, with a street now named for her. Several people from Newark speak about Sakia and her legacy, about what they hope their own legacies will be, and what monuments we should build. The narrative meandered a bit, though. Highly recommended.
• IMDb • trailer • official website • Wikipedia article about Sakia Gunn •
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