Sunday, June 15, 2025

QWOCFF 2025 Closing Night: We’re Here, We’re Queer

“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.)

I AM GLITCHING, dir. Salma Parra, 2024, Germany, 7 min., no dialogue 👏

A white robot with blue eyes and imperfect, pink paint marks across its body looks gleefully at a yellow and red butterfly, their arms extended outwards.
I AM GLITCHING

QWOCFF blurb: A robot designed for flawless precision finds unexpected beauty in imperfection.

A robot works monotonously in a factory, even more monotonous and robotic than the factories humans work in, trying to maintain a 100.00% perfection score. Then a butterfly wanders in and everything changes.

Well done animation with a cute story line, good fun, highly recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

The Talk, documentary, dir. Ella Saini, 2022, Canada, 4 min. 👏

An animated person with long, purple hair and blue skin clutches a red heart to their chest peacefully. Behind them, pride flags of different sexual and gender identities.
The Talk

filmmaker’s description: The Talk showcases the experiences of three LGBTQ+ youth learning about sex health under an inadequate Canadian sex-ed curriculum. Each subject opens up about their knowledge surrounding sexual health, gender identity, the not-so-honest information they were taught in their classrooms and its impact on their self-image.

Good insights into the shortcomings of sex-ed curricula, especially with respect to LGBTQ students. Things today are better than when I had sex ed in grade school (with a fully clothed man and woman standing side by side and somehow making a baby), but there’s still a long way to go. Educators, listen to these kids! Highly recommended for all, but a must see for anyone connected to sex education.

• IMDb • trailer • official website • Instagram: @The_Talk_Doc •

A genderfluid Black person with green glasses and a centered lip piercing smiles brightly. They wear black headphones on their head and stand in front of a door that reads KUSF Studio.
Why I Give Up
Perfectionism

Why I Give Up Perfectionism, dir. Mecedes Lindsay, 2025, USA, 2 min. 👏

QWOCFF blurb: A Black person’s ode to the kids who want to get everything right.

Ultimately, perfection isn’t possible, so demanding it does not serve you. [And let me tell you that working with Blogger is certainly an exercise in letting go of perfectionism!] A nice personal statement, worth seeing. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website • Instagram: @Arian.3x •

OMANG, documentary, dir. Durvie Morake, 2023, Botswana, 30 min. 💖
⚠️ content advisory: homophobia, transphobia

A crowd of people march in Botswana’s PRIDE parade, some holding signs that protest against stigma and discrimination of LGBTQIA+ people.
OMANG

QWOCFF blurb: Queer people celebrate PRIDE with fierce determination in Gaborone, Botswana

Omang is the Setswana (the primary language of Botswana) word for the national ID card. A group of Batswana (people from Botswana) organize a pride march in Gaborone, the capital, to advocate for equality and specifically for an easier process for changing the gender marker on your Omang. It’s an important document of a groundbreaking public stand. Must see.

(Technical note: the sound levels were noticeably uneven.)

• IMDb • trailer • official website • Facebook: @FinalFramePostProduction •

HAIR: Empowering Expression, documentary, dir. Bianca Langlois & Zaniyyah Johnson, 2025, USA, 6 min. 👏
⚠️ content advisory: homophobia, racism

A Black college student with small gold hoops interviews a young Black boy with locs and a big smile while his mother smiles softly.
HAIR: Empowering
Expression

QWOCFF blurb: Bianca and Zaniyyah take to the streets of San Francisco to get to the root of what makes hair important.

HAIR: Empowering Expression is a fun, lighthearted look at a variety of perspectives on hair and identity, race, gender, and sexuality. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

Mother of the Closet, dir. Chidera Orazulike & Yliana Roland, 2024, USA, 11 min. 💖

A Black woman with a silver headpiece, makeup, and necklace leans forward with her hand to her face. She has curly brown hair and blonde highlights and smirks playfully.
Mother of the Closet

QWOCFF blurb: A queer Black student and her girlfriend are whisked away into an alternate dimension.

A 19-year-old lesbian and her girlfriend go on a magical journey to the realm of a magical creature who calls herself the Mother of the Closet. She offers some guidance on coming out: the main character is afraid of coming out to her mom, but the Mother of the Closet guides her to her courage. Well done and laugh-out-loud funny. Must see.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

To Speedy with Love, dir. Kenny Cuello, 2025, USA, 5 min. 👏

A brown skinned Latine person holds a white hamster with a brown dot on its head by their fingertips.
To Speedy with Love

QWOCFF blurb: A Chicane’s love letter to a hamster.

The filmmaker has developed an unexpectedly strong bond with their hamster, who has some medical issues and may be nearing the end. It’s a nice personal memento. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website • Instagram: @CheetahWolf46 •

My Favorite Plankton, dir. Jasmine Liang, 2025, USA, 4 min. 🙂

A hazy and dark image of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge through water and sedimentary dirt.
My Favorite Plankton

QWOCFF blurb: A genderqueer Chinese Taiwanese roller skater finds themselves reflected in sparkly underwater universes.

The term plankton refers to any organism in the sea that drifts, unable to swim against the current. That includes algae, microorganisms, jellyfish, and the larval stage of larger creatures like sea urchins.

I didn’t really track the connection between roller skating and plankton, or really how the plankton relate to the human side of the story, but it was interesting, so I’ll give it a “recommended.”

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

Bathroom Attendant, dir. Gabriella Mykal, 2024, USA, 5 min. 👏
⚠️ content advisory: flashing images

A Black girl with long beaded hair gazes intently at the mirror, making eye contact with an older Jamaican woman wearing headphones.
Bathroom Attendant

QWOCFF blurb: Two Black women share a moment of connection in a club bathroom.

A Black woman ducks into the bathroom at a club, clearly needing to collect herself. She has a brief conversation with the attendant, making a deeper connection than she expected. Highly recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

LOLO, dir. Ana Gabriela Gutiérrez Salgado, 2024, Mexico, 15 min., in Spanish with English subtitles 💖

LOLO, a transmasculine person, stares at themself in a broken and shattered mirror.
LOLO

QWOCFF blurb: A transmasculine Latine discovers an open space where they can feel free to be who they are.

Lolo grows Chinampa organic vegetables to sell at a farmer’s market. They go out with some friends, including one close friend, and let it all hang out, experiencing a space free from the constraints of societal expectations. Must see.

Chinampa is a traditional agricultural technique specific to the Valley of Mexico, an area just to the northeast of Mexico City, within the urbanized area.

• IMDb • trailer • official website • Facebook (note: the handle @PERIFERIAaca does not work) • Instagram: @AnaChinoSalgado • Wikipedia article about Chinampa farming techniques • Ana Gabriela Gutierrez Salgado •

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