Saturday Morning Cartoons (adult shorts program)

“Saturday Morning Cartoons” (adult shorts program)
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 11:00am, Roxie Theater
available in the Digital Screening Room June 23 to 30, 2025 (6 of 9 shorts)

Update: This program will be available in the Digital Screening Room, June 23 through June 30, 2025, anywhere in the United States. However, the films 27, Carrotica, and What It Takes (Pour exister) are not included in the streaming package, although you can watch 27 online for free.

Don’t let the name fool you. From stories about queer erotic encounters to lusting over carrots, these animated shorts are strictly for adults.

• 27 😑, dir. Flóra Anna Buda, 2023, France/Hungary, 11 min., in Hungarian,
  not included in the Frameline streaming version, but stream free online
• Carrotica 👏, dir. Daniel Sterlin-Altman, 2024, Germany, 13 min., 🇺🇸 U.S. premiere
  not included in the streaming version
• Quimera (Chimera) 👏, dir. Gael Jara & Martín André, 2024, Chile, 11 min., in Spanish
• The Eating of an Orange 🙂, dir. May Kindred-Boothby, 2024, UK, 7 min.
• 嗨爸 (Hey, Dad) 👏, dir. Wei-Fan Wang, 2024, Taiwan, 6 min., in Mandarin Chinese
• Homunculus 💖, dir. Bonheur Suprême, 2025, France/Italy, 17 min., in French, English, Italian, and Russian, 🇺🇸 U.S. premiere
• Tiger Lily Mountain Pass 🙂, dir. Nate King, 2024, USA, 5 min.
• Two Black Boys in Paradise 💖, dir. Baz Sells, 2025, UK, 9 min.
• Pour exister (What It Takes) ❓, dir. Fabien Corre & Kelsi Phụng, 2023, France, 2 min., in French,
  not included in the streaming version [not reviewed]

27 😑, dir. Flóra Anna Buda, 2023, France/Hungary, 11 min., in Hungarian
not included in the Frameline streaming version, but stream free online

(Alice is) 27 (today)

Frameline blurb: Alice is 27 years old today. Even though she is suffocating a bit, she still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams to escape her dreary everyday life. After a psychedelic party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult? Director Flóra Anna Buda (👍 Entropia, Frameline43) won the Palme d'Or for Short Films at Cannes for this dreamy, sensual animated short.

Alice, a young Hungarian woman, still living with her parents and her little brother, turns 27 today. After an annoying family dinner, she goes out with a friend to a disco, where, with a little help from some alcohol and some “illegal mind-altering substances,” she has a great time, but then has to ride home on her bicycle. She crashes, and then wakes up the next morning lying in the grass in a park, with two police officers (a man and a woman) questioning her. There is also a small beetle, which is apparently important for some reason.

For most of the film, there’s nothing to suggest that any of the characters are LGBTQ+, and the one three-way scene with the cops didn’t feel like Alice was expressing herself, just trying to wriggle out of a bit of legal trouble. That wasn’t enough for me to feel like it was a suitable choice for a queer film festival.

Apart from that, I thought it was an okay film, but I am honestly mystified that it won a Palme d’Or. I’ll give it a “meh.”

• IMDb • trailer • official website • watch for free on vimeo • Fiora Anna Buda

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Carrotica, 👏, dir. Daniel Sterlin-Altman, 2024, Germany, 13 min., 🇺🇸 U.S. premiere
not included in the streaming version

Carrotica

Frameline blurb: A mother and son navigate their lust and loneliness in the queerest of ways.

Single mother Shari and her teenage son Nadav both have vivid fantasies about men and fresh produce. Their worlds

Bonus note: pay attention to the posters in the boys bathroom at Nadav’s school:

• Have sex with your friends! (with consent and protection)
• ANAL! It feels grrrrreeeaat! Get consent! Get lubed! Get no babies!
• WEED IS GREAT! But wait until your frontal cortex is developed

Cute, great attention to detail, funny and expressive, highly recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

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Quimera (Chimera) 👏, dir. Gael Jara & Martín André, 2024, Chile, 11 min., in Spanish

Quimera (Chimera)

Frameline blurb: A nonbinary person watches the handover of the first nonbinary ID in the history of Chile. A poetic exploration of transition and fluidity in the face of rigid bureaucracy.

The protagonist desperately wants to get a non-binary legal ID for themself, but the bureaucratic process is daunting and will take time. Still, the fact that someone has done it, provides a narrow glimmer of hope. It’s a powerful testament to the power of being seen and acknowledged for who you are. Highly recommended.

• IMDb: no listing as of 2025-05-27 (note: several films with similar titles are listed) • trailer • official website • Instagram: @Quimera.corto [es] •

Gael Jara & Martin Andre

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The Eating of an Orange 🙂, dir. May Kindred-Boothby, 2024, UK, 7 min.

The Eating of an Orange

Frameline blurb: Unconventional rituals and explorations of sexuality involve slugs and the symbolic consumption of an orange. Winner of the Short Film Special Jury Award for Animation Directing at Sundance.

This film is a surreal allegory, presumably about something, but with no bridge to connect that allegory to the viewer. The animation is beautifully executed, leaving a colorful psychedeli meander, enjoyable in its own right, but if you’re expecting it to make sense, you may be very disappointed. Recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

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嗨爸 (Hey, Dad) 👏, dir. Wei-Fan Wang (王偉帆), 2024, Taiwan, 6 min., in Mandarin Chinese

嗨爸 (Hey, Dad)

Frameline blurb: “I’ve practiced these words for 20 years now, but maybe being candid isn’t the best idea. I’m starting my countdown again, another 20 years. Maybe it might be the right time by then.”

The scene is atmospheric and haunting, capturing the desire and the trepidation the son has about expressing himself candidly to his father. Highly recommended.

One small complaint, though: the subtitles (in Chinese and English) are very small, with insufficient contrast, making them difficult to read.

Note: the filmmaker is not the “Wang Weifan” (汪维藩 or 汪維藩) (1927–2015) of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in the People’s Republic of China.

• IMDb • trailer • related website • Instagram: @RoyWang_Illustration •

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Homunculus 💖, dir. Bonheur Suprême, 2025, France/Italy, 17 min., in French, English, Italian, and Russian, 🇺🇸 U.S. premiere

Homunculus

Frameline blurb: Calling to mind the deliriously subversive Adult Swim series Xavier: Renegade Angel, Homunculus displays the wandering of a man in quest for other men. He will realize along his travels that people see him as an Arab, some ambiguous, virile, and powerful entity both celebrated by white gay males and hated by French police forces.

An Arab man, identifiable by the crescent and star tattoo across his trapezius, wanders through the hazy landscape of a video game (specifically Elder Scrolls V), punctuated by the echoing Grindr alert blorp. He encounters and chats with several guys, some interesting and some creepy (or worse). The dialogue viscerally evokes the racism and other crap of Grindr in Paris (or anywhere else, for that matter), with an arms-length distance provided by the video game imagery. Very effective, must see.

The name “Bonheur Suprême” means “supreme pleasure,” but bonheur also sounds a little bit like boner.

• IMDb • trailer • related website • Instagram: @Bonheur_Supreme • Bonheur Supreme

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Tiger Lily Mountain Pass 🙂, dir. Nate King, 2024, USA, 5 min.

Tiger Lily Mountain Pass

Frameline blurb: Tiger Lily Mountain Pass is a hand-drawn animation inspired by director Nate King’s time spent in the forests of Appalachia. In a region where queerness is often hidden or disguised, the work explores nature as a space of queer erotic encounter. King animates with a combination of pencil, paper and digital processes, weaving together a dreamlike poem that tells a story of ecstasy, meditation, and heartache.

Another beautiful allegory about … something. Pleasant to watch, but more than a little mystifying. Recommended.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

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Two Black Boys in Paradise 💖, dir. Baz Sells, 2025, UK, 9 min.

Two Black Boys in Paradise

Frameline blurb: A movingly tender animation, based on Dean Atta’s eponymous poem, sees two boys — Edan, 19, and Dula, 18 — on a journey of self-acceptance and love – for each other and themselves.

Beautiful visualization of a soft-spoken poem about the paradise of being yourselves without the judgment of outsiders, just two black boys in a beautiful world of their own. Lovely, worth seeing, must see.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •

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Pour exister (What It Takes) ❓, dir. Fabien Corre & Kelsi Phụng, 2023, France, 2 min., in French

not included in the streaming version

(🙈 This film was not available for advance screening.)

Frameline blurb: The vibrant plea of a generation of trans and nonbinary people for recognition of their rights. A short-but-sweet new animated short from the directors of 👍 Les lèvres gercées (Chapped Lips) (QWOCFF 2019 and Frameline43).

• IMDb (Corre) (Phung) • trailer • related website • Kelsi Phung