Land and Resistance (shorts program)

“Land and Resistance” (shorts program)
Saturday, June 13, 2026, 4:00 PM, Presidio Theater, 99 Moraga Ave. in the Presidio
Online encore: Friday, September 11, 2026 through Monday, September 21, 2026
⚠️ racism, transphobia, emotional distress (see individual film advisories below)

🤩 Deneege Leł Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh, dir. Brittany Woods-Orrison, 2025, USA, 5 min., in Denaakk’e with English subtitles

Deneege Leł Ghu
Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Heł
Hoozoonh Ts’e
Denots’edeneeyh

QWOCMAP blurb: The tradition of tanning hides with brains was once practiced by every Dené person in Alaska. An art that was nearly lost by assimilation, Kathleen Hildebrand works with a group of Dené women at her urban backyard hide camp in the heart of Chen’o (Fairbanks) to revive this tradition. One of the few films out there narrated in Denaakk’e, we learn alongside the women how the hides have healing.

My take: The Denaakk’e language is endangered, with only a few dozen native speakers left, although it is a distant relative of Navajo and more closely Chippewyan (not to be confused with Chippewa). That makes this short film an important document in preserving a culture at the hands of some of its last adherents. That alone is enough to give this film a must see rating, but it is also interesting in its own right.

• IMDb: director (as Brittany Orrison-Woods) • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • other • Dené, Deneege Lel Ghu Kk’ots’eedeneeyh Te Hel Hoozoonh Ts’e Denots’edeneeyh •

🤩 Standing Tree, dir. Mapa Lopez, Red Comunitaria Trans [Trans Community Network], Rodrigo Torrijos, 2026, Colombia, 6 min., in Spanish with English subtitles
⚠️ anti-black racism, colorism, emotional distress, mention of transphobia and transfeminicide

Standing Tree

QWOCMAP blurb: Standing Tree draws on the symbolism of Colombia’s national tree, the wax palm, called “trans” in Spanish, to follow Afro-Colombian trans leader Magdalena Morales as she pursues justice through music.

My take: “They can’t take our joy.” That quote pretty well sums up the short film Standing Tree. The joy is infectious, even as the drive for justice is heartfelt. Definitely a must see.

• IMDb: Torrijos • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • preview • Red Comunitaria Trans: website ◦ Instagram: @RedComunitariaTrans ◦ Twitter: @RedComunitariaT ◦ Facebook •

🤩 ¡Quba!, dir. Kim Anno, 2024, 70 min., in Spanish with English subtitles
⚠️ homophobia, transphobia

¡Quba!

QWOCMAP blurb: ¡Quba! introduces us to Adela Hernández, Cuba’s first transgender government official, and El Mejunje, the cultural hub where art and performance are rewriting what Cuban society can look like.

My take: Over the course of several years, we travel all over Cuba, from major cities to tiny towns, meeting local LGBTQ+ activists. The film wraps up with the nationwide referendum on the new Family Code, for the first time legalizing same-sex marriage. Cuba over the years has seen much of the progress and many of the problems of the United States in terms of LGBTQ equality, but in both directions through a lens of socialist revolution. The flip is that the Cuban people are finally beginning to see machismo as a tool of capitalist oppression, rather than seeing LGBTQ rights as a sign of capitalist moral decay. The 60+ years of embargo have made Cuba a difficult place for Americans to see and understand, so this film is an important bridge to what should be a familiar neighbor. Must see.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram: @QubaFilm • Facebook • preview • other • Adela Hernandez •

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