Frameline49 index of films

Final tally: I saw all ten shorts programs (except a handful of shorts that were not availalble for advance screening), plus the two streaming-only shorts programs. I saw 55 out of 72 feature-length programs, and in total 67 out of 72 short films.

The list is broken down by category: feature-length documentaries, narrative features, documentary and non-fiction shorts, and narrative shorts. Each title links to the Film Queen Review write-up, which provides further links to Frameline, IMDb, social media, and other related info. Some films are listed more than once under different variations of the title. The short films are listed alphabetically; for a list divided into the groupings as screened at Frameline, see the index of Frameline49 shorts programs.

See also the list of Frameline49 films I did not review.

Frameline49 Streaming Details

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.

QWOCFF 2025 wrap-up and streaming encore

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.

One Week to Frameline!

One week from tonight, the Frameline49 San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival will be underway! I reviewed all ten shorts programs (except for a handful of shorts that were not available for advance review), and a bunch of feature-length films, both documentary and narrative. I will be adding to those reviews for the rest of June, as I see advance screeners, theater screenings in Frameline, and streaming through the Digital Screening Room.

I also posted information about the Digital Screening Room, which will be available June 23 to June 30, 2025.

See the posts below for all the details.

Frameline49: here we go!

Frameline49

The 49th annual Frameline San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival is nearly here. I’ve been getting a head start with advance screeners, and will begin posting reviews shortly. Of course, quite a few of the screenings are already “At Rush” (not available for purchase or Gold Card reservation, but will have some tickets released just before showtime).

I’m starting with the shorts programs. I’ve already seen most of the ones that have screeners, so I’m just waiting on a couple of stragglers and will post those this week. I will also get to as many features as I can before the festival starts on Wednesday, June 18th, and more over the course of the festival.

I haven’t yet seen particulars on the streaming setup for this year’s Frameline, but I am assured that most of the films will be included. Some may be “geo-fenced” or otherwise restricted, but you’ll have to check directly with Frameline for those details.

San Francisco Transgender Film Festival: that’s a wrap

The in-person screenings for the SFTFF were last week, November 13 – 16, and the online streaming is available this week, November 18 – 24. Here are my thoughts on the first six programs. 

(You’re on your own for Program #7, the “adult” 🔞 shorts.)

Frameline48: That’s a Wrap!

Frameline48 is over, and all the blogging is done, so here are some stats to tuck it all in bed until next time.

I reviewed 52 feature-length programs and 9 programs of shorts (not counting the streaming program that is a compilation of two other shorts programs) with 56 short films. That is a total of 108 films. By my count, I missed 13 feature-length films and 2 shorts programs, missing out on 9 short films. If you only count films that came out in 2023 and 2024, those numbers drop to 9 features and 4 shorts. By those numbers, I saw 85% of the features and 93% of the shorts, so I wasn’t far off when I said I was going to see “as many films as humanly possible — and then some.”

I used the poop emoji (“really bad”) only three times this year, one feature and two shorts, plus three features and 3 shorts that got a thumbs down. (Of course, one of those won a juried award.) I used the sparkle heart emoji (“must see”) 25 times. I think that’s a pretty good ratio.

If you add in the numbers from the Queer Women of Color Film Festival earlier in June, I saw a total of 53 feature-length films and 104 shorts over the course of one month.

And yet… I somehow managed to miss both of the audience favorites, best narrative feature and best documentary feature. I did see all of the films that won juried awards, and all but one of the honorable mentions, although in several cases I didn’t grok what the juries saw in those films. I’m going to see if I can contact the filmmakers or their publicists and get a screener for those audience winners, or maybe I’ll just wait for them to turn up in the theater or streaming.

Frameline48 Cross-Reference: Feature Films Reviewed on this Site

Here are all the feature-length films from Frameline48 that are reviewed on this website. Not counting duplicate entries, that’s 52 feature films, plus 9 programs of shorts (see next posting).

Symbols: 🌐 World premiere • 🏁 International premiere • 🌎 North American premiere • 🇺🇸 U.S. premiere • 🌊 West Coast premiere • 🌉 Bay Area premiere • 🏳️‍🌈 Queer premiere • 🏆 Frameline award winner • 🏅 Frameline award honorable mention

FL48: Films I Didn’t See

Try as I might, I was not able to see every single film in Frameline48. Here are the feature-length films I missed. Somehow, yet again, I managed to miss the 🏆 Audience Award winners for both best narrative feature and best documentary feature.

Frameline48 Premieres

As usual, Frameline has a number of films that are making their U.S. premiere, their North American premiere, or even their World Premiere. Here is the rundown. Films shown in bold are available in the Digital Screening Room streaming encore; all others are not.

WORLD Premiere feature-length films

• Best Years
• If I Die, It’ll Be of Joy (Si je meurs, ce sera de joie)
• The Life of Sean DeLear
• Out
• Sally!
• Una película barata

Frameline48: What I’m Looking Forward to Seeing in the Theater

I’ve been seeing as many films as possible before the festival begins, and will continue to review some that I see before the festival screening, but there are several I’m very much looking forward to seeing in the theater. Here are some of those, in chronological order by screening time:

• Go Fish. I saw this film at Frameline18 lo these many years ago, and am thrilled to see it at Frameline again. I will be there, wearing my Frameline18 t-shirt (my oldest surviving Frameline shirt).
• Young Hearts
• My Old Ass
• Extremely Unique Dynamic. I got to pre-screen this, but I want to see it again with an audience
• Merchant Ivory
• Turtles
• National Anthem
• Demons at Dawn (U.S. premiere). I didn’t like the filmmaker’s entry last year, La huella de unos labios (The Trace of Your Lips), but I’m giving him a second chance.
• Good One
• Out. Another one I pre-screened but want to see with an audience for its World Premiere
• The Astronaut Lovers (U.S. premiere)
• Crossing (not available for advance review and not available for streaming)
• Perfect Endings (13 Sentimientos). (North American premiere) The new film from Daniel Ribeiro, the director of two of my favorite films, I Don’t Want to Go Home Alone (Eu nåo quero voltar sozinho) and The Way He Looks (Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho). Gotta be there in person for that.
• Haze (not available for advance review and not available for streaming)
• Lena Waithe Conversation (live event)

Frameline48 begins: Film Queen Picks

It’s Juneteenth, which means it’s time for a block party on Castro Street, wrapping up with an outdoor screening of Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero 💖

It’s also time to start making your list and checking it twice of which films you plan to see in person and which you want to stream in the Digital Screening Room. To aid you in that process, I’ve posted my reviews of over two dozen of the programs (including all but one of the shorts programs), and I will continue posting reviews as I watch more screeners in between dashing to the theaters for in-person screenings. Check back here through the week for updates.

Here are a few of my favorites so far:

If you missed QWOCFF…

The 20th anniversary Queer Women of Color Film Festival wrapped up Sunday evening. If you missed the in-person screenings, there are two ways you can get a second chance.

Update: The Online Encore Screening has been announced, September 11 through 17, 2024. Check the QWOCMAP or QWOCFF website for the latest. As always, QWOCFF screenings are free (donations appreciated), and all films are fully open captioned with audio description available.

You can also get your commemorative t-shirt for the 20th annual QWOCFF.

Second, several of the short films are available online for free, and the full concert performance featured in Finding Her Beat is available on Vimeo On Demand for $14.99.

A couple of notes about Frameline48 ticketing

Just a couple of quick notes about ticketing for the Frameline48 San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival:

• The festival is still nearly two weeks away, but several shows are already SOLD OUT, and others are marked as “selling fast.” Don’t let a film you really want to see slip by because you didn’t get around to getting your tickets!
• In particular, without the Castro Theatre as the cornerstone venue for this year’s festival, many films that would have been at the Castro, are now in smaller venues.
• If you have a Gold or Platinum pass, note that this year you must reserve your seat for films at all the venues except the Palace of Fine Arts and the Herbst Theatre. If it’s at the Roxie, Vogue, New Parkway, KQED, or The Stud, reserve your seat! 
• Frameline just added a screening at The Strand at the American Conservatory Theatre, and Gold/Platinum reservations are required, but it’s at 1:00 on a Friday afternoon, so it probably won’t be an issue. In addition, both of the films in that program (“Alok & There Are Things to Do”) are also screening in the “Rise Up: Doc Shorts” program, at the Roxie and also streaming.
• If you really want to see a film, but it’s sold out (or all the Gold/Platinum reservation slots are taken), keep checking back on the Frameline website, as more blocks of tickets may be released as late as midday the day of the screening. If all else fails, show up early to the venue and look for the “Rush Line.” There are always a few seats that are released just before curtain time. If you have a Gold or Platinum pass and get in from the Rush line, your pass will still get you in without buying an additional ticket.

Raising the alarm: Zealots downvoting LGBTQ films on Vudu/Fandango at Home

I was browsing Fandango at Home (formerly known as Vudu), which now has a section devoted to LGBTQ films, with loads of wonderful films and quite a few good deals. At some point, maybe I’ll put up a list of some of my recommendations.

However, I was quite distressed to notice a definite pattern of extremely low “community” scores for many of the films. Films that scored 90% or better on Rotten Tomatoes had a 1 out of 5 stars from the community. The only plausible explanation is that a group of zealots has been systematically downvoting LGBTQ films in an effort to limit their reach.

I urge you to go on Fandango at Home and find any LGBTQ titles you have seen and give them your honest rating. If enough of us do that, we can drown out the voices of the homophobes and transphobes who are making mischief.

Frameline47 cross-reference of films reviewed here

Here is a cross-referenced list of the films I reviewed in Frameline 47. Foreign-language films are listed both by the original title and by the English title. First is an emoji representing my bottom-line appraisal of the film. If a second emoji follows, that indicates that the film was a premiere: 🌐 World premiere, 🌎 North American premiere, 🇺🇸 U.S. premiere, or 🌊 West Coast premiere. Then there is a link to the review, along with an indication of 🔞 films not suitable for younger viewers and/or current or planned distribution channels.

In total, I reviewed 15 feature-length documentaries, 36 feature-length narrative films, 11 short documentaries, and 34 short narrative films, for a total of 96 films.

Cross-reference: films reviewed in Frameline43

The list below shows all the films reviewed in this blog for Frameline43. Foreign-language films are listed with the English title and with the foreign title. The symbols before the title indicate my rating (from best to worst, 💖👍👌😐🙄👎🏼🤮💩) and the première status, and the link is to my full review. Titles shown in bold are “MUST SEE”

• 🌏 WORLD PREMIÈRE
• 🏁 International première
• 🍭 North American première
• 🇺🇸 U.S. première
• 🌊 West Coast première
• 🌁 Bay Area première

Frameline43: that’s a wrap!

The 43rd annual Frameline festival is done, and I have posted my reviews of all the films I saw this year! There were certainly a few clunkers, and a couple that I actually walked out on, but most of the films were well done, with engaging subjects and decent production values.

Here are the winners of the Frameline43 Audience Awards:

• Best Feature Film: Song Lang 👌Recommended
• Best Documentary Film: Changing the Game (not reviewed)
• Best Episodic: A Luv Tale: The Series 💖MUST SEE
• Best Short Film: Bubble 👌Recommended

The jury awards:

• Best First Feature: Fin de Siglo (End of the Century) 👌Recommended
• Best Documentary: Vision Portraits 👍Highly recommended

The Frameline Award was presented to Rodney Evans, director of Vision Portraits.

For what it’s worth, the winner for best short film I thought was outshone by all four of the other shorts in the same program, not to mention by several in other shorts programs.

Here comes Frameline 43!

The 43rd annual Frameline LGBTQ+ 🏳️‍🌈🎥 Film Festival is almost upon us, June 20 through June 30, 2019. I will be doing advance reviews of as many films as I can squeeze in, and check back during and after the festival for reviews of films I saw in the theatre. Check the Frameline website for the schedule, ticketing information, and synopses of the various programs.

By the way, one significant change in the schedule this year: for the last several years, Frameline has run the Fun in Boys Shorts and Fun in Girls Shorts back to back at the Castro Theatre, first on the first Saturday of the festival, and then again on Pride Sunday. They're still doing that on the first Saturday (June 22), but on Pride Sunday, FIBS is at the Castro but FIGS is in the East Bay.

Frameline 42, here we come!

The 42nd annual Frameline LGBTQ Film Festival starts TONIGHT in San Francisco with Transmilitary, a documentary about transgender people serving in the United States armed forces and dealing with the uncertainty created by our purported President.

However, again this year I got a head start! I will be posting advance reviews of the films I’ve seen (starting with tonight’s second film, A Moment in the Reeds), plus reviewing the ones I see in the theaters over the next week and a half.

Of course, my festival also started early in person, with the amazing QWOCFF (Queer Women of Color Film Festival, put on by QWOCMAP, the QWOC Media Arts Project) this past weekend, with 20 short films, all of which were good and several of which were truly exceptional.