Queer Docu Shorts

“Out of the Corner of Our Eye” is a short poetic documentary reflection about seven iconic, formerly queer spaces in Los Angeles that are no longer what they once were. From a longstanding lesbian community haven to the custom-built home of America’s first well-known drag performer, this film asks what queer space looks like – and might mean – today.
Funded by National Endowment for the Arts.

When the global Covid-19 pandemic breaks out and South Africa goes into hard lockdown, some of the worst affected members of society are migrants and refugees, who are ineligible for government assistance.
Nyasha, a lesbian migrant from Zimbabwe, creates an intricate network of aid for her fellow LGBTQIA+ migrant community: a group of people she has come to call her new family.

At the age of 63, retired food-service worker Ruth Brinker became a pioneer of HIV care in her community and would become a legend among San Franciscans. The AIDS epidemic hit San Francisco the hardest and created a wave of fear and uncertainty that left many victims feeling hopeless and alone. Brinker, a woman whose deep compassion became a source of strength for others struggling to cope with the times, began cooking meals in her kitchen to deliver to her neighbours who were too ill to take care of themselves. Her goal was to not only provide meals but to also revitalize the city’s sense of community and spend time with HIV/AIDS patients to end the isolation they experienced. Providing meals with love became the hallmark of her mission. The work of Brinker and her growing team of volunteers led to Project Open Hand, the largest provider of nutrition to the HIV/AIDS community with sister organizations across the country. Ruth Brinker’s legacy carries on today as Project Open Hand has once again joined the frontlines in facing the crisis of the COVID19 pandemic.

In this poetic and observational documentary we follow Yusuf during an ordinary day in his life in the asylum seekers’ center. Slowly, we see how he transforms into his alter ego Grizolda, who gives him hope and strength outside the walls of the asylum seekers’ center.

A personal and sexual diary. A fake user’s manual whose sophistication and audaciousness free it from the traps of what has to be said and the agenda of commonplace.
A disconcerting discourse without instructions, with an exploring spirit and without restrictions.

“Cancer is a Drag” explores the story behind the organization by following the journey of Alan Bugg, who was diagnosed with Grade 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in September 2010. After many cycles of chemotherapy and not being able to work, he found it difficult to make ends meet. During this time, his friends, family and organizations helped him survive financially, mentally and emotionally. Alan was inspired to help others and prevent cancer from being even more of a drag than it is now. Through stories of solidarity between Alan and his friends from the drag community who helped him, stories of celebrating the drag life while kicking cancer in the butt, and stories of successful fundraising, this film brings nothing but joy.

The film is made of hundreds of photographs telling a story of the last Soviet soldiers leaving Poland in 1990s. The focus of the work is the figure of a soldier who is not fighting on the war front, but takes off his uniform in front of a camera. The author of “Mon chéri Soviétique” supplements photographs from the past with contemporary film material in which he reenacts past events.
The narrator of the film, an elderly anonymous citizen of Wrocław goes back to the beginnings of the 1990s and tells a story about the photographer and his life’s project. He describes a world in-between communism and capitalism through a lens of Polish gays’ relations with Soviet soldiers: through their queer friendships, thrilling love affairs, but also gossip and legends. The film is an attempt to save an uncomfortable, suppressed archive that was destined for destruction. An archive that builds queer memory.