BFI Flare: Slow Burn

 Another languid watch, Bearcave is a Greek drama about a couple who are not really together and then for most of the film are very definitely apart. Anneta and Argyro seem to have a secret relationship and when the former announces she is pregnant by her boyfriend, that seems to be that. But as the film unspools from different POVs, it seems Anneta is not happy with her decision. The cinematography is great, with zoom shots of mountains and a cool sequence at a theme park, but it goes on a bit. And I did not really understand Anneta's decisions and her treatment of Argyro. The actor's performance very much made her seem untrustworthy. And there is a very confusing set of events related to pregnancy. Still, I now know about nettle pie. 

Final shorts: Spiders on My Lashline is quite dramatic, as an exotic dancer stumbles into a church and then has flashbacks. There is some kind of revenge plot but I was not clear if it was real or fantasy. Saints is a dreamy Italian film in which two girls share a kiss while preparing for a religious event that involves one of them flying as an angel. Beautifully shot but the finale is underwhelming. Nest also features teens prepping for a ceremony with lots of gossip and chat and a stain on a dress. It felt like a proof of concept film.  

BFI Flare: Thwarted Desires

 The film at this year's festival I have most been looking forward to is Montreal, My Beautiful (writer/dir Xiaodan He), a Canadian drama starring Joan Chen as a Chinese immigrant who pushes at the boundaries of her life as a wife and mother. 

The film starts with a comedic scene of Chen's Feng Xia attending a gyno consultation with her daughter who has to translate her mother's intimate health issues to the male doctor. This sense of comic awkwardness is not repeated during the rest of the film's 117-minute running order, but Feng does have a tense relationship with her daughter who is thoroughly at home in Montreal and chastises her mum for not speaking French. So Feng enrols on a course and through that comes to know a young Cuban immigrant who turns her on to online dating, as you do. We never see this character again. 

Before you know it, Feng is online and pulling a younger woman called Lisa who invites her over for friends with benefits sex. It seems implausible that Feng would be rushed into this state, but the film drops these bombshells and then lingers on tiny details to create extended tableaux, like Feng sitting outside smoking, which she does often, gazing into space. It is a frustrating watch. 

Eventually, we do learn a bit more about Lisa and Feng, but the drama that ensues becomes quite melodramatic and the film did not quite jell for me, as I found it a chilly watch. The daughter largely disappears from the story for long periods, leaving Feng to inhabit a joyless life with her husband, frustrated in his career and life. After a time, I was willing the film to come to some conclusion, but after a fiery confrontation between the spouses, it seemed to peter out into another unresolved ending. Chen is luminous, but the film does not really do her justice. 

Of the shorts I have seen, I will mention Seek No Favor, a messy but ambitious tale of vigilantism and wig thievery set in NYC. Sunday Lunch is a well-done farce concerning a lesbian couple arriving at a family do with secrets to share. Nice Jewish Girl is an Aussie teen drama in which a girl at camp finds a porno mag which unleashes repressed desires. 

Montreal, My Beautiful trailer

BFI Flare: New Adventures

One thing I have noticed so far is the number of films that don't end well, as in don't end clearly or decisively. Perhaps the filmmakers like ambiguity, but it is a bit frustrating for me as a viewer. 

 Low Rider, the much anticipated return of Campbell X, spends most of its running time on the road, as Londonite Quinn seeks out her father in Cape Town. The film is a quest, a road movie and a bit of a search for the authentic self as Quinn falls in with Harley (a wistful Thishiwe Ziqubu), a duck and dive local with a rusty Toyota. 

I enjoyed their rapport but grew frustrated as the film's bumps in the road largely came from bad decisions by Quinn. There was no real sense she wanted to have a spiritual makeover, either, until the last 10 minutes of the film took a sharp left turn and she ended up in some kind of Afrofuturist commune led by a steampunk leader. Most odd and quite jarring. 

The short Notice Me certainly does have a decisive ending as it is a Hackney set rom-com in which a new girl has a meet cute with a hunky barista and then spends most of the film running from any possible happy ending. It is quite fun and great to see some local faces on film, too. 

BFI Flare: Teens on the Run

 Jone, Sometimes (dir Sara Fantova) is a languid drama centring on 20-year-old Jone who is looking after her father and younger sister while also trying to figure out her own life. The film takes place during a week-long festival in Bilbao which allows Jone to get out and meet her friends and also stir up a romance with Olga, who is visiting from Madrid. I liked that it was not a typical coming of age. There is no coming out drama: Jone's friends are totally casual about her desires and encourage her to go after Olga. It never feels like a rom com but rather a well-rounded portrayal of someone caught in the middle of several competing pulls. 

 The short Newbies baffled me. Two young people spend most of its 17-minute running time voiceovering about a single tooth and then wandering around New York and ending up on the subway. I really have no idea what is was supposed to be about, but it looked great, with lots of moody night-time cinematography.  Oh, and Danny Glover pops up. 

 Jone, Sometimes Trailer 

BFI Flare: Transgressions

 How one views Fil Ieropoulos's film Uchronia may well depend on how familiar one is with Arthur Rimbaud and, indeed, how interested one is in the 19th century symbolist poet famed for his provocations. The film invites us to consider our contemporary struggles and interests through the ghost of the resurrected artist as he surveys footage and watches other long dead visionaries alongside us. 

The visuals are engaging and the performances committed, but I felt I was watching a long in-joke, as the entirety of Rimbaud's Un Saison en Enfer was played out on-screen via long, long monologues. Entire scenes could have been scrapped, I felt, and the film would have been better for it. Still, it was amusing to see versions of Emma Goldman and Alan Turing take to the screen and lecture us on our failings. I could well identify with the ghost of Marsha P. Johnson expressing disappointment at today's LGBT community thinking it won the liberation lottery. Ha!

Uchronia Trailer 

The short Rainbow Girls (writer/dir Nana Duffuor) is a delight, as three black trans women raid high end boutiques in SF to get what is theirs. "It don't belong to nobody", claims Angel, pulling a couture dress from her wardrobe, "except some white CEO". Based on true events, the film is quite sympathetic to its desperados, especially Tati who is trying to get herself and her mother out of their car and into some kind of stability. Watching the gang make its escape on an "Ogle" shuttle is quite the tonic. 

Oh, San Francisco! How could it come to this? Never when I lived there back in the day did I imagine such a transgressive city could let itself be thoroughly commandeered by tech bros. Marsha would be so disappointed. And I imagine Rimbaud would also have a few words on the matter. 

Rainbow Girls Trailer 

BFI Flare: Five Films for Freedom

 The traditional kick-off for the festival, these shorts from around the globe are available to stream through the 29th of March, offering a taste of the programme. 

The lone UK entry, I Hate Helen, is an amusing take on adolescent jealousy as Priya fixates on Helen, a fellow swimmer and classmate. But when Helen has to help her, Priya is forced to confront the root of her strong feelings. I didn't love the ending, but the film is well made.

Theo, from Brazil, is also a drama about school kids, this time set in 1986 as footie-mad Theo tries to find a way to live out a passion for the beautiful game without declaring a binary gender. There is one outstanding moment when Theo does declare a gender while handing over a piece of candy. Smooth. 

The French film Room 206 is a short doc shadowing Clair as she ("at the moment") prepares for gender-affirming surgery. It seems to take place over one day, but that is not clear. There is a lot of chat about ice cream for some reason. 

 The Mexican doc Rag Dolls also takes place over a day as Rosita and Diana go about their business, navigating the streets of Puebla via wheelchair while giving an idea of how difficult life is for them without family or government support. That their date takes place at KFC is a bit of a surprise but to each her own. 

The Vietnam drama Sweat is a languid two hander as Hung tells his friend Hoang he is leaving to cross the border. They also spend a day together but I did not understand the ending. Beautifully shot but confusing.  

 

BFI Flare: Onda Nova

 In my final post from this year's Flare I cover a feature and a short both set in and around a women's football team. 1983's Onda Nova was banned in its native Brazil and is now getting a revival after a digital restoration. Rarely has a film irritated me so much. 

The Seagulls are a football team in Sao Paulo who are getting by and we meet various members of the team in various states of undress. This is Onda Nova's calling card, a mix of softcore sexuality, a bit of football and lots of ridiculous situations. The only characters who really stood out were Lilly, the goalkeeper, who is the smallest member of the team, Neneca, who is quite tall and the only black character, and Rita, a blonde woman who drives a gorgeous purple car. 

There is no real narrative, no character development, just a series of scenes that appear to have been shot, thrown in the air and edited together. Characters have a conversation and then for no discernible reason have sex wherever they are, whether in a clubhouse or a car. Most of these are male-female couples and it is disappointingly straight for a film showing at a queer festival. 

There is a lot of camp, mostly in the form of the singer Helena who performs early on and then just turns up in her boyfriend's kitchen and flirts with his daughter Potato (yes, really). No idea what Helena was up to. Ditto for most other characters in the film.

My favourite bit was the opening credits, spraypainted on sheets by two characters. PFFT. 

The short Solers United is a bit more coherent, featuring a football team facing the loss of its ground while a love triangle develops. This was good fun but felt like a proof of concept for a longer film.  

And that is a wrap. 

Onda Nova trailer

BFI Flare: Four Mothers

 This Irish indie comedy is an absolute joy, albeit with some sadness. Novelist Edward (James McArdle) is caring for his elderly widowed mother who is recovering from a stroke and cannot speak. For rather incredulity inducing reasons, he ends up looking after three other elderly mothers after their sons dump them to go to Winter Pride in a Spanish town. 

So, Edward is left running to keep up with the demands of his visitors, while also trying to pursue his writing career and keeping his dormant private life at bay. There are moments of farce but also the sadness of seeing someone losing himself in the service of others, while also recognising that the four women are also seen as a burden. 

The mothers are outstanding, especially Fionnula Flanagan as Alma, Edward's mother whose entire performance is wordless. Niamh Cusack turns up as a medium in Galway, sparking a moment of realisation for Edward about his relationship with his dead father. There is also the pull of a possible romance with Raf, his mother's carer. So much angst! 

Fish is a short written by and starring Cara Mahoney in a semi-autobiographical comedic tale of a woman coming out as bisexual while having lots of second guessing. There are some funny moments, mostly sparked by her panic over not knowing what gold star means. 

Four Mothers trailer

FOUR MOTHERS will be released in UK cinemas by BFI Distribution 4th April 2025.
Break Out Pictures will release the film in Ireland 4th April 2025.
 

BFI Flare: Lakeview

 My viewing has been a bit short on comedy, so this Canadian indie was quite the treat, featuring dyke drama galore, heartfelt songs and some gorgeous scenery courtesy of its lakeside setting in Nova Scotia. 

Writer-director Tara Thorne serves up a gathering of assorted ladies with a shared history who are attending their friend Darcy's divorce party, as you do. What ensues is a weekend of simmering resentment, raging sexual tension and quite a few hilarious off the cuff conversations riffing on pop culture (Swifty alert). I also detected that the character names cover all three boygenius members, plus some more musical icons. Cute. 

But after a lot of laughs, the last third turns serious and melancholic in a way I had not expected. Can we not have one totally fun lesbian film? Apparently not. Lessons must be learned the hard way and the morning after is not nearly as fun as the night before.

BFI Flare: Summer's Camera

 This Korean drama starts out as a coming of age tale and segues into a reflection on grief, mourning and finding your way. First time feature director Divine Sung crafts a really thoughtful and dreamy meditation on first love as teen Summer finds herself attracted to football star Yeonwoo while also grieving the recent loss of her father. The two girls move toward each other tentatively, watched by their gossipy friends. 

But really Summer's relationship with her lost father and her use of his old camera becomes the focus of the film as she discovers mysterious pictures on the last roll of film he shot. Then she meets someone from his past, prompting her to question her family relationships. It is really intriguing and very clever use of analogue (the tech I grew up with) camera equipment to chart her developing feelings, as well as memories of her dad. I especially liked the idea of listening for the shutter click before you take the photo.

The ending is a bit cryptic and abrupt but this is a fine debut from Sung with standout performances from the two girls. 

 Trailer

BFI Flare: Really Happy Someday

 This Canadian drama from J Stevens is a laconic meditation on changing bodies and minds as Toronto musical theatre performer Z struggles with the effects his intake of testosterone is having on his voice. Over the 90 minutes, his relationships with his agent, his girlfriend and his boss at the local bar all undergo stress and strife. 

After a failed audition, Z hires voice teacher Shelly to try to get back the upper range he has lost and over their sessions, he repeatedly expresses frustration at the shift in this crucial musical instrument. At one point, he exclaims, "I fucked up!" and bemoans how taking T has caused him to lose control of the one thing he could count on. 

My question was why did he not know this would happen? Surely if you are about to embark on gender alignment, you would do a lot of research to understand what changes that might bring, especially if your livelihood depends on your voice? I could not understand his utter bewilderment at his voice changing. 

Generally, Z is a pretty passive protagonist, constantly whinging to his girlfriend, friends, colleagues but failing to actually take control of his life. And he also smokes and drinks, which surely would do more damage to his fragile voice. I got pretty annoyed with him but OK, I guess it provides more drama. 

Watching the changes over time provides some interest but there is something a bit detached about this film which stopped it really moving me.

BFI Flare: Sally!

 Not really sure why the exclamation mark is there, but director Deborah Craig's doc on writer and agitator Sally Miller Gearhart touches on significant sections of US queer and feminist histories over the last 55 years. 

Gearhart was well known to me when I lived in SF back in the 1990s even if I now cannot remember exactly why. Protest marches? Talks? Events? Writing? All entirely possible. She was an academic, public speaker and all around lesbian icon. I did not know her life story, and this film is an eye opener. 

A Southern belle and established teacher who moved to SF in 1970 and immediately bought a motorbike and became a prolific seducer of women, Gearhart also bought land in the north of California to establish a community in line with her book The Wanderground, about a women's utopia. This I knew nothing about and the archive footage is fascinating but also familiar--lots of nakedness, laughing, cats and dogs and power tools. Ah.... a forgotten Eden. 

But the film has its darker strands, too, as Gearhart falls out with an ex whose stepson offers some cryptic comments about not speaking to her later in her life. 

And then the bombshell: Gearhart was suffering from dementia in her later years. Which begs the question: why the tittle tattle when she was in no condition to defend herself? The film seems ever so keen to move her away from her stated separatism to a more centrist position, as if to satisy some off-screen viewer. But can't people just have their belief systems? Why wouldn't a thinker and activist hold a range of views that might change over time? 

The saddest thing is they had to sell the land to pay her carer bills. So much left to do to achieve a just and equitable system to allow elders to age with dignity. 

But a cracking film about someone who is not necessarily as well known as she should be. 

Sally! trailer

BFI Flare: Respect Your Elders

 "Hey, old lady!" is not a greeting I have heard, but it surfaces several times in the delightful Korean dramedy Manok (dir/writer Yu-jin Lee). The titular character is not even all that old, perhaps mid 40s, but the teens she encounters in her small home town are not especially deferential. Having moved back from Seoul where she owned a queer bar, she is finding her feet but her every move is thwarted by her vengeful ex-husband, who is the town chief or mayor. When she realises how controlling he is, she vows to run against him. 

At times hilarious and then sad, Manok is a special film, brimming with wonderful performances, absurd set pieces (a rap battle in a police station comes to mind), and a timely message about people overcoming their differences to realise what they have in common. Manok's interactions with her ex's gender non-conforming child allow her to realise that the youth of today perhaps don't have it easier, as she thought. I thought a plot line might develop in which she pursued an old love, but this was a red herring. Never mind. Perhaps there will be a sequel. 

In the short Shoobs, an awkward teen attending a house party is shadowed by a mysterious older figure who offers her advice in pursuing the object of her affections. It gradually emerges who this fashion doppelganger is... An intriguing premise with a cryptic ending, it looks at how people get caught up in what might have been. 

Manok trailer

BFI Flare: I'm Your Venus

 What a heartbreaker this doc is. Directed by Kimberly Reed, I'm Your Venus is a sensitive and devastating reopening of old wounds in the name of healing as it revisits the 1988 murder of Venus Xtravaganza who was featured in Paris Is Burning. 

Quite incredibly, some 30 years later, Venus's brothers join forces with the House of Xtravaganza to seek answers from the police and find ways to honour her legacy. Reed's camera finds its way into legal conferences, council meetings and the ballroom scene as the various protagonists raise awkward and painful questions about the dead woman's life and death. 

In particular it is painful to watch the brothers wrangle with their own feelings of guilt over how they treated their sister 40 years ago. Clearly, mistakes were made and they are only really put on the spot by a member of the House who knew Venus. Still, it is gratifying to watch them try to be good allies and honour her by changing her legal name and preserving her childhood home. 

I had so many questions, mostly to do with what investigation was actually done by the police in 1988 and why the family knew so little of developments. But one doc can only do so much. 

This is a teary but necessary watch. 

BFI Flare: Familial Demands

I must admit that when I heard that The Wedding Banquet was being remade, I was sceptical. Why? I wondered, go back to a film from the 1990s? Ang Lee's breakthrough film has now been remade with one of the original screenwriters and a new director, Andrew Ahn, with the setting moved to Seattle. 

Bowen Yang is familiar to audiences as a comedic actor on SNL and as the GBF in films, but here he is handed a weighty role as a commitment-phobe drifting into his 30s and living in a friend's garage with his boyfriend Min (Han Gi-Chan). Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran are Lee and Angela, the couple who live in the main house, which is owned by the former. As the film unfolds, decisions must be made and life choices embraced, with the pressure of Min's grandmother pushing him to take over the family business while he wants to pursue his art. 

Once grandma arrives, things really pick up, with some delightful farce, including a frantic de-gaying of the house and a cringy Korean wedding ceremony. Gladstone, best known for her dramatic roles, is not a natural comic but has some great moments. But the film is really stolen by the two matriarchs, Angela's mother (Joan Chen) and Youn Yuh-jung as Min's grandma. It's laugh out loud and also moving. A delight. 

We Are Faheem and Karun is billed as Kashmir's first LGBT film and is a dreamy, thoughtful drama of forbidden love between a military man guarding a checkpoint and a local resident. As the two, Faheem and Karun, exchange grins and pieces of fruit, one wonders where this budding romance will go. In amongst the pressures brought by well-intentioned parents and a hotheaded brother, there are also flashes of humour. Viewers would greatly benefit from understanding the Kashmiri conflict and the cultural and religious differences in play. But one can glean the barriers facing the two would-be lovers and appreciate the quiet moments they share, against the gorgeous backdrop of the mountains. 

The Wedding Banquet trailer

BFI Flare: Life's a Beach...

 Possibly my last reviews from this year's Flare, although there are many films left unseen. 

Lesvia, a personal documentary from Tzeli Hadjidimitriou offers an insider's perspective on the fabled isle of Lesvia aka Lesbos. The filmmaker grew up there and is also a lesbian, so she has a life's worth of material to work with, starting from her earliest memories of visiting Eressos in 1980 and seeing naked women. There is great archive footage of the various eras of Eressos, from camping on the beach, to the development of lesbian-owned businesses, to downturns in tourism.

There is also a rather juicy conflict between the locals and the visitors which the filmmaker also outlines with a series of interviews, no doubt getting unvarnished views owing to her local status. If one might want a little more on just why Lesvia attracts so many lesbians owing to its status as the birthplace of the poet Sappho, well one must look elsewhere. 

Heavy Snow

As for Heavy Snow, well, I was just baffled. A Korean melodrama about the relationship of two school girls, Su-An and Seol, it veers off into bizarre diversions involving surfing and hiking through snow. By the end I was not even sure it was meant to be a real romance between two women but rather a metaphor for self-deception or a fever dream or even a death hallucination. Possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. Or a work of obscure genius. No idea. 

BFI Flare: Double Lives

 Well, my Flare viewing has slowed to a crawl but I shall soldier on. Loads more films to see. 

I started Riley last week but only finished it today as I left it to watch other things. I was not engrossed by the first few minutes but it picked up and has a lot of things to say about family pressures and breaking free of expectations. High school football star Dakota Riley is expected to do great things, especially by his coach who is also his father. For some reason the team's quarterback Jayden is staying with Riley and their sexual tension is palpable. Except Jayden presents himself as a ladies man.... There is a needlessly complicated time structure involving an older man Riley tries to hook up with. Plus loads of bare sweaty chests and throbbing homoeroticism. An out gay character proves not to be such a great ally. And the ending is open. So, hmm. Pretty decent.

What a Feeling

What a Feeling is more of a farce but also features characters trapped by familial expectation, in this case two middle-aged women in Vienna, Fa and Resi, whose paths cross at a lesbian bar before they attempt to hook up. But Fa is not out to her family, while Resi has just been dumped by her husband of 20 years. It is laugh out loud funny in places, even if the coincidences and improbabilities mount up. But how great is it to hear an Irene Cara song soundtrack a lesbian romance?

BFI Flare: Queens of Their Dreams

 Continuing with my Flare viewing I present two films in which women find themselves at odds with the women in their families.....

Queen of My Dreams

Fawzia Mirza's The Queen of My Dreams is a stunning work and I am disappointed it was not the opening or closing night film. A sweeping work jumping back and forth in time between late 20th century Canada and Karachi in the 1960s, it finds Azra fretting at her complete disconnection from the life of her overbearing mother Mariam. They have nothing in common, she thinks, until her father collapses on a trip back to Karachi and Azra and her brother travel back to their parents' home country to deal with family matters. 

Azra then flashes back to her mother's coming of age in the 1960s, when it was expected she would marry a man with the approval of her parents and she chafed at restrictions placed on her. Sound familiar? 

Amrit Kaur plays both adult Azra and younger Mariam and the film has great fun with exploring the sounds and sights of times gone by, with film star Sharmila Tagore proving to be a touchstone for both women. When the film moves to 1990s Nova Scotia it is less compelling, but there is enjoyment in young Azra beginning to realise her queer identity while being pressed into service at her mum's Tupperware parties. 

I have seen two of Mirza's previous films but this is a massive leap forward for the writer-director, handling a huge cast on two continents and such a complex storyline. Brava.

You Don't Have....

The short You Don't Have to Like Me also features a protagonist at odds with her surroundings, in this case a masc presenting woman wandering the streets of New York feeling misunderstood and judged by all and sundry. Even her mother is on her case to find a man. The story is told in a voiceover which gives it a poetic quality, though there is one very amusing scene set on a subway when she seems to find a sense of community. A promising work from director Safiyah Chiniere. 

BFI Flare: Dudes Duding

Well, I have finally finished my first two titles from Flare. 

The Greek drama The Summer of Carmen plays out like a very meta version of Queer as Folk with some unrequited longing, various shades of masculinity and a very cute dog complicating things. Spoiler: nothing bad happens to the dog, the Carmen of the title. 

Hairy, hunky Demosthenis is unable to let go of his ex Panos, who acquires said dog and then foists it on him. Drama queen Nikitas watches from afar, increasingly frustrated by Demosthenis focusing so much attention on his shags and less on their friendship and attempts to write a script. The time frame jumps back and forth between their present visit to a rocky beach and back to the summer of Carmen's arrival, when Demosthenis was in a family crisis, as well. 

The only way I could tell what time it was was by Nikitas' hair colour. The chemistry between the two is quite good and the lovers and ex-lovers are much more in the background. Admirers of the male body are in for a treat, as much of the screentime allows the teddy bear-like Demosthenis to strut around nude or half nude. I expected the film to expand a bit more on the friends' underlying dynamics but this was only hinted at. Very clever if overlong. 

Jason Patel in Unicorns

Unicorns is an odd couple pairing of a white Essex lad, Luke, and his attraction to Ayesha, a glamourous south Asian drag queen he meets.... well I am not quite sure where because the film was quite vague about locations. Early on she asks him, "You're not from round here," which suggested it was up north but may actually have been London. 

Anyway, Luke is straight and a single dad (and a West Ham fan!) who presses his father into service as a babysitter while he drives Ayesha from gig to gig. The two leads,  Ben Hardy and Jason Patel, have great chemistry but the plotting is a bit choppy, with their relationship taking great leaps in no time at all, such as a visit to a fun fair with Luke's son that seems improbable. 

The families are not well drawn and a subplot involving the boy's mother arriving seems to dissipate abruptly. But it's an intriguing reunion of the My Brother the Devil crew of Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, here serving as directors and writer, respectively. The theme of toxic masculinity is well observed through Luke's transformation and ability to act on his feelings. 

BFI Flare: Five Films for Freedom

 This year's crop of Five Films for Freedom, which heralds the start of BFI Flare, is especially strong. 

Along with the dramas of Halfway and Cursive is the unusual animated docudrama of Little One, in which an unseen narrator asks her two dads how they knew they were ready to be parents. The interview takes place on camera but with the very stylised rubbery animation, an unusual combo. While it is acted, it does feel as if it could be a documentary. Quite clever. 

Compton's '22 is a documentary with arty leanings, as young queer gender  non-conforming artists watch footage of interviews with survivors of the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria riot. They then perform responses to it in song and dance on a set resembling said cafeteria as a way of enacting a bond with this earlier generation. 

The longest film is a coming of age drama, The First Kiss, in which a teenager goes on a first date with a guy hoping to get a kiss but confronts entrenched homophobia. It is sweet and sad and shows how needed the security of queer culture is.