WHAT’S ON
2023 Official Selections
Streaming Online (Xerb) Dec 21st – 22nd
(Extended until January 7th, 2024)
Short Film Night
Meraki Arts Bar, June 16th
Don’t miss an unforgettable night of international cinema at our short film night featuring Films of the Month, plus award-winning Queer shorts from previous seasons in celebration of Pride Month.
Venue opens at 6pm for drinks and food.
Doors for event at 7pm
Screening from 8pm
PROGRAM
OPERATION SAVE THE MOON
AUSTRALIA
Directors: Justin Hsieh and Chloe Spanos
Operation Save the Moon focuses on the friendship between Luna, the Moon, and Aster, the child, as they begin to take off to the skies to reattach Luna to their hook. However Aster is not ready to say goodbye.
Student Film of the Month (May 2023)
Official Selection 2023
DJAAMBI
AUSTRALIA
Writer/ Director: Joel Brown
Producer: Jodie Kirkbride
Cast: Dylan Miller, Natasha Wanganeen, Ren Williams
Djaambi centres on Reg, a young Indigenous man, transitioning between past decisions, and the new. Made raw in the wake of the death of his close cousin, Tjarrah, Reg’s experiences with racism at the hands of his work colleague challenge his sense of identity, making him anxious. Embarking on a spiritual journey, reflecting on the past to reassure his present decisions, Tjarrah guides Reg through his grief. Djaambi touches on contemporary, and often unseen by the privileged, themes of racism and mental health, while navigating one’s place in Australian society, illustrating the impact of cultural overload and the aftermath of trauma.
Film of the Month (April 2023)
Official Selection 2023
SCARECROW
IRAN
Writer/ Director: Faryad Khosravyanii
Producer: Khatereh Foroutan
Cast: Rashed Saed Panah
After seeing the famous photos of German photographer Walter Schlesz, a photographer undergoes a strange transformation discovering he can use his camera as a deadly weapon.
Film of the Month (May 2023)
Official Selection 2023
BROTHER
USA
Writer/ Director: Aleksei Borovikov
Producer: Chris Sonnenschein, Mohammed Shaik Hussain Ali, and Aleksei Borovikov
Cast: Anton Paraskiva, Evgeniia Tikhonova, Felipe Augusto
With his wedding to Carlos approaching, Tony, a young immigrant to the US, invites his conservative elder sister to the ceremony — a fateful decision that forces Tony to choose between his family and his happiness.
Student Film of the Month (April 2023)
Official Selection 2023
I AM EVA
USA
Director/Writer: Nata Zverovich
Cast: Eva Kamenetskaya
The film explores the dimensions of human gender which go beyond a one-dimensional scale of male and female. Eva’s story observes through the interview and intimate, vivid visuals of their life in Russia and across many countries including their present life in Tucson, Arizona, describing emotional, physical, and mental changes and obstacles Eva faced through these years just to exist.
Non-binary people are still invisible, even in queer community. They are generally misunderstood by the wider community, which would like them to pick a side and put them in a box labeled “feminine” or “masculine”. Discrimination or prejudice against non-binary people is the reason why this film is important.
Best Documentary Short Finalist 2020
DUSK
UK
Director/Writer: Jake Graf
Producer: Erica Ryan
Cast: Duncan James, Elliott Sailors, Victoria Emslie, Sue Moore
Growing up in 1950s England in an intolerant and uninformed world, young Chris Winters struggles to fit into the gender roles dictated by wider society. A more than tough childhood left behind, Chris meets dream woman Julie, and life lightens a little, but the growing feeling that theirs is a life half lived haunts Chris. Endlessly imagining what might have been, Chris is finally struck by the realisation that for some decisions there is no right answer, and that it’s those that truly define us.
Best Drama Short 2017
IN EINEM MOMENT (IN A MOMENT)
GERMANY
Director/Writer/Producer: Sharlin Lucia
Cast: Björn Helge Jochum, Aaron Rufer, Juliane Selesnew, Ben Hüwelmeier, Frank Habatsch, Stefanie Renk, Christoph Nitz
Max isn’t sure about his sexual orientation until he meets Leon at his new school. When Max is singing a song at a school concert something beautiful happens.
Student Film of the Month April 2019
GAY AS IN HAPPY: A QUEER ANTI-TRAGEDY
CANADA
Writer/ Director: Jordana Valerie Allen-Shim
Producer: Jordana Valerie Allen-Shim and Rush Garrick
Cast: Emery Nguyen, Leila Alsumait, Lisa Oyono, Lee Lawson, Sarah Harvey, Lauren Woo, Wolf McCaffrey-Reynolds, Rush Garrick, Trevor Belanger, Matthew Davis, Adrien Wu, Yuanyuan Zeng
An experimental auto-ethnographic documentary about queer joy, resistance, and resilience in the face of abuse, trauma, and transphobia.
Best Student Short Film Finalist 2020
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