QWOCMAP launches its 11th annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival into orbit with a constellation of 39 stellar films, a Festival Focus “Justice Heals” that radiates our tenacity as queer and trans people of color, and a Community Conversation “Film & the Nation-State” that ruptures the trauma and violence that often eclipses our lives.
It world premieres films created throughout California from our Film & Freedom Academy, QWOCMAP’s national touring arm, and films from queer wome...
QWOCMAP launches its 11th annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival into orbit with a constellation of 39 stellar films, a Festival Focus “Justice Heals” that radiates our tenacity as queer and trans people of color, and a Community Conversation “Film & the Nation-State” that ruptures the trauma and violence that often eclipses our lives.
It world premieres films created throughout California from our Film & Freedom Academy, QWOCMAP’s national touring arm, and films from queer women of color, gender nonconforming and transgender people of color filmmakers around the world.
From a queer Afro-Latina councilwoman fighting a corporate oil giant that blacked out the sky to the sparkle of genderqueer Asians, from Native Women and caribou under the northern lights to fat queer Femmes that glitter, these films witness the birth of our own stars.
All films are Subtitled for the Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing and ASL interpretation will be provided.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Opening night
LOVE & STARDUST
Friday Night, Jun 12, 91 min
From glittering Chicana femme heroines and motorcycle-riding Black butches to charismatic Asian lesbian elders, these enchanting films will make your heart race at the speed of light.
A genderqueer ugly duckling emerges from the shell of oppression and heartbreak into a sparkling fairytale SWANICORN full of hope.
Hostile misconceptions never dim the luminosity of HERO MARS who fights to be accepted into a world class theater company.
NATHALIE NATHALIE sings of the full moon that connects Montreal to a mother’s 60th birthday in Korea.
For a trio of queer friends, the expansive magnitude of FINDING EACH OTHER draws them into activist community.
Lesbian elders traverse generations of activism and adventures through the SEX, POLITICS & STICKY RICE of 1980s San Francisco.
The magnetic moments of BEING SEEN BEING HOME fully affirm a fat femme as the heavenly body that she is.
In a world that rejects him as a fat young trans BDSM slut, getting IN BED WITH FRANCISCO is a metoric accleration into desire. A dentro del un mundo que lo rechaza por ser un pibe trans, puto, gordo y sadomasoquista, ir A LA CAMA CON FRANCISCO es acelerarse hasta el deseo.
For Tomasa, HANDS IN THE BEDROOM spiral with bright energy to soothe her carpal tunnel and daily life.
A heartbroken composer takes a VOW OF SILENCE to win back her true love but a mix of music and magic leads to her re-entry into the world of song.
CONTENT: Nudity, BDSM
Swanicorn by Jaq Victor Nguyen - 8:51min
HERO MARS by Skyler Cooper - 23:24min
nathalie nathalie by Nathalie Lemoine - 1:40min
Finding Each Other by Shirley Hsin*I Liu - 4min
Sex, Politics & Sticky Rice by Tina Takemoto - 8:16min
Being Seen Being Home by Lylliam Posadas - 3:57min
A la cama con Francisco/In Bed With Francisco by Francisco A. Sfeir - 7:24min
Hands In The Bedroom by Myisha Arellano, Yesenia Valdez, Sarai Mojica -5 min
Vow of Silence by Be Steadwell - 28min
Community Partners
API Equality Northern California
The Exiles
NIA Collective
Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC)
Transgender Law Center
SATURDAY DAY
Centerpiece screening
CINCINNATI GODDAMN
Saturday Day, Jun 13, 80 min
Predating Ferguson by more than a decade, CINCINNATI GODDAMN is set amidst the far-reaching shadow of a federal DOJ investigation and the powerful light of grassroots activism, where scholars Michelle Alexander, Manning Marable and Jill Nelson presciently set the stage for a national conversation about police brutality against Black people. Yet it is the painful struggles of parents coping with loss and communities dealing with despair that show that justice can be a part of healing.
Cincinnati Goddamn by April Martin - 80 min
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
Film & the Nation-State
It is clear that the nation-state impacts films and filmmakers, even as they subvert their relationships to the state through their art, and especially as they document, shape and define the very social justice movements that seek to change institutions and policies. This Community Conversation explores the use of film for policy and human rights advocacy, and examines a global film industry and an international film community in the context of government censure and support.
CONTENT: Graphic Police Brutality
Community Partners
BlackWomynsLivesMatter
CUAV
Forward Together
QCC
SATURDAY NIGHT
EMERGING RADIANCE
Saturday Night, Jun 13, 70 min
From poetic meditations on the preciousness of Black women, to the grief of parents who lose their children to violence, from second chances after incarceration and addiction, to healing rituals that span the earth and sky, these films ground transformation in social justice.
A grieving Chicana mother confronts an univited family member in YOU’RE DEAD TO ME.
Can the gravitational pull of love bring a nephew back to life in ATHANASIA?
A mother’s heart gives LIFE and begs her children to survive.
The poetic affirmation of #BLACKWOMENSLIVESMATTER shows us how to transform systemic devaluation.
EHECATL WIND MEDICINE confronts the trauma of genocide and the emotional anguish of incarceration since the arrival of Europeans to Abya Yala.
THE EMPTY ROOM holds memory, doubt, and wonder for a philosophical journey through life.
Frenzied CONFESSIONS hint at an obsession threatening to re-emerge.
A young queer Asian-American writes A LETTER TO MY FATHER within the space of their family restaurant.
MAMITIS makes a long journey home after years as an immigrant.
A queer Black man on a spiritual journey discovers his path to being PROUD & FAITHFUL.
Based on the Samoan word for love HIS VISION: PROJECT ALOFA embraces all without judgement.
A young woman courageously embraces her perceived flaws IN HER EYES.
An offering under the SUNGAZE sparks renewal and growth.
CONTENT: Death, Grief
You’re Dead to me by Wu Tsang - 12:45min
Athanasia by Maria Breaux - 10:27min
Life by Meja Tyehimba - 2:28min
#BlackWomensLivesMatter by Xhercis Mendez – 3:30min
Ehecatl Wind Medicine by Moon Flower – 7:42min
The Empty Room by Camerin Cobb – 3:55min
Confessions by Onyinye Alheri – 3:29min
A Letter to My Father by Karen Liu – 3:33min
Mamitis by Sandra Ramirez – 5min
Proud & Faithful by L’Oréal Jackson – 3:55min
His Vision: Project ALOFA by Jacqueline Case, Nicole Pote, Holly Riordan-Gonzales – 4:38min
In Her Eyes by Irene Tu, Jordan Gash – 2:53min
Sungaze by Shereen Choudhury – 4:52min
Community Partners
Asian Women’s Shelter
Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies in Religion & the Ministry
Parents & Friends of Lesbians And Gays
Project ALOFA
San Francisco Women Against Rape
SUNDAY DAY
HOMING INSTINCT
Sunday Day, Jun 14, 76 min
From Gwich’in women fighting to protect Alaskan caribou and tribal traditions, to a queer Afro-Latina councilwoman fighting corporate giant Chevron’s backroom tactics to control the city of Richmond, California, these documentaries honor the strength of collective action for humanity and the earth.
Under the northern lights of the Arctic, Gwich’in women speak out against oil development to protect THE SACRED PLACE WHERE LIFE BEGINS.
For an immigrant queer woman of color, the MULTI(COM)PLICITIES dictate her life through (im)mobility, racialization, and femininity outside of the masculinized queer white spaces.
After a corporate oil giant blacks out the sky, it turns its fire on a queer councilwoman who courageously fights back AGAINST HATE.
The Sacred Place Where Life Begins by Miho Aida – 19:20min
Multi(com)plicities by Shaina Aghayani, Carolina Huang – 11:01min
Against Hate by Brenda Williams – 45min
CONTENT: Abusive Homophobic Language
Community Partners
API Cultural Center
Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits
National Center for Lesbian Rights
City of Richmond
Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Festival
Rainbow Community Center
SUNDAY NIGHT
Jun 14, 78 min
BOUNDLESS BODIES
From a transgender Chinese woman elder and a transgender Latinx man and his son, to same-sex marriage and activism through the eyes of children, these films ask us to embrace the multitudes we contain within ourselves.
The pulsing physicality of IMPOSSIBLE BODIES dance through politicized spaces of gender and race.
A bisexual transgender Asian woman celebrates JASMINE’S JUBILEE and life’s triumphs.
A parent strives to be themselves without turning everyone’s lives into a disaster in THE KISS. Se esfuerza por ser sí mismo pero no quiere que las vidas de los demás se convertirán en un desastre en EL BESO.
With no home, no single gender nor a love, NOMADÉ follows their own course. Sin hogar fijo, sin un sólo género ni un amor, NOMADÉ sigue su propio camino.
It’s the small and big things in life that complete a TRANS-PUZZLE set to the rhythm of pleasure. Son las pequeñas y grandes cosa de la vida que arman una ROMPECABEZAS TRANS al ritmo de su placer.
It’s back to basics in SEXUALITY 101: IDENTITY as two young women insolently define their own labels.
A young mixed-race girl creates hope FOR THE LOVE OF UNICORNS.
With Prop 8 looming, two kids plot and plan OPERATION MARRIAGE out of love for their moms.
Highly competitive doorknobs wonders WHO’S NEXT? to get a beautiful woman’s attention.
A new HER/CUT leads to an awkward encounter between old friends.
AU-KNAPPTURAL embraces the beauty that is bald heads and Black hair.
You never know what you may find in the NEGRO HAIR PETTING ZOO.
An Afro-Latina queer couple explores DE COLORES, OUR LIVES at the intersection of cultural, sexual and racial identity.
CONTENT: Nudity
Impossible Bodies by Lani Rodriguez – 12:47min
Jasmine’s Jubilee by Lynn Sugihara – 4:25min
El Beso by Stephan Jacob – 7min
Nomadé by Lorenzzo K. – 9:15min
Rompecabezas Trans / Trans-Puzle by Ryan Survilas – 7min
Sexuality 101: Identity by Halle Johnson, Victoria Estrada – 5:01min
For The Love of Unicorns by Erin 0’Brien – 5min
Operation Marriage by Quentin Lee – 9:43min
Who’s Next? By Monique Dismuke – 3:07min
Her/cut by Rebecca Leo, Xiomara Benitez – 4:07min
Au-Knapptural by Sonjhai Meggette – 3:08min
Negro Hair Petting Zoo by Carrie Hawks – 00:56min
De Colores, Our Lives by Nicole Valentino, Edgardo Antonio Jr, Jovanka Beckles - 5:24min
Community Partners
API Queer Women & Transgender Community
Our Family Coalition
Chicana/Latina Foundation
Family Builders
Open House