Queer Voices: NYC Film Festival is welcoming eight sapphic-themed films this year, a dramatic increase from three lesbian submissions in 2023.
The three-day festival is celebrating their second year and will be hosted at the historic LGBTQ Community Center in Manhattan from September 27-29. QVNYC aims to empower and center LGBTQIA+ filmmakers of color through their extensive programming, which includes film screenings, talkbacks, and live panels.
“Our community really wanted this,” QVNYC co-founder Brandon Smith, who started the nonprofit organization with a city grant in 2021, told GO. “[My team and I] come from a different angle because we know what it’s like to not have funding, to have these stories inside of you and not know what to do with it.”
This year, Smith and his co-founder Ronald Hinton are proud to be showing their highest number of sapphic submissions.
Kicking off Saturday’s schedule at 12pm is the first block of short films, “Love Phases.” The first film to show, And Then There Was Her, is an 8-minute short written and directed by Alexander King and Nyala Moon. The sapphic romance is about two women, one masc and one trans, who “find love and acceptance” during the holiday season.
Directly after, The First Time will take the screen. The stop-motion film set in the 80s follows the coming-of-age story of Mya, a young black freshman at NYU. Written, directed, and produced by Mira Gandy, the 9 minute short already has a variety of awards under its belt.
Butterfly, a coming-of-age about two teenage girls falling in love, will follow. The 15 minute film shows the couple beginning to come to terms with their sexual identity and express themselves “in the limited time they have.” The short is directed and produced by Iree Mann, who also stars in the film.
Saturday’s second shorts block, “We Fight Back,” will kick off at 5pm with Paramita. The “memoir-style” short documents Prajna Paramita Choudhury’s coming out process to her traditional Bangladeshi mother. The 25 minute film focuses on intergenerational healing as Choudhury looks to Buddhist practices for help.
Wrapping up Saturday’s schedule at 7:30pm is Unidad: Gay & Lesbian Unidos. The 40 minute film tells the true story of the Los Angeles organization Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU), which was formed in 1981. The political and social group fought to raise awareness for queer Latino issues within the LGBTQ community.
Sunday’s first shorts block, “Existence as Resistance,” will start at 11:30am and show Queenie, a documentary short a 73-year-old Black lesbian who is navigating the application process for Stonewall Houses. The houses are New York City’s first LGBT Elder affordable housing. The 19 minute film is directed and produced by Cai Thomas.
The Odd Year will play at 1:30 during Sunday’s second shorts block, “It’s Complicated.” The 14 minute short follows Val, a college freshman who is having a bad drug trip at a party, and G, a loner who helps ground Val and move on from her trauma. The film is directed by Pierre Jean Gonzalez and written by B.C. Villalona.
Closing out this year’s sapphic films is Keenelan, a 33 minute dramatic film about Kaya, a Black queer artist who is being haunted by dreams and visions of a long-lost lover. The film will play at 3:30 as part of the day’s third shorts block, “Queer Vision.” Cami Thomas wrote, directed, and starred in the short.
QVNYC Film Festival tickets are on sale now. All talkbacks, panels, and screenings will also be available to watch virtually for those outside of NYC.
