Love & Deaf
Adam Baran, USA 2004 Video, 8 min.
A young man with a gift for gab finds his perfect match in a most unexpected of places.

Some Reasons for Living
Harjant Gill & Jesse Cortez, USA, 2003, Video, 20 min.
Often the family you choose is stronger than the general genetic variety. This video showcases such a family, two cross-generational Latina trans women, whose mutual experiences makes them speak up and fight for the rights of themselves and their community.

Drive Through
Jed Bell, USA, 2004, Video, 4 min.
This animated satire surveys the dizzying array of options offered at Willie's Drive Thru, "America's First Drive Through Surgicenter for the Female-To-Male Transsexual," featuring "crappy options at crippling prices."

The Drive North
Tess Ernst, USA, 2003, Video, 13 min.
Two young dykes bicker their way up the East Coast as they head to college in a beat-up Subaru. Creatively told through still images, animation, super 8, this short subverts typical "coming of age tale" format. Gold medal for best Student Experimental Film, Chicago International Film Festival.

Jam
Craig Serling, USA,2004, Video, 15 min.
Caught in a huge traffic Jam, a lesbian couple must find a place to have their baby. Taking refuge in an RV full of hoodlums, Rose and Lilac teach the crooks more than a few lessons about the importance of fatherhood.

Confession: A film about Ariel Schrag
Sharon Barnes, 2003, USA Video, 23 min.
For many queer youth, simply making it through high school can be tough. Ariel Schrag not only survived those tempestuous years, but also chronicled them in painstaking detail. Only 23 years old, she has already published five books (one has been optioned as a film by renowned movie producers Christine Vachon and Katie Roumel)that received national media attention. This refreshing documentary reveals a talented young dyke artist who is intelligent, funny, charmingly neurotic, alarmingly insightful and wise beyond her years.

Rapture
Trieu Le, USA, 2004, Video, 27 min.
In a dorm packed full of sexy boys and girls, it's hard to keep anything private- but some secrets can still be a big surprise.

Gay Pioneers
Glenn Holsten, USA, 2004, Video, 30 min.

Just 40 years ago, coming out carried severe penalties: loss of family, friends, jobs, and even arrest. Despite enormous social pressure, a number of brave men and women pursued justice, paving the way for millions of gay men and lesbians. This outstanding documentary portrays seven of these pioneers: Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, Lilli Vincenz, Jack Nichols, Nancy Tucker, Randolfe Wicker, and Rev. Robert W. Wood. Meeting at the height of McCarthyism through such groups as The Mattachine Society and The Daughters of Bilitis, these heroes strategized the best approach for pursuing equal rights when American society considered homosexuals both sick and politically dangerous. When Fidel Castro began incarcerating gay Cubans in 1965, they organized the first gay rights picket line outside the White House. Maintaining conservative dress and manner, they strove to show the nation that they were upstanding citizens, moral and employable, deserving of full civil rights.

Subsequent pickets took place each Fourth of July outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, birthplace of both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. These “Annual Reminders” ran until 1969, leading to New York City’s first gay rights march in 1970. Over these years, the initial ten marchers grew to a crowd of thousands.

Award-winning director Glenn Holsten depicts the human side of these activists, from Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings risking using their real names, to Nancy Tucker sneaking out of her parents’ house to join a girlfriend at a picket line, to Lilli Vincenz filming the demonstrations, including shots of the ubiquitous FBI agents.

These pioneers set the stage for the 1969 Stonewall riots, for 1970s gay pride celebrations, and for the current battle for gay marriage. Finding deep pride on the picket line, they provided us all with a greater chance for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ­ J. O’Neill

Late Wedding (Heren Aan de Gracht)
Jehoshua Rozenman, The Netherlands, 2003, Video, 57 min.
In Dutch with English subtitles

Ale van Dijk and Oscar Janssen have been together for 48 years. Meeting on the job in 1950s Amsterdam, they soon started dating, beginning a love affair they knew was meant to be. Never hiding the truth about their lives, they managed to exist openly as a couple even in repressive times.

This pair exhibits a wonderful chemistry: outgoing and temperamental Ale, a brilliant boy soprano and later a singing instructor, is the perfect foil for solid and conservative Oscar, a banker. They reminisce about their childhoods, their first time sharing a bed, their relationships with each other’s mothers, and their wide network of friends.

Elegantly filmed, edited, and scored, Late Wedding compassionately delves into the depth of love between two men, and the joy of their final triumphant wedding day ­ even when it comes almost a half-century late. ­ J. O'Neill

Little Black Boot
Colette Burson, USA, 2003, Video, 16 min.
A funky "little black boot" replaces a delicate glass slipper in this modern Cinderella story, starring mockumentary queen Jane Lynch (A Mighty Wind, Best in Show) as the evil step-mother. Jury award for Best Lesbian Short, Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.