‘Rain On Me’
COVID 19 shocked the world and changed the way we did everything, For some artists, it challenged and inspirited them to do what they do best – create exceptional films by, for or about our LGBTQ+ landscape. CLOSET COMBAT directed by Augustus Hinton COVID SUMMER directed by Todd Verow LILIES directed by Joni Renee Whitworth SWIMMING TO THE END OF THE WORLD directed by Todd Verow SISTER directed by Pavel Frolov 75 CENTS directed by Safi Jafri THE ODYSSEY directed by Emmanuelle Mattana THE VIRTUAL CONNECTION directed by Billy Clift THE DUMMY directed by KHo & Trevor Bukowski
CLOSET COMBAT directed by Augustus Hinton 2021, 3 USA A closeted high school boy handles the stress of social interactions that risk “outing” him by fantastically imagining them as a situation he’s more comfortable tackling: a classic, 2D fighting game COVID SUMMER directed by Todd Verow 2020, 3 USA Shot on super8 film using single frame photography, COVID SUMMER condenses all the anxiety, insanity and stir crazy sexual tension of the COVID-19 summer of 2020 into just over 3 minutes. LILIES directed by Joni Renee Whitworth 2020, 9 USA A queer love story set during COVID lockdowns where the personal and political collide and comingle, forcing one woman to interrogate birth, becoming, class, femme health, and gay sufficiency against a backdrop of farm simulator games, archival agricultural footage, b-roll, domestic scenes, and psychedelic abstraction. SWIMMING TO THE END OF THE WORLD directed by Todd Verow 2020, 7 USA A world-weary gay man remembers lost lovers as he swims from the Christopher Street Piers in New York City to Provincetown, Massachusetts. SISTER directed by Pavel Frolov 2020, 4 USA Two gay Russians chat about life after hooking up and who they truly are. 75 CENTS directed by Safi Jafri 2021, 9 USA The midnight bus greets a Boy just trying to catch some sleep, but the Man who boards after has more intimate ideas in mind… plus tip. THE ODYSSEY directed by Emmanuelle Mattana 2021, 7 Australia Zoom class finally gets interesting for 13-year-old Kiki when she discovers that her computer screen doubles as a portal into her crush’s bedroom. THE VIRTUAL CONNECTION directed by Billy Clift 2021, 16 USA A man of a certain age, newly single after a long relationship, finds himself navigating dating and romance through the mediator of the smartphone. THE DUMMY directed by KHo & Trevor Bukowski 2021, 18 USA Quirky, funny and poignant, this film follows Marin County Recycle artist KHo counting down the days to the 2020 election. Relying on items she finds in the neighborhood — most prominently a pink pussyhatted mannequin and a chalkboard — she unrelentingly voices her protest.
