BEST OF THE FEST - 14 new queer films ranging from 3 to 82 minutes!

Press Release - For Immediate Release  December 26, 2024

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Find photos, posters and trailers for QE BEST OF FEST. 

CHICAGO, IL – QUEER EXPRESSION presents QE BEST OF THE FEST WINTER 2025, showcasing 14 exceptional queer films from around the globe in four exciting programs. The curated lineup includes works from the USA, Canada, France, Islamic Republic of Iran,  and the Republic of Korea, ranging in length from 3 to 81 minutes.

• Program 1: Short Films – A selection of 9 short films will stream from January 15 to January 28, 2025.
• Program 2: Mid-Length Films – 4 captivating mid-length films will stream from January 22 to February 4, 2025.
• Programs 3: Feature Film Spotlights:
  • BEAR WEEK DIARIES – Streaming February 5 to February 18, 2025.

QUEER EXPRESSION, an acclaimed series celebrating queer stories on stage and screen, is proudly sponsored by the Chicago non-profit Open Space Arts.

Program 1: Short Films – A selection of 8 short films will stream from January 15 to January 28, 2025, featuring 8 films that inspire and entertain. This curated program includes:ALIMA & OMAR, BODIES, CLADDAGH, COWBOY BOOTS, FINDING MY VOICE, FORGIVENESS IN F MINOR, GOLDEN FINGERS, INSIDE THE SKIN, and TWICE AS SHY.

ALIMA & OMAR, Directed by Sofian Prinz, France, 9 minutes

Alima & Omar explores the silence endured by marginalized individuals. Through the lens of gender as a catalyst for hatred, the film portrays the struggles of a couple on the brink of crisis: a woman in love with a man who rejects traditional masculinity. Alima discovers, on the stage of a small cabaret, the sensual expression of Omar's hidden fantasies.

BODIES, Directed by Maria Maya, USA, 3 minutes

After enduring a brutal homophobic attack, drag artist Pietra Parker embarks on a deeply personal journey of healing backstage, where she transforms her trauma into a stunning performance that not only reclaims her identity but also ignites a powerful message of resilience and empowerment for the LGBTQ community.

CLADDAGH, Directed by Sophie Aguila, USA, 4 minutes

Two childhood friends on the precipice of adulthood discuss their culturally significant jewelry, however, the room is tense with what is left unsaid.

COWBOY BOOTS, Directed by Eric K Delehoy, USA, 12 minutes

Jack, a gay cowboy from Nebraska, finds anything but the promised land he envisioned when he visits a San Francisco gay club for the first time.

FINDING MY VOICE, Directed by Rouven Gueissaz, USA, 12 minutes

This short student documentary is a crossed portrait of two transgender women working on their voice to make it sound more feminine and to match the new person they have become. One of them is 67 years-old Bernie Wagenblast, one of New York’s most famous voices. She is one of the male subway voices, heard by millions of commuters every day. She feels comfortable with both her voices. The other character is 25 years-old Jade Stephan, who feels that her “old voice is something that she treasures as a thing she will not be bringing out for company”. She is currently seeing a voice therapist to help her work on her voice. This film explores their relationship to their voices and how voices can be a factor of integration into society.

FORGIVENESS IN F MINOR, directed Doug Sroka, Chad Tailor (Co-Director), Canada 17 minutes

Austin MacIntosh returns home for the first time in years of estrangement after receiving news of his father's death. At the age of seventeen, Austin came out to his parents and even though he and his father had a great relationship and bond through music, Austin’s father couldn’t accept his son being gay and kicked him out of the family home. Austin’s love for music and playing piano was his safe place and his father was his hero. When all of that was taken away Austin had to find a new path on his own. Now as an adult, he must reconcile his feelings towards his late father and repair the relationship between him and his brother and mother. 

GOLDEN FINGERS, directed by Chryssa Florou, France, 4 minutes

Three friends are sitting on a beach, practicing for a coming out.

INSIDE THE SKIN, directed by Maryam Mahdiye, Shafagh Abosaba, 16 minutes, Islamic Republic of Iran

As a teenage football player preparing for an important match, Ali must keep a secret hidden. But when Hamed finds out about it, the path ahead of Ali becomes shrouded in doubt.

TWICE AS SHY,  Directed by Anjelica Hymel, USA, 13 minutes

Rick agrees to watch over his best friend, Jack, during his first full moon as a werewolf. As tension arises during an argument about their recent romantic encounter, Jack begins to transform in an unlocked cage.

Program 2: Mid-Length Films – 4 captivating mid-length films will stream from January 22 to February 4, 2025. Featured titles include Diamonds on Plastic, Emerald City, Go On, Rituparna, and Paradise. These captivating films promise to offer audiences a diverse and engaging cinematic experience.

DIAMONDS ON PLASTIC, directed by Philip Cairns, Canada, 21 minutes

Doris is a happily married senior citizen who loves to shop and unexpectedly falls in love with her best friend, a woman.

EMERALD CITY, directed by Josef Steiff,  USA, 21 minutes

Emerald City is an lgbtqia+ story of two young men, one who has aged out of foster care where he was placed after his parents were deported and the other on his way to join the border patrol. Each isolated in their own way, both seek a sense of community, of belonging, and meet on the back roads of the American Southwest, where they develop a tentative friendship that gradually becomes more.

GO ON, RITUPARNA, Directed by Aashish Kumar, USA, 31 minutes

“Xun” to her loving Mother, and “Piku” or “Ritu” to friends, Rituparna Neog has blazed a trail for queer and trans rights, gender justice, and access to free libraries in her native Assam and other parts of India. This film is a tribute to the power of activism, familial love, and community-building. 

PARADISE, directed by Minki Hong, Republic of Korea, 31 minutes 

Jongno, an important commercial district and cultural hub in South Korea’s capital city Seoul, was also an important home for movie theaters, beginning with the establishment of Danseongsa Theater in 1907. However, the number of moviegoers visiting these theaters gradually diminished, and one by one, they closed their doors. However, several discount theaters survived, gradually becoming transformed into meeting places for gay men who sought to establish their own cultural spaces on the fringes of society. Alongside these “theaters patronized by homos,” gay bars also began opening in the back alleys of Jongno, with the area becoming a paradise for gay men in the 1980s.

Programs 3: Feature Film BEAR WEEK DIARIES streaming February 5 to 18.  

BEAR WEEK DIARIES, directed by Antongiulio Panizzi, USA, 88 minutes

Bear Week Diaries follows the story of David and Ryan who meet in Provincetown, Massachusetts, during Bear Week, where men from all over the world gather to have fun, dance, and flirt, embracing their bodies that defy conventional stereotypes. In a hybrid of documentary and fiction, the film explores the complexities of this gay community on various levels, with vibrant images of parties, the calm of the sea and dunes of Provincetown, massive dance floors, and romantic evenings on moonlit piers, posing the question: how do we all relate to a body that ages every day?

Access to each QE BEST OF THE FEST program is $12.00 for the streamed programs.  Films are not geo blocked, and can be screened from anywhere. 

Tickets for the individual programs are now on sale at http://www.goelevent.com/OpenSpaceArts/e/Search. 

More information about the festival, directed by David Zak, can be found at http://www.openspacearts.org