Festival opens Wednesday, October 12, continues October 14-23

The Festival previously announced that KIKI will illuminate the Oriental Theatre as the Festival’s Opening Night film. The dark relationship comedy WOMEN WHO KILL will be the Festival’s Centerpiece at the Downer Theater.

Festival Director Carl Bogner, also an instructor in the UWM Department of Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres, promises a “lively and informative” mix of the entertaining and the edifying, as the Festival uncorks an array of narrative features and documentaries and short films. “We aspire to be like a Pride parade, working to texture the selection with as many representations as possible, with as many cinematic pleasures as possible. We strive to be as lively and as rich as the communities we work to serve.”

“A LGBT film festival always showcases films depicting young people bravely risking declarations about themselves,” Bogner reports. This year’s coming-of-age films include two that debuted at January’s Sundance Film Festival, where they each garnered prizes. Kerem Sanga’s FIRST GIRL I LOVED depicts the collisions of high school crushes in its comic and emotionally messy story of a love triangle among 17-year-olds. Anthony Ahn’sSPA NIGHT chronicles the haltingly emerging identity of a First Generation American, a Korean American college-age young man, negotiating his self, his ties to his family, and his future. Also of note is the Italian film ARIANNA, from director Carlo Lavagna, a rare drama that addresses the subject of intersexuality in its story of one teenager’s discovery of her identity. Among the documentaries, Shaleece Haas’ REAL BOY is, per Bogner, “a most winning real life coming-of-age story that portrays the hardships and complications that attend an  awkward process however rewarding.” The documentary tells the ultimately triumphant story of Bennett Wallace, a charismatic teenager navigating their gender transition and a history of substance abuse, while confronting his mother’s resistance. (The movie is a coming-of-age film for Bennet’s mother as well, Bogner reports).

The Festival is also characteristically rich with documentaries. “It’s an election year, and many of the documentaries function like bulletins around activism, inspiring participation as they portray subjects and civil rights pioneers all fighting for social justice.” For instance: Annalise Ophelian’s MAJOR! offers a rousing portrait of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an African American elder in the trans activist community who is a veteran of the Stonewall Rebellion and a survivor of Attica State Prison fighting for the rights of trans people of color. Jonah Markowitz & Tracy Wares’ POLITICAL ANIMALS celebrates the legendary civil rights victories of the first four openly out elected California state legislators – all of whom were women: Carole Migden, Sheila Kuehl, Jackie Goldberg, and Christine Kehoe – and chronicles their foundational victories in the fight for LGBT+ civil rights. Tiffany Rhynard’s FORBIDDEN: UNDOCUMETED AND QUEER IN RURAL AMERICA follows Moises Serrano, a North Carolina young adult, gay and undocumented, as he relentlessly campaigns for the rights of the undocumented while trying to secure a spot in college. C. Fitz’s JEWEL’S CATCH ONE details the legacy of Jewel Thais-Williams, an L.A. businesswoman who fought hate and discrimination for over forty years while building the legendary Catch One nightclub, one of the original safe spaces for LGBT folks of color and women, an of-necessity resource center for people suffering from AIDS, and eventually, the Studio 54 of the West Coast. S. Leo Chiang & Johnny Symons’ OUT RUN is on the trail with Ladlad, the world’s only LGBT+ political party, as they campaign for a candidate who would be the first transgender woman in the Philippine Congress.