Frameline50: Homegrown Shorts

Including docs and narratives, this collection celebrates the works of queer filmmakers rooted in the Bay Area and Frameline herstory.

Expected Guests: Matthew Puccini, Sarah Taborga, Aïma Paule, Jorge Molina, Lauretta Molitor

Short films showing in this program:

Babaylan (Franny Trinidad & Kelly Liu, 14 mins)

Bay Area Filipino drag queens blend ballroom and pre-colonial Babaylan spirituality as a reclamation and celebration of queer Filipino identity.

Callback (Matthew Puccini, 17 mins)

Max’s acting career has hit rock bottom, but when his boyfriend nabs a callback for a coveted role, Max discovers how much lower he can go.

Femme Release (Sarah Taborga & Aïma Paule, 8 mins)

In this spin-off of Femme Rage (Frameline47), Femme Release follows Esperanza as she descends into a surreal, horror-tinged Release Realm where reality fractures into ritual, ancestral force, and embodied visions. Haunted by a shifting mask, a looping inner child, and a council of Spirit Guides who observe from the edge of firelight, she is pulled through escalating states of fear, rage, and bodily unraveling. In a world where memory moves through the body like a living force, Esperanza is forced into a confrontation with what has been buried, inherited, and made flesh.

How to Find a Career That Loves You Back (Ethernet Wang, 26 mins)

Khloe and Joyce, two trans software developers, work for a defense-technology corporation that monitors civilians as potential threats. When they’re chosen as company representatives for a college career fair, the trip ignites a fragile romance and doubts about their work, forcing the two women to choose between safety and the uncertain path to freedom.

Infinity Mirror (Aron Kantor, 13 mins)

During a tense encounter in a bar bathroom, Bash gets trapped in a time loop with his ex-best friend — and his only hope of escape is to confront what tore them apart. Nik Dodani and Fin Argus star in the latest inventive queer creation from Frameline regular Aron Kantor.

The Motive (Jorge Molina, 14 mins)

A famed Detective arrives to a remote mansion to find a Murderer standing over the body of someone he just killed. The Detective desperately tries to get the Murderer to confess his motive, but soon learns the truth is much more complicated than he anticipated, and that their own history together is coming into play.

Zeitgeist 1977: The First Festival (Lauretta Molitor, 7 mins)

Participants in the very first “Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films” (what ultimately became Frameline) — including filmmakers Marc Huestis, David Weissman, Dan Nicoletta, and Rob Epstein — share their recollections.