The bodies of queer people are complex archives of experimentation, dissent and resistance. As data collection expands and the potential for digital surveillance increases, the ways in which our bodies express themselves, deal with violence and move differently, is in growing friction to how they are perceived and categorized. For our opening night shorts, six filmmakers approach the fate of unruly bodies in their very own ways.
Starting with the moody and intimate The Erotics of Abolition, a Black person claims presence and healing from the intergenerational impacts of white supremacy on herself. Next up is The AIDS Club, which narrates a relationship with carrying HIV through different styles, from soap opera to silent film. In the trippy and steamy Lazaro’s Temptation, the main character wants to get into working out and loses his grip on reality after a few suspicious incidents connected to his premium gym membership. From there, Trivakra takes us on an audiovisual trip where transness sends the matrix of gender into a swirling, beautiful malfunction. A group of queer outlaws try to retrieve and grieve the body of their deceased friend, who is paraded as a saint, in Rampage! (or the parade). Closing this program is the story of Mymye in WHERE IS MYMYE MASTROIAGNNE?, the owner of a hair salon, who worked as a performer in nightclubs and then in the video game Second Life – where she one day disappears.

Content notes: Flashing lights, violence