17th Annual QFest

Cinema St. Louis presents the 17th Annual QFest, our annual celebration of LGBTQ+ film and queer culture April 26 - 28 and May 3 - 5. The theme for this year’s festival is “LOVE” and the 26 films from 9 countries express love in all of its forms. Our opening night film on April 26 is the world premiere of Concerto For Abigail from award winning Director Jan Miller Corran. The next afternoon is an audience favorite from last years’ St. Louis International Film Festival, Transmexico. Before and after the film, the Hi-Pointe Theatre will host an LGBTQ+ Youth Art Sale. Other highlights of the festival include the Race In America screening of Pariah featuring a post-film discussion on being Black and queer in St. Louis in 2024. The three QFest Shorts programs are free again through our Gay-It-Forward program. The two narrative and one documentary programs feature films from all over the world and from St. Louis filmmakers Jess T. Dugan (Letter To My Daughter) and Sofia Voss (WWJD). To help sustain free programming at QFest, make a contribution at cinemastlouis.org. FILM PROGRAMS FRIDAY, APRIL 26 7:30pm - CONCERTO FOR ABIGAIL Jan Miller Corran, United States, 2024, 1h 24m, Narrative, color, English Trailer: https://vimeo.com/924150845 In the world premiere of the latest film from Jan Miller Corran, a world-renowned pianist faces the devastating news that she has progressive hearing loss and ultimate total deafness facing her just as love walks into her life as only the fear of the coming sounds of silence consume her days. Sponsored by Cindy Walker A QFest kickoff reception will take place from 6:30 - 7:30. The director and three actors from the film will be present. SATURDAY, APRIL 27 1:00pm - TRANSMEXICO Claudia Ymi Sanchez, United States, 2023, 1:24, Documentary, Color, Spanish w English subtitles Trailer: https://vimeo.com/883636690 This incredible documentary first screened at SLIFF 2023 and was a crowd favorite. Transwomen face more difficulties in Latin America than in any other part of the world. In most of these countries, unchecked transphobia severely limits trans people’s access to education, employment, housing, and medical services. A post-film discussion will take place about the state of being young and queer in St. Louis in 2024. Between 12:00pm and 6pm in the lobby of the Hi Pointe we will stage the first ever LGBTQ+ TEEN YOUTH ART SALE. 4:00pm - NARRATIVE SHORTS - WHAT IS LOVE? This series of shorts explore what it means to love in 2024 and include a story from India about a lesbian couple dealing with an arranged marriage, a visual, poetic exploration of identity and self-discovery, and a comedy about how far we’re willing to go for love, at a funeral. WALK - Beth Ashby, United States, 2024, 6:06, Narrative, color, English FOG UP - Eddie Yukun Long, United States, 22:30, narrative, color, English SAFETY STATE - Jeanette L. Buck, United States, 15:37, narrative, color, English IF - Tathagata Ghosh, India, 25:41, narrative color, Bengali w/ English subtitles LESBOPHILIA - Michelle West, United States, 15:05, narrative, color, English 7:00pm - TENS ACROSS THE BOARD Bobby Best, United States, 58:00, Documentary, color, English Trailer: https://vimeo.com/865803027 Ballroom culture is now a mainstay in popular culture. Not to be confused with waltzing, swinging, or doing the two-step, ballroom has become a global phenomena. It’s championed by Black and brown LGBTQ artists in dance, music, and fashion. We take an in-depth look at the lives of those in the St. Louis, MO ballroom community and the performers of the TENS Experience, spearheaded by Maven Logik Lee. Director Bobby Best will be in attendance for a post-film Q&A and we will be turning the Hi Pointe into a ballroom with music and dancers from the film. SUNDAY, APRIL 28 1:00pm - NARRATIVE SHORTS - LOVE ON THE EDGE The filmmakers in this collection go past the traditional narratives we’re used to - both with cinema and relationships. In this collection, an Iranian couple navigates gender identity, a translator struggles to find the words, and St. Louis filmmaker Sofia Voss literally asks “What Would Jesus Do?” SKIN - Leo Behrens, United States, 7:06, narrative, color, English EMERALD CITY - Josef Steiff, United Stares, 2024, 21;13, narrative, color, English MAKING UP - Ryan Paige, United Kingdom, 15:00, narrative, color, English THE NOTCH - Mina Sadati, Iran, 2024, 20:00, narrative, color, Persian w English subtitles WWJD - Sofia Voss, United States, 2024, 12:26, Narrative, Color, English 4:00pm - BODY ELECTRIC / ALIGNED Body Electric/Nick Demos, United States, 1:10, Documentary, Color, English Aligned/ Apollo Bakopoulos, Greece, 1:20 Narrative, Color, English/Greek w English subtitles These two films, one a narrative and one a documentary, look at the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and body image and what we all do to be comfortable. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/906511515 FRIDAY, MAY 3 7:00pm - THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT It's not easy being a drag queen in the outback! This wonderfully inventive Australian comedy about three drag performers braving the vast, rugged outback features fabulous and heartfelt performances from Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce. Our Guest Curator program features a film picked by award winning mixologist Meredith Barry. Barry has been featured on both National Bar Boss and the Netflix competition show Drink Masters and owns several bars in the St. Louis area. She will introduce the film and talk about why it was important on her own personal journey. After the film Barry is hosting a QFest party at her bar, Platypus. SATURDAY, MAY 4 1:00pm - DOCUMENTARY SHORTS - LOVE & HOPE & DREAMS We’re so lucky to be able to screen a collection of documentary shorts that portray just how heroic the LGBTQ+ community has to be just to be accepted. In these films, queer individuals from throughout Africa bravely tell their individual stories of survival, queer superhero Urvashi Vaid fights for the rights of everyone to exist, and St. Louis filmmaker Jess Dugan shares the intimate story of the first five years of her daughters’ life. LUCIE AND ANNIE - Amy Oden, United States, 6:00, Documentary, Color, English BARBETTE & FONTAINE - John-Carlos Estrada, Zak Zeh, United States, 14:23, Documentary, Color, English CUT - Samuel Lucas Allen, Australia, 19:00, Documentary, Color, English THERE ARE THINGS TO DO - Mike Syers, United States, 18:00, Documentary, Color, English PRIDE OF TEXAS - Ashley Seering, United States, 7:17, Documentary, Color, English MAGHREB'S HOPE - Bassem Ben Brahim, Tunisia, 24:00, Documentary, Color, Arabic & French w English subtitles LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER - Jess T. Dugan, United States, 16:00, Documentary, Color, English 4:00pm - PARIAH A Brooklyn teen quietly embraces her identity as a lesbian. This screening is part of our year-long series, Race In America, which spotlights a variety of films exploring racial diversity and inequity, beginning at the St. Louis International Film Festival in 2014. Post-film will be a roundtable discussion and audience Q&A about what it means to be Black and queer in St. Louis in 2024. Moderated by Merlin Bell and featuring community leaders, artists and activists from the region, this event is meant to focus on where things are and where things are going for the the Black LGBTQ+ community. SUNDAY, MAY 5 6:30pm - BALDIGA, UNLOCKED HEART Markus Stein, Germany, 1:30, Documentary, Color, German w English subtitles In 1979, 19-year old Jürgen Baldiga moves to Berlin and decides to become an artist. Faced with certain death from HIV infection, he discovers photography as his medium. Between despair, longing, rebellion and an irrepressible will to survive, Baldiga becomes a chronicler of the queer West Berlin subculture of the 80s and early 90s and proves his unique talent as a sensitive and provocative photographic artist. 4:00pm - BLUE ID Vuslat Karan, Turkey, 1:24, Documentary, Color, Turkish w English subtitles On October 4, 2012, a beaming Rüzgar Erkoçlar received his first testosterone injection, marking an important step in his gender affirmation. Could he have imagined then how arduous that journey would be? That traditional Turkey would make him front-page news because formerly he was a well-known actor? Maybe so, because this film leaves no doubt about the degree of homophobia and transphobia in Turkish society. The crowning glory of this transition is the exchange of his pink identity card for a blue one. The entire process, a path paved with frustration, humiliation, and endless waiting, is captured in home movie-esque observations and self-assured phone videos. An intimate report of a struggle with self-realization and acceptance in a traditional society, under intense media scrutiny.