Qfilms Long Beach
Ongoing Series
Celebrating 32 years of the best in LGBTQ independent films, the Long Beach QFilm Festival is the oldest film festival in Long Beach and the only festival dedicated to screening films that showcase the magnificent diversity of the LGBTQ community.
Qfilms Long Beach
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Mark your calendar for these amazing events.
Row of Life
Art Theater Long Beach
Debra Madsen, the wife of Angela Madsen
In 2020, Paralympic medalist and 16x Guinness World Record holder Angela Madsen attempted her final solo Ocean row - 2,400 miles from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The film is a poetic story of bravery, resilience, and love between Angela and her wife Deb - separated by a vast ocean - supporting each other's dreams despite what became the ultimate cost.
Plainclothes
Art Theater Long Beach
Director Carmen Emmi
In 1990s New York, an undercover police officer receives an assignment to lure and arrest gay men. However, he’s surprised to discover a scintillating connection with one of his targets. As their secret connection deepens and internal pressure to deliver arrests intensifies, he finds himself torn between duty and desire.
Student Shorts Showcase
Art Theater Long Beach
filmmakers in attendance
From animated vampire lust to digital drag, from queer romance to cosmic rescue missions, these student films are serving fresh talent and fearless stories.
Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion
Art Theater Long Beach
Subject Bob Mackie
“Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion” traces the life of the fashion icon on screen and off, highlighting Mackie’s global impact on TV, film, Broadway and concert stages and within fashion and popular culture. The film will feature contributions from Mackie’s most famous collaborators, including Carol Burnett, Cher, Mitzi Gaynor, RuPaul Charles, Bernadette Peters, Pink and Miley Cyrus.
She's the He
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in Attendance
On the last week of school, Alex and Ethan pretend to be trans women to get into the girl’s lockers. It’s all a joke until Ethan realizes: she really is trans. Now Alex and Ethan must reckon with their changing friendship and the messy process of coming out.
Hola Frida!
Art Theater Long Beach
Join us for this special Family Matinee screening, perfect for kids and families to enjoy together. Tickets for kids under 12 are $6.
It’s the story of a little girl who is different. Her world is Coyoacan, Mexico City. Sparkling, vibrant, everything interests her and when difficulties arise, she faces them with an overflowing imagination. This little girl is called Frida Kahlo.
Queer & Trans Shorts
Art Theater Long Beach
filmmakers in attendance
Trans lives contain multitudes, from quiet reflection to bold becoming. These six shorts tell intimate and inventive stories of identity, connection, and memory.
Just Kids
Art Theater Long Beach
Three families with transgender children face an impossible choice in states banning gender-affirming care: stay home and risk their children’s well-being or uproot entirely.
LatinX Shorts
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in Attendance
Excellence doesn't even begin to describe the storytelling on display in this year's collection of LatinX shorts. Full of heartache, longing, dancing, and defiance.
The Wedding Banquet
Art Theater Long Beach
Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee's expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min's grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.
Encuerados
Art Theater Long Beach
World Premiere. This film contains sexually explicit content and is strictly for adults. No one 17 or under is admitted. Valid ID will be required to enter the theater.
Encuerados chronicles the year-long involvement of seven Latino men in the leather scene, primarily focusing on the historic achievement of the first Latino man to win the title of Mr. Los Angeles Leather, Leo Iriarte.
Men in Briefs
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
Connecting man-to-man can be fast or slow, easy or tricky, romantic or sexy (or both), full of joy or full of risk... but however it happens, in the right storyteller's hands, it's always interesting.
Women in Shorts
Art Theater Long Beach
filmmakers in attendance
From Iranian protests to queer first dates, from sneaking out of Catholic school to farming chinampas in Xochimilco, these shorts travel far and deep.
The Librarians
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
Librarians unite to combat book banning, defending intellectual freedom on democracy’s frontlines amid unprecedented censorship in Texas, Florida, and beyond.
Queermation Animation Shorts
Art Theater Long Beach
An old favorite has returned ! These aren't your average Saturday morning cartoons, and they are certainly not for kids.
SoCal Local Shorts
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in Attendance
From Black queer love notes to murderous family drama, from a drag queen saving the world to strangers who might kill you—or kiss you—this lineup has range.
Qfilms Long Beach
PAST SCREENINGS
Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken
QFilms Long Beach
The Queen Mary Theatre
QFilms Long Beach kicks off their festival with an amazing experience -- the Queen Mary's theater room will be open to the public for the first time. Iconic lesbian musician Melissa Etheridge got her start in Long Beach--so there's no better venue for this special documentary.
An inspiring story of healing and transcendence through the power of music. When five female residents from the Topeka Correctional Facility, a women's prison in Kansas, write letters to Etheridge, she then uses as inspiration to create and perform an original song for them. Having recently lost her son to opioids, Etheridge works to understand and interrupt the cycle of addiction while connecting with these women who, so often, are forgotten by society.
Still Working 9 to 5
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
Examines the 40-year evolution of gender inequality and discrimination in the workplace since the 1980 release of the comedy film “9 to 5” starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman.
Extremely Unique Dynamic
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
Ryan and Daniel, two childhood best friends and aspiring actors, spend one final weekend together before Ryan has to move to Canada with his fiancé. Wanting to create one lasting memory, they decide to make a movie… about two guys making a movie.. about two guys making a movie. Along the way, they unpack their decades-long friendship and prepare for the next chapters of their respective lives.
Silver Screen Shorts
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
A wonderful collection of short films, with over 100 awards, between them. These shorts will make you want to stand up and dance, smile, or just sit back and enjoy. It's definitely a screening you will want to see and feel.
Long Beach Queeroes Short Films
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
A collection of three short films, highlighting local Long Beach Heroes. Whether you're a Lesbian who became caretakers of our AIDS afflicted brothers. Creating a safe running club for Queers or just being your Authentic self. We salute you.
Queer & Trans Shorts
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance.
Our queerness demands to be seen, heard, and appreciated. This program presents the spaces that make us who we are — past, present, and future. Cool off afterwards and join us next door at The Center for our Ice Cream Social.
Asian Persuasion LGBTQ Short Films
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
An Eclectic mix of Asian Queer short films. With something for everyone. Includes: comedy, drama, documentary, experimental and animation.
The Queen of My Dreams
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Pakistani Muslim Mariam and her Canadian-born daughter Azra come of age in two different eras against the backdrop of a shared obsession with Bollywood fantasy.
F.L.Y.
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
This slice-of-life comedy follows the intertwining journeys of former partners Max and Rafael amidst the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges of lockdown. Suddenly quarantined under one roof, Max, Rafael, and Max’s new boyfriend Hunter navigate awkward dinners, emotional revelations, misunderstandings, and heartache to embrace their authentic selves and forge a new kind of family.
Men in Briefs
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
Sci-fi, Voguing, a Merman and a Magical Fairy all collide to fill the screen, for QFilms Long Beach much-beloved Men's short films program.
Women in Shorts
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
From preserving our stories to saying goodbye, waking up in the afterlife, finding “the one,” and even an epic search for a tampon—this year’s Women in Shorts program is all about navigating the unexpected and making it unforgettable.
An Unexpected Community
World Premiere @ QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
AN UNEXPECTED COMMUNITY tells the story of a lesbian community that found each other online and virtually thrived during the pandemic. It features appearances by Lily Tomlin, Meredith Baxter, Paula Poundstone, Kate Clinton, The Indigo Girls, Vickie Shaw, Karen Williams, and more!
Young Hearts
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Fourteen-year-old Elias increasingly feels like an outsider in his village. When he meets his new neighbour of the same age, Alexander, Elias is confronted with his burgeoning sexuality.
Lady Like
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
In this rags to riches origin story, Lady Camden struggles to manage the demands of her freshly minted international fame, while Rex is forced to come to terms with the troubling childhood he left behind in Camden which drove him to so desperately seek joy, fantasy and escape through the performing arts.
LA Queer Shorts
QFilms Long Beach
Art Theater Long Beach
Filmmakers in attendance
Harnessing the talents of local LA filmmakers, is a unique showcase of stories. From saving a queer country bar, an awkward Grndr date gone right? A first kiss, social media havoc, to creating a safe space for queer bikers. These films speak to us in different ways.
