The MENA identity is one of many faiths, languages, and shared cultural experiences. From quarantine belly dancing to interfaith romancing, join us for queer stories from the Middle East and North Africa.

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After toiling for years in bit-parts, aspiring actress Nina Wu (Ke-Xi Wu, who also co-wrote the script based on her own personal experiences) finally gets her big break with a leading role in a spy thriller set in the 1960s. The part, which calls for nudity and explicit sex scenes, is made all the more challenging thanks to the director’s unending belittlements. While seemingly on the brink of professional triumph, Nina’s psychological resolve begins to crack under the pressure. As she rushes to her childhood home following a family emergency, Nina begins suffering paranoid fantasies that a mysterious woman is stalking and attacking her. As Nina clings to memories of happier times, it seems that there is one crucial memory that she is repressing…

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"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another; nothing more. [Those] who [have] felt the deepest grief [are] best able to experience supreme happiness.‚" -- Alexandre Dumas 2021 marks the centennial year of the Tulsa race massacre. I have felt a plethora of emotions processing this; no doubt, mirroring the sentiments of the rest of the BIPOC community. The most powerful of those emotions has been an existential and spiritual connection to my ancestors. We have experienced so many atrocities up until this very day.Yet, we continue to alchemize all of that pain into a fierce ball of eternal fire. An inferno that we metamorphose into love, laughter and life in countless mediums. Then, we pass the strength of that magical fire along to our community, our descendants and finally, the world. While I celebrate us all year long, once a year, I am honored to use the medium of cinema to shine a light on our stories. I give visibility and a platform to the artists celebrating our lives, our sorrows, our magic‚ in front of the lens and behind it. This year, through Afro-futurism, contemporary dance, animation, documentary, and many more, I present to you: Wicked Queer 2021's BIPOC short film program. Thank you to all of my BIPOCs, past, present and future.

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