Prepare to be dazzled! "Thirsty" is the compelling story of Scott Townsend a.k.a., Thirsty Burlington, who caught the filmmaker's eye during Thirsty's striking performance as Cher. The film lays bare Scott's life growing up as a girl-boy in Cambridge public housing and eventually becoming a revered drag queen delighting club-goers with her spot on impersonation of Cher. Using an array of storytelling techniques within a non-linear structure, the film moves through dramatic, fantasy and musical sequences, capturing both the harsh realities of living a life with a slippery gender and the sparkle that Thirsty exudes. Townsend embodies this natural phenomenon of a gender that roams between male and female. "A bouquet from a single stem," as Thirsty sings. "Thirsty" asks that we let everyone be beautiful and create the world they want. For Townsend that means, "To be safe and comfortable in all his skins, and loved for all that he is." Desc. courtesy of the Woodstock International Film Festival.

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Princess Shaw placed her dreams on YouTube. Then they became a reality. This is the extraordinary true story of an aspiring musician down on her luck, who inspired internationally famous YouTube artist Kutiman to create a magical collaboration that would bring her music to a whole new audience. Discussion with director Ido Haar and star Princess Shaw to follow.

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Recent high school grad Joey (Lola Kirke, Mozart in the Jungle and Mistress America) is scooping ice cream at the local fair when she meets Rayna (Breeda Wool, UnREAL), a leggy blonde in Daisy Dukes who likes drinking and flirting, and who has a weakness for “them tomboys,” as her grandmother calls them. Rayna takes Joey home along with some ice cream, and soon Joey is head-over-heels in love and lust—even after she discovers that the older woman has a couple of kids and a trucker husband named Roy. Based on the award-winning short film of the same name, this story of star-crossed love provides a nuanced depiction of working-class life in rural America. Director Deb Shoval gets the details right, from Joey’s series of dead-end jobs to the car on blocks outside Rayna’s trailer house. The film finds gritty beauty in the scuffed basements, bars, malls, and meadows where Joey and her friends work and play. It observes the gradations of class within Joey’s circle: Joey’s sister looks down on Rayna as a welfare-check-collecting freeloader, and Joey’s mother desperately wants Joey to join the army, her one shot at college. Tensions mount as Rayna and Joey’s relationship moves from summertime fling to something more serious. While the pair are creative about setting up clandestine meetings—in a barn, the front seat of a pickup, and, most memorably, a tent—they have a harder time imagining a life together. “Would you go into the army if you were rich?” asks a college-going lesbian friend of Joey. “Probably not,” she answers laconically. In this movie, the price of same-gender love is steepest for those who can least afford it. Desc. courtesy of Frameline: The San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival.

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