The annual Out on Film festival launches in the city today and will run through Oct. 5. Organizers announced that this year’s theme, “Queer Propaganda,” is an attempt to reclaim the negative political narrative about LGBTQ communities.
“Queer Propaganda isn’t about pushing an agenda; it’s about telling the truth,” organizers noted on the festival’s site. “It’s about reclaiming our right to be seen, to be heard, and to shape the narrative.”
Featuring a lineup of ballroom docs, zombie horrors, alien invasions, romantic comedies, and family dramas, this year’s festival is sure to feature something for everyone.
THURSDAY
Movie Description: Using innovative rotoscope animation and featuring appearances by Lady Gaga, Questlove, Billy Porter, and Dionne Warwick, the documentary I Was Born This Way explores the life and legacy of Carl Bean and his resounding message in 1977 that “love is for everyone.”
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Upon his return home for his father’s funeral, Slaven revives his relationship with his childhood friend and teenage love while struggling against family restraints.
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
FRIDAY
Movie Block Description: Young men of Indian origin find their bond tested when one agrees to an arranged marriage; three young women set sail on a stand-up paddle to retrieve a time capsule; 15-year-old Gaia tries to navigate her sexual fantasies while completing confirmation; a solitary old man, estranged from his family, saves a troubled teenager from a suicide attempt, leading them to form an unexpected friendship.
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Under the Southern Cross, the Art and Legacy of Henry L. Faulkner
Movie Description: This film tells an unfiltered story through queer painter and poet Henry L. Faulkner’s photographs, paintings, poetry, rare film and audio recordings, and interviews with those who knew him.
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: A former barrel racing champion, haunted by a tragic fall, must find the courage to ride; Carmen seeks the lowdown on going down, so her friends take her to a lesbian coach; to get a promotion, an angel must get two ex-friends to admit their love to each other; a clogged sink, a pregnancy scare, and a first date who refuses to leave collide; a high school clique reunite for a summer girl’s night, but their sleepover takes a hilariously dark turn, landing them in the middle of a convenience store robbery; Mel visits former love Laurie in hospice to say goodbye.
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Robert, a middle-aged gay man, begins a personal documentary project following his long history of failed relationships. His ultimate goal is to find out why these relationships ended and to use the documentary as a means of personal growth.
Time: 9 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
SATURDAY
Movie Description: Shot over the lead actor’s first year on testosterone, T follows Em through their journey of gender discovery and the challenges and joys they face in their romantic relationships, friendships, and family.
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Queerily Hilarious: Comedy Shorts
Movie Block Description: A repressed father’s Catholic guilt and a buried secret clash in a chaotic family dinner; following surgery, Loan and his father adapt to their new relationship until the dog mistakes a nipple for a chew toy; a gender reveal party takes a dark turn after a dedicated people pleaser arrives with their two partners; a queer, Muslim beauty entrepreneur competes in a Shark Tank-like contest after suffering an allergic reaction; Larry and Leo’s long-term relationship is put to the test by the arrival of a sexy criminal posing as their new gardener; in Ancient Nazareth in the year Zero, a pregnant teenage girl and her gay best friend hatch a plan to save their lives when they discover they might get stoned to death for their sexual “sins.”
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: The story of Sally Gearhart, a charismatic lesbian-feminist, activist, professor, and fantasy author.
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: A man reconnects with his summer fling, who he can only see once a year; at a relationship workshop led by and for trans women, its charismatic, power-hungry leader is rumored to be running a cult; alone, surrounded by deep forests, a little boy sees something strange in the sky; facing angry protesters, a determined drag queen does her best to finish a fairy tale reading at the local library, but an alien invasion upends Earth’s existence.
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: An undercover police unit is tasked with entrapping gay men cruising in restrooms. But when a closeted young officer on the squad is drawn to one of his targets in a sting, the two begin a highly secretive affair.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: An actor and a politician start a secret affair and together discover their fetish for having sex in public places.
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
SUNDAY
Movie Block Description: Mahsa, a transgender Iranian woman, agrees to meet her partner’s family, hoping for their blessing and acceptance; a trans woman deals with tucking; as San Francisco’s tech boom gentrifies their city, three young Black trans women stage an audacious heist; a trans woman goes on three consecutive dates with straight men; a late-blooming trans woman grapples with a life-altering, assigned-male-at-birth trans-specific dilemma; a Black transgender man plans to exchange sex for top surgery money with an older gay man; a trans singer performs at a nightclub to make it big during the ’80s music scene.
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: As an unprecedented wave of book banning largely addressing race and LGBTQ+ issues is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond, librarians under siege join forces as unlikely defenders fighting for intellectual freedom on the front lines of democracy.
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: This hybrid doc follows visionary artist Rashaad Newsome as he transforms a historic military facility into a Black queer utopia, blending art, AI, and performance.
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Set against the backdrop of a girls’ weekend convened to mark a transformative divorce, a close-knit group navigates the hurdles of life and love at a picturesque retreat.
Time: 6:15 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: In the winter of 1970, a small-town plumber from rural New Brunswick must drive 1,000 miles to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail after being arrested for having sex in a public park.
Time: 8:15 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
MONDAY
Pageants, Sisterhoods and Justice
Movie Block Description: A filmmaker goes on a journey to connect with her sperm donor father; Black trans women in Memphis navigate struggle, survival, and the hope found through My Sistah’s House — a sanctuary of support and empowerment; Sherry Vine reflects on her most formative sexcapades and how defying labels has led her to a love life in the margins; plus-sized gay men from Asia and Europe come together in Bangkok to vie for the title of the very first Mr. Bear International; a beloved teacher and a prosecuting attorney build a life together, but after 13 years of devotion, their quiet happiness shatters due to workplace discrimination.
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: After a professional diver’s business goes bankrupt due to her partner’s debts to the mafia, she finds herself forced to extract TNT from a Second World War shipwreck on behalf of the mafia, which has declared war on the Italian state.
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Against the backdrop of London’s gritty nightlife, a broke gay actor and failed businessman try to find a meaning to their lives.
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
TUESDAY
Movie Block Description: A non-binary teen’s values are shaken when they intersect with a fiery Jewish girl on Yom Kippur; a Midwestern teen is on the verge of coming out when a night of danger changes the course of his life; while at a dinner party, 20-something masculine-presenting Logan receives a phone call that her estranged father has been in a car accident; a desperate sister goes to great lengths to get her wife pregnant; a queer couple prepare to reconnect with an absentee parent; a daughter, haunted by her past, helps her mom build a house in a small town in the Bahamas while struggling to reveal a devastating secret; a young man is haunted by a final voice message, a breakup, and a “goodbye” he can’t take back.
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: An impromptu bird funeral with a stranger changes how Gray sees herself and her lesbian identity; Ayla goes on a journey of discovery and diving; a curious New York City teenager sets off on a seemingly simple mission: to buy a magazine; a time-bending exploration of love, fate, and what it means to hold on when everything is slipping away; everything will change for one woman when she is given an orange by an unknown figure; Carol panics and argues with her girlfriend Ray after an unexpected proposal; a tender animation, based on Dean Atta’s eponymous poem, Two Black Boys in Paradise, sees two boys on a journey of self-acceptance and love.
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Eighteen-year-old Eduardo travels from a small Mexican town to the city of Guadalajara to take a university admission exam. In this strange, big city, far away from his mother’s surveillance, he experiences his first missteps in love and sex.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Hannah takes her non-binary teenager Frances to visit their gay grandfather in Amsterdam. But Frances’ desire to stay abroad for a year means Hannah is forced to reconsider her beliefs about parenting and finally confront old stories about the past.
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
WEDNESDAY
Movie Description: On her way out of town, a queer grifter makes a surprise pit stop to convince her beloved to escape with her.
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede
Movie Description: In November 2023, over 800 people from all over the world gathered in San Francisco to attend the Sundance Stompede, an LGBT+ country-western dance weekend. After 27 years, this doc chronicles how country western dancing reveals deeper insights into the power of dance — not only to create community, but to offer a profound healing of bodies and minds.
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot
Movie Description: This short documentary explores the feminist, queer, vegan restaurant and bookstore and illuminates the legacy of its pioneering proprietors, Selma Miriam and Noel Furie.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: Behind an unassuming “We Buy Gay Stuff” sign in San Francisco’s Castro District lies an unexpected treasure trove of queer history; inside a bathroom, a young man lives three possible versions of the same encounter; a newly out middle-aged lesbian panics before a third date and hires a sex worker to help her prepare; Sam and Adele are on a beach holiday in Portugal when Sam locks eyes with Miguel; Sam and Dustin’s open marriage works until a nosy friend asks if they ever have sex with just the two of them.
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
THURSDAY
Movie Description: After a rebellious queer teen gets thrown out of another foster placement, a mysterious social worker must find her a new home; a queer, Black kid at a PWI finds a Black barbershop but finds himself having to tone down to blend in; a successful, Black woman buys a house but is haunted by memories of her ex; when a Black trans man calls his best friend for help burying a body, the two are pulled into a confrontation with the past.
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: In Rio de Janeiro City, LGBTQ+ youth of color recreate Ballroom culture on their own terms.
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: Amidst the chaos of her daughter’s 10th birthday party, Asha must face her estranged mom; Zora Head focuses on Valerie Boyd’s lifelong dedication to sharing Black women’s stories; a wooden toy soldier is placed by a child into a dollhouse castle as a replacement for a porcelain princess figurine; when August finds shelter in an abandoned ranch home, he starts to go down memory lane of what his scientist mother did to him; dealing with a sexual dysfunction, a GNC, bisexual AFAB enlists the help of her lesbian best friend; when a broke birthday party clown finds out his mother is on her death bed, he must do whatever it takes to afford a flight home; two estranged high school best friends reunite, but tensions arise as unspoken trauma bubbles to the surface.
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: 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.
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
FRIDAY
Movie Description: At the heart of Vancouver, Burcu’s Angels, a vintage store offering more than clothes — it offers belonging.
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: In Tokyo, an unfulfilled romantic encounter and sudden disappearance leave Seiji struggling to make sense of what never happened; two sisters in a situation of domestic violence will begin to treat each other with love instead of violence; a teenager decides it’s time to change his look and cut his hair, but his mother reacts with strong opposition; as grassroots womxn’s football team “Solers United” faces eviction, emotions bubble between teammates; two men, who have been a couple for years, lead quiet lives of senior citizens until they receive an invitation that shakes their hidden everyday life.
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Love Me Bait Me: The Power of Queer Representation
Movie Description: This feature documentary explores the historical relationship between Hollywood, television, and the authentic portrayal of diverse LGBTQ+ experiences over the course of more than a century.
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
The Fright Collection: Horror Shorts
Movie Block Description: Seven thrillers featuring a mysterious killer targeting homosexual men; a reclusive twenty-something develops an obsession with another man he encounters on the internet; commitment-phobe Nathan begins to regret his decision after hooking up with a drunken stranger; in a genre-bending musical full of teenage rebels, poodle skirts, and betrayal, a young gay man tries to woo his crush with a swinging prom party; four men gather to curse one of their ex-boyfriends by invoking the Holly King, an ancient elemental being; Annie suggests a unique first date at Idyllwild campsite; after two friends banter over the pros and cons of using Grindr, one chats with a mysterious stranger.
Time: 7:15 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Description: After losing her job, Z embarks on a trip across the American Midwest with her two closest friends and searches for another friend who has seemingly disappeared. In each city, the three queer Black femmes face new threats that test their priorities, causing personal and ideological fractures to emerge.
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Description: When a zombie apocalypse breaks out in Brooklyn on the night of a warehouse party, an eclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies must put aside their drama and use their unique skills to fight against the brain-thirsty, scrolling undead.
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
SATURDAY
Movie Block Description: An Asian-Irish crossdresser’s bold plans to seduce a closeted GAA player take a risky turn; two broken strangers wrestling with queer identities meet on the subway; in the wake of a terrifying encounter, a drag queen struggles under the weight of public attention; a lonely widow strikes an unlikely friendship with a 17-year-old; a homeless queer teen searches for a way to get off the streets by devising a plan to contract HIV so he can receive housing support.
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: Three families in states that have banned gender-affirming care navigate a heartbreaking decision: Should they stay in their home states where their whole life is and risk their child’s health and safety? Or should they flee?
Time: 1:45 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Description: Cass juggles jobs to make ends meet, and after a one-night stand with Kalli, the non-binary Cass agrees to watch her 11-year-old daughter Ari while she goes out of town. But as days pass without word from Kalli, Cass is triggered by memories of their own difficult childhood.
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: In this comedy, when Lou becomes closer with her impossibly chic half-sister she never knew, she must redefine what that loaded F word – family – really means.
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Description: With a chorus of cultural icons, music, and archival and cinematic art, this film centers women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ voices in an exploration of the main character from The Wizard of Oz.
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: A coming-of-age film about Ahmad Joudeh. Born stateless in Syria’s Yarmouk camp, the dancer battles against inner and external war in his pursuit for the true meaning of freedom.
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Lesbian Space Princess
Movie Description: In this animated story, space princess Saira is devastated when she is dumped by her girlfriend Kiki, but Saira springs into action after Kiki’s kidnapped by forgotten incels known as the Straight White Maliens.
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: Following a heartbreak, two best friends embark on a day of joyriding that escalates into an adventure of revenge and exposed secrets; Raúl Morán invites his childhood best friend over with his family to unveil their biggest secret; a young American moves to Mexico and reconciles his desire to discover himself; with the help of his supportive mother, a young Puerto Rican man prepares for his first performance as a drag queen while trying to keep it a secret from his father.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Description: In this 10th anniversary screening, Randy, a devout high school choir boy, struggles with his sexuality while living in his conservative Mississippi town. His mother blames him for his sister’s disappearance as his father guides him into manhood.
Time: 7:45 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: In this musical comedy, an architect travels to the seaside resort town of Canoa Quebrada after a crisis with his boyfriend and encounters a former classmate, stirring up old feelings.
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
Movie Description: Mixing cinematic re-creation, archival materials, and revelatory interviews with the pioneers of house music, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House offers a celebration of the power the dance floor has to liberate us all.
Time: 10 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
SUNDAY
Movie Description: Forty years after a gay Apache man is framed for the brutal murder of a closeted Catholic priest, a police chief uncovers long-buried evidence that shakes up the West Texas town that imprisoned him.
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
Movie Description: Four close friends and filmmakers in Yugoslavia in the 1950s find themselves under suspicion over their sexual orientation. A communist party loyalist is sent to sabotage their lives, turning their pursuit of freedom into a battle for survival.
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Block Description: An LGBTQ community uses artistic expression to share their stories through poetry; a withdrawn teenager searches for inner peace at a desert meditation center; Binta, a secretly queer African-Muslim teen, sells candy with her crush to buy her dream bike.
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Description: The documentary explores the evolution of gender identity and comedy from the ’90s until today through the lens of the iconic SNL sketch It’s Pat.
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Out Front Theatre Company
Movie Block Description: A small-town Imam faces a crisis of faith when he must choose between upholding the values of his mosque or protecting a trans man congregant; an absurdist tragedy set in a repressive society where kissing is punishable by death and people pay for things by receiving slaps to the face; an unhappy woman shops compulsively and becomes fascinated by a salesgirl; two men in the German meat industry find something lies between them; when a recently widowed Indian woman sublets a room in her house to a 19-year-old Black gay man, she rediscovers her love for makeup.
Time: 5:15 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
Movie Description: A struggling novelist in Dublin, planning for an upcoming book tour, is forced to take care of three eccentric older women — and his own mother, recovering from a stroke — over the course of one chaotic weekend in Dublin.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Landmark Midtown Art Cinema
