ABOVE: The Fabulous Independent Film Festival turns 10. (Photo via Fabulous IFF)
The Harvey Milk Festival (HMF) will present Sarasota’s 10th annual Fabulous Independent Film Festival (IFF) Sept. 24-Oct. 3, a virtual celebration that includes a drive-in experience in response to COVID-19.
The Fabulous IFF seeks to showcase the best in LGBTQ cinema and was gifted to the HMF in 2016. This year’s programming will focus on marginalized voices with more than double the films normally screened.
“Cinema has been the way we can see the world through a different perspective and transform the way we see one another,” organizers have shared. “Change is always just a thought away … Lifting up minority populations and speaking out against injustice is crucial for achieving true change.”
In addition to streaming the majority of this year’s features statewide, the festival was programmed by HMF Executive Director Shannon Fortner in another first.
“It was interesting time to do it because of COVID,” she explains. “Many of this year’s film festivals had to go virtual, which opens the door to a lot of new components. We’ll be able to reach more folks throughout the whole state of Florida – and besides that, the show must go on.”
Fortner saw focusing on the more marginalized voices in the LGBTQ community as a natural fit for both the festival’s mission and for this year’s programming. She says that connecting with filmmakers has been a wonderful experience, something she’s eager to share with equality-focused audiences across the state.
“When our community needs visibility I think that’s something we can all get behind,” she explains. “We know that our strengths come from when we work together. I felt really connected with how passionate and raw some of these films are. Folks are really speaking out and I felt people needed to see that visually – to connect with it and be able to understand it.”
Audiences will be able to experience this year’s 11 feature films and 10 shorts for 48 hours from each respective screening date. Tickets and streaming details will be emailed to the email address each purchaser utilizes to make their selections.
Fabulous IFF passes are available for $90, which allows access to all 11 films and 10 shorts, excluding the drive-in feature.
Individual tickets are also available for $12 each. Those who wish to purchase a pass can save $15 from now until Sept. 20 utilizing the code FAB2020.
For local audiences, this year’s drive-in experience will cost $30 per car and be held in The Players Parking Lot in Downtown Sarasota, located at 838 N. Tamiami Trail. There will be two areas for parking vehicles.
Fortner saw the collaboration as the perfect way to gather in-person during COVID-19. “It allows us to bring the community together, get folks out of their homes and still feel safe,” she says.
The full schedule and details about each film can be viewed below, with details via the Fabulous IFF.
Sept. 24-26
Opening Night: “Pier Kids” (2019)
7 p.m. | 84 Mins.
The film interrogates the meaning of community within at risk LGBTQ youth of color and also the larger gay community. Casper, a trans attracted young Black man, is left vulnerable in his pursuit for true love while navigating homelessness. Desean is at a critical point in that he is navigating a reality where committing a crime or getting HIV might be the best alternative to escape homelessness. Krystal utilizes the ballroom scene as a way to survive but is forced to go back to her blood family for support when her gay family proves unable to help her. Face to face, Krystal and her birth mother realize that their mutual love of gospel is the only thing they can agree on when it comes to Krystal’s identity. The film follows these youth over the course of five years to understand what it means to be Black and queer 50 years after Stonewall.
Featured Short Film: “Honor Black Trans Womxn!”
This is a call to center Black Trans Womxn, protect and celebrate Black Trans Womxn. What would it look like if Black Trans Womxn were allowed to thrive? Protect Black Trans Womxn. Love Black Trans Womxn. Celebrate Black Trans Womxn. Learn more here.
At 8:30 p.m., a Q&A with Elegance Bratton and producer Chester Algernal Gordin will be held via Zoom.
Sept. 25-27
“Deep in Vogue” (2020)
7 p.m. | 62 Mins.
“Deep in Vogue” celebrates the colorful, queer, emotional and political stories of northern vogue and its people. Synonymous with the Black, gay ballrooms of 1980s New York, this documentary asks why we need vogue in Manchester now more than ever. Over the course of a year, filmmakers Dennis Keighron-Foster and Amy Watson charted the buildup to the Manchester ICONS Vogue Ball. Exploring themes from the internal politics of Vogue to its external politics like disenfranchisement of Black youth, LGBTQ issues, a shrinking welfare state, a dearth of art spaces and modes of expression, a reductive and commercialized gay scene and a lack of safe spaces for the truly different. “Deep in Vogue” is about people coming to love and accept themselves, finding a new family through vogue. The film explores the history of vogue and ballroom, in which Black and Latinx gay men and trans people sought an aspirational artistic outlet in the 1980s, in much the same way that gay, queer, trans and QTIPOC people seek a safe space today.
Featured Short Film: “#RecognizeMyHumanity”
Originally from Amherst Massachusetts, DW McCraven is an Interdisciplinary Artist, with works experienced in forms such as theater, drag, installation, movement, film, and music. McCraven’s art unapologetically engages with Blackness and queerness and holds reverence for their Hip Hop theater roots and practice. Learn more here.
“Fall Back Down” (2020)
9 p.m. | 104 Mins.
Nick Colby, once a fearless and passionate activist, is now a shadow of his former self. Ever since the radical love of his life – Lizzie Reardon – went on a humanitarian mission to Nigeria and never bothered to talk to him again, leaving Nick’s heart and idealism in ruins. A fact he masks by championing the slacker lifestyle and perfecting an epic “Who gives a shit” attitude. It can’t hurt if you don’t care anyway.
Nick’s jaded antics and brutal sarcasm may be funny, but the misery behind his bravado is painfully transparent to his sister Althea and her girlfriend Seb – the only people still close to Nick. Nick’s long run of getting (himself) fired from tedious, dead-end jobs leads to employment in a sweatshop – raising fears about how much lower he’ll sink and what they can possibly do to restore him to the anarchist royalty he once was.
At the Everly garment factory, Nick meets Reena – an uptight, young South Asian woman who takes an immediate dislike to his presence. Retaliating against Reena’s ongoing hostility ignites a spark of engagement that slowly rekindles Nick’s blackened soul.
When Reena and Nick witness what she suspects is murder disguised as a workplace accident, she begs Nick not to tell anyone what they’ve seen. They are both disposable in the eyes of their bosses and the textile mafia. Forced together through this shared secret, Nick and Reena embark on an odyssey of investigation and survival, ultimately realizing they are not so incompatible after all.
Their feelings for each other grow in step with the threat of being assassinated – and then Lizzie shows up. Now Nick doesn’t know who or what he wants. His indecisiveness lays the groundwork for a series of misunderstandings and misadventures that crush the fragile new romance with Reena. And to make matters worse, Lizzie is going to blow their cover to serve her own sense of justice.
Featured Short Film: “Video Vengeance”
A nod to the cult, b-movie–era of horror films, this campy, absurdist femme revenge film tells the story of two video store clerks and what they do with the people that disrespect their space. Learn more here.
Sept. 26-28
“Cicada” (2020)
6 p.m. | 94 Mins.
New York City, 2013. Somethings are worth waiting 17 years for, others should have come out sooner. After a string of unsuccessful and awkward encounters with women, Ben goes “back on the dick.” “Cicada” follows Ben, a young bisexual man, as he comes out to the world and develops an intense relationship with Sam, a man of color struggling with deep wounds of his own. As the summer progresses and their intimacy grows, Ben’s past crawls to the surface.
Featured Short Film: “Mask Off”
Trey a closeted high-school senior sets aside his inner anxieties as he journeys to his classmates birthday extravaganza. Learn more here.
“No Hard Feelings” (2020)
9 p.m. | 92 Mins.
A story about re-discovering one’s past and building a future together. Parvis, the son of exiled Iranians, copes with life in his small hometown by indulging himself with pop culture, Grindr dates and raves. After being caught shoplifting, he is sentenced to community service at a refugee shelter where he meets siblings Banafshe and Amon, who have fled Iran. As a romantic attraction between Parvis and Amon grows, the fragile relationship between the three is put to a test. They find and lose each other throughout a summer of fleeting youth, an intense first love, an attempt at a joint future, as well as the stark realization that, in Germany, they are not equal.
Featured Short: “I Am! We Are Here!”
A documentation concerning the lives of queer, trans* and gender non-conforming people of color in the Bronx. Documents activists, students, educators, mothers, faith based practitioners and various types of community members who are making a difference in their communities. Learn more here.
Sept. 27-29
“Ahead of the Curve” (2020)
4:30 p.m. | 97 Mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ET0qWECkw&feature=emb_logo
The story of one of the most influential women in lesbian history you’ve never heard of and the impact her work continues to have today. Growing up, Franco Stevens never saw any representation of queer women—she didn’t even know it was possible for a woman to be gay. When she realized she was a lesbian, it changed the course of her life. In 1990, Franco created a safe place for lesbians in the form of Curve magazine. Her approach to threats and erasure in the ’90s was to lift all kinds of lesbians up and make them beautifully visible. The magazine helped build a foundation for many intersectional movements being led by today’s activists in the face of accelerating threats to the LGBTQ community. Decades later, as her legacy faces extinction and she reassesses her life after a disabling injury, she sets out to understand visibility work being led by an intersection of queer women today. Featuring Andrea Pino-Silva, Kim Katrin, Denice Frohman, Amber Hikes, Jewelle Gomez, Melissa Etheridge and Lea DeLaria, and a score composed by the legendary Meshell Ndegeocello, “Ahead of the Curve” celebrates the legacy of a movement while considering the agenda of its future.
Featured Short: “Boy Before”
A story about the pains of growing up and having to face the problems that come with it, in a world that seems to suggest that hiding or running away is the only solution. Learn more here.
“Stone Fruit” (2020)
7 p.m. | 95 Mins.
Russ and Manny are an interracial couple that have been together for a while. Russ will tell you it’s been seven years. Manny will clarify they spent two years dating and have been married for five. The two have drifted apart in the marriage and have seemingly come to terms with their decision to divorce at the start of their final trip together to Paso Robles, California. After a wine-fueled threesome with a former friend, the two reignite their passions and animosities toward one another and ultimately reach the conclusion that divorce is the only way to salvage a friendship.
Featured Short Film: “Blue Suit”
John is a hopeless romantic who planned his entire evening around his charismatic friend, Henry. A blue suit, dinner reservations, and maybe even flowers. Learn more here.
Oct. 1-3
“Out Loud” (2020)
7 p.m. | 53 Mins.
Out Loud chronicles the ups and downs of the first season of the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles — the largest group of transgender and gender non-conforming people anywhere in the world who come together regularly to sing. As the choristers gear up for their 2016 public concert debut, they share their inspiring life stories and reveal what it means to be trans in America. This extraordinary chorus makes more than music. It’s making history.
Featured Short: “Finally Leon”
In wintertime, two months after his top surgery, a young transsexual man is driving past an abandoned swimming pool area. A short film about a man who is starting a new life. Learn more here.
“Venus” (2018)
9 p.m. | 95 Mins.
Sid (Debargo Sanyal) is under pressure to marry a nice Indian girl and raise a family. Sid’s “Mamaji” (Zena Daruwalla) yearns to have grandchildren. Her dreams are about to come true, but not in the way she could’ve ever imagined. When Sid comes out as a woman, a 14-year-old boy named Ralph (Jamie Mayers) shows up at her door announcing that Sid is his dad. Ralph, surprised to discover that his biological father is now a woman, thinks having a transgender parent is “pretty cool.” But Ralph hasn’t told his mother and stepfather that he’s tracked her down. And then there is Sid’s boyfriend Daniel (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) who has yet to tell his family of his relationship with Sid. Daniel is nowhere near ready to accept Ralph as a step son and complicate his life further. Sid’s coming out has a snowball effect that forces everyone out of the closet and to get real. What happens when gender, generations and cultures collide to create a truly modern family?
Featured Short: “Roadkill”
Tillie’s lonely life as a roadkill removal worker is destabilized when Wanda, a lively stranger, comes to town. Learn more here.
OCT. 2
In-Person Drive-in Experience: “Dramarama” (2020)
7 p.m. | 91 Mins.
Escondido, California, 1994. It’s the end of summer and Gene is preparing for his high school drama friends’ final murder mystery slumber party. The theatrical hostess, Rose, will fly off to start college the next morning, followed by earnest Claire, magnetic Oscar and sarcastic Ally. Yet Gene has bigger problems than being left behind by his best friends, he wants to come out of the closet but is terrified of what his sheltered Christian best friends might think. Jonathan Wysocki’s nostalgic, funny debut feature is a poignant love letter to drama nerds, late bloomers and the intense friendships of youth.
Oct. 3-5
“The Dilemma of Desire”
4:30 p.m. | 108 Mins.
Entertaining, thrilling and radical, “The Dilemma of Desire” explores the work of four women who are shattering myths and lies about female sexual desire, bodies and – ultimately – power. Groundbreaking artist Sophia Wallace challenges long held ideas of women with her “cliteracy” project, putting front and center the clitoris as fundamental to female orgasm. Dr. Stacey Dutton, a neuroscientist who realized she had never seen a drawing of the clitoris until she discovered Wallace’s work, is now committed to studying its biology and pushing the publishing industry to correct the deliberate omissions of the clitoris in major anatomy textbooks. With 20 years of research, Dr. Lisa Diamond is dismantling outdated notions about women’s arousal. And industrial designer Ti Chang heads Crave, a company dedicated to designing and manufacturing elegant vibrators for women. Providing the embodiment of this work are the personal stories of Umnia, Becca, Jasmine, Sunny and Coriama – five young women discovering and owning their sexuality. “The Dilemma of Desire” is a powerful reminder that true equality will come only when we all arrive at a place of understanding and acknowledgement that women are sexual beings, entitled to live their lives fully within the expression of their desire.
Featured Short: “Take me to the Prom”
Queer folks of all ages share a moment from their high school prom. Learn more here.
“Breaking Fast” (2020)
7 p.m. | 92 Mins.
Mo Hamoud (Haaz Sleiman), a mid-30s doctor living in West Hollywood, is full of passion and optimism which shows in every interaction he has. We meet him as he prepares to host dinner for his family on the first night of Ramadan, the holiest time of year for Mo, when Muslims fast from food, water and impure thoughts and activities from sunrise to sunset. Controlled, stable and decisive, Mo is thrown off track when he finds his boyfriend, Hassan, in their bedroom, anxious and worried that he is about to be “out”-ed to his conservative, less-accepting family. Mo’s happy night is over as Hassan makes a culturally-influenced decision to end their relationship. Jumping forward a year, Mo is still reeling and alone as Ramadan begins. It’s the first night of Ramadan when Mo’s best friend, Sam, forces him to come out to his birthday party in an effort to help him escape his own head. There Mo meets Kal, an all-American white guy—and Mo’s opposite in every way. The two have an unlikely spark which leads to a nightlong walk through the streets of West Hollywood.
The 10th annual Fabulous IFF will be held Sept. 24-Oct. 3, with virtual films streamed statewide. Passes are available for $90 or individual tickets may be purchased for $12. This year’s drive-in experience will be held Oct. 2 at The Players Parking Lot, located at 838 N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota and tickets are $30 per car.
To purchase passes or virtual tickets or to donate to the Harvey Milk Festival’s scholarship fund, click here. To purchase drive-in tickets or donate, click here.
For additional streaming content during this year’s festival, visit the HMF Facebook page and Fabulous IFF Facebook page. For more information, visit the Fabulous IFF’s website.
