11th PRAIRIE PRIDE Film Festival Announces Full Film Selections
The 2021 Prairie Pride Film Festival (PPFF) is pleased to reveal the films selected for our full festival for the 11th annual celebration, taking place from Thursday, July 15 – Sunday, July 18, 2021 virtually on https://ppff.festivee.com/
Due to a record number of submissions & outreaches the festival is able to present 50 films during this year’s festival. With the new size of the festival this year, the release of the films will be a little different. All films will be viewable on Thursday July 15th. Due to agreements with distributors, our FEATURE FILMS will only be viewable until Sunday July 18th, 2021. However, our SHORT PROGRAMS will be viewable until Thursday July 22nd, 2021.
Festival passes are $25 this year and include all 50 films. Passes can be purchased at this link: https://ppff.festivee.com/passes
Festival Details:
Feature Films: July 15th – July 18th 2021
Short Films: July 15th – July 22nd 2021
Price: $25
Virtual Festival Site: https://ppff.festivee.com/
2021 PRAIRIE PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL FEATURE FILM LINE UP
Feature Films
All films are viable Thursday, July 15th through Sunday, July 18th, 20201 at https://ppff.festivee.com/films
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WORKHORSE QUEEN Director: Angela Washko LINK: https://ppff.festivee.com/workhorse-queen
Mrs. Kasha Davis is the queen of the cul-de-sac.
By day, Ed Popil worked as the manager of a telemarketing center in post-industrial Rochester, New York for 18 years. By night, he transformed into drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis. Not your average aspiring pop star drag queen, Mrs. Kasha Davis is a 1960’s era housewife trying to liberate herself from domestic toil through performing at night in secret – an homage to Ed’s own mother. After seven years of auditioning to compete on reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ed Popil was finally cast onto the show and thrust into a full time entertainment career at the late age of 44. Workhorse Queen is a documentary film exploring the complexities of mainstream television’s impact on queer performance culture. In addition to following Ed’s life and career before and after being cast onto RuPaul’s Drag Race, the film focuses on the growing divide between members of a small town drag community – those who have been on television, and those who have not. |
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JUMP DARLING Director: PHIL CONNELL LINK: https://ppff.festivee.com/Jump-Darling
Half-prepped before a dressing room mirror in the back of a bustling city gay bar, Russell, an actor turned drag queen, struggling to find his voice, is given a wrenching ultimatum. Overcome by indecision, he escapes to his grandmother’s house in the country. There he finds sardonic Margaret in steep decline. In a perfect, if precarious, solution for both of them, he moves in to protect her from her greatest fear—the local nursing home. In no time, Russell is lighting up the local college bar with his alter ego Fishy Falters. Antagonized by his overprotective mother, a sexy-though-mysterious college boy, a cockney city gay bar owner, and the specter of his failed-artist grandfather, Russell struggles to realize a bold new identity. Meanwhile, Margaret fights to retake control despite her faltering mind. Featuring the brilliant Cloris Leachman in her final starring role before her death in 2021, JUMP, DARLING pairs love of drag with an aging iconic diva to ask the questions about what inspires us to carry on. |
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GIVE OR TAKE Director: Paul Riccio LINK: https://ppff.festivee.com/giver-or-take
GIVE OR TAKE is about love, loss, connection, acceptance, and what it truly means to be home. It’s heartfelt, funny, and real. In the end, we learn that there’s a comfort to the complexities we allow each other, that love can always surprise us, and that a person is far more than the stories we tell about them. Martin’s (Jamie Effros) a pragmatist who’s checked the boxes of an acceptable life yet feels disconnected, especially from his father, Kenneth, a distant man Martin could never figure out. Their relationship got more complicated when Kenneth came out after his wife died. For the first time, he was able to live openly and honestly as a gay man. He found love with a younger man, his lawn guy, Ted (Norbert Leo Butz), and they’d been living together in Ken’s house on Cape Cod ever since. When Kenneth dies, Martin goes home to sell the house while sharing it with Ted. Grieving, they circle each other, butt heads, and negotiate how to remember the different man they both loved, and the significance of what he left behind. |
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NO STRAIGHT LINES Director: VIVIAN KLEIMAN LINK: https://ppff.festivee.com/no-straight-lines–the-rise-of-queer
The Rise of Queer Comics
Five scrappy queer comic book artists journey from DIY work and isolation to the cover of Time Magazine and the international stage, offering a fascinating window into everything from the AIDS crisis and workplace discrimination to the search for love and a good haircut. Their work and personal stories are sure to make you laugh, but also make you think about the challenges and triumphs encountered and overcome along the way. |
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NO ORDINARY MAN Director: Aisling Chin-Yee & Chase Joynt LINK: https://ppff.festivee.com/no-ordinary-man
No Ordinary Man is an in-depth look at the life of musician and trans culture icon Billy Tipton. Complicated, beautiful and historically unrivaled, this groundbreaking film shows what is possible when a community collaborates to honor the legacy of an unlikely hero.
For decades, the life of American Jazz musician Billy Tipton was framed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. In No Ordinary Man, Tipton’s story is re-imagined and performed by trans artists as they collectively paint a portrait of an unlikely hero. Together, the filmmakers join Tipton’s son Billy Jr. to reckon with a complicated and contested legacy: how do you tell the story of someone who was hiding in plain sight yet desperate to be seen? |
2021 PRAIRIE PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL SHORT FILM LINE UP
Short Film Programs
All films are viable Thursday, July 15th through Thursday, July 22nd, 20201 at https://ppff.festivee.com/short-films
NEBRASKA VOICES
This collection celebrates voices from our great state of Nebraska!
https://ppff.festivee.com/nebraska-shorts
HELLO MY NAME IS | directed by Chris Machian (USA-Nebraska) 00:29:57
Exploring the Transgender experience through the selection of a new name.
RED STATE BLUES| directed by Channing Roos (USA-Nebraska) 00:24:57
Mitch, a D.C. lawyer who’s just lost everything, finds out he’s adopted when he inherits a gay bar in Nebraska.
EVERY DAY | directed by Eli Rigatuso (USA-Nebraska)
Every Day is a spoken-word piece written by Eli Rigatuso brought to life with video and stills along with a re-enactment, directed by Eli, of a couple of key points in his life. After coming out as transgender to his family and friends in 2015 at the tender age of 50. There were mixed reactions to his being authentic about himself and his gender identity and expression. He has always been one to use his life experiences to help elevate knowledge and awareness when it comes to the LGBTQ+ Community but after coming out as transgender it became apparent he needed to heal some trauma around his gender identity. This film expresses some of that trauma and shares the hero’s journey to find himself. Today Eli identifies as a queer trans-masculine Two Spirit of the Menominee nation and as his story has evolved it has taken on a whole new meaning not only for himself but everyone around him.
ROADKILL | directed by Aliza Brugger (USA-Nebraska) 15:00
Tillie’s lonely life as a roadkill removal worker is destabilized when Wanda, a lively stranger, comes to town.
SAPPHIC LOVE
Sapphic Love is a collection of shorts from around the world that amplifies and explores the mysteries of the lesbian spirit.
https://ppff.festivee.com/sapphic-love
THEY | directed by SOFÍA USACHENKO (SPAIN) 0:2:31
The narrative features a relationship between two young women who at some point come to realize their passion towards each other morphed into something bigger. Their romance transforms into a deep, dauntingly inexorable bond they cannot break
LEAP | directed by Juan Baio, Eino Antonio (Argentina) 00:02:37
On the rooftop of a massive building, surrounded by the blazing Buenos Aires’ skyline, two friends are taking a relaxing sunbath. In the flash of an instant an unexpected event takes place, which will call into question their friendship and leave them both on the brink of a resolution that could change their lives.
ROSA | directed by Biagio Cilia and Marco Farruggio (ITALY) 00:11:00
Claudia, a young film director is working on a movie about her grandma,Rosa, a woman who’s been marginalised because of her sexual orientation. Forced into a marriage that she didn’t want, Rosa entertained a secret relationship with Carmela, until their husbands found out and Rosa was condemned to a life of shame. Claudia, fond of her grandma and her story, makes this film to celebrate her story and her courage, but most of all to show it to Rosa, who is now very old and affected by senile dementia, and unfortunately can’t understand what the film is about when Claudia shows it to her.
TONE OF THE CITY | directed by Viviane Rodrigues (BRAZIL) 00:17:53
On the rooftop of a massive building, surrounded by the blazing Buenos Aires’ skyline, two friends are taking a relaxing sunbath. In the flash of an instant an unexpected event takes place, which will call into question their friendship and leave them both on the brink of a resolution that could change their lives.
SHOW YOUR HUE | directed by Doménica Montesdeoca Carvajal (Ecuador) 00:03:25
Chloe doesn’t let anything distract her in her life, constantly busy with her work, she doesn’t have time in her life for anything, not even for love. Her monotonous and faded life changes as she tries to get into one of the train wagons and gets caught in the crowd of people, getting in contact with someone causes her to experience the world in color for the first time. From this moment on she focuses her days on meeting that person again, waiting at the station.
RISING FLOWER | directed by Beatrice Yilin Jiang (USA) 00:05:35
A teenage girl Naomi invites her secret crush and best girl-friend, Kennedy to bake cookies. While Kennedy just got dumped by her boyfriend and romantic tensions rise between these two girls.
NIGHT DRIVE | directed by Despina Athanassiadis (FRANCE) 00:17:00
Sabine, a 50 years old female truck driver, works for a French company which has recently been acquired by a conglomerate. Handling new rules, the boss asks Sabine to go on the road for a night delivery 400 kilometers away with a new employee, 20 years old rookie called Manon. Will she agree?
DOCS
Our Documentary shorts explore real voices from the LGBTQA+ community.
https://ppff.festivee.com/documentaries
SORRY WE MISSED YOU | directed by Craig Bettendorf (USA) 00:33:54
Every day people are born and every day people die. What we’re able to accomplish in our relatively short lives can have a profound effect on others and even on society and the world. These are the stories of some of those who contributed greatly and for whatever reason aren’t exactly front-of-mind in our collective consciousness. SORRY WE MISSED YOU.
MISS BLUE MOON | directed by Hadassah Curry (USA) 00:09:45
Newly crowned Miss Blue Moon 2020, Scarlet Fairweather, has been struggling to do live in-person events due to the Pennsylvania State Stay-In-Home Order since March. Scarlet Fairweather finds other ways to hustle and maintain their income during this pandemic by continuing to be the performer they are.
CHILDREN OF PARIS | directed by Brandy Creek (USA) 00:33:47
Three Baltimore HipHop/Pop artist get candid about their music and being gay in the industry.
VISIBLE | A Student Documentary | directed by Elena Hutchison, Chisom Ukoha, Autumn Love (USA) 00:05:23
A student-filmed documentary grown out of the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, VISIBLE is a story chronicling the lives of trans and non-binary young people as they face one of the most difficult years in history. Our film seeks to answers how quarantine affects gender presentation–and, most importantly– hopes to shed light on a community easily forgotten in the shadows of a pandemic.
BREAKING THE SILENCE | directed by Jackson Wai Chung Tse (CANADA) 00:04:40
A child of the fifties, Paul Wong grew up surrounded by racism and oppressive expectations. Radical, queer, out and proud, Paul’s art busts these stereotypes.
KALEIDOSCOPE SHORTS
“kaleidoscope” is derived from the Ancient Greek word καλός (kalos), “beautiful, beauty”, εἶδος (eidos), “that which is seen: form, shape” and σκοπέω (skopeō), “to look to, to examine”, hence “observation of beautiful forms.”
This short program celebrates the magic of movement, music, and creative expression that stands on its own.
https://ppff.festivee.com/kaleidoscope
MIEL – Orchids | directed by Clarissa Itschert, Miguel Cármenes (UK) 00:03:37
The video follows a girl through the night as she digs deeper into her own mind and her desires after finding a mysterious tin can. The tin can takes her on a ride she will never forget and a kiss entails a big revelation.
Frankie Animal – Peaches| directed by Jaan Sinka (ESTONIA) 00:03:14
Who said romance is dead?
BODIES OF DESIRE | directed byVarsha Panikar & Saad Nawab (INDIA) 00:03:41
Using Varsha Panikar’s poetry series by the same name, as the point of departure, Bodies of Desire is a visual poetry film co-directed by her and Saad Nawab. The film captures four sets of lovers amid passion; to create a portrait of tender intimacy, of longing, of discovery, of desire, of embrace and care, of profound companionship. It is a sensual celebration of gender-less love and desire, inspired by the poet’s lived reality. The text follows the poet’s journey of healing and self-acceptance as they rediscover love, passion, and identity after encountering their muse, their lover, who acts as an encounter, a rupture that awakens the poet and their desire to express their inner truth. Immersed in the lover’s thought, the poet recalls moments spent in the embrace, the touch, the smell, the little things that evoke feelings and emotions in them, that are complex, multidimensional, and fluid; and inevitably put them on a path of discovering their own power and uniqueness.
Mergulhe em mim| directed by Daniel Zacariotti (BRAZIL) 00:02:30
“Mergulhe em Mim” arises from the need to debate the space of the body, touch and sex in contemporary times. Bringing light to the narratives and bodies of LGBTQIA + subjects, the multimedia project started in 2018 aims, based on biographical and poetic reports supported by audiovisual and photographic materials, to show the importance of these subjects in a collective space and not only private, especially for dissident subjects of sex and gender. We must understand the body as a political space and, the queer body, as a weapon against the subjective dictatorships of the world.
Player – Linn da Quebrada | directed by Sabrina Duarte (BRAZIL) 00:05:59
With a trans women choir, the clip records a prayer song recorded in an abandoned church in são paulo, brazil. In the current context of brazil where trans women die daily, in the clip they unite and sing the request “stop burning us, stop killing us”. The clip is a way to affirm the life of the trans woman in all spaces. On the day of recording the clip, the police stopped recording due to homophobia with trans women, without arguments, they just said that “they didn’t want us to record”. There is a scene with these women near the police car, this scene is the actual police record at the scene preventing the recordings. This clip is more than a music video, it is an act of struggle and resistance of these women.
DUAL | directed by Ch.Martinez (SPAIN) 00:04:35
DORIAN join forces with PIMP FLACO to claim the right to do what each one considers appropriate with their sexual and sentimental life. DUAL is a hymn to individuality and diversity, to the need to freely live all spheres of life, oblivious to the gaze and opinions of the intolerant.
GOOD GIRL | directed by David Cash (CANADA) 00:03:21
In this latest music video from Dion Yorkie — heavily art directed scenes come together to tell a narrative that capturing some of the wimsy and magic queer people experience growing up living their truth primarily in their bedroom mirror(s) in private.
Lo que disparás | directed by Axel Cheb Terrab (Argentina) 00:05:00
Greta drinks the poison that brings back her toxic relationship with her ex-girlfriend. This short story was shot as a music video for the argentinian band Enconexión.
THE UNITY OF MEN IN LOVE | directed by Zachary James (USA) 00:06:35
Broadway and Opera star Zachary James in a music video of an original song cycle by Queer studies professor and poet, George Klawitter and composer, Persis Vehar
LAVENDER INTERNATIONAL
LAVENDER INTERNATIONAL celebrates international voices who discovered they aren’t as straight as they thought… and to all those that made them realize it!
https://ppff.festivee.com/lavender-international
CHRISTIAN IN THE CLOSET| directed by Joel Stephen Fleming (Australia) 00:15:00
The uber awkward Christian leads a double life, avoiding the confrontation of coming out as gay to his father (A Christian Pastor) or telling his atheist best friend and new lover about his faith. Until the romantic advances of Erin, a female parishioner forces Christians two worlds on a collision course.
BEFORE THE ERUPTION | directed by Roberto Pérez Toledo (SPAIN) 00:09:26
Although a volcanic eruption can occur without any prior signal, volcanoes will most likely issue different types of warnings before the eruption begins. We barely saw it coming.
CLOSETS | directed by Jiya Bhardwaj (INDIA) 00:18:06
Closets (Almariyaan) is a journey of a middle – class Indian couple who work on learning and accepting their son’s sexuality and help make a comfortable ground for him to come out of ” the closet” , but when the actual truth comes out, they can’t come to terms with it. A perfect satire to bring out the importance and acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community in India in the current times, the film is a fun ride that leaves you with thinking about much more than it projects.
DEPARTURE | directed by Eddie Chen (TAIWAN) 00:16:31
In order to return the passport after break up, Tien and Fan meet up in a Japanese style pub. After few drinks, the conversations go from awkwardly to vividly, however they both avoiding the topic of how they broke up. While the beer turns spoiled, Tien rushes to the convenience store to get the ice to fix it, Fan on the other hand get rid off the beer. They both know that they can never go back.
GETTING MARRIED | directed by Bruno Montenegro (PERU) 00:04:55
Bruno is a transgender boy who doesn’t believe in marriage, but a few months ago he learned that his friends from Iquitos Almendra and Luko were married in Argentina and returned to Peru. So he decided to go to Iquitos to dispel his doubts.
IS YOUR TEEN A HOMOSEXUAL? | directed by Tamara Scherbak (CANADA) 00:04:50
‘Is Your Teen A Homosexual?’ is a short allegorical comedy that satirizes Trump’s America by using the style of “teen hygiene” educational films of the 1950s. Johnny comes out to his family, who is helped by an off-screen Narrator, but stereotypes and prejudices prove to be stronger than family ties.
LIKE FREAKS | directed by Carla Nobre (BRAZIL) 00:16:17
André and Carol are two friends who travel to New York together. They are typical millennials: desperately looking for love and pleasure but unable to establish true connections. In order not to deal with the void, André sinks into all the dating apps and enters a dangerous spiral of sex and drugs. Carol is obsessed with a Dating Coach because she thinks he will finally help her with her attachment issues. But sometimes some minor questions are answered at the same time as other major ones arise. Throughout the journey, they realize that the void they seek to fill is much greater than they thought, but they also discover the value of friendship.
SHEER QORMA | directed by Faraz Arif Ansari (INDIA) 00:30:00
Sheer Qorma is a tale of love and acceptance told through characters that are queer, Muslim women and non-binary individuals of color. Sheer Qorma is the first ever Indian film to have a non-binary protagonist.
STROKE OF FATE | directed by Aharon Jinjihashvili (CANADA) 00:11:45
In a hospital waiting room, family wounds are exposed as a mother and son wait for news of their loved one’s prognosis. Starring Sheila McCarthy (Agnes in Umbrella Academy).
MATES | directed by Anna Lucía Alcalá Pérez (MEXICO) 00:07:16
This is a story about soulmates, and how a relationship – of any kind – isn’t black and white, it’s a life full of color. Sometimes just one person is enough for us to feel less lonely.
SUGARBABIES | directed by Leo Lebeau (UK) 00:18:25
There’s only one thing these Queer, unapologetic gold diggers love more than a big fat c**k. A big fat wallet. Desperate Glenn will do anything to hold on to his only regular Sugar Daddy – but when vengeful Diamond appears on the scene with their sights set on stealing him. How far will Glenn go to keep him? Sugarbabies is an outrageously dark comedy parodying the trashy world of reality TV..
USGAY
USGay is a collection of queer shorts that highlight voices from the USA.
https://ppff.festivee.com/usgay
DIFFERENT QUAKE | directed by Jack D. Fleischer (USA) 00:06:03
During an intense earthquake, a love triangle erupts between two church missionaries Mark (Carson Nicely) and Luke (Sam Kaminer), and their potential convert Vanessa (Shawn Kathryn Kane). But that different quake saves and transforms them. Directed by Jack D. Fleischer. Written by Brandon Shim. Comedy, USA.
DRAM BOY | directed by Kevin Anthony (USA) 00:28:01
Max is dating his dream boyfriend, Jason – in secret. Jason’s everything he wants and everything he doesn’t need.
THE LAST GIFT | directed by Alex Preston (USA) 00:06:00
When Jamie brings a special gift to his ex-boyfriend’s college graduation, he learns that loving someone also means letting them go.
THE UNSURE MASSEUR | directed by Reid Waterer (USA) 00:14:58
Trapped in our gig jobs economy, an aspiring masseur learns the sacrifices required from an experienced massage therapist.
in[APP]licable | directed by Cam Owen (USA) 00:11:09
After moving from small-town Louisiana to New Orleans, Ted navigates the city using a dating app.
OutNebraska is a 501(c)3 non-partisan organization serving LGBTQ+ Nebraskans through advocacy, education, and celebration. We support local community events, provide training and presentations, and actively work on issues at the Nebraska Legislature. Mark your calendars for the 10th annual Prairie Pride Film Festival, July 16th-18th, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/PrairiePrideFilmFestival/