SQIFF 2019 Opening Night Shorts

Sold Out – we can’t guarantee but there’s a good chance of returns if you come on the night 15 minutes before the event

We launch the Festival with a stellar lineup of documentary shorts focused on LGBTQIA+ community and activism. Adam and the Alphas depicts the camaraderie of gay rugby team, the Glasgow Alphas. Bodies Like Oceans follows self-described queer fat freak and photographer, Shoog McDaniel. I AM! We are Here! presents portraits of Queer, Trans* and Gender Non Conforming People of Colour in the Bronx, whilst Unspoken sees queer and trans Asian Americans writing emotional letters to their families. We Are Here follows members of the Manchester House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Button OUT! is an animated homage to Canadian filmmaker Kathleen Mullen’s history of protest through the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives’ massive button collection.

We hope to welcome several of the filmmakers for a Q&A. Followed by a drinks reception at CCA sponsored by Drygate Brewing Co.

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale £0-£8 depending on what you can afford. To book, please use the button below or call CCA box office on +44 (0)141 352 4900.

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ACCESS

This screening has an age recommendation of N/C 12+.

All films have English audio with English language subtitles/captions. The introduction and Q&A will be BSL interpreted. Hearing loop available.

Audio description available. Films are otherwise largely accessible to English-speaking blind and partially sighted audiences with lots of explanatory dialogue and relatively bright images. Large print versions of handouts available.

CCA has good access for wheelchair users, gender neutral toilets, and welcomes assistance animals. Click here for CCA’s Accessibility Guide.

A Quiet Space and programme content notes will be available. Click here for a list of content notes for the 2019 Festival.

Comfy seating (bean bags) are available. If you would like to reserve this, please contact access@sqiff.org.

We have a limited travel fund to assist people to come to the Festival for those who could not otherwise afford to attend. If you would like to apply for this, please contact access@sqiff.org.

Tickets

In order to make SQIFF more accessible to those on a low income, we use a sliding scale ticket price of £0-£8 for our events. You can choose what you pay based on your circumstances – you won’t be asked for any proof / ID, we just ask that you are honest! Our ticket sales go towards supporting the vital work of LGBTQ+ filmmakers, artists and organisers. If you have a free ticket and can no longer use it, please contact the relevant venue box office to let them know so it can be used by someone else. For more info on what you should pay, click here.

Bodies Like Oceans (13m)
Dir. Kat Cory, Country: USA, Year: 2019, Language/s: English
A dreamy portrait of photographer Shoog McDaniel, a self-described queer fat freak, whose work with fat bodies in nature transgresses reality.

Content note: Discussion of racism, misogyny, and fatphobia.

Adam and the Alphas (12m)
Dir. Stuart Thomas Graham, Country: UK, Year: 2019, Language/s: English
Made by students on the 2019 Documentary Production course at Stirling University.

Content note: Discussion of homophobia.

I AM! We Are Here! (7m)
Dir: Seyi Adebanjo, Country: USA, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
I AM! We Are Here! multimedia project documents the vitality and spirit of Queer, Trans* and Gender Non Conforming People of Color in the Bronx.

Content note: None.

Unspoken (17m)
Dir: Patrick G. Lee, Country: USA, Year: 2019, Language/s: English
Unspoken is the collective outpouring of six queer and trans Asian Americans as they grapple with their queerness and consider what family acceptance might look like. The interviewees hail from across the Asian diaspora—from Sri Lanka and Myanmar to China and South Korea. Some are not yet out to their parents, and this film is their way of doing so.

Content note: Discussion of homophobia and transphobia.

We Are Here (12m)
Dir. Ellie Hodgetts, Country: UK, Year: 2019, Language/s: English
This documentary follows members of the Manchester House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – a worldwide order of Queer nuns whose motto is to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt – as they continue to take a stand against ignorance and spread love wherever they go.

Content note: Discussion and depiction of homophobia and transphobia, including scenes of violence.

Button OUT! (4m)
Dir: Kathleen Mullen, Country: Canada, Year: 2018, Language/s: English
Button OUT! is a lively animated personal homage to the filmmaker’s own history of protest and the wider story of LGBTQ2S+ experiences contained in the collection of over 1200 buttons housed at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in Toronto.

Content note: Reference to sex, homophobia, transphobia, and racism.