Mahalo to all the filmmakers who contributed to the 2023 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival Shorts Program, and to everyone who viewed these remarkable queer shorts from around the world. A hui hou!
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
2022 • United States • Director: Angelique Kalani Axelrode
Blending narrative and movement based storytelling, and inspired by the mo’olelo of Hi’iakaikapoliopele, a tale of two sisters overcoming tension in their relationship.
AGENTS OF CHANGE, PROJECT: POLYMER
2023 • United States • Director: Jett Garrison
When a spy mission goes awry, a rookie secret agent must earn the trust of his partner if they’re going to bring an evil mastermind to justice.
BI THE WAY
2022 • English • Germany, Israel • Director: Amir Ovadia Steklov
A short funny and intimate animation about the difficulties of being a non-binary person in a binary world.
CHICHO
2022 • English, Spanish • Canada • Director: Arlen Aguayo Stewart
A surreal, experimental short film that depicts the impact of the Venezuelan crisis on its diaspora, where displacement, survivor’s guilt, and religious surveillance collide.
GET FREE
2022 • English, Spanish • Canada • Director: Ray de Mesa
An unwitting drag artist faces an unusual request from an enigmatic stranger in exchange for a free dress.
GOOD TIMES & THATʻS OK
2022 • English • Australia • Director: Amanda Kaye
A 70-year-old closeted woman has to confront her faith as she learns what true love is from a sex worker named Destiny.
HER CURVE
2022 • English • United States • Director: Stacy Jill Calver, Jaclyn Chesen
Jordan’s falling for her art model in this queer and quirky short film based on the graphic novel GRACE by Eisner Award Nominee Kris Dresen.
HONEY & MILK
2023 • English • United States • Director: Lisa “Dash” Donato
Grayson and Alice spend a final weekend together to dismantle their domestic life as Grayson embarks on a journey of gender expansion.
LʻAPPRENANTE (THE LEARNER)
2022 • English, French • United States • Director: Angelique Kalani Axelrode
An American college student takes French immersion classes in the process of “finding herself abroad” in Paris.
MAKING UP
2023 • English • United Kingdom • Director: Ryan Paige
Itʻs the late 1980s in London and Ted, who is diagnosed with a hereditary illness, must reconcile with estranged daughter, Cassandra.
MUÑECA (DOLL)
2023 • Spanish • Spain • Directors: Carlos González, Alberto Macasoli
During a cab ride home after partying, 21-year-old Tomás finds that what seems to start as a normal conversation between client and cab driver, begins to take a nuance out of the ordinary.
OKAY, NEVERMIND
2022 • Hebrew • Israel • Director: Yaaley Weiss
A young woman in a house party is looking for love. The problem? She’s a lesbian millennial with social anxiety.
OVER EASY
2023 • English • United States • Director: Jiyeon Kim-Myung
Two women, who just wanted to have a fun and casual hookup, are delivered a giant egg that’ll hatch into their baby.
QUEERFULLY DEPARTED
2023 • English • United States • Director: Trent Nakamura
When Mimi Pascual dies in the middle of a hysteroscopy, her queer archangel reveals that her soulmate is the doctor who accidentally killed her.
THE OTHER JOHN
A found footage micro-short spying into the sometimes violent ways hook-up culture destabilizes gay men’s ability to make honest and truthful connections.
THERE ARE THINGS TO DO
Urvashi Vaid, an outspoken immigrant, lesbian and woman of color was an LGBTQ+ superhero who believed in human rights for all people and helped shape the modern day gay rights movement.
TO KEN WITH LOVE
TUĪ NÁ
A seventeen year-old boy struggles to reconcile his burgeoning queer identity with his filial duties and expectations from his Chinese immigrant mother.
WONDERS
YEAR OF THE OAT MILK LATTE
2023• English • United States • Director: Philip Embury
An actor resolves to change his life, but after getting addicted to designer caffeine–and running out of Oat Milk–the coffee grains of success quickly slip through his fingers.
YOU CAN STAY OVER (IF YOU WANT)
2022 • English • United States • Director: Zach Siegel
If Alex sleeps over, he’d have to tell his hookup something about himself that’s usually a dealbreaker.