THURSDAY, MAY 9 | 7PM
Screening Location: The Center
208 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011
THE CURATORS
Valeria A. Avina
Award-winning queer + nonbinary film director, actor, clown, and voice coach from Durango, Mexico based in NYC. They teach voice at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of Arts. Further, they’re the Regional Coordinator for Latin America at The Fitzmaurice Institute and a Pediatric Clown at Healthy Humor in New York City hospitals. Award recipient of: Best Film Noir at Flow Film Festival 2021 for “Do you Believe Me Now”, a short film focused on giving light to the feminicides in Mexico; Winner of The NYLFF 2022 for “Entre Guerra y Guerra, Afuera La Bicicleta,” a short story on kids repeating history through play; and Winner of The Late Night Competition at Series Fest 2023 for the pilot “One Million Girls”. Their latest film, Even in the Light (2024) shot in Mexico City is currently running festival circuits. The latter was semifinalist in 2022, 2023 and 2024 for PANO Microgrants. Valeria is a 2021 City Artist Corps Grant Recipient, 2021 NALIP Diverse Women in Media Forum Emerging Content Creators Scholarship Recipient, and 2023 Doreen Montalvo ‘Do It Anyway’ Scholarship Finalist.
Nicolle Márquez (she/they)
Queer multi-hyphenate filmmaker: producer / writer / director / editor. Born and raised in the tropics of Puerto Rico and currently based in the concrete jungle of New York City. Co-founder of Chimera Films LLC, a production house catered to LGBTQ+ inclusive storytelling. Academic studies include a Master Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies, a Master’s Degree in Theater and Dramaturgy, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Media Communications and Photography. Nicolle’s lens as a filmmaker focuses on stories of sorts where societal systematic defaults are challenged and put in conversation through intersectional themes that highlight the beauty and complexity of identity, emotions and human relations. Recent highlighted works include: the documentary short “City of Silence,” the short film “AVA”, the short film “Thank You,” and the documentary short film “Ana Macho: The Caribbean Pop Star.”
THE FILMS
Daddy Issues
USA | 5 minutes
A young dominatrix-in-training receives an unexpected client.
Directed by: Matt Campanella and Stephanie Chloé Hepner
Screenwriter: Matt Campanella
Producer: Matt Campanella, Anthony Campanella, Stephanie Chloé Hepner, Hardy Awadjie
Cinematographer: Nicholas Kalajdzic
Editor: Katie Rose Cornblath
Cast: Matt Campanella, David Kelsey, Milan Anderson, Maria Carrozza
Primos
PUERTO RICO | 22 minutes
During a teenage road trip to the west coast of Puerto Rico, 16-year-old Cristóbal begins to suspect that his crush, Yazmín, and cousin Marcos are secretly seeing each other.
Writer/Director: Ricardo J Varona
Co-Writer: Ida Yazdi
Producer: Tony Yang
Director of Photography: Katherine Castro
Editor: Leeda Yazdi
Composer: Benjamin Louis Brody
Cast: Gustavo Rosa, Brian Rittenhouse, Sharlene Cruz, Valeria Pomales Rosado
History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms
USA | 9 minutes
Coming of age story that follows an angsty, butch Latina navigating puberty with the help of her imaginary best friend, a civil war ghost.
Director: Lorena Russi
Created by: Lorena Russi
Writer: Lorena Russi
Cinematography: Carlos Cardona
Editor: Carl Conway Maguire
Music: Adrian Womack
Sound Design: Maia Macdonald
Art Direction: Amanda Binioris
Cast: Lorena Russi, Adam Jepsen, Michelleadonna , Savannah DesOrmeaux, Karina Milan, Sam Gonzalez
Honey & Milk
USA | 14 minutes
Grayson and Alice spend a final weekend together to dismantle their domestic life as Grayson embarks on a journey of gender expansion.
Director: Lisa "Dash" Donato
Screenwriter: Jennifer "JP" Parkhill, Damian Quinn, Joseph Quinn
Producer: Tani Paige Shukla
Cast: Damian Joseph Quinn, Jennifer "JP" Parkhill
Ñaños
USA | 16 minutes
In the heart of Corona, Queens, two Ecuadorian siblings are placed at odds with each other when one reveals a sudden urge to leave their home.
Directed: Emilio Subía
Screenwriter: Emilio Subía
Producer: Nicolás Tepper
Editor: Adrian Kader
Cinematographer: Nicolas Tepper
Cast: Isaías Badilla, Sol León, Josué Caraballo, Nabil Tawil, Liliana Serrano
Aurora
USA | 17 minutes
Over a summer’s eve in Prospect Park with her crush Sol, Aurora —smothered by her current relationship and career— is given a glimpse into a life she never thought possible.
Director: Alina Rancier
Writer: Alina Rancier
Producer: Alina Rancier
Cast: Nicolle Marquez, Samantha Mishinski
Fernanda
USA | 13 minutes
An angry Latinx dyke in her twenties wants to make the world a better place, but can barely keep her own life together. Fernanda and her friends deconstruct their lives, fuck them up, and then continue to deconstruct them.
Director: Mar Angélica Molina
Screenwriter: Mar Angélica Molina
Producer: Gia Rigoli, Jake Murphy
Cinematographer: Katherine Castro
Editor: Liron Reiter
Cast: Lorena Russi, Yara Martinez, Justina Machado, Ellen Tamaki, Adam Jepsen, Rad Pereira, Emma Ramos, Portland Thomas
Una Puta en Metepec
MEXICO | 2 minutes
In a world suffocated by sexism, a woman’s inner voice becomes her weapon of defiance, echoing a universal struggle for liberation and self-empowerment.
Director: Melanie Nox
Mano Santa
PUERTO RICO | 13 minutes
Don Isidoro, better known as "Mano santa" or healer in his hometown, shelters his grandson for a few days after he ran away from his home.
Director: Stephanie Camacho
Writer: Raúl Abner Samrah
Producer: Samara Pérez Santiago
Cast: Raymond Rassi Maldonado, Jean Chocano