A staple of every BAAFF season, Queer and Here is self-expression and identity beyond orientation.
This year, the Queer and Here shorts block will both be shown in-person on Friday, October 13 at 9:00pm and run as video-on-demand from October 13, 7:30PM until Monday, October 23, 2023, 12:00PM ET. If viewing on-demand, the content must be started within the designated viewing window and, once started, you have up to 24 hours to finish playing the content or until the end of the viewing window – whichever comes first.
Total Runtime: 69 minutes
Cousins | Fish | Gianna | After Sunset, Dawn Arrives |Aikane
cousins
Directed by Karina Dandashi
13 mins | English | Boston Premiere
Two cousins born in separate countries reunite in Brooklyn where a run-in with an ex turns the night into a mission of revenge.
fish
Directed by Jeremy Hsing
14 mins | English | East Coast Premiere
Tiger never received the love he desired from his estranged late mother; however, when his mother is reincarnated as his pet goldfish, Tiger must set aside his grievances for one last chance at maternal love.
Advisory: Sexual situations, conversations of death
gianna
Directed by Kait Schuster
11 mins | English | East Coast Premiere
Gianna is a queer horror comedy following Gina, a Filipina Gemini doing her best, as she takes the advice of her sliding scale therapist to spend a day with her INNER SABOTEUR. Enter Gianna. Will they make peace, or does Gianna, like, literally want Gina dead?
Advisory: Self harm, violence, strong language.
after sunset, dawn arrives
Directed by Andy Yi Li
17 mins | Cantonese/Mandarin/English with Subtitles| East Coast Premiere
In the early 2000s, old China Town, Los Angeles, when introverted and unsociable sixty-five-year-old Chinese man, Wan falls in love with a man who is nearly 30 years younger than him, Wan struggles to embrace his homosexual identity which he has been suppressed for his entire life and simultaneously confronts his guilt towards his long deceased Chinese wife.
Advisory: Nudity, Mature content.
AIKāNE
Directed by Daniel Sousa
14 mins | No Dialogue | Boston Premiere
A valiant island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world. When the octopus who rescues him transforms into a handsome young man, they become aikāne, intimate friends bound by love and trust, and an epic adventure begins.
Advisory: 16+. Mature content, violence.
