The Long Beach QFilm Festival kicked off its 28th season with special screenings of \u201cCortos: Latinx Queer Shorts\u201d at the Museum of Latin American Art on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
QFilm Festival, which runs through Sunday, Oct. 3, is Long Beach\u2019s oldest film festival, and the only festival dedicated to the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s really amazing that filmmakers from all over the world submitted pieces of art for our consideration,\u201d said Carlos Torres, executive director of the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach. \u201cIt’s super exciting that right here in Long Beach on our 28th year, we continue to attract such diverse talent to our sort of small film festival.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Torres, being able to present Latinx queer films at the Museum of Latin American Art, is \u201cicing on the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis space celebrate arts, to bring queer Latin art into the same space is just a fantastic opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Three dozen audience members enjoyed appetizers and cocktails during the outdoor event, which featured three short films: the Mexican film \u201cMora and Chenchi\u201d by director Diego Toussaint, the Honduran documentary \u201cWe Are Not Who They Say We Are\u201d directed by Manu Valcarce, and \u201cOcupa,\u201d a Brazilian film by Juliana Pfeifer.<\/p>\n
These three scratch the surface of the variety of films featured in this year\u2019s event; other segments in the four-day festival include youth-focused films, animation (\u201cqueermation\u201d) and experimental films.<\/p>\n
In total, 73 films are in this year\u2019s impressive line up, including work from places such as Iran, Korea and Brazil, while other films, such as \u201cThis is Jessica,\u201d are local to Long Beach. The documentary, which audience members were able to watch at the Art Theatre on Thursday, detailed the life of LGBTQ activist Jessica Bair, and her struggle with her Mormon faith after coming out as transgender. Both the subject and the filmmaker, Andrea Meyerson, are from Long Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur own neighbors are creating this art that is so unique and brings such an amazing perspective,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n
The MOLAA\u2019s Latinx Queer Shorts allowed audience members to delve into different topics relevant to the Latino Queer community\u2014\u201cMora and Chenchi\u201d explored the resurfacing of old feelings, while \u201cWe Are Not Who They Say We Are\u201d educated the audience about the violence facing the LGBTQ Honduran community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we don’t know how bad people have it in other countries,\u201d said Liz Southern, who attended the film screening with her wife, Alohi. The two moved to Long Beach from Texas a\u00a0 few years ago. \u201cWe\u2019re so lucky, especially living in Long Beach, it\u2019s so progressive and everyone’s so open.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Liz and Alohi Southern, people had always assumed the two were sisters, until moving to Long Beach, where they finally were recognized as partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cried the first time that happened,\u201d said Alohi Southern. \u201cWe were at a Sublime concert, when a couple asked us how long we had been together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one had ever asked us that,\u201d said Liz Southern. \u201cI feel very safe in Long Beach, and things like this, the community here is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
For audience member Gaudencio Marquez, who attended the screening with his husband, the event provided visibility and representation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s so critical to be able to have on the main screen, images of people that look like us, that act like us, that do like us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As a school social worker, Marquez said he sees the value of children being able to see themselves in different aspects of society such as film, and that this is particularly important for Black, Latino and Indigenous members of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find myself, as a gay, Chicano, brown man, I think of me as a young kid, really able to see myself on TV in this way. It’s powerful, like now I see it, and I’m like, I wish I had that when I was younger,\u201d said Marquez.<\/p>\n
As for the remaining days of the festival, LGBTQ Center board chair Stella Ursua said there are great stories to be shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s really neat films, and tear jerkers, and happy films\u00a0 . . . what I look for [are] those types of movies that we can relate to, and especially because of the time right now, we just need to get together and feel connected again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really helps make people feel more comfortable, especially the youth, the older adults, folks that didn’t realize that there were so many folks just like them out there, whether it’s here in Long Beach or across the state, across the country,\u201d said Ursua.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it’s really important to have events like these so that we see folks just like us, and we hear the stories, we learn the stories, and it helps so that you don’t feel alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funds raised by QFilms directly support The LGBTQ Center Long Beach, which has served the community for over 40 years through HIV and STI testing, youth and senior services, counseling, legal services, domestic violence support, trans health programs and more than 20 weekly support groups.<\/p>\n
QFilm Fest will also include other community events such as an ice cream social on Saturday and a Sunday brunch catered by Lola\u2019s Mexican Cuisine at the LGBTQ Center Long Beach.<\/p>\n