Magic in Queer Shorts: A Benefit for Whores Bath

at The New Parkway, Oakland
Sunday, May 21st, 3-5pm


Be My First
Philippe McKie
In this well produced narrative a young Japanese girl riding the train posts a message from her phone to an online thread: "I'm a high-school student and I'm a virgin, does anyone want to pay to be my first? It has to be tonight." Based on real events taking place in Tokyo, this film is an erotic drama inspired by the 'pink cinema' of Japan. It is also an exploration of sex work and fetishization in contemporary Japanese society.
10:53 / 2017 / Japan


The Day I Grew Up
Director/Writer: Scott Boswell
Producer: Cheryl Simas Valenzuela
Scott Boswell is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and professor of filmmaking who has completed numerous shorts and an award-winning feature film. In this coming-of-age short, undocumented teen Adrian takes matters into his own hands when his predatory uncle resurfaces after a decade of absence. Fearing for the safety of his vulnerable young brother, Adrian sneaks away with him to the city where the two boys attempt to make it on their own.
21:23 / 2015 / San Francisco


The Wonderful Affair
Tahir Ün
Harika is a child of Kurdish refugees, whose family fled from Siirt to Manisa at the end of 1980’s. He is a self-described transsexual, female in spirit if not in body, since early childhood. He has lived in Izmir since 2000 and makes a living by prostutition. This short work is a multiple media project realised by Harika (whose name literally translates as “wonderful”). He poses for director Tahir Ün’s camera with all his self-confidence, sweeping even the most difficult audiences from narrow-minded homophobia to a nonjudgemental admiration of his courage and grace.
5:00 / 2016 / Turkey


Mandy
Sherisse Mohamme
A compelling conversation with Canada’s “first known” transgendered stand up comic. Shot in Toronto in 2015, in a corner of her now legendary diner, Toronto business owner, performer, sex worker and trans-activist Mandy Goodhandy (a.k.a. Amanda Taylor) tells the story of her internal struggle and intriguing transformation in this uncensored, intimate and revealing portrait. This tour de force presents negotiating, consent and agency - even self actualization - in sex work. As a visible minority female filmmaker with a background in sociology, and a poly-cultural, inter-faith perspective, Mohamme's work endeavors to document, spotlight and amplify underrepresented, unjustly underexplored communities and misunderstood, socially relevant, courageous characters.
13:53 / 2016 / Canada


Love Me Want Me Rent Me: The Politics of Sex Pt 2
Jake Jaxson
Created after the Rentboy.com raid, this is an important and profound profile of a New York escort. "I share this today because I, like many, was shocked and confused by this week’s raid and take down of RentBoy.com by the federal government via the Department of Homeland Security. They arrested, from their homes, its CEO and seven of their current and past employees - many of whom are friends of mine. I know them as hardworking and tireless advocates for sex positive education. I was angered and dismayed when prosecutors described them as conspirators of an 'international criminal organization.'"
5:58 / 2015 / New York


Lucid Noon, Sunset Blush
Alli Lowe
"17-year-old bb gay Micha has just moved into The Palace - a basement full of queer femme sex workers, lovers and misfits. They are beautiful, carefree and as young as the night."
"Lucid Moon Sunset Blush takes place in the thick of Texas, focusing on the effects of small towns on queers and the shifts that take place when they move to larger cities. Houses, collectives, squats, punkish houses and informal structures become spaces of growth and care that our families, towns, and schools couldn’t extend to us."
- Genesis Martinez-Crespo / The Spark Mag
32:12 / 2015 / Texas