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