A trans-led, nonconforming program of bold, unfiltered short films — original, smart, and brilliantly made. Rooted in community, resistance, and care, these radical works center self-determination beyond mere survival. Dissident bodies come together to claim space, embrace each other, and create futures. ALL ABOUT THE T means no compromise.

Join us at Nitehawk following the screening + Q&A for the Trans+ Mixer at 8:15pm! A ticket to this screening grants 1 free drink ticket.

Are You Scared To Be Yourself Because You Think That You Might Fail?
Dir. Bec Pecaut, 17 min, Canada
While recovering from top surgery, Mad struggles with wanting the attention of their partner and accepting the help of their mother. CW: Depiction of surgery

A Kin Sin
Dir. Gulzar, 5 min, Canada
While oiling a friend’s scalp, filmmaker Gulzar seeks to understand their gender amidst their familial and cultural wishes.

Purebred
Dir. Caleb J. Roberts, 15 min, Ireland/UK
During a heatwave, transgender man Owen returns to the flat of his on-again-off-again lover Seán after taking a pregnancy test. CW: Explicit sexual situations

Flash Sale
Dir. Autumn Boxley, 12 min, USA
Two trans men living in Brooklyn call upon an unlikely audience to raise money for top surgery. CW: Misgendering

Red Light Green
Dir. Eva Wu, 7 min, USA/Germany
Briiiing Briiiiing Hi it’s me! Experience this rotating and hypnotic sensory-world, where gyrating nymphs express love beyond your wildest fantasies. This is a love letter to trans, queer, sex-working, and otherwise marginalized and criminalized folks who surpassed the boldness of their parents. CW: Explicit sexual situations

Rope
Dir. Lucas Manuel-Scheibe, 12 min, USA
During a night of erotic bondage, Aki begins to recall the story of his grandmother’s disappearance. An “ama,” or “sea woman,” of Japan, she gradually descends into the ocean’s loving arms, reflecting Aki’s drift from the ropes and lover who bind him.

Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo): Radical Transparency
Dir. Drew de Pinto, 9 min, USA
Following artist Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) as she replicates her bedroom and lives in New York City’s New Museum during the run of her exhibition, the film explores what happens when an artist makes her most private space public.

Moonbeams
Dir. Elo Santa Maria, 15 min, USA
When Frankie is thrown in solitary confinement for taking hormones, his lover June is cut off from him. The two must find a way to reunite and plot Frankie’s escape. CW: Misgendering, transphobic language

This screening will be followed by a Q&A

A partnership between NewFest and Netflix, the New Voices Filmmaker Grant was launched in 2022 to provide resources for emerging filmmakers telling LGBTQ+ stories.

For the fourth year, NewFest is excited to celebrate the grant recipients with a showcase screening of their recent short films, followed by an in-depth conversation with the filmmakers. Join us as we share the auspicious work from 2025 grantees MG Evangelista, Shuli Huang, Farah Jabir, and Kevin Xian Ming Yu and hear what’s to come in their future projects and promising careers. Presented in partnership with Netflix.

Kasbi
Dir. Farah Jabir, 12 min, USA
A middle-aged Pakistani housewife, in search of herself, hires a young, self-assured sex worker to keep her company for the night.

Will You Look at Me
Dir. Shuli Huang, 21 min, China
As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search of himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.

Anino
Dir. MG Evangelista, 15 min, USA
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, a quiet teen being raised by her two grandmothers awakens to her first period and is relentlessly bullied at school. When her bully later turns his torments on her crush, her pent-up rage erupts and she discovers an ancestral power that is both terrifying and freeing.

Yú Cì (Fish Bones)
Dir. Kevin Xian Ming Yu, 11 min, USA
Bowen, a nonbinary Asian-American from Queens, tries to connect with their estranged father and help him deal with a poisonous fish bite.

This screening will be followed by a Q&A

An audacious shorts program celebrating the vision and brilliance of trans women and those who love them. From vengeful resurrections to satanic rituals, shoplifters waging war on capitalism to secret cults, shadow selves to harrowing births, these genre-defying films crown the Dolls as auteurs, protagonists, dreamers, and disruptors.

Miss
Dir. Alexandra Stergiou, 7 min, USA
It’s been four days since Sophie came out as trans to her partner Jess. Seeking a place away from it all for Sophie to take her first steps out in the air as a woman, they go to a gas station outside of the city. Based on true events.

Dolls
Dir. Geena Rocero, 19 min, USA
A junior private investigator goes undercover to attend the relationship workshop for trans women called DOLLS. She quickly realizes a sinister force is at play.

PURPLE PATROL!
Dir. Jessica Q. Moore, 8 min, USA
A vigilante trio summons an otherworldly power to help protect the queer community. CW: Transphobic violence

Rainbow Girls
Dir. Nana Duffuor, 16 min, USA
As San Francisco’s tech boom gentrifies their city, three black trans youth decide to take matters into their own hands, staging an audacious heist targeting the city’s most exclusive luxury brands.

TransVengeance
Dir. Kaye Adeladie, 5 min, Canada
A trans woman dies on the operating table during facial feminization surgery, but death is no match for a determined transsexual. CW: Disturbing images

The Dysphoria
Dir. Kylie Aoibheann, 13 min, Australia
A trans woman performs a Satanic ritual to get a vagina, but unwittingly invites a demonic presence into her home which demands a terrible sacrifice. CW: Disturbing images

Artifice
Dir. Theo Rose, 12 min, USA
A mystic woman oscillates between performance and projection until she meets her shadow at a local coffee shop (or it’s about a girl being haunted by a pronoun, depending on who you ask).

Birth of the Hive Queen
Dir. Tempest Creation, 9 min, USA
Amina, a trans sex worker, gives birth out of her anus. CW: Disturbing images, explicit sexual situations

This screening will be followed by a Q&A

Screw respectability. These shorts are outrageous, loud, and unapologetically over the top. Brimming with style, big ideas, and even bigger characters, they’re impossible to ignore: bright-colored neo-noirs, surreal nightmares, stomach-turning comedies, and queer visions that defy categorization. They’re here, they’re queer — and unforgettable.

Are You Fucking Kidding Me?!
Dir. Zen Pace, 12 min, USA
A broke birthday party clown finds out his mother is dying during the gig from hell. CW: Disturbing images

Poreless
Dir. Harris Doran, 14 min, USA
A fabulous, queer, Muslim beauty entrepreneur competes in a SHARK TANK-like contest after suffering an untimely allergic reaction

La Dichotomie
Dirs. Suzie Toot, Dan Ingram, & Oscar Ruso, 14 min, USA
Tap-dancing sensation Suzie Toot (RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, BIG EASY QUEENS) stars in this surrealist short film presented in vivid Tech-NO-color™! While Suzie dazzles her adoring cartoon audiences, lethargic artclown Gloomie Toot gets a surprise visit that sends her down a visceral, existential spiral for Suzie’s spotlight. CW: Disturbing images

The Flamingos on the Wall
Dir. Ben Evory, 8 min, USA
At a Bushwick costume party, an uninvited “Princess Diana” seeks revenge on “Judy Garland” for past trauma involving ornithological wallpaper.

Blue Violet
Dir. Josie Charles, 10 min, UK
Blue’s gift preparations for her beloved Violet transform into something darker when reality picks up the phone.

Free the Buns
Dir. Blanche Enaka, 14 min, USA
A trio of high school friends get revenge on their racist teacher by stealing her emotional support bunny.

Nest
Dir. Willem Koller, 10 min, New Zealand
A trans body horror about a reluctant mother-to-be who, struggling to accept the pregnancy she has to endure, has a deeply shocking labour experience. But when faced with her husband’s disgust at what she has birthed, she’s forced to take drastic measures to reconcile with who she has become. CW: Disturbing images

Attagirl!
Dir. Klimovski, 9 min, USA
When a debtor tries to run off with her money, a ruthless bookie hunts him through New York’s city streets, and when she gets ahold of him, he’ll be coughing up more than just cash. CW: Disturbing images

This screening will be followed by a Q&A