Today marks the start of the Long Beach QFilms Festival, a yearly showcase of LGBTQ films organized by the Long Beach LGBTQ Center. The oldest film festival in Long Beach, QFilms returns this year with a fantastic lineup including several films that highlight the power of queer journalists.
NLGJA Los Angeles is proud to partner with the festival as a screening partner for the local documentary AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman. Join fellow members and the NLGJA LA board on Saturday, Sept. 10, to celebrate local queer cinema and watch this amazing film.
To celebrate this partnership, we’ve drafted this list of four screenings you won’t want to miss, handpicked by NLGJA LA board member and queer film critic Hansen Bursic.
AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman
At the top of our list, we’ve got AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman, a powerful tribute to an AIDS activist everyone should know about and our top pick for the festival. The documentary celebrates trailblazing trans activist Connie Norman, who, with unparalleled charisma, championed AIDS advocacy in Los Angeles during the early ’90s. With a majority of AIDS documentaries focusing primarily on cisgender men, AIDS Diva is an invaluable addition to the canon of films that capture the history of this movement.
Screening Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, at 5 p.m.
The Art Theater, 2025 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Get Your Tickets Here
All Man: The International Male Story
Here at NLGJA LA, we celebrate groundbreaking queer literature, especially some of the more flamboyant. In All Man: The International Male Story, viewers get a glimpse into the fabulous and often sought-after International Mail catalog. The documentary dives into the history of the popular ’80s and ’90s fashion catalog and shows how it served as a refuge for queer readers and its own staff.
Screening Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, at 9:15 p.m.
The Art Theater, 2025 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Get Your Tickets Here
LA Queenciañera
If you don’t know of undocumented trans activist Bamby Salcedo, this screening is the perfect opportunity for you to educate yourself on a true visionary. LA Queenciañera follows the Latina human rights activist as she prepares for her 50th birthday. The documentary takes audiences throughout Los Angeles County as Bamby shares her history and what led her to become the activist she is today.
Screening Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, at 5:45 p.m.
The Art Theater, 2025 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Get Your Tickets Here
Queer/Trans Shorts
Nothing beats a good short film and QFilms is serving up more than a few world-class sets. If we were to just pick one, it would have to be the Queer/Trans Shorts screening, a collection of films that uplift the stories of trans, non-binary and Two-Spirit people. We are particularly excited for How Not to Date While Trans, a break-the-fourth-wall dark comedy chronicling the love life of a Black trans woman; and Chaac + Yum, an erotic drama about two queer, Mayan-descended Two Spirit people who meet at a San Francisco bar.
Screening Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, at 3 p.m.
The Art Theater, 2025 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90814
Get Your Tickets Here
Hansen Bursic is the Marketing Manager at Outfest, which runs the largest LGBTQ film festival in the world. He currently serves as a board member of the NLGJA LA chapter and is a freelance film critic with bylines in Documentary magazine, CinéSPEAK, and QBurgh.