CINEPRIDE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 SCHEDULE
QUEERBAIT
Short Spotlight
WORLD PREMIERE
Starring: Sydney Mae Diaz, Matthew Floyd Miller
Directed by: Nate Gualtieri
September 11, 2025
3:05- 3:20pm
A precocious classics student is invited to dinner after he piques the interest of a tenured professor. But when his teacher’s mentorship starts to push boundaries, he’s forced to make a choice: protect his academic future or preserve his dignity?
September 11, 2025
3:30- 5:00pm
Maxxie LaWow: Drag Super-Shero
Narrative Feature
LOS ANGELES THEATRICAL PREMIERE
Starring: Grant Hodges, Terren Wooten Clarke, Erika Ishii, Laraine Newman, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Michael-Leon Wooley, Michelle C. Bonilla, Jinkx Monsoon, Benjamin (BenDeLaCreme) Putnam, Heidi N Closet, Monét X Change, Rosé, JJ Hawkins, Avi Roque
Directed by: Anthony Hand
When drag queens start disappearing, a shy young barista must summon his inner super-shero to rescue them from an ambitious evil drag queen bent on harvesting their magical anti-aging tears.
THEM FADO BICHA
Documentary
U.S. PREMIERE
Country: Portugal
Directed by: Justine Lemahieu
September 12, 2025
11:00am- 12:15pm
In Portugal, the songs of Lila and João, the two artists of the band Fado Bicha, give body and voice to LGBTQI+ stories and struggles. In the intimacy of the dressing rooms, words and glances cross paths, questioning our relationship with appearances, gender norms, language and sexuality.
The Big Johnson
Documentary
Directed by: Lola Rocknrolla
September 12, 2025
12:45- 2:30pm
Dean Johnson was a famous New York drag queen, rock star, sex party promoter and late in life escort. In 2007 Dean went on a job and never came back. Was it just an accidental OD or was it something more sinister? The mystery of his death is only part of Dean Johnson's wild life.
Blood Like Water
Short Block 1: Boundaries & Survival
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Country: Palestine
Starring: Ruba Blal, Adeeb Safadi, Atallah Tannous, Raeda Ghazaleh
Directed by: Dima Hamdan
September 12, 2025
3:00- 4:15pm
When Shadi embarks on a secret adventure, he accidentally drags his proud Palestinian family into a trap where they only have two choices; either collaborate with the Israeli occupation, or be shamed and humiliated by their community.
Mia Mio
Short Block 1: Boundaries & Survival
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
Country: Luxembourg
Starring: Magaly Teixeira, Konstantin Rommelfangen, Rari Matei, Maja Jurić
Directed by: Roxanne Peuget
September 12, 2025
3:00- 4:15pm
After an umpteenth after-party, Mia has an identity crisis, and for a few hours, her two best friends help her to overcome an important, if not the most important, stage in her life.
MY ENDLESS ECLIPSE
Short Block 1: Boundaries & Survival
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Country: Iran
Starring: Farnoush Peyvandi
Directed by: Bijan Aarabi
September 12, 2025
3:00- 4:15pm
A transgender woman has hidden her gender identity all her life. To escape a forced marriage, she is forced to flee her country. But she falls into the hands of human traffickers.
SLASHR
Short Block 1: Boundaries & Survival
Starring: Nathan Mohebbi, Amanda Lehan-Canto
Directed by: Amir Moini
September 12, 2025
3:00- 4:15pm
In a remote mountain cabin, a young man escapes the city after an unexpected break up, only to be stalked by a ruthless killer he meets on a dating app.
September 12, 2025
4:45- 6:00pm
The Last First Time - El fin de las primeras veces
Narrative Feature
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
Country: Mexico
Starring: Alejandro Quintana de la Vega, Carlos E. Cervantes, Pabel Casteñada
Directed by: Rafael Ruiz Espejo
Eighteen-year-old Eduardo travels from a small Mexican town to the city of Guadalajara to take a university admission exam. In this strange, big city, far away from his mother’s surveillance, he experiences his first missteps in love and sex.
Sorority
Short Block 2: Becoming & Belonging
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Starring: Epiphany Kali, Danielle Beckmann, Shelly Ro, Ashley Gianni, Madalyn Horcher
Directed by: Ashley Gianni
September 12, 2025
6:30- 7:30pm
A trans woman of color in the early stages of her transition learns to accept herself when welcomed into the sorority of sisterhood in the most sacred of places, the women's restroom.
Bebe
Short Block 2: Becoming & Belonging
WORLD PREMIERE
Directed by: Raphael Pranga, Ashcon Nejad
September 12, 2025
6:30- 7:30pm
Bebe follows a trans model’s journey from a small town in Maine to the runaways of Paris, balancing fame, family, and the fight to simply exist. Told entirely in her own words, it’s a raw and poetic portrait of identity, survival, and becoming.
September 12, 2025
6:30- 7:30pm
Zombie Butterflies - O Menino e as Borboletas Zumbis
Short Block 2: Becoming & Belonging
NORTH AMERICA PREMIERE
Country: Brazil
Starring: Caetano Cardinot, Victor de Paula
Directed by: Pê Moreira, Thomas Argos
In this romcom stained with Brazilian queerness, João used to think the butterflies in his stomach were dead. When he falls in love with Lucas, his best friend, something weird starts happening in his belly. Maybe he has zombie butterflies.
September 12, 2025
6:30- 7:30pm
Queer Memoirs: Too Queer for Me
Short Block 2: Becoming & Belonging
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Starring: Robert Nolan
Directed by: Taja Copeland
When Lucki's latest fling goes from a masculine fantasy to a voguing nightmare, Lucki must confront his own insecurities if he wants to continue to date Nico.
Cockroach
Short Block 2: Becoming & Belonging
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
Starring: Tori Ernst
Directed by: Heather Older
September 12, 2025
6:30- 7:30pm
Juliette tries to survive a recent breakup with her longtime girlfriend by chronically masturbating and trying to convince herself to start dating men. Her delirium is finally relieved (sort of) by an unexpected stranger. Like cockroaches, love always finds a way to survive against the odds.
A Life Inside Me
Narrative Feature
U.S. PREMIERE
Country: India
Starring: Inayat Qazi, Sonali Sharmistha, Rajendra Gupta, Shivangi Sharma, Vaibhav G. Ogale, Manohar Pandey
Directed by: Jackie R. Bala
September 12, 2025
8:00- 9:45pm
A Life Inside Me is a debut feature set in rural South Asia, about a terminally ill father who wishes to live his final days as his true self — a woman — and his daughter, trapped in an abusive marriage.
September 13, 2025
11:45am- 12:45pm
TransTALE: The Maria Roman Story
Documentary
HOLLYWOOD PREMIERE
Directed by: Sanora Bartels
TransTALE is a documentary love story following Puerto Rican transgender activist Maria Roman and her fiancé, Jason Taylorson, as they prepare to become the first trans/cis couple to wed at Los Angeles’ historic St. John's Cathedral in 2019. Set against the backdrop of societal stigma, the film explores their bond, Maria’s decades-long advocacy, and the larger fight for visibility, inclusion, and love within the trans community.
And You Are…?
Short Block 3: Love & Loss
HOLLYWOOD PREMIERE
Starring: Jane Seymour, Zach Barack, Diana Lu
Directed by: Alicia Coppola
September 13, 2025
1:15- 2:15pm
And You Are...? is the most unlikely of buddy films: Lynn, a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer's, only has the past to prove she exists. Her grandson Max, desperately wants to erase his past as it never proved his true existence.
Return to Tanya
Short Block 3: Love & Loss
WORLD PREMIERE
Starring: Andrea Negrete, Lucie Fleming
Directed by: Dylan James Amick
September 13, 2025
1:15- 2:15pm
A love story told like a ghost story: two lovers touring their new apartment see visions of their life together in the apartment as well as the inevitable demise of their relationship.
September
Short Block 3: Love & Loss
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Starring: Frankie J. Álvarez, Gustavo Márquez
Directed by: Corey Atkins
September 13, 2025
1:15- 2:15pm
A man in a boat on Central Park Lake considers what he lost, and what he should have held on to, in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. Adapted from the poem by New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Michael Hecht.
The Blame Silence
Short Block 3: Love & Loss
NORTH AMERICA PREMIERE
Country: Brazil
Starring: Danilo Castro, Bruno Estrela, Daniel Queiroz
Directed by: Israel Corodva
September 13, 2025
1:15- 2:15pm
In the countryside, where the land holds secrets and silence weighs heavy, Mauro, after his father's death, faces a freedom he never dared to live. Alone on the farm, between shots of cachaça and prayers echoing in his mind, he tastes a new kind of freedom, until Léo, a disarming-eyed stranger, shakes his certainties. Between guilt and desire, he confronts his fears to finally allow himself to love another man.
¡Quba!
Documentary
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Directed by: Kim Anno
September 13, 2025
2:45- 4:00pm
Set against Havana’s vibrant streets and coastline, ¡Quba! chronicles Cuba’s LGBTQ revolution through the stories of trailblazing trans politician Adela Hernandez and cultural activist Ramon Silverio. From the shadows of UMAP to the triumph of marriage equality in 2022, the film weaves archival footage and grassroots activism to capture a nation’s fight for love and liberation.
Bleed Like Me
Narrative Feature
WORLD PREMIERE
Starring: Elijah Olachea, Billy Walker
Directed by: Chris Phillips
September 13, 2025
4:30- 5:45pm
On the run from the law, two would-be indie filmmakers – and long-standing gay frenemies – hole up at a house in the SoCal desert as they figure out their next move, while confronting the dreams, disappointments and desperation that got them there.
Lip Sync Assassin
Short Block 4: Camp Royale
WORLD PREMIERE
Country: Philippines
Starring: Precious Paula Nicole
Directed by: Jon Galvez
September 13, 2025
6:15- 7:30pm
Sampaguita, a fabulous drag queen, moonlights as a hired killer to earn extra money and provide a good life for her talented daughter and sickly mother. Just when she thought she could handle any contract killing mission, her new target tests how far she can go to support her loved ones.
Prom Party Massacre
Short Block 4: Camp Royale
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
Starring: Ashley Campbell, Phil Tice, Theo Tiedemann, Tommaso Di Blasi, Jake Ellsworth, Julia Davo
Directed by: Jordan Gustafson
September 13, 2025
6:15- 7:30pm
In a genre-bending musical full of teenage rebels, poodle skirts, and betrayal, a young gay man tries to woo his crush with a swinging prom party - but when popular kids start turning up dead, the partygoers discover a slasher killer amongst the student body!
September 13, 2025
6:15- 7:30pm
AutoErotica: We Buy Gay Stuff
Short Block 4: Camp Royale
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
Directed by: Jeremy Von Stilb
AutoErotica uncovers a hidden archive of queer history behind a quirky Castro shop. Curated by longtime leather scene figure Patrick Batt, the store nearly vanished during the pandemic —until a customer’s campaign sparked a global outpouring. This documentary captures one man’s journey from collector to accidental historian, and the fight to preserve LGBTQ+ counter-culture.
G L O R Y
Short Block 4: Camp Royale
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Starring: Billy Griffin, Jr., Hunter Canning, Jason Veasey, Matthew Wilkas, Ivica Marc
Directed by: Kai Kim
September 13, 2025
6:15- 7:30pm
After his boyfriend Sam dies in a freak hot dog cart accident, Benji spirals between grief and manic desire—especially for glory holes. When he meets Ari, an unconventional therapist, he embarks on a surreal, psychedelic journey through his queer subconscious. Along the way, Benji confronts shame, fear, hot dogs, and queer supervillains in a wild quest to rediscover himself beyond his lost relationship.
September 13, 2025
8:00- 10:00pm
Albert and Devon retreat to a remote cabin to explore a connection sparked online—Albert, a closeted husband, and Devon, a man scarred by past affairs. As their bond deepens, reality unravels: the forest traps them, the cabin whispers, and ghosts take form. Blending queer romance with supernatural horror, the film is a moody, intimate fever dream about confronting buried truths before they consume you.
Shadows of Willow Cabin
Narrative Feature
WORLD PREMIERE
Starring: Bryan Bellomo, John Brodsky
Directed by: Joe Fria
ONE SLIGHT CHANGE
Short Block 5: Secrets, Silence, and Desire
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
Country: Iran
Starring: Taraneh Valadiyan
Directed by: Elmira Azad
September 14, 2025
10:00-1 1:15am
Maryam is a prostitute who is trying to get money by any means necessary to take care of certain matters. She goes to great lengths to gather the money, and eventually we find out what she truly needed it for.
The Diary of Valeria
Short Block 5: Secrets, Silence, and Desire
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Starring: Athena Jey
Directed by: Athena Jay
September 14, 2025
10:00-1 1:15am
This experimental short film is an adaptation of the fictional main character’s diary entry. This diary, belonging to a transgender woman named Valeria, deals with personal and existential anxieties about her body.
Wee Willie Winky
Short Block 5: Secrets, Silence, and Desire
WORLD PREMIERE
Starring: Jay Jackson, Teresa Thome, Erika Schiff
Directed by: Jena Serbu, Mark A. Dahl
September 14, 2025
10:00-1 1:15am
Estranged, self-centered siblings are reunited when they inherit a fortune from their twice-dead father. With 24 hours to find the means to claim their prize, the only thing standing in their way is their mother.
September 14, 2025
10:00- 11:15am
Fight!, Fight!, Fight!, Fight!…
Short Block 5: Secrets, Silence, and Desire
U.S. PREMIERE
Country: Mexico
Starring: Sebastián García Huerta, Franco Meneses, Amanda Farah, Mateo Bernal
Directed by: Juan Pablo Villavicencio Borges
In a schoolyard, a fight breaks out between three boys. Although two of them did not start it, they are quickly blamed as the culprits. The reasons behind the conflict and the consequences they face reveal something much deeper than a simple dispute.
Amida
Short Block 5: Secrets, Silence, and Desire
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Country: Iran
Starring: Yeganeh Kiapasha, Majid Potki, Roham Tarbiat
Directed by: Majid Mirhashemi
September 14, 2025
10:00- 11:15am
On the verge of gender transition, Qasem is invited by her brothers to a celebration where she is renamed Parvaneh. But the arrival of eldest brother Khandadash shatters the moment, revealing hidden tensions. As chaos unfolds, Qasem and Khandadash each face their own purgatory—one of identity, the other of denial—until only silence remains between them.
Flamingo Camp
Documentary
Directed by: Chris Coats
September 14, 2025
11:45am- 1:15pm
Set in the off-grid squatter town known as Slab City, Flamingo Camp documents the thriving golden days of a queer and trans community on the fringe of society and its sudden fracturing when an unthinkable tragedy strikes.
