In an effort to build a space for queer people like myself, every Sunday (or when I’m feeling spicy) I’ll be posting interviews, opinion pieces, listicles, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community from a Latina perspective. Welcome to Queerly Not Straight! Enjoy and leave a comment below if you have a suggestion for what I should cover next.
P.S. I, Lyra Hale, do not give any site permission to copy or repost my work in any form. If you are reading this on any site besides Fangirlish, it has been stolen.
SXSW 2023 is an opportunity to showcase some of the best when it comes to storytelling, directing, and writing. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Through feature and short films, there are directors, writers, and creators who will use this platform to show who they are, what they love, and the challenges that come along with being who they are.
Scroll down and find out what LGBTQ+ movies are playing at SXSW 2023!
Note: Movie synopsis are from SXSW. All have been linked to their proper page.
SXSW 2023 LGBTQ+ Feature Films
1. Bloody Hell
Synopsis: Bloody Hell is a coming-of-age “traumedy” that follows 16-year-old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) who is unexpectedly diagnosed with a reproductive condition, MRKH syndrome. The diagnosis upends her plans to have sex, her presumptions about womanhood and sexuality, her relationship with her mother (Emily Hampshire), and most importantly, herself. Bloody Hell is a semi-autobiographical feature written and directed by Molly McGlynn (Mary Goes Round).
Learn more about Bloody Hell here.
2. Bottoms
Summary: Directed by Emma Seligman and written by Seligman and Rachel Sennott, Bottoms follows two unpopular girls in their senior year who start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders.
Learn more about Bottoms here.
3. Cora Bora
Summary: Cora senses her open relationship is on the rocks. When the struggling musician and messy millennial goes home to Portland to win her girlfriend back, she realizes it’s much more than her love life that needs salvaging.
Learn more about Cora Bora here.
4. Ek Jagah Apni
Summary: Laila and Roshni, two transwomen, are looking for a house after they are evicted from the place they rented. Their search for a home is also their ongoing search for a place in this society that wants to keep them away in a section that can not be the center. They have a friend in Sharukh, but many of their other interactions don’t turn out as expected. Laila is torn between being true to herself and preserving links with her biological family. Roshni treads a fine line between concealing her identity and living the life that she wants, but it is not without its dangers. The film was part of NFDC Film Bazaar’s, Work in Progress Lab 2021, and showcased in Goes to Cannes, Marche du Film 2022.
Learn more about Ek Jagah Apni here.
5. Fancy Dance
Summary: Following her sister’s disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in the hopes of keeping what’s left of her family intact.
Learn more about Fancy Dance here.
6. My Drywall Cocoon
Summary: Virginia celebrates her 17th birthday with a big party in her penthouse. Booze and psychostimulants help the privileged teenagers to get high. But the next day arises with a tragedy, the birthday girl is found lifeless. Her death shakes up her luxurious building complex. What happened to Virginia? Patricia, her mother, experiences the mourning almost to the point of going insane. Luana wonders if she is guilty for the death of her best friend. Nicollas tries to ignore that his girlfriend passed away by taking refuge in casual sex with male employees. But it is Gabriel who carries the weight of both a gun and a secret.
Learn more about My Drywall Cocoon here.
7. National Anthem
Summary: Dylan lives an isolated life of routine in rural New Mexico, working odd construction jobs to help support his little brother and alcoholic mother. He accepts a gig working at the House of Splendor, a homestead built by a community of queer rodeo performers and ranchers, and soon the indefinable magic of an untamed America unfolds before him. Finding space to explore and discover himself, he becomes entwined in the life of Sky, a talented barrel racer and free spirit. While working together in the breathtaking expanse of the Southwest, they contend with the undeniable forces of nature, family, and love.
Learn more about National Anthem here.
SXSW 2023 LGBTQ+ Short Films
1. Deliver Me
Summary: Jesse, one of the most famous billionaires on Earth is the first human to successfully clone and marry himself. After being married for a year, Jora, Jesse’s clone, is reaching the crux of an identity crisis. On the day of their anniversary, Jesse invites “their” best friend Roberto to give him a gift. Roberto is in love with Jesse, and suffering from unrequited love. Jesse’s solution is to gift Roberto with a hyper-realistic sex doll of himself, as a token of friendship. The doll is the last straw for Jora, who finally decides to revolt against Jesse’s tyranny by devising a plan to finally escape from the prison they call home.
Learn more about Deliver Me here.
2. Flores del Otro Patio
Summary: In the Colombian Caribbean, a group of queer activists practice a militancy that challenges heteropatriarchal norms while engaging in other causes to collectively fight against the various social injustices that plague the region. When the management of the country’s largest coal mine announces a press conference to promote the development of mining, the group prepares to carry out a denunciatory performative action… and resolutely queer.
Learn more about Flores del Otro Patio here.
3. Funny Face
Summary: Director Jude Hope Harris recreates the time her brother and girlfriend first met in this autobiographical dramedy where her family plays versions of themselves. Sophie arrives home from 10 hours of facial feminization surgery in a haze of pain and anesthesia. Waiting for her are Morgan, her queer actor girlfriend, and Randy, her country singer brother – both just starting to get to know each other. As Sophie recovers, Morgan and Randy unite against a tragically unhelpful home nurse Donna, their common enemy on a difficult night made bearable with humor, love, music, and weed.
Learn more about Funny Face here.
4. Vibrator Girl
Summary: An isolated young woman uses her vibrator compulsively — until it starts deforming her body in disturbing ways. To regain control and change the way she masturbates, she goes on a journey through a lurid underground of corporate neurologists and orgasm gurus, none of whom seem to have her best interests in mind. Ultimately, there’s little she can do to withstand her vibrator’s eerie influence.
Learn more about Vibrator Girl here.
Watch the trailer here, which is age-restricted.
Queerly Not Straight posts every Sunday with opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latinx community since I am Latinx.)
