QFest St. Louis returns for the 18th year with a slate of features, shorts, and documentaries exploring and celebrating LGBTQ+ and queer culture. This year’s theme, “Rebels and Revolutionaries,” features stories about people who didn’t take “no” for an answer, whether they were astronauts, religious scholars, community-builders, or artists imagining a different world and then making it happen.
The Festival kicks off with Cristina Costantini’s Sally (May 27, 7:30 pm) celebrating the life and accomplishments of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, while also detailing the sacrifices she had to make to have that career. Hint: lesbianism was definitely not OK in the macho world of the space program, and thus her 27-year relationship with Tam O’Shaughnessy had to remain out of public view until it was revealed in her obituary. The movie will be preceded by an opening reception (May 27, 6:30 pm).
Lavender Men (May 28, 7:00 pm), a narrative feature directed by Lovell Holder, asks how the world might have been different had Abraham Lincoln been openly gay—for instance would The Great Emancipator have thought of some other oppressed groups that could also use emancipation? It’s a flight of fancy based on a play by Roger Q. Mason, who stars as the contemporary queer person of color Taffeta, who is putting on a play about the romance between Lincoln and Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a Lincoln family friend who was one of the first casualties of the Civil War.
Regan Latimer’s documentary Bulletproof: A Lesbian’s Guide to Surviving the Plot (May 29, 7:00 pm) looks at queer representation in television through animation plus interviews with industry insiders, community advocates, and people who just love television and have interesting things to say about it. Notable interview subjects include television writer and producer JP Larocque, actress and writer Katherine Barrell, television writer Katherine Barrell, playwright and television writer and producer Michael MacLennan, and GLAAD’s Director of Research Megan Townsend.
Into the Menstrualverse (May 30, 7:00 pm), a stop motion animated feature by Emma Hillebrecht, features a magical talking vagina named Vicky that helps a trans woman travel back in time and acquire a uterus. It’s a little sci-fi, a little comedy, a little coming-of-age, a little female friendship, and a lot of uplift and empowerment. Cast members include Emma Jacqueline (Emma, a transgender woman), Julia Rothstein (Vicky), with supporting actors Scott Pincus, Jennifer Hsu, Tori Van Loon, Liz Ritter, and Maya Pasricha. Into the Menstrualverse will be shown with the short film “Spermicide,” directed by Scott Nunez-Peterman, a comedy about two women who want to have a baby but are encountering a difficulty with potential sperm donors.
Saturday May 31 is a busy day at QFest. First up is a program of U.S. Shorts (1:00 pm; free of charge) including short films by Margot Budzyna, Jeanette Buck, Lisa Ott, Artima Sakulkoo, Luke Baker, Robert Larriviere, and Sean Au that capture diversity and visions of LGBTQ+ and queer storytellers across the country. Next up is a program of Global Shorts (4:00 pm; free of charge) features short films by Oscar Bittner, Ross Berkeley Simpson, Chen Li, Sam Peter Jackson, Mickael Yip and Qin Qin use animation and live action to explore the lives of LGBTQ+ people around the world. Finally, Courtney Hermann’s documentary feature Outliers and Outlaws (7:00 pm) offers a look at the lesbian community of Eugene, Oregon, which has been going strong since the 1960s. Narrated by Jody Bleyle, Outliers and Outlaws will be shown with Brad Burleson’s “Tippi & Barb,” a short documentary about a teacher and a lawyer who became crusaders for LGBTQ+ rights.
QFest St. Louis 2025 comes to a close with two documentaries and a classic narrative feature. First, Sharon Roggio’s 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture (2:00 pm) looks at the fallout from the mistranslation of a Biblical text (1 Corinthians 6:9) that shaped the Christian anti-gay movement, in the process questioning whether there is any basis in the Christian Bible for homophobia. Then Deborah Craig’s Sally! (5:00 pm) offers a portrait of the lesbian academic, author and activist Sally Gearheart while also considering the tensions present within any revolutionary movement. Classic comedy Party Girl (7:30 pm), directed by Daisy von Scherler Meyer (7:30 pm), wraps up the festival with a hilarious performance by Parker Posey as a free spirit happily living the wild life in New York City until an encounter with the law and some financial troubles force her to get a real job and, somewhat later, a real career—as a librarian. Party Girl will be introduced by Cole Sawyer from the St. Louis County Library and tables in the lobby selling LGBTQ+ books (Novel Neighbor) and offering information about library programming and the opportunity to sign up for a library card (St. Louis County Library). | Sarah Boslaugh
QFest St. Louis runs May 27-June1 at the Hi-Point Theatre. More information and tickets are available from the Cinema St Louis web site. All short film programs are free of charge through the Gay-It-Forward program.
