2001

Ten shorts from the US, Canada, Germany, Norway and the Netherlands. Highlights include Hope Thompson’s tongue-in-cheek noir thriller Switch (Canada, 1999), and Weeki Wachee Girls (Kim Cummings, 1999), the story of two teenage best friends. Katie and Maura have always dreamed of joining the live mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Spring. It’s the summer of 1979, they’re fifteen, and everything is changing, especially when Katie discovers Maura’s secret.

This poignant tale of Native lesbian life presents a gritty, yet deeply humanizing portrait of life behind bars. Troubled but proud lesbian Johnny (Gail Maurice) and her lover/cellmate Lana (Columpa C. Bobb) boldly fight for tolerance and respect amidst the brutalities of prison life…

From Long Island, New York to Portland, Maine gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth have experienced homophobia in their schools. Youth Outloud turns up the volume on glbt youth issues in schools and gives voice to a few bold teens that have first-hand experience. Dan is afraid to walk the one block home from school for fear he will get beaten up…

Set in South Carolina on the eve of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon walk, One Small Step is a dramatic comedy about a rambunctious 8-year-old tomboy, Ernestine “Teen” Miller. Taught by her parents that she can be anything she wants, Teen learns there is one exception to this rule when she announces to her mother that she is determined to marry the neighbor girl.

In 1992 Cheryl Summerville, a cook at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Georgia, received a termination paper stating she was fired for “failing to demonstrate normal heterosexual values.” She was shocked to discover that in more than 40 states it was legal to fire workers for their sexual orientation. Out at Work chronicles the stories of three workers who seek workplace safety, job security and benefits for gay and lesbian workers.