Asian
CLOSE KNIT (Karera ga honki de amu toki wa)
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FLAfter being neglected by her mother, a little girl is taken in by her uncle and his transgender girlfriend, who create a loving home for her.
Billie and Emma
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FLBillie and Emma are sent to a Catholic high school for very different reasons. Set in the Philippines of the mid-1990’s, Billie is banished by her city parents to get her away from her girlfriend. Emma is brilliant, overachieving, popular, and on course for a bright future.
Kattumaram
Metro Wellness and Community Center 3251 3rd Ave N, St Petersburg, FLAnandhi understands loss. Her parents and relatives perished into the waves of a Tsunami off the coast of India. Her Uncle Singaram feels the loss even deeper, as he is the only one left to look after Anandhi, with all the tenderness and the hand wringing of an anxious father.
Song Lang
Metro Wellness and Community Center 3251 3rd Ave N, St Petersburg, FLWhen a hunky, brooding, and hardened debt collector and martial arts practitioner Dung “Thunderbolt” threatens to set fire to a pile of traditional opera costumes for an upcoming performance, one of the actors, Linh Phung, steps in to argue for more time. This non-traditional meeting instead ignites a slow burn between the two men.
A Dog Barking At The Moon
Tampa Theatre 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FLXiaoyu returns to China with her American husband in tow to visit her parents, whose relationship is as dysfunctional as ever. Her father's homosexuality set off a domestic earthquake many years ago, with aftershocks extending to the present as the family still struggles to maintain their integrity.
SHORTS PROGRAM #5: IDENTITY CRISIS
TIGLFF SCREENING ROOM-ONLINEIt’s not me…it’s YOU. These perceptive shorts show that sometimes the only identity crisis that’s going on is the one that’s happening in someone else’s judgmental mind.
Jewelle: A Just Vision/Swimming in the Dark
Green Light Cinema 221 2nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FLDorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina,) says of Jewell Gomez’s The Gilda Stories, “Why hadn’t it occurred to anybody that the perfect vampire would be a Black Lesbian?” Why, indeed! After graduating from Columbia School of Journalism Jewelle started writing poetry and plays. Screening with Swimming in the Dark.
Golden Delicious
Green Light Cinema 221 2nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FLEveryone wants something from high school senior Jake: his father is pushing him to try out for the basketball team—an abandoned dream of his own—and his girlfriend wants to take their relationship to the next level. But it’s not until Aleks, an openly gay teen with a love for basketball, moves in across the street that Jake begins to struggle with his own desires.