Blog: Film festivals

San Francisco’s 1st LGBTQ+ COMING OF AGE short film festival

FIRST FESTIVAL EXCLUSIVELY DEDICATED TO MOVIES DEALING WITH THE COMING OF AGE OF THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND QUEER COMMUNITIES.



The Event:

A 3 days short film festival with 100 movies, selected out of 2000, about the COMING OF AGE of the LGBTQ community.
We have selected the finest short-film directors from more than 50 countries (including France, USA, Myanmar, Iran, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Korea...) and have included a variety of genres such as comedies, dramas, music videos, documentaries, cartoons, etc.
All films are original and were produced between 2017 and 2018.
We made sure to offer the audience a fair mix of Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transgender love stories.

NOVEMBRE 2ND- 4TH, 2018
GRAY AREA | GRAND THEATER



The Coming of Age:

“Coming of age” is an expression
 which qualifies the passage from adolescence to adulthood through our first love story. It is a complicated period for most adolescents, 
but for members of the LGBTQ community, there is an added stress because they must balance figuring out their sexuality and coming out with their coming of age.
This period of transition remains in 2018 a difficult test for numerous LGBTQ teenagers, who are often victims of harassment, some even being rejected by their own families.



The Aspiration:

Our intention is to bring light to the discrimination and bullying often directed towards the LGBTQ+ community, but in an entertaining, positive and creative way.
No voyeurism, no exhibitionism, no vindication: just the recognition of love for what it is, because love doesn't need multiple labels. Everyone should be free to love and to pursue their happiness.
We do not intend to trivialize the issues faced by the fringes of society who, as a result of their culture, religious beliefs, or a lack of education, still judge violently the different ways of loving. However, if we can at least create a space where people are made aware of and can reflect on the mockeries and inequalities that some people must endure because of who they love, then our festival will have fulfilled its purpose.


The philanthropy:

When we started working on the project, we knew we wanted to do something to help the community, and from the beginning it was evident that the benefits from the festival would be donated to charity.
Initially, we thought it would be appropriate to do something to fight bullying and discrimination, but we decided to focus our attention specifically on the LGBTQ community after discovering that half the population of homeless youth in the SF bay area are part of the LGBTQ+ community. There are several reasons for this unfortunate trend: the rapidly increasing housing prices, discrimination and the exorbitant cost of hormone therapy to name a few. And these problems become more severe every year, making homelessness one of the most difficult issues in the city. Lava Mae started as the first “shower on reels”, but it quickly became much more than that, and today they make a difference by delivering radical hospitality to homeless people, helping them regain their dignity and confidence. Lava Mae quickly understood that being LGBTQ in SF is not as glamorous as we commonly think around the world. Thus, they provide essential services to these disadvantaged individuals, as well as creating a crucial safe environment. They then have the possibility of taking care of themselves in addition to having someone to talk to without facing judgment.
That being said, it is well known that San Francisco is one of the world’s most open-minded cities when it comes to sexual preference, so we couldn’t dream of a better place to host our festival!
Let’s hope that over the years, we will be able to help make things better for the community, while always offering our audience a cutting edge film festival unlike any other ones.


Enjoy!