Photo courtesy of SpIFF. “Reviving the Roost” features animation in the style of neon lights.
One of the final showings for the Spokane International Film Festival (SpIFF) was a series of LGBTQ+-focused shorts, showing at the Magic Lantern Theatre. The collection of shorts was sponsored by Eastern Washington University’s Pride Center, as they celebrated their 10 year anniversary.
The shorts premiered at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 6. The first of these shorts was “Momster,” directed by Drew Denny. “Momster” is a story about a girl, Angel, waiting for her mom, a wanted bank robber going by the moniker “Momster,” to rescue her from her dead-end job managed by a cruel boss who also controls her room and board. “Momster” is very well shot, with neon colors and lighting making the short moody and intense. The short is very casual in its LGBTQ+ representation, with Angel’s lesbian identity not really coming up at all until the end, when her mom comes returns and Angel steals a kiss from the cute dishwasher before escaping with her mother.
Though the short only lasted 11 minutes, it felt as if it deserved a full-fledged series, with Angel’s mother not remembering that she had a daughter and the future of their relationship left hanging as they drive off into the sunset at the end.
The next short, “Reviving the Roost,” was animated in a style resembling neon light fixtures, with the background being entirely black to emphasize the colors. The short focuses on a gay bar in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, called The Roost, and how it opened up a world for the director and star, Vivek Shraya. Shraya addresses in-fighting within the LGBTQ+ community, a subject not often talked about, and how the different sub-cultures of the community often clash with one another.
Shraya notes that after he moved to Toronto, a sort of segregation had taken place, with a gay bar for every different subtype of queer person, creating a world where these different subcultures didn’t have to interact with one another if they so desired. The short’s soundtrack is permeated by bass-thumping club music, which is apt for its main focus. “Reviving the Roost” is an enjoyable short and is available on YouTube. Though a seizure warning is in place for anyone who is photosensitive, since the film does feature bright colors on a dark background that have periods of flashing.
“On the Ride” is a short dealing with the loss of a loved one due to cancer. The main character, Scott, takes his morning bike ride while simultaneously grappling with the continued grief due to his husband passing away. For half of the short, the short utilizes close-ups of Scott’s face as he bikes with intermittent cuts to memories of his husband and him before his passing. “On the Ride” uses quick, snappy cuts back and forth between the past and the present as Scott rides his bike and remembers his dearly departed husband.
During these scenes, Scott’s face both remains stoic and focused while subtly betraying his inner turmoil and despair, all thanks to the actor’s wide range of emotions. Though the reminiscing lands Scott in a minor bike wreck, he decides to visit the boy who received his husband’s heart after he died.
The storytelling of the short is done excellently through dialogue and body language, as well as strategic placement of props, as a stethoscope is placed in the background, but then used by Scott to listen to the last remnants of his husband, his heart. Overall, “On the Ride” was a powerful watch, even if there wasn’t any on-screen romantic gestures between the main couple.
“A Normal Girl” is a documentary-style short featuring Pidgeon Pagonis, a nonbinary, intersex person who uses they/them pronouns, describing their experience discovering that they are intersex and nonbinary, as well as their journey becoming an advocate against nonconsensual surgeries done on intersex children.
“A Normal Girl” includes interviews from both Pagonis and their mother, who documents how the doctors flat out lied to both Pagonis and their mother about the surgery they performed on Pagonis when they were very young. The short also includes how common being born intersex is, using the statistic that 1 in every 2000 births results in a baby being intersex.
The short is mostly shot in an interview style with occasional clips of Pagonis and their mother going about their day-to-day life as well as an interview with a young intersex advocate who met Pagonis and was inspired by them. “A Normal Girl” is very light-hearted, despite the intense subject matter, and includes footage from Pagonis’ YouTube channel, providing a down-to-earth and personable feeling.
“Sweetheart Dancers” features some much-needed LGBTQ+ Native American representation, as it documents the struggles of two Native American, Two-Spirit people named Sean and Adrian, fighting to be allowed to perform in a couple’s dance competition. The short is shot using natural lighting and has a few really beautifully composed shots. One in particular shows Sean and Adrian on a balcony of their hotel, emphasizing how small they feel after being denied for the competition after spending hours hand-making their traditional Native American regalia.
“Sweetheart Dancers” highlights the Native American culture of the North American south and addresses the homophobia present in some circles, despite having an off-screen kiss between Sean and Adrian. In the end, the two dance together at the convention and win third place, with the short ending on a freeze frame of them jumping in the air in celebration.
“Misdirection” features more lesbian representation with the main character, Cam, learning how to do magic in order to help her cope with her OCD, as well as in an attempt to try and impress her college roommate, whom she has an unrequited crush on. Though the short features some cheesy acting, it was enjoyable through and through, with the audience being led to believe that Cam will end up with her roommate, Jessie, but with some misdirection, sets up a date with Robin, a girl Cam meets at a dorm party earlier in the film. Not only is Cam a lesbian and has OCD, she is both a person of color and openly using a fidget cube in the film, giving some excellent representation not seen in mainstream films. The film is shot in a traditional style, with nothing really standing out, but it was very enjoyable nonetheless.
The final short was a documentary about the history of Stonewall Inn and the surrounding park, a historical landmark for the LGBTQ+ community, as it was the site of the largest clash against police as well as being a place where homeless LGBTQ+ youth stayed during the 1960s. “Stonewall: Making a Monument” documents how Stonewall Inn came to be, giving insight into how, despite being illegal in the ’60s, the inn managed to stay in business due to its protection from the New York mob. It details how the riot started with an interview from a man who was there, describing the events leading up to the riot, something not often seen in accounts of Stonewall, as most of the participants of the riot are deceased. “Stonewall: Making a Monument” also covered the exclusion and oppression of trans people within the Gay Liberation Movement, something else not often talked about by LGBTQ+ historians.
The short also featured a beautiful orchestral score that punctuated how intense the riots were for those involved. “Stonewall: Making a Monument” featured beautiful overhead shots of the park near Stonewall Inn, as well as multiple shots detailing the interior of the inn as it stands now. “Stonewall: Making a Monument” does an excellent job of documenting one of the most important places in queer history and including voices from all walks of queer life.