DOCUMENTARY FEATURES IN COMPETITION

COMING TO YOU
Dir: Gyuri Byun
93 min / 2021 / South Korea / Korean

Nabi, a veteran fire officer, accepts the coming out from her child Hankyeol, “I want to remove my breasts.” Meanwhile, Vivian, a flight crew, receives a letter from her son Yejoon, “Mom, I’m gay.” Hankyeol and Yejoon confide in their struggles even before the two mothers understand their reality.

EMERGENCE: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Dir: Vinay Giridhar
80 min / 2021 / Canada / English

For Kayden, Jag, and Amar, awakening to and expressing their sexuality within conservative South Asian families was a lonely and terrifying experience. Denial, shame and despair haunted their youths, even threatening their lives. Yet, they’ve emerged. In the feature documentary Emergence: Out of the Shadows, the disparate journeys of Kayden, Jag and Amar converge around a shared sense of compassion and healing as they bravely convey their often heart-wrenching stories. Confronted with tradition and taboo in their Punjabi Sikh cultures, Jag’s parents and Amar’s mother choose love and support for their children, offering courage and inspiration to individuals and communities struggling with acceptance.

HELLO WORLD (Hei Verden)
Dir: Kenneth Elvebakk
87 min / 2021 / Norway / Norwegian

Hello World is a celebration of gay kids and young people who have the courage to be different and take pride in their identities, whether it’s coming out, colouring their hair blue or dressing without conforming to gender. Told through the eyes of the four young people, the film gives us a window into understanding what it is like to grow up as a queer. Building pride is not easy in a world where hate messages are just a click away, and even harder in schools where administration and education systems seek to erase and marginalize outstanding voices.

PAT ROCCO DARED
Dirs: Bob Christie, Morris Chapdelaine
90 min / 2021 / United States, Canada / English

In the 1970’s Playboy magazine dubbed Pat Rocco the King of the Nudies, but he is much more than an erotic filmmaker. Rocco is an activist, artist, filmmaker, and entertainer. He’s the whole Hollywood package, with one more story to tell: his own. Pat Rocco documented the early queer rights movements in Los Angeles and San Francisco at a time when it was legally and physically precarious to do so. It is critical that contributions from LGBTQ+ change-makers like Pat Rocco are woven into the larger narrative of our collective human rights history.

THE QUEENCIAÑERA (La Queenciañera)
Dir: Pedro Peira
84 min / 2021 / Mexico, United States / English, Spanish

Bamby Salcedo, a nationwide undocumented transgender Latina human rights activist, organizes her 50th birthday celebration attended by people significant to her life and survival. As she prepares for the event, Bamby travels through LA county and watches her life go past; from the streets where she smoked crack and the Men’s County Jail where she was raped to journalists and academics she has enlisted to her causes, plush homes of supporters, and communities and organizations she has gathered to change the life of transgender people in the United States. The film reveals the great story of strength and joyful celebration of life that is powered by acceptance of the most painful past experiences to make a real difference for others and oneself.