QUEER SHORTS WATCH / NOV-DEC 2025

QUEER SHORTS WATCH 

@GlobalQueerCinema

FREE VIRTUAL SHORT FILM 

showcase amplifying the visibility of genre- and geography-diverse queer cinema.  We spotlight 5 films/ filmmakers each QUEER SHORTS WATCH season.

QUEER SHORTS WATCH was launched in 2024 with Iris Prize winning short BLOOD LIKE WATER (2023), directed by Dima Hamdan.  

NEXT QUEER SHORTS WATCH

MARCH 2026

Do you want your queer short featured in the next QUEER SHORTS WATCH?

Reach out to us at: globalqueercinema@gmail.com

We reserve the right to feature films that align with our mission and curatorial priorities.

@GlobalQueerCinema would like to THANK all the filmmakers and collaborating partners who participate in QUEER SHORTS WATCH.

🫶🌎🏳️‍🌈🎥

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILM: 

TWO BLACK BOYS IN PARADISE (2025) dir. Baz Sells | UK

"These two Black boys are free. These two Black boys are happy." A heartfelt stop-motion animation based on Dean Atta’s eponymous poem, it follows the blossoming relationship of two unapologetic Black queer teens. A loving yet challenging journey of self-acceptance, this inspiring short is a celebration of queer love, vulnerability, belonging, and the power of embracing YOU. 

This Oscar-qualifying animated short was available to watch free on DECEMBER 6-7 & 11, 2025 by courtesy of One6th Animation & Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg 

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING!

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILMMAKER: 

 BAZ SELLS

Baz Sells is a BIFA nominated writer, director, and DoP. He is the co-founder of One6th Animation Studio alongside producer Ben Jackson. Their stop-motion films explore socially conscious themes, captured with unique perspective and meticulous care to detail. Baz’s directorial style is a nuanced, carefully layered, and imaginative approach to world building. One6th’s BFI backed short Two Black Boys In Paradise (2025) has been selected at over 60 film festivals worldwide; is qualified for both Oscar and BAFTA submission and has won several awards, including the animation Grand Prix at Encounters Film Festival, Best Animated short at Woodstock film festival, the Iris Prize Audience Award, and is streaming on Channel 4 (UK). Baz is currently developing his debut stop-motion feature film. 

MORE HERE

 Image © Baz Sells

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED WRITER: 

 DEAN ATTA 

Dean Atta is an award-winning Black British writer from London. His poem Two Black Boys in Paradise (There Is (Still) Love Here, 2022), narrated by Jordan Stephens, is the inspiration for Baz Sells’ animation of the same title. 

Dean is also the co-screenwriter and executive producer of the film. With a singular storytelling style rooted in his Greek Cypriot and Jamaican heritage, Dean Atta writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for all ages, including I Am Nobody's Nigger (2013) a poetry collection shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize; a memoir, Person Unlimited: An Ode to My Black Queer Body (2024), as well as young adult verse novels are The Black Flamingo (2019), Only on the Weekends (2022), and I Can't Even Think Straight. 

MORE HERE

 Image © Dean Atta

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILM: 

FLYING FISH (2024) 

dir. Mengmeng Ming | China / UK

Family photo archives and fictional narratives reveal a complex journey of self-discovery and gender identity in this contemplative short exploring the fluidity of memory and gender. In an attempt to understand their own gender identity, the filmmaker weaves stories of cross-dressing and gender performativity through personal experiences while evoking China’s rich history of drag from traditional Chinese opera to cross-dressing in literary works and mythology. Flying Fish, as well as the filmmaker’s experimental performance art (Metamorphosis), invokes drag to challenge the gender binary and create spaces for alternative identities. 

This film was available to watch free 

on 29-30 NOVEMBER until 8 PM EST 

by courtesy of the filmmaker. 

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING!

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILMMAKER: 

MENGMENG MING

Ming Mengmeng is a Chinese filmmaker and performance artist whose work explores East Asian queer narratives through experimental theatre and film. Her experimental short, Flying Fish (2024), was selected for the Beijing Queer Film Festival and the Queer East Festival in 2024. Her project 21st Century East Asian Women’s Museum was shortlisted for the Migratory Birds 300 artist residency program at the Aranya Theater Festival (China). She currently works with the Beijing Queer Film Festival and will soon join the residency program of EGDP’s Zuo Tan Project. She holds a BA in Digital Media Arts from Beijing Normal University and an MA in Performance: Screen from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. 

MORE HERE

 Image © Mengmeng Ming

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILM: 

ZARI (2024) 

dir. Shruti Parekh | USA / India

Zari (pronounced ZUH-ree), is a nuanced coming-of-age story set in and around a Delhi sari store during preparations for a wedding. American teen Neelu is having a hard time choosing a sari to wear for her sister's wedding, but an unexpected encounter with a quiet sari store clerk opens up possibilities she hadn't considered before. Filmed on location in Delhi, India, Zari is a sensitive and visually stunning film which explores the delicate faces (and spaces) of queerness in Indian society. Grand Jury Award for best New York Short Film at NewFest 

This film was available to watch FREE

on 22-23 NOVEMBER, 2025 

by courtesy of the filmmaker

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING!

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILMMAKER: 

SHRUTI PAREKH

Shruti Parekh is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who tells stories of self-discovery and subversion. She was recently named in MovieMaker Magazine as one of Austin Film Festival’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2025. Her narrative short ZARI got funding from CAPE and Janet Yang Productions and has won seven awards at festivals internationally. Shruti’s prior short, ESPERANZA screened at over 20 festivals worldwide and is streaming on PBS. Shruti’s most recent work, HOMEBODY, was a recipient of NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, & Theatre. Shruti has a BA from Brown University and an MFA in Directing from UCLA.

MORE HERE

 Image © Shruti Parekh

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILM: 

CHERRY, PASSION FRUIT (2024) 

dir. Renato José Duque | Portugal 

A sensuous, visually singular black and white animation about dreams, memories, and the seductive ghosts of the pleasures and the lovers that tempt and haunt us. Deep in a mysterious rainforest, lust tempts a man with love and pain. Will he embrace his haunting desires? 

This film was available to watch FREE

on 15-16 NOVEMBER, 2025 

by courtesy of the filmmaker

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING!

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILMMAKER: 

RENATO JOSÉ DUQUE

Renato José Duque is a Brazilian animation artist born in São Paulo. His graduation film, Ocean (2017) premiered at Animafest Zagreb, and has been selected at Huesca International Film Festival, Warsaw IFF, Havana Film Festival and many more. He has worked as both animator and editor for several short films and series productions since. Cherry, Passion Fruit (2024), his second film, was awarded the Best Portuguese Short at Monstra Festival 2025, Portugal, and Best Directing at Lanterna Mágica, 2025, Brazil. 

MORE HERE

 Image © Renato José Duque

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILM: 

WE WILL BE WHO WE ARE (2025)

dir. Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda | Sierra Leone 

A poetic, visually captivating experimental short about two friends who decide to marry each other in an attempt to escape society's pressures to conform.  "This film explores love; what happens when we give up on who we are,  and why we should continuously become who we should always have been."

This film was available to watch FREE

on  8-9 NOVEMBER, 2025 

by courtesy of the filmmaker

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING!

QUEER SHORTS WATCH

FEATURED FILMMAKER: 

PRISCILLIA KOUNKOU HOVEYDA

Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda is a Congolese Iranian, South Africa and Sierra Leone-based filmmaker; founder and creative director at the Collective for Black Iranians and co-founder and advisory board member of House of Salone, a production and creative agency that advises on critically conscious storytelling. Priscillia’s storytelling is grounded in ancestral memory, intersectionality and Blackness to bear witness to Black life in its varied diasporic iterations. Priscillia’s first film, Where My Memory Began (2024) is a lyrical short that explores the concept of memory while her latest short We Will Be Who We Are (2025) is a visually captivating ode to queer experiences. 

MORE HERE

 Image © Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda