This shorts series ranges from sublime and sweet to subversively campy, then heads to way-beyond-over-the-top. In other words: Only in San Francisco (and around the Bay). We start off with Beautiful by Night, an exploration of the rituals of transformation by three older drag entertainers at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge in the Tenderloin. Heading to Guerneville, an order of drag queen nuns saves the Russian River and turns homophobes into heroes in Queer Habits. A wedding-obsessed woman is hoping for a proposal, but instead finds out her boyfriend is gay in I Don’t. Hank goes to extreme lengths to get closure after a recent breakup in Tradesman’s Exit. Peaches Christ, Chaka Corn, and Honey Mahogany lend their voices in Engender, a short doc that looks at drag culture as an inherently progressive force. Peaches Christ takes a turn in the director’s chair for Cherry Bomb, an over-the-top, grossly goofball short starring Peggy L’Eggs as a starlet who is rapidly losing her grip—and bodily fluids. Perky and portly Cousin Wonderlette never imagined she’d meet the man of her dreams, so when her dreams turn into disturbing nightmares she’s not so surprised in the demented My Life Is a Dream.

— Kevin Schaub

Co-presented by:

CounterPulse

San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival