Showing at Time to Murder and Create block October 5th, 2025, at 2:00 PM Link below to get tickets:
By Valerie Milano
Hollywood, CA (The Hollywood Times, Media Partner with Hollywood Queer Short Film Festival) 10/04/25 – At this year’s Hollywood Queer Short Film Festival, one of the most vibrant selections is Girlfriend Girlfriend, a short film from writer and director Sarah Werner that flips a familiar, often awkward moment in queer life into a dazzling celebration of identity, empowerment, and joy.
The inspiration for the film was deceptively simple. As Werner shared during our recent Zoom interview, the spark came from a real-life exchange her partner experienced while working at a summer serving job in Cape May, New Jersey. When she mentioned she was there with her girlfriend, a coworker pressed: “Girlfriend… or girlfriend-girlfriend?” Werner recalled, laughing, that she immediately knew this offhand remark would one day become a film. “It always bothered me that the word ‘girlfriend’ needed clarification,” she told me. “My guy friends don’t say ‘boyfriend’ to describe their friends, so why do queer women have to explain themselves again and again?”
That frustration evolved into a cinematic reclamation. In Girlfriend Girlfriend, the word itself becomes a bold act of queer empowerment. Werner explained that the title means “making being queer not a question. It just is what it is.” Originally conceived as a drama, the film took a turn toward comedy and joy in response to the political and cultural climate. “Joy is resistance,” Werner said. “They want to see us afraid, cowering. Instead, we’re louder, prouder, and smiling through it.”
The short bursts with surreal, campy imagery, crowns of scissors, beauty queen motifs, bold color palettes, that push beyond realism into what Werner calls a “hyper-queer lens.” Collaborating with cinematographer Robert Bennett, the team leaned into reds, pinks, and golds to create a look that feels filmic despite the microbudget. “We wanted to burn that joy into every frame,” Werner said.
This spirit of resourcefulness carried throughout the production. Shot over the course of a year with a tight-knit crew and Werner self-funding through bartending shifts, the film reflects both DIY grit and deep passion. Shooting locations were secured by calling in favors, Santa Monica’s Library Alehouse lent its bar for two precious hours before opening, while other sequences came together in a rented warehouse with friends stepping in to fill roles.
At the center of the film is Bry Gallagher, Werner’s wife, who plays the server. “She had to relive some trauma in order to tell this story authentically,” Werner admitted, adding that the two kept communications open and supportive on set. Comedic timing is provided by Linda, Gallagher’s frequent stage partner, whose chemistry was, in Werner’s words, “perfect—no notes.” Rounding out the cast is Delia, a performer Werner had long admired, who embodies the goddess figure that guides the narrative. Together, they anchor the film’s mix of humor, surrealism, and empowerment.
One of the film’s most striking choices is its embrace of camp and symbolism. From spray-painted scissors transformed into crowns to surreal goddess imagery, Werner turns the scars of homophobia into visual power. “People used to mock us with scissors,” she said, “so I thought, we’re going to reclaim it so hard that there’s nothing left to say but love.”
That defiance is central to the project. Girlfriend Girlfriend is as much about laughter as it is about survival, transforming a moment of hesitation into something cosmic—what Werner called “the sapphic version of the Big Bang.”
The success of Girlfriend Girlfriend has already paved the way for a sequel. Inspired by Werner’s wedding day with Gallagher, the next installment will be titled Wife Wife. As Werner explained with a grin, “Taking these real-life interactions and reclaiming them through film is forever. Even if you didn’t have the perfect comeback in the moment, now you can.”
As media partners of the Hollywood Queer Short Film Festival, The Hollywood Times is thrilled to see Girlfriend Girlfriend debut at the event on Sunday, October 5th at 2:00 PM. Werner will attend alongside cast members Delia and Linda, while Gallagher represents the film at a screening in Minnesota.
“Supporting queer filmmakers and watching our films matters,” Werner said, closing our conversation with gratitude. “This film is for everyone who has ever had to clarify their love. Now it’s simply Girlfriend, Girlfriend.”
Hear more of our conversation with the film’s creator here:
