Shorts Set: Girls Just Wanna….
Baba Yaga Smoked Me Out (10 min.) In this puppet-tastic queer 420 comedy, a heartbroken and unemployed dyke unknowingly smokes magical weed and summons the mysterious Baba Yaga– an old hag witch that grants wishes for a price.
Parker and the Green Dress (23 min.) A queer teen is torn between prom dreams and the fear of disappointing her grandmother. A chance encounter with an elderly woman, who harbors her own hidden truth, sparks a journey of mutual discovery. Together they confront the secrets that shape their lives. Can they embrace their truths before time runs out?
Quinceañera (21 min.) After being forced to have a quinceañera, a raging teenager is faced with mixed feelings of joy and confusion when she meets a shy girl at dance practice. TOTAL TIME: 54 min.
See it Saturday, Sept. 21 at 12:30PM

Lesvia
Since the 1970s, lesbians from around the world have been drawn to the island of Lesvos, birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. When they find paradise in a local village and carve out their own lesbian community, tensions simmer with the local residents. With both groups claiming ownership of lesbian identity, filmmaker Tzeli Hadjidimitriou—a native and lesbian herself—is caught in the middle and chronicles 40+ years of love, community, conflict, and what it means to feel accepted.
See it Saturday, Sept. 21 at 4:45pm.

Extraction, USA
Marni is a bartender, single mom, and occasional pool hustler in the grimy town of Extraction, USA. Extraction is in the midst of an energy boom, but nothing good trickles down to people like Marni. Her teenaged son Jason gets bullied at school, her boss Daryl harasses her all the time, and she still can’t make ends meet. One night a stranger named Steph strides into the bar and challenges Marni to a game of pool. Marni falls for her, wowed by her pool skill and tough-girl persona. Together, they hatch a scheme to escape Extraction. Can they take down kingpins and take back their lives.
See it Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:15pm.

Stori Strong 
An imaginative, donor-conceived girl loves telling everyone about her two-mom family in this episodic series for kids in LGBTQ+ families! Protagonist Stori Strong has two moms… and a donut! Well, that’s what she thought when she was little. It turns out she has a “donor,” not a “donut,” and a “donor” is someone who helped her parents create their family.  Stori thinks her donor might have superpowers. Her moms support her creative vision. While hosting a bake sale, gardening, and celebrating her 10th birthday, Stori is fiercely proud to share her story: Stori’s story!
See it Sunday, Sept. 22 at 2:15pm.

What A Feeling
Finally! A heartfelt, clever (and hot!) romantic comedy about two middle aged women who refuse to be pushed to the sideline of life. It’s a story about an unlikely love that survives and thrives between cultures and conventions. In more ways than one, there is simply no straight path for Marie Theres and Fa as they navigate through life, love and family.
See it Sunday, Sept. 22 at 4:45pm

Unusually Normal
(Our Gay Family) 
Unusually Normal (Our Gay Family) is about three generations of gay women in one family.  They are a family who have normal relationships in a gay household.  We span through three eras of women living a gay life. We come to understand how our gay family endured obstacles that came with being gay, family loss, clandestine love and finally happiness when they allowed themselves to live freely by outing themselves.
See it Thursday, Sept. 26 at 4:45pm

Shorts Set: Faces of Crisis
I Remember (25 min.) A short film about a man afflicted with repressed memory loss due to a traumatic experience he suffered.
Laughing Again (11 min.) Two women come to terms with the loss of an unborn child
Lifeline (14 min.) Marcus has lived life with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Well, today it all comes crashing down when he terrifyingly contemplates suicide in a game of Russian roulette.
PIECHT (30 min.) For 17-year-old Johanna, a vacation in idyllic Piecht is anything but relaxing. While her mother dreams of an ecological alternative life, a real nightmare unfolds for Johanna as she is confronted with a far-right community and their backwards ideas. She bravely tries to get to the bottom of what is happening but encounters brutal resistance.
Remnants of Nova (14 min.) As Dani, an up-and-coming queer artist, anxiously prepares for her first live show, her partner and lead guitarist, Nova, drops out of their band.
Wrath Mercy (20 min.) Adam is a drug addict nearing the end of his young life. After a decisive encounter with Mall, the drug dealer, Adam meets Irina, a mysterious woman who gives him an opportunity to change his fate. After years of trauma, abandoned by his family for being gay, will Adam finally find a way out?
TOTAL TIME: 114 min.

See it Friday, Sept. 27 at 11:45am.

Witchy Ways
SPONSORED BY THE CLUB SKIRTS
Writer/Director Jane Clark (Meth Head, Crazy Bitches) returns to Cinema Diverse with a supernatural film inspired by Practical Magic; a witches’ brew of comedy, romance, and genre that fuse into one magical ride! Eve (Diora Baird) quits the rat race and heads to a cabin to rediscover herself. There she finds herself falling for dynamic property owner, Danni (Marem Hassler). As they grow closer, Danni confesses she is a witch but hides a ghostly secret that threatens to destroy their fragile relationship. Co-starring Candis Cayne as Eve’s best friend and Marc “Skippy” Price (Family Ties) as the angry neighbor.  Music by Jennifer Corday
See it Friday, Sept. 20 at 4:45pm.

Straight on till Morning 
Dani and Kaitlin are two dreamers falling for each other on a romantic roadtrip. The world is theirs — until they cross paths with a family that has something much, much darker in mind. Be afraid.
See it Friday, Sept. 27 at 7:15pm

Tinseltown’s Queer: 30 Years Later
Long before Will & Grace, Brokeback Mountain, Queer Eye or RuPaul, there was Nicholas Snow and Tinseltown’s Queer. In preparation for the 30th Anniversary of Nicholas Snow’s ground-breaking public access television show, Tinseltown’s Queer, he accidentally made this documentary featuring iconic archival television clips of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, as well as champions of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. Some of Snow’s guests included LGBTQ+ icons Quentin Crisp, Robin Tyler, Melissa Etheridge, Armistead Maupin, Patricia Nell Warren and Morris Kight, and celebs Drew Carey, Christine Baranski, Cristina Applegate, Katey Sagal, Hugh Hefner and many more. The first episode of Tinseltown’s Queer was taped April 28, 1993, three days after a March on Washington for LGBTQ+ rights.
See it Saturday, Sept. 28at 9:30am.

Shorts Set: Mine to Define
AFTER HOURS (7 min.) Two transwomen chance encounter in the club bathroom, one at the end of her rope, one at the end of her break working at the bar.
ALL BOYS DO (15 min. ) A trans drag queen crosses paths with an old flame on the streets of Los Angeles. Over the course of a weekend, the pair act on their unexplored desire for each other.
Arlo (13 min.) Arlo, a trans teenager who’s been living on his own for two years, comes face to face with a missing poster of himself that uses his deadname and a school picture taken years before he transitioned.
Misery Loves Company (5 min.) If you could write your past self a letter what would it say? What if they were alt right? Misery (Eden Davies) is visited by his future trans self,  Company (Jarry Davies) at a moment in time to create a catalyst of change. Love in the face of hate. Is that enough?
Mona’s North Beach Noir (21 min.) It’s San Francisco in the 1950s  and post war paranoia is at its height. Mitch Marlowe (niece of detective Philip Marlowe) lands in town to start a new life…. passing as a man. She’s brash, confident and very comfortable presenting as a man. What she discovers in North Beach is a vibrant world of artists, criminals,  corrupt cops, jazz clubs and the LGBTQ+ shadow world.  But is it safe for her anywhere?
one | another (11 min.) As personal and societal pressures accumulate, a non-binary model and musician find refuge in one another at a house party
The Difference Between Us (24 min.) An undocumented immigrant in Philadelphia starts to fall for a roommate she’s never met — forming a connection that will test the limits of her romantic imagination. TOTAL TIME: 96 min.
See it Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11:45am

Under the Influencer 
SPONSORED BY THE CLUB SKIRTS
Digital artist Lex Carre documents her struggle with anxiety through work that she posts anonymously online. Her pieces capture the attention of cunning curator Andrea Caulfield, who offers mentorship in exchange for control of Lex’s career. When Lex’s mental health starts to spiral from the pressure, Andrea assumes ownership of her work—prompting Lex to plot a psychological showdown against the exploitative mentor who stole her art and nearly destroyed her mind.
See it Saturday, Sept. 28 at 6:00pm

Artist Unknown
Unlucky-in-love martial artist Juniper has hit rock bottom. She’s working at her ex girlfriend’s MMA studio by day and crashing on her couch by night. Needing something to call her own, Juniper steps into a thrift store and buys a painting. That spur-of-the-moment purchase turns into a life-changing adventure when two masked thieves try to steal the painting. Juniper surprises herself and the would-be thieves when she fights back and escapes. When Juniper is forced to fight the ultimate battle for the painting, she realizes the true value lies not in the beauty of the painting or the allure of a new lover but in the strength of her own self-worth.
See it Sunday, Sept. 29 at 2:30pm

Kim Carnie Out Loud
SPONSORED BY THE PALM SPRINGS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Scottish singer Kim Carnie was in a secret same-sex relationship for 6 years, from the ages of 16-22.  She is now ready to reflect on the impact those 6 years of secrecy had on her. She meets other people who have hidden their sexuality as well as activists in the lgbtq+ community to hear their stories and to share her own. Having always used song-writing as a source of dealing with her feelings and as therapy, Kim draws inspiration from the people that she meets to write songs based on their experiences and her own.
See it Sunday, Sept. 29 at 4:45pm

Be Sure To Thank Our Sponsors!

Tickets and Passes

Individual tickets are $14.50.  All tickets and passes are currently available at the Cinema Diverse Website.