PALM SPRINGS, CA (The Hollywood Times) 8/22/26 – The Hollywood Times is proud to announce its official media partnership with Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival, returning to the Palm Springs Cultural Center for two weekends of LGBTQ+ cinema, September 17–20 and September 24–27, 2026.
For me, this partnership is especially personal.
Over the years, The Hollywood Times has had the privilege of covering LGBTQ+ filmmakers, actors, comedians and storytellers whose work gives our community greater visibility. This year, several friends and filmmakers whose careers and projects I have followed and supported have films in the Cinema Diverse lineup.
That makes the festival feel like much more than an assignment. It feels like a celebration of our community.
As an official media partner, The Hollywood Times will be there throughout Cinema Diverse to interview filmmakers, review films, share photographs and introduce our readers to some of the extraordinary people bringing LGBTQ+ stories to the screen.
Jennifer Corday – Find Another Girl to Fix
Jennifer Corday Celebrates New Video Release with Standout Performance at Marni’s
This one is particularly close to home, literally.
My friend Jennifer Corday’s Find Another Girl to Fix is a fun, campy Palm Springs music video/short starring Corday and Cathy DeBuono as two out-and-proud lesbians navigating relationships with plenty of humor along the way.
I also have a very personal connection to the film. I am a co-producer, my voice can be heard at the beginning, I appear as an extra, and much of the project was filmed at my Palm Springs home.
Watching something created among friends make its way onto a festival screen is always special, and I cannot wait to experience this one with a Cinema Diverse audience.
Odalys Nanin – Love and Other Devastations
I am also thrilled to see Odalys Nanin’s Love and Other Devastations joining the celebration.
Written and directed by Nanin, the 2026 romantic short stars Tricia Cruz, Gabriella Ortiz, Katie Petal and Lizette Santiago.
The title alone tells you that we are entering familiar romantic territory — love, complications, attraction and all those wonderfully messy emotions that can accompany relationships.
Odalys has spent years creating work centered on lesbian lives, Latina voices, relationships and LGBTQ+ visibility, making Love and Other Devastations a natural fit for the spirit of Cinema Diverse.
I am looking forward to supporting Odalys and the film during the festival and sharing more about it with The Hollywood Times readers.
Betsy Kalin – Lesbians in Boystown
Lesbians In Boystown: Preserving Queer Women’s History Through Film
Another film I am particularly excited about is filmmaker Betsy Kalin’s Lesbians in Boystown.
The 27-minute documentary turns its attention toward a history that has too often been overlooked: the lesbians and queer women who helped build the LGBTQ+ community of West Hollywood.
The film explores women’s contributions through the Dyke Marches, the AIDS crisis, nonprofit organizations, grassroots activism and the social spaces that once provided vital gathering places for lesbians and queer women.
It also raises an important contemporary question: as lesbian bars, bookstores, cafés and other gathering spaces have disappeared, how do we preserve our history while creating lasting community for the next generation?
That question resonates far beyond West Hollywood. It is equally meaningful here in Palm Springs, where LGBTQ+ history, visibility and community remain such an important part of the city’s identity.
I am delighted that Lesbians in Boystown will be part of Cinema Diverse and that audiences will have the opportunity to learn more about women whose contributions deserve to be remembered.
Mina Hartong – Miss Personality
My friend and comedian Mina Hartong is also headed to Cinema Diverse with Miss Personality.
Filmed before enthusiastic Palm Springs audiences, Mina’s comedy draws from her Connecticut upbringing, Dutch heritage, years as a public-school teacher and her life as a lesbian.
Anyone who knows Mina knows she can turn even an ordinary experience into a wonderfully funny story.
I was there when the special was filmed, which makes seeing it reach the Cinema Diverse screen even more meaningful.
Andrea Meyerson and Karen Williams
Longtime friend and acclaimed filmmaker Andrea Meyerson will also be represented at Cinema Diverse with her new documentary centered on pioneering lesbian comedian Karen Williams.
Andrea has spent years documenting LGBTQ+ lives, entertainers and history, while Karen has spent decades making audiences laugh and opening doors for lesbian performers.
Their film screens Saturday, September 19 at 4:45 PM, followed by a Q&A.
I am especially looking forward to seeing Andrea and Karen at the festival and sitting down with them to talk about the documentary, Karen’s remarkable career and why preserving lesbian history through film remains so important.
Jason Stuart – Redlining
Jason Stuart Brings Heart, Humor, and Honesty to the Sunset Music and Comedy Festival
My friend Jason Stuart is also represented at Cinema Diverse with Redlining, a short film that The Hollywood Times has previously had the pleasure of covering.
The film tackles race, prejudice, generational wealth, homosexuality, women’s rights and the lasting consequences of institutional discrimination.
Jason has long combined his career as an actor, comedian and filmmaker with LGBTQ+ advocacy, and Redlining continues that tradition by using storytelling to begin conversations about subjects that remain relevant today.
Jeffrey Schwarz – Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders
Cinema Diverse also opens with Emmy-winning filmmaker Je
Jeffrey Schwarz’s Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders.
The documentary explores the history surrounding William Friedkin’s controversial Cruising, the real-life crime connected to its origins and the protests that followed, bringing together queer history, activism and true crime.
The Hollywood Times will be covering the film as part of our Cinema Diverse reporting.
Welcome to Tool Shed – A Palm Springs Story of Survival, Sexuality and Chosen Family
Another film with deep Palm Springs roots is Welcome to Tool Shed, directed by Daniel Talbott and Andrew Klaus-Vineyard.
The 23-minute documentary takes audiences inside Palm Springs’ legendary Tool Shed, a longtime leather bar and sanctuary for generations of queer men. At the heart of the film are LGBTQ+ seniors who lived through the AIDS epidemic, decades of discrimination and enormous cultural change, and who continue to embrace sexuality, humor, friendship and chosen family.
For Palm Springs audiences, this isn’t simply LGBTQ+ history. It’s our local history.
The Tool Shed has been part of the city’s queer community for decades, and the documentary gives a voice to people who once had every reason to believe they might never live long enough to grow old. Instead, they now find themselves helping define what it means to be an openly LGBTQ+ senior.
The Hollywood Times has already had the opportunity to review Welcome to Tool Shed, and we are delighted to see this moving, funny and unapologetically queer Palm Springs story included in Cinema Diverse 2026.
The film screens as part of Cinema Diverse’s Shorts: Our Favorite Docs program.
More Than a Film Festival
Cinema Diverse has always been about much more than simply watching movies.
It is about being seen.
It is about sitting in a theater and recognizing pieces of ourselves, our relationships, our humor, our families, our struggles, our sexuality, our history and our joy, reflected on the screen.
That is why this official media partnership is such a natural fit for The Hollywood Times.
We believe entertainment journalism should not only cover the biggest names and studios in Hollywood. It should also shine a light on independent filmmakers, LGBTQ+ artists and storytellers whose work deserves a larger audience.
And this year, I admit, I am particularly proud.
Jennifer Corday. Odalys Nanin. Betsy Kalin. Mina Hartong. Andrea Meyerson and Karen Williams. Jason Stuart.
These aren’t simply names on a festival program.
They are people whose work I have followed, supported, interviewed, laughed with and, in some cases, had the pleasure of participating in creatively.
That makes Cinema Diverse 2026 something I am looking forward to not only as Publisher and Senior Editor of The Hollywood Times, but as someone who cares deeply about preserving and celebrating LGBTQ+ stories.
The Hollywood Times will be bringing readers interviews, reviews, photographs and special coverage throughout both weekends of Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
Cinema Diverse 2026
September 17–20 & September 24–27, 2026
Palm Springs Cultural Center
Palm Springs, California
See you at the movies!
By Valerie Milano, Publisher/Senior Editor, The Hollywood Times
