Shifting Lines: New Queer Animation

From dystopian dating and awkward high school crushes to the tenderness of chosen family and intergenerational indigenous power, Shifting Lines: New Queer Animation takes an expansive look at the LGBTQ+ experience through the lens of six filmmakers and animators.

Our Bed Is Green Dir. Maggie Brennan | 2021 | USA | 7 MINS Realm, a virtual reality facility, is quite transparent about the erotic nature of its services: Wall to wall, it is lined with tempting previews of sexy, ready-made experiences. But Realm also offers something more: With the help of data-mining technology, clientele can create virtual facsimiles of real-life places and people. This hyper-personalization is what attracts Cecily, a young woman grappling with a disorienting world and an intense fixation.

Et Chaque Nuit Dir. Julie Robert | 2020 | France, UK | 12 MINS Since childhood, Léa has been seeing ghostly deer looming around her. Now that she is in a relationship with Maud, the visions are getting worse. How can she prove to her girlfriend, and to herself, that this is a real problem to be dealt with?

Kapaemahu Dir. Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson | 2021 | USA | 8 MINS Long ago, four extraordinary individuals of dual male and female spirit brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii. Beloved by the people for their gentle ways and miraculous cures, they imbued four giant boulders with their powers. The stones still stand on what is now Waikiki Beach, but the true story behind them has been hidden — until now. Narrated in an ancient Hawaiian dialect, Kapaemahu brings this powerful legend back to life in vivid animation.

Were You Gay In High School? Dir. Niki Ang | 2020 | USA | 13 MINS Two queer women recall their awkward, closeted high school days of kissing boys and straight-girl crushes.

My Aunties Dir. Richard O'Connor | 2020 | USA | 3 MINS Stefan Lynch remembers the community of gay men-lovingly nicknamed his "aunties"-who helped raise him, the dark days of the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and the lessons that he learned from this powerful family.

Luv U Cuz Dir. Eric Pumphrey | 2021 | USA | 15 MINS Set in a not-too-distant future, two cousins bond over the course of a night on the town, until their relationship is tested in more ways than one.