Out on Film 2026 - Herstory: Sapphic Shorts

From the venue:

Sapphic lives unfold in all their messy, tender, funny and fearless glory. These nine stories find women wrestling for community, revisiting first love, risking honesty and opening themselves to connection at every stage of life.

Kit dreams of winning the golden strap at a lesbian mud-wrestling competition that raises money for gender-affirming surgery. Found footage and narrative re-creation evoke a queer high school romance in the 2000s and the uneasy distance between being watched and being seen. Two women living in an old-age home fall in love during the autumn of their lives, exchanging messages and gifts in secret. At a Lunar New Year reunion dinner in Hong Kong, Megan searches for the words to share something deeply personal with her family. A woman facing her first date with another woman discovers that choosing the right outfit can become an existential crisis. In a remote mountain cabin, a newly sober woman’s isolation is interrupted by a neighbor carrying grief of her own. A teenage restaurant hostess struggles to appease her long-distance girlfriend, demanding customers and impatient coworkers without losing her job—or outing herself. Jules and Mimi adopt an adorable cat with an alarming appetite for human flesh. And on her final night in the dorms, a faithful Catholic undergraduate trades salvation for a complicated tangle of lust, love and betrayal.

Shorts:

Lesbian Mud Wrestling - Every night, Kit dreams of the golden strap — the ultimate prize for the ultimate lesbian mud wrestler. Cheered on by sold-out community crowds, Lesbian Mud Wrestling regularly takes place as a way to raise funds for gender-affirming surgeries for legends like Kit. Lesbian Mud Wrestling is an intimate and playful documentary that plunges you right into the mud, capturing Narrm’s young inclusive lesbian community as it is today.

Find Me in the Pines - Find Me in the Pines blurs the lines between nonfiction and fiction, telling the story of a queer high school romance in the 2000s using both narrative retelling and found footage. Based on the real-life experiences—and childhood DV tape collection—of one of the co-directors, this short film explores queer identity, memory, and the anxieties of being watched versus being seen through the lens of a queer Southern space.

Jasmine that Blooms in Autumn - In an elderly care home, Indira and Meera embark on a secret romance, navigating a society that still proscribes homosexuality. While Meera is open and unapologetic about her feelings, Indira remains guarded, wary of intimacy burdened by a lifetime of repression. Meera’s assertiveness unsettles her, echoing the controlling behavior she endured from her husband and in-laws. Caught between desire and fear, Indira longs for a gentler, more compassionate form of love.

As It Should Be - During a Lunar New Year reunion dinner in Hong Kong, Megan returns home from overseas to celebrate with her family. Surrounded by familiar traditions, crowded conversations, and the warmth of people who love her, she quietly carries something she's never found the words to say.

As the evening unfolds, how will her family respond?

A film about family love, and how acceptance can arrive in the gentlest of ways.

H.D.I.D.T.B.A.L. - How much do clothes really say about you?

A woman has an existential crisis when she's asked out by a woman for the first time. What should she wear that shows her true self?

Cabin Time - In a mountain cabin, a newly sober woman battles loneliness, temptation, and the weight of her past—until an unexpected knock from a neighbor forces her to confront her isolation and discover fragile hope in shared grief and human connection.

Two-Top - A teenage hostess is forced to placate her long-distance girlfriend, customers, and co-workers before she loses her job—or outs herself.

Pussycat Pussycat - When Jules and Mimi accidentally adopt a murderous cat, the lesbian couple is haunted by Pussy(cat).

Hail Maya - On her last night in the dorms, a faithful Catholic undergraduate trades salvation for sin, diving headfirst into a tangle of lust, love, and betrayal that confession can’t absolve.