Presented by Full Spectrum Features and curated by Chicago filmmaker Henry Hanson, these queer underground short films spotlight unruly rebels who trespass, shoplift, scheme, skate, surf, fuck, and joyfully plot their revenge on a society that seeks to punish deviance. From stealing testosterone to redistribute to trans men, trespassing to dance, shoplifting to feed friends, defiling a colonizer’s grave, to assassinating a billionaire, these films reveal criminality as a gateway to new social forms, beautiful acts of love, and collective liberation. The rules are fucked up. Why not break them?
THE FILMS
Hormonal (Maz Murray, 2023) 12:22, UK
Young trans guy Gary catches eyes with brooding trans geezer lan across the square of their Essex hometown, and unwittingly walks into a testosterone heist plot...
Cicada (FRANK/ie CONSENT, 2021) 6:30, USA
A single-take dance video shot in an abandoned industrial lot, set to a radio broadcast switching between music and Trump-era punditry. Used tires, hula hoops, cereal, chalk circles, and a burning mattress.
Skate Bitches (Samuel Shanahoy, 2012) 17:10, Australia
A DIY film about an all-girl skate gang who steal each other candy, terrorize the streets and are BFF's. Will the gang survive the drama of a new girl on the block?
FUCK THE FASCISM - The Crossroad of Two Worlds (MariaBasura, 2020) 9:35, Chile
A group of queer activists take revenge on colonizers past and present through guerilla pornography.
Play Structure (FRANK/ie CONSENT, 2020) 2:28, USA
In this mixed-media music video combining live action and various animation styles, mischief-makers dance in the burning streets of Atlanta.
The Beach Boys (Milo Talwani, 2024) 20:32, USA
Two trans surfer bros are on a mission to suicide bomb Jeff Bezos...but not before spending one last, perfect day riding epic waves and smoking dank kush.
Featuring interstitial video art by Franz Murder