Brydie O'Connor

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

A playful 3-minute vignette by American choreographer and filmmaker Celia Rowlson-Hall, Taxi! turns a maddening cab ride into a whirlwind of color and movement. This is the first in a series of shorts that Rowlson-Hall plans to make with her favorite dancers all over New York City – here with Or Schraiber spinning out to music by Mas Ysa.

A hybrid short documentary exploring the fracture between a queer daughter and her mother, featuring the filmmaker’s own personal archive. The film blends documentary and narrative elements to depict the filmmaker’s mother’s rigid vision for her daughter’s life, set against the reality unfolding through archival footage dating back to 1995. Through directing an actor to play her mother and fill in the widening gaps over time, O’Connor now attempts to sculpt her mother.

A documentary following the unsolved murder of Venus Xtravaganza, star of the legendary film "Paris Is Burning," as Venus' two families — biological and ballroom — come together to seek answers and celebrate her legacy.

Pat, the evasive, androgynous character made famous on Saturday Night Live by Julia Sweeney, was an inescapable figure in 1990s pop culture. As a child, filmmaker Ro Haber became obsessed with Pat—a character whose popularity stemmed from making others uncomfortable by defying gender norms. Decades later, and now an out trans filmmaker, Haber still grapples with Pat’s legacy. Thirty-five years after It’s Pat first aired, Haber assembles a group of queer and trans comedians, writers, and even Sweeney herself to revisit the character. Through conversation and critique, they aim not to erase Pat but to reframe them, transforming a symbol of ridicule into one of reflection and empowerment.

The Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives follows a mobile archiving center in a cargo trailer as it crosses the Midwest to digitize the VHS tapes of LGBTQ+ folks living in Middle America. In real-time digitizing sessions, people watch their own histories as they are being preserved, and reveal a look into queer life in the Bible Belt since the 1980s. This film takes a road trip through the past into the present, and gives us a glimpse of what an ever-expanding queer archive looks like in the future.

This documentary reflects on the disappearance of lesbian bars in the United States.

Through interviews with her partner cum archivist, Florrie Burke, this delightful homage celebrates the life and love of iconic lesbian experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer and the deep imprint that she made on the world.

A short film about a young woman’s wild imagination of the relationship she truly desires in 1950s Kansas.

Tennis doubles partners participate in the Kansas State Championship and compete for each other’s attention. Their lively team has some interesting traditions, including a mascot that is a preserved shark in a jar named Saporumpet and who may not be a lucky charm after all.

Displaced LGBTQ New Yorkers return to their parents’ homes during quarantine and reflect on the cultures of where they grew up.