Guide to the 20th anniversary Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival

For 20 years, Damn These Heels by Utah Film Center has provided Utah’s queer community with access to films and events that celebrate, inspire, and highlight queer stories, queer history, and queer joy. This year, they will present 20 feature films and 20 shorts to 2,000 filmlovers to celebrate 20 years from October 12–15.

Special guest MISS COCO PERU will participate in the celebration. With 33 years in the business as a working drag queen, Coco offers an evening of inspired storytelling and song followed by a moderated discussion with the audience. Their cult classic film, GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS will be screened after. Miss CoCo Peru will perform on October 13 at 7 p.m.

All events take place at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center at 138 West Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City. Tickets, passes and sponsorship possibilities are at damntheseheels.org.

Dramatic

Big Boys

90 MINUTES | USA | 2023

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER COREY

SHERMAN

A teenage boy’s unexpected crush turns a camping trip into a weekend of self-discovery in this heartwarming coming-of-age comedy.

Sat, Oct 14, 3pm, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Fireworks

134 MINUTES | ITALY | 2023

DIRECTOR: GIUSEPPE FIORELLO, SCREENWRITERS: FIORELLO, ANDREA CEDROLA, CARLO SALSA

1982, in the heat of a Sicilian summer, two teenage boys, Gianni and Nino, meet and fall in love. The relationship soon becomes a topic of gossip in the small town and while the two dream of living together, their community is determined to stop it.

Sat, Oct 14, 8pm, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Golden Delicious

120 MINUTES | CANADA | 2022

DIRECTOR: JASON KARMAN, SCREENWRITER: GORRMAN LEE

When basketball-obsessed Aleks moves in across the street, Asian-Canadian teen Jake finds himself trying out for the basketball team to get his attention in this classic coming-of-age drama set in the digital age.

Sun, Oct 15, 3pm, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Lie with Me

98 MINUTES | FRANCE | 2023

DIRECTOR: OLIVIER PEYON, SCREENWRITER: PEYON, VINCENT POYMIRO, CÉCILIA ROUAUD, ARTHUR CAHN (BASED ON A NOVEL BY: PHILIPPE BESSON)

Novelist Stéphane Belcourt returns to the city of his you, where he meets Lucas, the son of his first love. Memories flood in: irrepressible desire, bodies coming together, a passion that must be silenced?

Sat, Oct 14, 10am, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

The Mattachine Family

99 MINUTES | USA | 2023 | DIRECTOR: ANDY VALLENTINE, SCREENWRITER: DANNY VALLENTINE

Thomas and Oscar are a couple very much in love, but after their first foster child returns to his birth mother, they find they have different ideas about what it means to make a family.

Sat, Oct 14, 7:30pm, Black Box

Utah Premiere

Milkwater

101 MINUTES | USA | 2020

DIRECTOR: MORGAN INGARI

Listless Milo becomes the surrogate for an older gay man she meets at a bar. As the pregnancy progresses, she must contend with the implications of their evolving relationship.

Fri, Oct 13, 4pm, Black Box

Utah Premiere

Mutt

87 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR/WRITER: VUK LUNGULOV-KLOTZ

Feña, a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City, is afflicted with an incessantly challenging day that resurrects ghosts from his past.

Sun, Oct 15, 10:30am, Black Box

The Sixth Reel

100 MINUTES | USA | 2021 DIRECTORS/SCREENWRITERS CARL ANDRESS, CHARLES BUSCH

A down-on-his-luck movie collector discovers a legendary lost film and must deliver it to the right hands before it is lost forever.

Sat, Oct 14, 10:45pm, Jeanné

Wagner

Utah Premiere

Stroking An Animal

70 MINUTES | SPAIN | 2023 | DIRECTOR/WRITER ÁNGEL FILGUEIRA

Mariña has an intense love affair with Ada when Tomás, a mutual friend, enters the couple’s intimacy. Six moments of the relationship articulate the film, thrown like flashes of light.

Streaming Oct. 15–22

Documentary

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture

92 MINUTES | US | 2022 | DIRECTOR: SHARON “ROCKY” ROGGIO

While uncovering the origins of homophobia of the conservative church, a gay seminary scholar and a straight activist make a shocking discovery: An erroneous translation in the Bible that has been weaponized against the LGBTQIA+ community ever since.

Oct. 15, 12:30pm, Jeanné Wagner

A Run For More

82 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR: RAY WHITEHOUSE

Growing up, Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe learned to be a fighter, but never imagined having a chance to make history as the first openly elected transgender official in Texas.

Thu, Oct 12, 7pm, Jeanné Wagner

Empty Orchestra

80 MINUTES | USA | 2023

DIRECTOR: NICOLE HAWKINS

In Provo, Utah, a group of self-proclaimed misfits seek alternative methods of devotion and community through weekly karaoke singing.

Streaming Oct. 15–22

Heels Over Wheels

68 MINUTES | SPAIN | 2022 DIRECTOR: PAU CANIVELL

The coexistence of a family of drag queens and a trans woman who travel by motorhome to Murcia, Spain to show their support for a child who was assaulted by another minor at the gates of his school.

Sat, Oct 14, 5pm, Black Box

Kokomo City

73 MINUTES | USA | 2023

DIRECTOR: D. SMITH

In the wildly entertaining and refreshingly unfiltered documentary Kokomo City, filmmaker D. Smith passes the mic to four Black transgender sex workers in Atlanta and New York City.

Sat, Oct 14, 5:30pm, Jeanné Wagner

Queendom

98 MINUTES | FRANCE/RUSSIA | 2022 DIRECTOR: AGNIIA GALDANOVA

Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, stages radical performances in public that become a new form of art and activism and put her life in danger.

Fri, Oct 13, 1:30pm, Black Box

Utah Premiere

Show Her The Money

87 MINUTES | US, CANADA, INDIA | 2023 | DIRECTOR: KY DICKENS Women have been shut out of the financial world, making it almost impossible to get their ideas and inventions funded. This film is a compelling and crucial reminder that money is power and women need it to achieve true equality in business.

Sun, Oct 15, 3:30pm, Black Box

Utah Premiere

Threshold

77 MINUTES | BRAZIL | 2020 DIRECTOR: CORACI RUIZ, SCREENWRITERS: LUIZA FAGÁ, RUIZ

An autobiographical documentary by a mother who interviews her transgender son as he comes to his identity, addressing the conflicts, certainties, and uncertainties amidst a deep search for his true self.

Streaming Oct. 15–22

Wonderfully Made

95 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR/WRITER: YUVAL DAVID

As religious discrimination against LGBTQ+ people intensifies in the US and abroad, a team of creatives upends 1700 years of religious iconography by producing photo art depicting Jesus as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Sun, Oct 15, 10am, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Shorts: Animated

Aikane

14 MINUTES | USA | 2023

DIRECTOR: DANIEL SOUSA, DEAN HAMER, JOE WILSON. SCREENWRITER:DEAN HAMER

A valiant island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world. When the octopus who rescued him transforms into a handsome young man, they become aikane, intimate friends bound by love and trust, and an epic adventure begins.

Sat, Oct 14, 12:30pm, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Y

6 MINUTES | CROATIA | 2023

An empty paper depicts a struggle between artistic composition and decomposition as the voice of the narrator-protagonist reminisces about her tumultuous relationship with a former girlfriend.

Sat, Oct 14, 12:30pm, Jeanné

Wagner

Utah Premiere

Shorts: Dramatic

A Spell For Queer Home

40 MINUTES | USA | 2023 DIRECTOR/WRITER AMANDA

MADDEN

Braiding together embodied exploration, spell songs, stories and wisdom from queer and trans folks across the country, the film asks- what does it mean to be at home as a queer person?

Sun, Oct 15, 1pm, Black Box

Dilating For Maximum Results

14 MINUTES | USA | 2023 DIRECTOR/WRITER: NYALA MOON

A whack, irreverent comedy about a black trans woman who tries to dilate, after four years of not dilating, to hook up IRL with her online boyfriend.

Thu, Oct 12, 7pm, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Happy BirthGay

16 MINUTES | ISRAEL | 2022

DIRECTOR/WRITER: NIV MANZUR

Ronit throws her son Nadav a grandiose surprise party, celebrating a year anniversary of his coming out of the closet. However, he struggles to cooperate. Happy BirthGay is a sad farce about the mother’s closet, rather than the son’s.

Sun, Oct 15, 1pm, Black Box

North American Premiere

Utah Premiere

Holy Madonna

16 MINUTES | ECUADOR | 2022 DIRECTOR: ESTEBAN VERA, SCREENWRITERS: VERA, SALVADOR YUGCHA

Martina, a young novice, helps priest Francisco with funeral masses but must confront her own fears and past in the LGBTQ+ community after the death of drag queen Aphrodite, leading her to embrace love and authenticity.

Sun, Oct 15, 10am, Jeanné Wagner World Premiere

Insta Gay

12 MINUTES | CANADA | 2023 DIRECTOR/WRITER: SIMON PALUCK

A gay millennial reels after breaking-up with a popular influencer.

Sun, Oct 15, 1pm, Black Box

Love, Barbara

15 MINUTES | USA | 2022 DIRECTOR/WRITER: BRYDIE O’CONNOR

A touching tribute to the pioneering lesbian experimental filmmaker, Barbara Hammer, told through the lens and love of her partner of over 30 years.

Streaming Oct 15–22

Utah Premiere

Mama Doesn’t Want to Go to the Beach

16 MINUTES | SPAIN | 2023 DIRECTOR: ANA BELÉN BARRAGÁN CASTAÑEDA, SCREENWRITER: ANA BELÉN BARRAGÁN CASTAÑEDA

A transgender mother resumes her hormone treatment while her daughter begins puberty. Their bodies’ changes make going to the beach a new chore.

Sat, Oct 14, 12:30pm, Jeanné Wagner

North American Premiere

Pop-Off

6 MINUTES | USA | 2023

DIRECTOR: RANCE COLLINS

A nervous young gay man has an eye-popping first experience hosting a hookup.

Utah Premiere

The Ritz

90 MINUTES | USA | 1976

DIRECTOR: RICHARD LESTER, SCREENWRITER: TERRANCE MCNALLY

Evading a mob contract on his life, a straight man winds up hiding out at a gay bathhouse.

Sat, Oct 14, 10pm, Black Box

Shafted

19 MINUTES | USA | 2023 DIRECTOR: DEL SHORES & EMERSON COLLINS, SCREENWRITER: MAT HAYES

This standard romantic comedy about finding love in an elevator falls apart when the filmmaker is forced to step out of the fantasy and decide whether he believes in the story he’s telling.

Sun, Oct 15, 1pm, Black Box , Streaming Oct. 15–22

Utah Premiere

shifting bodies to fluid fiction

4 MINUTES | AUSTRIA | 2023 DIRECTOR/WRITER: DANIELA GUTMANN

A fluid examination of physical closeness, which matches itself in repetitions, reflections as well as irregularities.

North American Premiere

Stone

14 MINUTES | UK | 2023

DIRECTOR: JAKE AND HANNAH GRAF, SCREENWRITER: JAKE GRAF

A young woman’s discovery that her father was a transgender woman makes her rethink her childhood.

Sat, Oct 14, 12:30pm, Jeanné

Wagner

We All Die Alone

13 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR: JONATHAN HAMMOND, SCREENWRITERS: HAMMOND & RYAN ROACH

The hubris of an inept conflict negotiator leads two warring gangs into an 8-way standoff. The consequences are both comical and tragic in this whipsmart short.

Sat, Oct 14, 7:30pm, Black Box

Utah Premiere

Shorts: Documentary

Apayauq

17 MINUTES | USA | 2023

DIRECTOR/WRITER: ZEPPELIN ZEERIP

Apayauq Reitan’s journey of gender, mental heal, and purpose on her way to become the first out transgender woman to complete the legendary Iditarod sled dog race.

Sat, Oct 14, 12:30pm, Jeanné

Wagner

Utah Premiere

Greetings From Washington DC

28 MINUTES | USA | 1981 | DIRECTOR: ROB EPSTEIN, FRANCES REID, GRETA SCHILLER AND LUCY WINER

A kaleidoscope of music, dance, stories and laughter shared at the first Gay and Lesbian Rights March on Washington in 1979. Sat, Oct 14, 12:30pm, Jeanné Wagner

Utah Premiere

Hidden Pride — Life at BYU as a Queer Student

14 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR: FLETCHER GIBBONS

Five queer past and present BYU students tell of their struggle to live truthfully to themselves and their identities while trying to avoid academic and social backlash from the conservative Mormon University. Collectively they tell a story of queer struggle and the safety and security that can be found in community.

Never Look Away

17 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR: DEVIN D BOSS

Exploring of a three-story high mural in downtown Portland, Ore. dedicated to the Queer community. Streaming Oct. 15–22

Queen Bees

17 MINUTES | USA | 2022

DIRECTOR: RILEY NICKEL, SCREENWRITERS: NICKEL, ELEANOR CONDIE

A vibrant documentary following local drag in the scene of Utah. Join a group of local SLC queens through their ups and downs, local pressures from a conservative environment, and celebrate the art of drag.

Sat, Oct 14, 5pm, Black Box, Streaming Oct. 15–22

Sat, Oct 14, 5pm, Black Box, Streaming Oct. 15–22

Schedule

All events at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts, 138 W 300 S

Thursday, Oct. 12

7pm A Run for More, and Dilating for Maximum Results

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

Friday, Oct. 13

1:30pm Queendom Black Box

4pm Milkwater Black Box

7pm Special Event: An Evening with Miss Coco Peru

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

9pm Girls Will Be Girls

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

Saturday, Oct. 14

10am Lie with Me

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

10am Workshop: Video SelfPortrait (Beginner Level) Black Box

Noon Community Event: Banned Book Reading & Book Swap, Rose Room

12:30pm Saturday Short Film Program — Y, Apayauq, Greetings From Washington DC, Aikane, Mama Doesn’t Want to Go to the Beach, Stone

1:30pm Workshop: Directing Films, from the POV of an Editor (Int. to Adv. Level) Black Box

3pm Big Boys

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

5pm Heels Over Wheels, and Queen Bees Black Box

5:30pm Kokomo City

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

7:30pm The Mattachine Family, and We All Die Alone Black Box

8pm Fireworks

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

10pm The Ritz Black Box

10:45pm The Sixth Reel

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

Sunday, Oct. 15

10am Wonderfully Made Jeanné Wagner Theatre

10:30am Mutt Black Box

12:30pm 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture

Jeanné Wagner Theatre

1pm Sunday Short Film Program: Shafted, Insta Gay, Happy BirthGay, A Spell For Queer Home Black Box

3pm Golden Delicious Jeanné Wagner Theatre

3:30pm Show Her The Money Black Box

Virtual Screenings

Starting Sunday Oct 15 at 12am: Empty Orchestra

Love, Barbara

Never Look Away

Rooted

Stroking An Animal Threshold

Starting Monday Oct 15 at 12am: Queen Bees

Shafted

Tickets and updated information can be found at damntheseheels.org.