Antonio Giménez Rico’s stunning portrait documents the lives of six transgender women living in 1980s Madrid during Spain’s post-Franco makeover into a constitutional monarchy. Through wide-ranging conversations and interviews, the women discuss their experiences of nightlife, family, sex work, the legal system, and their personal narratives of transition. In a historical moment that witnessed a dramatic expansion of legal rights and political representation, their stories are an indictment of the repressive, transphobic institutions that remain entrenched in Spanish society. Featured in the hit series Veneno and the subject of a book-length history by Valeria Vegas, this provocative but nuanced portrayal joins a wave of rediscovered and reconsidered documents of trans lives in cinema.

BALONEY tells the surprising story of San Francisco's beloved Gay All-Male Revue of the same name, which has been delighting audiences in recent years with live performances that lovingly investigate the larger milieu of gay and queer men's experience. BALONEY's co-creators, Michael and Rory, invite their collaborators and audiences to embrace the sexualized aspects of striptease and burlesque alongside a blend of fantasy, confession, and social commentary. Along the way, the film offers humor and insight into the ways in which gay men continue to navigate the coming out process, dating, and masculinity, as well as the challenges that come with 21st-century urban life, sex industry work, pornography, and trauma.

Seven tales of forgiveness and acceptance, belonging and celebration. Join us in exploring the complex and diverse narratives that make up Queer Asian experiences in this year's Queer Asian Stories program.