As Señorita Cinema, the world’s only all-Latina film festival, gears up for its return to Houston this November 1–3, founder Stephanie Saint Sanchez promises attendees “can absolutely expect to see things that they haven’t before.” Launched in 2007, the biannual festival was born from Saint Sanchez’s lifelong love affair with filmmaking. She begged for a video camera for her 13th birthday and, after finally getting her hands on one, has been obsessed with creating film ever since. But as her career…
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The Potentiality of Romantic Comedy: The Queer Asian Fantasy of ‘Saving Face’
Posted on October 24, 2019I wish I could remember how I met her, the one and only queer Asian woman I’ve ever seriously dated. The one who, although our relationship wouldn’t last longer than a year, floats through my mind perhaps more often than proportionate to what we shared. I do remember the first time we interacted. It was outside at a mixed performance venue and bar at a time when I was just coming to terms with my queerness. I had just finished watching…
Faith in the ‘Invisible’: Houston Church Debuts Film on Gay Women in Southern Music
Posted on October 11, 2019A heart must believe in something. Whether it believes in a higher power, in one’s dream, or in the strength that is exuded from one’s own gifts and talents, a heart must beat for something greater than itself. A heart beats within the halls of St. Peter United Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. St. Peter United is dedicated to the acceptance and visibility of all people. And etched within every stone, there lies a legacy. It is a legacy not…
Beyond Happily Ever After: LGBTQ Fave Steven Universe Returns as Full-Length Movie
Posted on September 9, 2019After an eight-month hiatus at the end of season five, the LGBTQ cartoon favorite Steven Universe is back in action, now as a feature-length musical movie. Written, directed, and produced by series creator Rebecca Sugar (she/her and they/them), the movie marks not an end to the show, but rather a fresh look at this era of children’s programming. Steven Universe has provided great queer-positive family programming since 2013, and the new movie is no exception.…
Photo Recap: QFest 2019 Opening Night Presented By Spectrum South
Posted on August 14, 2019The Opening Night of QFest Houston 2019, presented by Spectrum South, was held on Wednesday, July 24 at Rice Cinema. The evening included a screening of Jennie Livingston’s revolutionary film Paris is Burning (1990), and an after party of drinks, dancing, mixing and mingling, and performances by Stoo (feat. Luis Cerda and Ricky Lethridge) and emcee Roxanne Collins.…
Coffee (and Cherries) with Jonathan Caouette, in Three Acts
Posted on July 22, 2019You send your partner a text: Tell me if this piece isn’t good enough. I need this to be as perfect as it can be. Your partner knows the significance of this piece because shortly after the two of you met, you fangirled out over its subject and maker, Jonathan Caouette’s indefinable, hybrid, crossgenre, tour-de-force film Tarnation—a capsule of a young queer artist’s relationship to himself, his childhood (and adulthood) in Houston (and New York), his sexuality, but most of all,…
QFest 2019: Houston’s International LGBTQ Film Festival Returns July 24–31
Posted on July 18, 2019There’s something magical about the first time you connect with a queer character on screen. For me, it was Spencer Carlin in South of Nowhere (shout out to 2005!). Seeing someone who looks like you, loves like you, and is navigating similar struggles can be life altering—even life saving. The leadership behind QFest, Houston’s international LGBTQ film festival, understands the need for such representation. This July 24–31, the festival celebrates its 23rd year with an extended, seven-day lineup of more…
Queer, Southern, and In Love: ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ and Quintessential Lesbian Literature
Posted on July 5, 2019I must have been around 13 years old the first time my mom showed me the film Fried Green Tomatoes. She said it was a film about fierce southern women working together to beat the odds and succeeding—something she knew a lot about. While my mom is a Yankee through and through, she married a southerner and lived in Tennessee for several years. She fell in love with the land and its history, an admiration reflected in her connection to…
Veer Queer Episode 25: Culinary Roots of Resistance
Posted on April 5, 2019In this episode, the Veer Queer crew talks with Houston-based chef Adán Medrano about Texas indigenous cooking, the importance of food in relation to resistance, identity, and community, and his upcoming film, The Roots of Texas Mexican Food.…
OUTsider Fest to ‘Unlock the Cabinet of QUEERIOSITIES’ in Austin
Posted on February 15, 2019Given the current state of our country, it is more important than ever that we embrace our queerness with ferocity. We must continue to challenge conformity and be as visible as possible. On February 20–24, OUTsider Fest, Austin’s annual queer transmedia festival, returns with this motive in mind. This year’s festival is appropriately themed “Unlock the Cabinet of QUEERIOSITIES,” and promises to be “a queer take on the cabinet of curiosities and its peculiar oddities.” Through this lens, OUTsider calls on…