South Florida Filmmakers Showcase: Shorts Program | Cocktails & Cinema™

South Florida has a small but mighty filmmaking community with plenty of interesting and compelling films. Some are students, or beginners while others are seasoned veterans of the industry who just happen to call South Florida HOME. This is a combination of queer filmmakers making queer films, queer people behind the camera, and queer actors from South Florida.

Voice of the South
Danielle Cox, 17 minutes, USA
A documentary showcasing The McKenzie Project, a Black, Trans-led organization dedicated to serving and uplifting the Black LGBTQ+ community in South Florida through communal engagement, medical and financial services, and advocacy with a primary focus on Transgender and Non-binary individuals.

Melina Turns 100 (Melina cumple cien años)
Mariana Rena, 15 minutes, USA
In Spanish with English subtitles
Left behind amid a mass exodus, Melina, a girl in her twenties, has one wish for her birthday: a new best friend. But the apocalyptic crisis plaguing her city once again threatens to ruin her last attempt to reclaim her stolen youth before she emigrates.

The Pill
Mayedurimi A. Larotonda, 8 minutes, USA
In Spanish with English subtitles
In a dystopian world, a magnate's quest for genetic perfection leads to the creation of a pill that transforms marginalized individuals into superhumans. As the truth unravels, a battle ensues to stop the pill's distribution and preserve humanity's diversity against a tyrant's vision

Shade in the Sunshine State
Olivia Bendis, Ben Nakhuda, Julio Rocha, 14 minutes, USA
A glimpse into the ways the LGBTQ+ ballroom community in Miami, Florida use performance as a form of political activism in a state that is currently passing legislation to deny the rights of queer and transgender people. This film was made as part of the Community Voices documentary program at Chapman University

Jammerz
A.J. Cheaytelli, 30 minutes, USA
After unwittingly selling fentanyl-laced cocaine, five Gen Z women in a Miami roller derby team find their lives entangled with the violent world of cartels, DEA, and dark forces beyond their comprehension.

Sing
Jose Oldenburg, 8 minutes, USA
Sometimes our imagination is our most courageous companion