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Review

eddie -- Directed by Quentin Kruger, Narrative - 10 min
was my favorite short on the compilation and I have to say probably the best lesbian short I have seen yet. While most lesbian shorts and features I have seen, routinely seem to focus on the perpetual “twenty-something” lesbian (or the forty-something lesbian who could pass as twenty-something…or is desperately trying to), eddie took a surprising, refreshing turn and allowed the protagonist to be a 10-year-old tomboy. Using a simple story, the director Quentin Kruger rehashed memories and experiences that any twenty-something and beyond butch lesbian definitely could identify with.
Will You… -- Directed by Robert Gaston, Narrative - 11 min
Is a great short to watch if you’re from the Philadelphia area. It was filmed as part of the 2005 Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The casting, filming and editing took place during the festival and premiered on the closing night. As a result, a short, fun comedy emerges with great Philly-style visuals and is ironically pertinent to today’s economy.
The Vicious and Delicious -- Directed by Tonnette Stanford, Narrative - 12 min
is ridiculous, in an awesomely good way. Soap operas are pretty absurd in their own right, and this fun queer parody pushes it to the extreme with cheating lovers, pregnancies as the result of lesbian affairs (??) and esophagus-stealing murderers.
Just Me? -- Directed by Amy Neil, Documentary - 22 minutes
Is a unique, personal documentary that let’s the audience participate in one woman’s search to find out if family clues prove that her beloved great grandmother (aka Nana) was a raging dyke. The doc is really well-crafted and engaging, however ends with an awkward interview with Nana’s [possibly] ex-lover Betty, and thus doesn’t allow for the filmmaker’s ultimate question ever to be answered.
While Night Star -- Directed by Kekeletso Khena, Narrative - 13 min
is the tamest film in this collection, I have a lot of respect for it. It was made by an African director and supported by the Out in Africa film festival. It was really exciting to see a film that featured a story crafted from the African experience. Not to mention the main actress was commandingly beautiful…and topless throughout the whole film.
Crafty -- Directed by Erik Gernand, Narrative - 8 min
is a cute short that cleverly uses one suburban All-American white girl’s refusal-then-eventual signing of a gay rights petition as a metaphor for her own lesbian sexual awakening. What I didn’t like was that the lesbian character upheld a love ‘em and leave ‘em image and left the straight women in the wake of her sexual confusion. A blossoming lesbian is something to nurture, but I guess there’s many more signatures to get in the never-ending gay rights cause.

 -- Raeann Drew