Recommended Gay Shorts from The New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2025

The gay short film "The Immaculate Honey" (La miel inmaculada) is directed by Mauricio Calderón Rico and is from Mexico. It was released in 2025 and has a runtime of about 18 minutes. The film's story centers on Chucho, a young man who was stabbed on his way out of work. He is taken care of by his mother Alma for a few days, during which they grow closer, though much remains unspoken between them. The film delves into their complex relationship and emotional nuances. While it is a short film with themes that resonate in the LGBTQ+ context, the specific gay elements relate to intimate family dynamics and possibly underlying themes of identity and care within a queer cinematic framework. The film has been shown in international film festivals, including the International Short Film Festival Berlin in 2025, recognizing its relevance and artistic merit within queer cinema. This film can be seen as an important piece in gay short film history for exploring intimate familial bonds and queer identity in a nuanced and symbolic way through its narrative and characters.[1][2][3][4] [1](https://www.interfilm.de/en/interfilm-festival-2025/films/?tx_interfilmfestival_filmlist%5BeventItem%5D=3575&cHash=5119999d2048541aaa49b5a7cf44daec) [2](https://vp.eventival.com/guanajuato/giff-2025/film/1124198) [3](https://moreliafilmfest.com/en/peliculas/immaculate-honey) [4](https://globalqueercinema.com) [5](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x885dj2) [6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myjW0WAcBsA) [7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmSGss966h8) [8](https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/comments/1lvgwd5/tomtshort_filmyoutube_gay_short_film_with/) [9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580240/) [10](https://deadline.com/2024/03/immaculate-review-michael-mohan-film-sydney-sweeney-overshadowed-overplayed-tropes-sxsw-1235857426/) [11](https://i-d.co/article/50-best-queer-films-that-defined-the-2010s/) [12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK2PfqnO4fs) [13](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/immaculate-honey) [14](https://reelnewsdaily.com/tag/lgbtqa/) [15](http://www.eobi.gov.pk) [16](https://vp.eventival.com/guanajuato/giff-2025/film-catalogue?view=cover&page=9&per-page=12) [17](https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/immaculate-director-catholic-trauma-inspired-horror-film-1234965689/) [18](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_Lyonne) [19](https://letterboxd.com/film/el-ocaso-de-juan/details/) [20](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-1235940458/) [21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD2wiwiHME0) [22](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23137390/) [23](https://www.tiktok.com/discover/the-vibes-are-immaculate-gay) [24](https://www.facebook.com/groups/725012758300067/posts/1968289243972406/) [25](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3195108/plotsummary/) [26](https://letterboxd.com/film/sipping/) [27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6PjF6OE4e4) [28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86jKvhVRcdI) [29](https://gayfilmsmatter.com/1795/sipping/) [30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHzyuPrKfOs) [31](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Dickinson) [32](https://mubi.com/es/us/films/immaculate-honey) [33](https://www.tiktok.com/@thehomosapienexperience/video/7408908432352365867) [34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ydtWGcyAU) [35](https://letterboxd.com/film/pharmacies/releases/)

The recent UK gay short film titled "Lisbon" (2025) is a drama about a broke queer man who agrees to an intimate meeting with an older man for cash. However, he is then confronted with an unexpected and harrowing request that forces him to grapple with life, death, and morality. The film is 14 minutes long, directed and written by Matthew Jacobs Morgan, who also stars in it alongside John Cameron Mitchell. It was released in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2025, and was filmed in London.[1] This short film stands out by addressing complex and intense themes of survival, human connection, and ethical dilemmas within a queer context, making it relevant to gay cinephiles interested in impactful storytelling and explorations of queer experiences through short formats.[1] [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33990136/) [2](https://queerlisboa.pt/en/news/revealed-today-the-shorts-competitions-films) [3](https://queerlisboa.pt/en/) [4](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CloNSLDgCGo/) [5](https://gay45.eu/queer-lisboa-2024/) [6](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x99df1s) [7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-SIu-QD-14) [8](https://www.instagram.com/p/CopPbJWKckX/) [9](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/Online/article/flare-shorts) [10](https://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/activities/pride-month-film-festivals-europe/)

home (Donja R. Love, 2025) USA The film "Home" (2025) by Donja R. Love is a short drama from the United States that centers on a homeless queer teen named T in New York City. After missing curfew at a shelter on a cold night, T desperately searches for a way to get off the streets. As the night progresses and options dwindle, T faces a tough choice for survival. The film is directed and written by Donja R. Love and stars Justen Ross as T. It runs about 14 minutes and highlights pressing issues around homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, particularly those living with HIV, touching on themes of survival and identity. The estimated budget was around $10,000, and it was filmed in New York City. Donja R. Love is a recognized playwright, poet, and filmmaker known for addressing Black and queer community stories, having also created notable works like the play "one in two," which deals with HIV-positive Black gay men. "Home" fits within this thematic focus on queer and Black experiences, amplifying voices often underrepresented in media [1][2][4][5]. If you want to explore the film, it was featured in festivals such as the 2025 Out on Film Festival and others supporting LGBTQ+ cinema [2][8]. This short film offers a vivid, empathetic look into the struggles faced by homeless queer youth in urban settings, making it a relevant artistic and social commentary piece in 2025. Citations: [1] Home (Short 2025) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22456718/ [2] home | SIMPLY STUNNING | 2025 Out on Film Festival https://streaming.eventive.org/2025outonfilm/play/68add9284eb6e850ed6f2582/689bbcb1978bfb5903b656a9 [3] Home - Nova Cinema https://www.nova-cinema.org/prog/2025/204-pink-screens-2874/01-11/article/home-31864?lang=en [4] A detailed rundown of the 2025 slate of the Utah Film ... https://www.theutahreview.com/a-detailed-rundown-of-the-2025-slate-of-the-utah-film-centers-utah-queer-film-festival/ [5] Playwright Emphasizes the Creation of Safe Spaces for ... https://www.thebody.com/article/at-home-with-donja-r-love [6] Watch Our Short Film 'Home' Starring Justin, Lady Danefe ... https://www.instagram.com/p/DPT37ZZESEN/ [7] Donja R. Love on home “In the US, LGBTQ youth — queer ... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH37Qz6CHPF/ [8] home | Seattle Black Film Festival 2025 https://sbff25.eventive.org/films/67b641153ae6bd1a5caca107 [9] Donja R. Love https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8112659/ [10] Donja R. Love's one in two Is the Urgent, Black, Queer Play ... https://playbill.com/article/donja-r-loves-one-in-two-is-the-urgent-black-queer-play-for-this-moment

ចៅសំណព្វចិត្ត AKA Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites (Chheangkea, 2025) Cambodia The film "ចៅសំណព្វចិត្ត" aka "Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites" (2025) by Cambodian filmmaker Chheangkea is a 19-minute fiction short that premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Jury Award for Best International Film. The story takes place during a chaotic family Qingming (Tomb Sweeping Day) visit, where the deceased Grandma Nai sneaks away from her peaceful afterlife after overhearing that her queer grandson is about to get engaged to a woman. This sets the stage for a multi-layered family and generational drama exploring themes of identity, family dynamics, and acceptance. The film features a mix of comic relief and intense cinematography, highlighting the complexity of its characters and their relationships. Grandma Nai "playing favorites" adds a humorous yet poignant layer to the story, with the climax emphasizing the importance of being true to oneself. Notable elements include sharp cinematography by Shyan Tan and a soundtrack that accompanies the emotional shifts from calm to intense moments. The cast includes Bonrotanak Rith, Saroeun Nay, and Sokun Theary Ty, among others. The film has been screened at numerous international festivals worldwide, including Rotterdam, Tampere, Glasgow, and Asian Pop-Up Cinema in Chicago. It has also been recognized for its fresh voice in Southeast Asian queer cinema, following the director's previous works that similarly explore queer Cambodian stories with humor and sincerity [1][2][3]. Citations: [1] Sundance 2025: Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites (dir. ... https://film-fest-report.com/sundance-2025-grandma-nai-who-played-favorites-dir-chheangkea-review/ [2] GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES https://www.antiarchive.com/grandmanai.html [3] Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites (Short 2025) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35002936/ [4] Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2025/films/grandma-nai-who-played-favorites [5] Chheangkea https://filmmakermagazine.com/people/chheangkea/ [6] Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites - Official Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIybfMBkfvc [7] Grad Film alumni featured in Filmmaker Magazine 25 New ... https://tisch.nyu.edu/grad-film/news/2025/grad-film-alumni-featured-in-filmmaker-magazine-25-new-faces-of-.html [8] Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites https://www.shortshorts.org/2025/en/program/comp8/grandma-nai-who-played-favorites/ [9] Chheangkea gana el cuarto MunichFilmUp! con Little Phnom Penh https://cineuropa.org/es/newsdetail/477934/ [10] Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites — Chao Somnop Chet https://dokufest.com/en/festival/2025/film/grandma-nai-who-played-favorites

Brief Somebodies (Andy Reid, 2025) Canada "Brief Somebodies" (2025) is a Canadian short drama film written and directed by Andy Reid, who also plays a supporting character named Benny. The film stars Aldrin Bundoc as Joel, a filmmaker-actor creating a semi-autobiographical feature, and Matt O’Connor as Calvin, an actor cast to play a sexual assault scene opposite Joel. The story explores the complex and intimate process of rehearsing a sexual assault scene, focusing on how the two actors form a genuine connection during the process, which they then must navigate and reconfigure once filming begins. The film delves into the blurred lines between reality and fiction in art, examining the spaces artists create and live within briefly. "Brief Somebodies" premiered at the 2025 South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in the Narrative Short Competition and won the Redbreast Unhidden Award at that festival. It is a 14-minute English-language short produced in Canada with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. The film involves an intimacy coordinator, highlighting its thoughtful treatment of sensitive subject matter, and was praised for its meta exploration of the actor’s experience rehearsing traumatic content and the real-life connections that emerge during art-making [1][3][5][6][7]. Citations: [1] SXSW 2025 Interview: Andy Reid Talks Brief Somebodies ( ... https://filmfactual.com/2025/04/07/sxsw-2025-interview-andy-reid-talks-brief-somebodies-exclusive/ [2] A wee teaser for my short film, Brief Somebodies, having its ... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGvrQy-AaEz/ [3] Brief Somebodies - Canadian audiovisual production https://rdvcanada.ca/en/product/brief-somebodies/ [4] BRIEF SOMEBODIES by @ndyreid ... https://www.instagram.com/p/DFQibRhOCgC/?hl=en [5] Brief Somebodies https://ndyreid.com/films/brief-somebodies [6] Brief Somebodies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brief_Somebodies [7] Brief Somebodies (Short 2025) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35510946/ [8] Andy Reid - Brief Somebodies (2025) https://letterboxd.com/film/brief-somebodies/crew/ [9] Brief Somebodies (2025) https://mubi.com/en/us/films/brief-somebodies [10] Absolutely pumped to share that Brief Somebodies will be ... https://www.instagram.com/p/DFJBcRCyswR/

The 2025 British gay short film "A Friend of Dorothy" is a poignant drama directed and written by Lee Knight. The story centers on Dorothy, an elderly widow living alone, whose quiet life is disrupted when her teenage neighbor JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden. This incident sparks an unexpected friendship between the two, exploring themes of loneliness in old age, intergenerational friendship, and LGBTQ+ topics. The film stars notable actors including Miriam Margolyes as Dorothy and Stephen Fry as Dickie, with Alistair Nwachukwu playing JJ. It has received acclaim with multiple awards and was supported by AgeUK, aiming to be screened at old age homes and schools for awareness. The runtime is about 21 minutes, and it premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London in June 2025. The production involved companies such as Filthy Gorgeous Productions, with a team including producer James Dean and cinematographer Vanessa Whyte. The film combines comedy and drama in a tender narrative highlighting community and connection across generations.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35489516/) [2](https://letterboxd.com/film/a-friend-of-dorothy-2025/) [3](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/friend-of-dorothy-first-look-stephen-fry-miriam-margolyes-newsupdate/) [4](https://www.sharingful.com/uk/catalog/movie/1470465-a-friend-of-dorothy) [5](https://deadline.com/2025/04/miriam-margolyes-stephen-uk-short-casting-global-briefs-1236376848/) [6](https://raindance.eventive.org/films/681e1a84f30abc1d92a4a659) [7](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/a-friend-of-dorothy-3) [8](https://www.instagram.com/afodorothy_film/?hl=en) [9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoQFoljVpkk) [10](https://www.imdb.com/es/title/tt33047481/)

The gay short film "One Day This Kid," directed by Alexander Farah and produced by Joaquin Cardoner, is a 2024 Canadian drama that explores the life of Hamed, a young Afghan Canadian boy grappling with his queer identity amid the disapproval of his immigrant parents. The film spans over a decade, portraying Hamed's journey navigating the tension between his cultural heritage and emerging queerness through impressionistic, dialogue-light vignettes. The story builds on David Wojnarowicz’s 1990 artwork "Untitled (One Day This Kid...)," evolving into a deeply personal meditation on identity, family expectations, and the challenges of living openly queer in a culturally specific context. "One Day This Kid" has been critically acclaimed, winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film at SXSW 2025 and earning a spot on TIFF's Canada's Top Ten list for 2024. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and has been celebrated for its intimate portrayal of the cultural and emotional complexities faced by queer immigrants. The film is told both in Dari/Farsi and English, runs approximately 17-18 minutes, and is recognized for its soulful, poetic style that resists tidy resolutions while inviting empathy for those struggling with identity and belonging. Key cast members include Elyas Rahimi as Hamed along with Massey Ahmar and others in supporting roles.[1][3][4][5][7] The film is notable not just as a coming-out story, but as a reflection on the broader risks and personal tensions encountered by queer individuals in immigrant families, expressing a nuanced intersection of identity, culture, and acceptance. It emphasizes raw emotional moments over dialogue, creating a powerful sensory experience of Hamed's evolving self-understanding and the pressures from his cultural environment.[3][5][1] In summary, "One Day This Kid" is an award-winning short film that poignantly captures the silent struggles and poignant complexities of a young queer Afghan Canadian navigating identity and family expectations over time, framed by a broader cultural and immigrant context. It draws from an iconic queer artwork to deeply explore issues of queerness, heritage, and the path to self-acceptance.[5][1] [1](https://lbbonline.com/news/sxsw-2025-grand-jury-prize-winner-one-day-this-kid-captures-hearts) [2](https://smarthistory.org/david-wojnarowicz-untitled-one-day-this-kid/) [3](https://www.saluteyourshortsfest.com/2025-films/one-day-this-kid) [4](https://www.siff.net/festival/one-day-this-kid) [5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_This_Kid) [6](https://whitney.org/collection/works/16431) [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32444952/) [8](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O227268/one-day-this-kid-poster-wojnarowicz/) [9](https://boldlyoriginals.com/projects/one-day-this-kid/) [10](https://scma.smith.edu/blog/one-day-kid-will-attend-met-gala-david-wojnarowicz-and-fashion-world-0)

The Upper Room (2025), directed by Joel Perez, is a USA film that tells the story of two Pentecostal youth pastors who experience a crisis of faith during a secret afternoon meeting of forbidden love. The film explores themes of faith, love, and personal turmoil within the context of Pentecostal religious life and queer identity. It stars actors including Robin de Jesus and Daniel K. Isaac. This film was featured in the lineup of Newfest 2025, the New York LGBTQ Film Festival, which highlights queer stories told with originality and strong aesthetic and narrative qualities. Joel Perez, known for his storytelling rooted in cultural and emotional depth, also explores themes of grief and belonging in his other works such as "Villa Encanto" (2025). His directing approach for The Upper Room involved capturing the complex emotional dynamics of the characters facing their internal conflicts without melodrama, emphasizing the nuanced crisis of faith and forbidden love they navigate. The Upper Room contributes importantly to queer cinema by focusing on the intersection of sexual identity and religious faith, providing a powerful narrative for gay cinephiles interested in stories of LGBTQ+ individuals within faith communities.[1][3][4][7][9] This film can be significant in gay movie history and filmmaking as it advances queer representation with a sensitive portrayal of religious youth pastors confronting their identities and emotional challenges in a conservative religious setting. [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38479963/) [2](https://scriptmag.com/interview-with-villa-encanto-writer-and-director-joel-perez) [3](https://deadline.com/2025/09/newfest-2025-new-york-lgbtq-film-festival-full-lineup-1236527468/) [4](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO9FcBPER5I/) [5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avk1c06PQ2s) [6](http://y073.com/service/redaktionelle-richtlinien--dafuer-stehen-wir-bei-gala-digital-22145592.html) [7](https://www.instagram.com/p/C-fRuqwNnNz/) [8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37179052/) [9](https://www.flickermagazine.art/post/newfest37-lineup) [10](https://su-city-pictures.com/category/2025-tribeca-festival/) [11](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPrZ-xRgb35/)