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Can’t Miss Queer Films & Events at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival

The 15th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival is almost amongst us. The famous festival is running from April 13 to 24 in New York City and you can count on several movies and events featuring queer themes and women.

We’ve put together a list of the films and talks we think will interest you most based on their queer themes and/or the queer women in them. Get your tickets now!

Films with Queer Women’s Themes

haveababy

Infertility is tough on anyone trying to conceive and it doesn’t care about labels. haveababy follows patients of a Las Vegas fertility clinic that hosts a yearly YouTube competition that gives one patient access to free in vitro fertilization treatment. One of these hopefuls is a lesbian performer, but she’s one amongst hundreds. Director Amanda Micheli continues to document this emotional journey even after the competition closes. What’s captured is a lot of ups and downs, but some rewarding results as well.

AWOL

This award-winning short is now a feature film premiering at Tribeca. AWOL follows Joey (Lola Kirke), a young woman looking for purpose in rural Pennsylvania. She seems to find it after visiting an Army recruiting office, but she’s thrown a curveball when she meets and falls for Rayna (Breeda Wool), a neglected housewife with some definite edge to her. As her feelings for Rayna grow, Joey’s grasp on what’s important lessens. Neither of the women could have anticipated where their journey together would take them.

Women Who Kill

The uber talented Ingrid Jungermann is hitting Tribeca with her feature debut, Women Who Kill. The out filmmaker plays Morgan in this comedy set in a queer (well, more so than usual) Brooklyn. Morgan and her ex, Jean (Ann Carr), co-host a pretty popular true crime podcast together. It works, and that’s probably because their relationship didn’t. But when Morgan gets involved with a beautiful stranger, Simone (Sheila Vand), paranoia and fear follow.

Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four

When Elizabeth Ramirez, Anna Vasquez, Cassandra Rivera and Kristie Mayhugh were arrested in 1994, one newscaster called it “the modern version of the witchcraft trials.” Why? Because the “Satanic panic” popular in the American legal system in the ’80s and ’90s disproportionately targeted LGBT people and in 1994 it targeted four Latina lesbians in San Antonio. These women were convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls and given prison sentences that ranged from 15 to 37 years. Now more than 20 years later, they maintain their innocence and claim that homophobia and hysteria over cults were behind the accusations brought against them. Southwest of Salem details this all and more.

Films with Queer Women

Pistol Shrimps

Aubrey Plaza‘s Pistol Shrimps inspired this doc about Los Angeles’ women’s recreational basketball league. Actresses, comedians, writers, musicians, and more join in on the fun, including out entertainers Stephanie Allynne and Jesse Thomas. Imagine playing on the Shecago Bulls or the LA Nail Clippers. Well, these women don’t have to.

Contemporary Color

For fans of music and dance, Contemporary Color can’t be missed. Legendary musician David Byrne put together an event to celebrate the art of Color Guard, which are “synchronized dance routines involving flags, rifles, and sabers.” Held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in the summer of 2015, the event saw performers like St. Vincent collaborating on original pieces.

Between Us

Olivia Thirlby stars as Dianne in Between Us. Dianne is in a long-term relationship with Henry (Ben Feldman) that feels like it’s going nowhere, despite the pressures on them to marry and to essentially grow up. As the big day approaches, both feel the pull to step outside of their relationship, starting a series of events that drive this film.

Equals

Kristen Stewart in a sci-fi flick. Sold yet? Equals is a romance set in the future and in a dystopian world where human emotion is looked at as a disease. Yes, I’m sure it’s a romance. If you show feelings in this world, you’re diagnosed with “Switched-On Syndrome” and investigated by the Health and Safety Department. Kristen plays Nia, who’s in for a lot of trouble after falling for co-worker Silas (Nicholas Hoult).

Vlogumentary

Vloggers: we love them. Some of the world’s most prolific vloggers have amassed a huge audience and are making some great money by putting themselves out there. Vlogumentary follows around some of these individuals, including out vlogger Gaby Dunn. The film examines how she and her peers work and why this medium continues to carve out chunks of fans.

Electra Woman & Dyna Girl

Speaking of vloggers, Hannah Hart and Grace Helbig are also bringing their movie Electra Woman & Dyna Girl to Tribeca. They’re superheroines! The film is a modern twist on Sid and Marty Krofft’s 1976 series of the same name. Having moved from Ohio to Los Angeles, Electra Woman (Helbig) and Dyna Girl (Hart) must now stop the evil afoot in Tinseltown.

Talks with Queer Women

Tribeca Tune In: Grace and Frankie

Two episodes from season 2 of Grace and Frankie will be screened during Tribeca Tune In. Afterward, the show’s stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda will take part in a conversation with show co-producer Hannah KS and others.

Tribeca Tune In: Broad City

The Season 3 finale of Broad City screens at Tribeca this year. Stars Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson and Paul W. Downs and writer/director/producer Lucia Aniello will be around afterward for a conversation moderated by Kelly Ripa.

Tribeca Talks: Nahnatchka Khan

Fresh Off the Boat showrunner Nahnatchka Khan is joining a bunch of talented women for Tribeca Talks: Daring Women Summit Powered by the Li.st. I think we’ll always love her most for the short-lived Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23-a big change from her start in children’s programming-so let’s hope she talks about that.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster is going to be a busy woman at this year’s Tribeca festival. First, she’s taking part in the Tribeca Talks: Director Series with director Julie Taymor. Then she joins her former co-stars Robert De Niro and Cybill Shepherd, writer Paul Schrader and director Martin Scorsese for the 40th anniversary of Taxi Driver, for which Jodie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Go Jodie!

To find out what else will be shown at the festival, you can view their 2016 film guide.

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