Now in its fourth year, Reel Queer Flix will, once again, bring a diverse block of new and restored queer short films to screen at Grand Lake on Wednesday, Aug. 12. 

One film tells the story of a Chinese American drag queen; another explores Oakland’s queer graffiti and skateboarding communities. The screening also includes a film about a gay son trying to reconnect with his father who has dementia; one profiling women and queer artists making space within capoeira; and a 1989 film directed by Oakland-based director Aarin Burch that features one of the first on-screen kisses between two Black women. 

The idea for the event, a partnership between Cinemama, Oakland Pride, and the Oakland LGBTQ Center, started with filmmaker Laura Wagner, a co-founder of Cinemama, wanting to put together an LGBTQ short film series. Wagner reached out to Cinemama’s locations manager and board vice-chair, the filmmaker Matthew Riutta.

Riutta proposed to time the event to coincide with Oakland Pride, which will take place in August, not September, this year. He said they presented the idea to the rest of the Cinemama board and co-founders which includes such prominent Oakland filmmakers as Boots Riley and Cheryl Dunye.

“Cheryl Dunye came up with the name, and we’ve been going ever since,” Riutta said. “We had around 400, 450 people the first year, and it’s stayed consistently in those numbers, and we keep on growing every year.”

Oakland-based filmmaker Aarin Burch will be screening her newly restored 1989 short film “Dream of Passion” for the first time at Grand Lake Theater, which she said it’s a “dream come true.”

“I wanted to see myself reflected bigger than life,” Burch said. “And I didn’t even know what I was doing really because I was in college.”

Riutta said that it is thanks to the queer filmmakers who have paved the way in past decades that movie-goers and aspiring filmmakers get to experience these films.

“We need representation in this world, especially at a time when the world wants us to cower and to hide our corners,” Riutta said. “We’re not doing that.”

Burch and the other filmmakers featured in this year’s series will participate in a post-screening Q&A.

“What better way to get your queer on than going to see great films,” Riutta said. 

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 6 p.m., $12.50 – $20, Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Ave.

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