Love. Regret. A bad haircut. Some things haunt us. Hold That Thought assembles a lineup of sharp, funny, and deeply felt queer shorts that live in the pause—between what we said and what we meant, what happened and what we wish had gone differently. These are the scenes that replay in your head on the way home.
ICONIC is a raw, unapologetic blend of music video, experimental cinema, and queer manifesto. Featuring the original song ICONIC, this fully independent short is powered by an all-trans and non-binary team. No budget safety net. No rules. Just pure self-expression. Shot entirely on vibrant Super 8mm, it captures the fierce presence of Montreal’s Aizysse Baga, who performs, styles, and designs every detail herself.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2025
Run Time: 4:15
Language: English
Director: April Daneau
After a breakup, Nic and Kitty reunite at a park to clean up loose ends. Sometimes, relationship changes aren’t for better or worse—it’s just different.
Country of Origin: United States
Year of Release: 2023
Run Time: 3:15
Language: English
Director: Ahlaam Yasmin
A mature trans woman navigates the complexities of a fading memory, as the lines between past and present blur, delving into the intricacies of love.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2024
Run Time: 14:58
Language: English
Director: day
Two incarcerated women in a secure Northern Québec forest are subjected to the hard labour of reforestation. They enjoy a little area of freedom they’ve managed to create thanks to an empathetic prison guard.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2024
Run Time: 11:05
Language: French with English Subtitles
Director: Fanny Perreault
The Talk showcases the experiences of three LGBTQ+ youth learning about sex health under an inadequate sex-ed curriculum. Each subject opens up about their knowledge surrounding sexual health, gender identity, the not so honest information they were taught in their classrooms and its impact on their self-image.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2022
Run Time: 5:41
Language: English
Director: Ella Saini
Sammy is a queer millennial with a precarious life and all the anxieties that go with it. When they make a snap decision to shoplift a shirt, their mental health takes a spiral – until they get a lesson about late-stage capitalism from the last person they’d expect.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2025
Run Time: 12:17
Language: English
Director: King Dawit
A woman turning 30 impulsively gives herself a dramatic haircut moments before hosting her birthday dinner—and it’s fine, it’s totally fine. Bangs is a paranoia-fueled comedy about one woman’s need for recognition and what happens when that recognition never comes.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2024
Run Time: 13:34
Language: English
Director: Nancy Webb
Kevin, a hopeful romantic, finally takes a chance to connect with James, the lifeguard he’s admired from afar, leading to an extremely expected first kiss and a summer of love and laughter.
Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Release: 2024
Run Time: 13:20
Language: English
Director: Jason Sakaki
A late-blooming trans woman grapples with a lifetime of expectations in this moving story about mother-daughter love, identity, and self-acceptance.
Country of Origin: United States
Year of Release: 2024
Run Time: 15:00
Language: English
Director: Sally Tran
1h 36m
Canada, United States
English, 1 Film in French with English Subtitles
Wheelchair-accessible
Closed Captioning
Calgary Queer Arts Society honours and acknowledges Moh’kinsstis, the lands and oral practices of the Blackfoot Confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations; the îethka Nakoda Nations: Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney; and the Tsuut’ina Nation. We also recognize this territory as home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, Districts 5 and 6. Finally, we acknowledge all nations, genders and spirits who live, work, and play across Turtle Island.
We are only the latest to live, create and gather here, and so it is only right that we should acknowledge those who have come before us; their feasts and family gatherings, art, music, dance, storytelling and ceremony, that have been happening right here, on this land, for more generations than any of us can count.
As we enter and care for the relationships made possible through our work, we see every gathering as an opportunity to engage and walk a path of reconciliation; in doing so, we hope to build connections of inclusion, respect, and shared creativity.
