Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, was founded in 1977. Fifty years later, San Jose’s 3Below Theaters are hosting an inaugural Silicon Valley Queer Film Festival.
It’s about time.
Frameline’s success has overshadowed the need for a queer film festival centered in San Jose. Admittedly, it’s hard to compete with the Castro Theatre’s alluring and historic location. The Castro neighborhood holds a primary place in our collective imagination as a queer mecca.
But Robby Kendall, SVQFF’s film festival director, knew there was a potential audience that would be enthusiastic about showing up for a hyperlocal queer community event. Kendall is a filmmaker and drag performer (“Ms. Sweet Nothing”) who founded Fishnets and Film. He started the organization after producing the San Diego premiere of his short film Drag Queens Must Die. The idea for SVQFF occurred afterwards.
The crew and cinematographer for the film were all from Southern California. “I didn’t think I could go to Hollywood [with the film] but I wanted people to see it,” Kendall explained. He found a venue in San Diego’s queer-friendly Hillcrest neighborhood that had a projector and a drag following. In the fall of 2021, back-to-back showings of Drag Queens Must Die, with local performers in tow, sold out. “There was a demand and engagement. It was joyful,” he recalled.
Kendall brought the idea home to the Bay Area as “Drag Me to the Cinema,” an event he produces in Emeryville. “We start with a couple of short films and then the lights come up and we have two drag performers and then the lights go back down and we start another set of short films,” he said. “It becomes an immersive experience.”
Launching SVQFF as a small-scale queer festival, Kendall reached out to Frameline for cross promotion and community support. “I’ve been learning just by talking with their distribution manager, Matthew Wong,” he said.
Last June, Frameline asked him to partner with them for one of their block parties. “That was a great experience and I think we’re going to be doing that again this year.” He’s also had conversations with Frameline about how to—post pandemic—encourage people to come back to the theater.
In its first iteration, SVQFF has been generally programmed as a short film festival. Friday’s opening night features two different themes. The first one—titled “Pure. Queer. Joy.”—runs from 6 to 7:30pm. It’s summed up as, “A queerly joyful and uplifting program, with light comedies and performances guaranteed to make you smile.” The lineup features Jonathan Andre Culliton’s Willa Justice: Drag Queen Private Eye, Vail Trip by Thomas Crandell, and Kendall’s own film (Un)Free Will, a comic take on the divine intervention of two queer guardian angels who cross swords over their wards.
From 7:30 to 9pm, the closing Friday night program celebrates lesbian, trans and bear communities with three films, live performances and an audience-driven Q&A.
The Saturday programming runs all day but begins with family-friendly short and animated films from 1:30 to 3pm. Copresented by Cosplay with Pride, an inclusive Bay Area LGBTQ+ cosplay community, a program note reads, “Guests and families are strongly encouraged to dress up” for photo opportunities with said hosts.
The work of a local Bay Area filmmaker, Dominic Mercurio, plays during the “Drama Queen” Saturday evening block from 5 to 7pm. He Won’t Belong is filmed in territory familiar to Northern Californians: the coastal redwoods. Mercurio creates two characters in separate states of emotional isolation. The remote setting emphasizes their distance from society and from each other.
Saturday night’s final lineup, from 7 to 9pm, is designated for “Adults Only.” Although one of the films, Motel Room by Sahag Gureghian, is adult-themed rather than explicitly salacious.
In the future, Kendall expects that SVQFF will have a team built out. For now, he’s at the helm working on funding sources and grants and branding to gather momentum for the festival. “There are all these opportunities I’m trying to navigate, to see what I can do with my bandwidth to provide this experience to audiences.”
The 2025 Silicon Valley Queer Film Festival runs Feb. 21–22 at 3Below Theaters in San Jose. $20+ for single shows, $29–$77 for day passes. 3belowtheaters.com/svqff
