From the restrictive Hays Code that constructed a celluloid closet, to the queer indie explosion of the mid-90s, to our contemporary conversations about representation, both independent and mainstream cinema have struggled with the way they portray LGBTQ2S people and stories. And while representation has obviously bettered over the last century of cinema, the question now turns to what queer stories get told. Queerwest celebrates not only the stories of queer life on the coasts, but the lives, adventures, and pain of LGBTQ2S people living under the majesty, power, and complicated history of the American West.

Queerwest Shorts Block


Ballad of Yuca, G.J. Pelczar

A vigilante cowgirl comes to town with the goal of taking down a mysterious outlaw, a vision of her past.


North Star, P.J. Palmer

North Star is a multiple-award-winning dramatic short film that is a deceptively simple dissection of loss and love, as it follows a rancher, James, fighting to care for his ailing husband, Craig, even as his sister-in-law, Erin, argues to take her brother to live his last days with her family, without James.

Pine Mountain Overnight, Geena Hernandez

On a school camping trip to the mountains, a naive teen navigates the unfamiliar landscape of puberty... but it turns out hormones aren’t the only things raging out there in the wilderness.


Ringing Rocks, Gus Reed

A young man takes his grief-stricken boyfriend to recover at an idyllic desert resort, but awakens to an eerie new reality.


Black Knuckle and Deputy Maltese, Jason Phillips

In the Western town of Coal Ridge, a deputy keeps his love a secret until the outlaw who stole his heart is taken hostage.


Microbrew Aggressions, Lenny Peppers

A football tailgate party exposes the bigotry faced by Native American people. 



Silver Femme, Nico Reano

An experimental film about loving oneself, no matter who you might be.


Algie the Miner, Alice Guy-Blache

Algie the Miner is a 1912 American silent Western film produced by Solax Studios.


Honored by the Moon, Mona Smith

In Native American culture homosexual men and women were accepted as being two-spirit people and were thought to have the power to bridge worlds between the present world and the spirit world. This documentary interviews present day lesbian and gay native Americans about their lives and the homophobia that they face.


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