Every year, OutNebraska strives to shine the spotlight on an often underrepresented demographic—queer and transgender stories—and celebrate the power of film as an agent for social change, celebration and empowerment. Visit the Prairie Pride 2024 Official Site for more information about this year’s festival, which is taking place at The Ross in Lincoln on October 17, Hastings College in Hastings on October 19, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Omaha/LaVista on October 20.

Tickets for individual screenings at The Ross are $10. A $25 festival pass is available, good for admission to all PPFF screenings.

BLACK LIVES/BLACK LUNGS + THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 4:00 p.m.

The short film BLACK LIVES/BLACK LUNGS and the feature film THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS will be shown together as a single screening. THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS will immediately follow the screening of BLACK LIVES/BLACK LUNGS with no intermission.

[SHORT] Dir. Lincoln Mondy | Documentary | 2024 |  15 min ▷ BLACK LIVES/BLACK LUNGS highlights the decades-long predatory advertising tactics of tobacco toward Black communities, an issue similarly faced by the LGBTQ+ community. The project started when Lincoln Mondy, who is biracial, noticed the overwhelming use of menthol cigarettes among his Black family members. Mondy described the film as an opportunity to “turn (his) anger into action,” featuring interviews with experts and activists across the country.

Dir. Fawzia Mirza | Drama/Comedy | 2024 |  97 min ▷ When 22-year-old queer grad student Azra loses her father to a sudden heart attack, she heads straight to his burial in her parents’ hometown of Karachi, Pakistan. Here, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined; from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming- of-age in rural Canada.

Spanning 30 years in the life of this Pakistani-Canadian family, THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS is a dramedy exploring intergenerational connections between mothers and daughters, East and West, and home and away.

Infused with humor, romance, music, and Bollywood fantasy, and inspired by personal experiences, family stories, and intertwined with Pakistani history and collective memory, the film shows the expansive journey of women seeking to define and decide their own paths, while simultaneously learning—and remembering—how to love.

SEAT 31 + THIS TIME
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 6:00 p.m.

The short film SEAT 31 and the feature film THIS TIME will be shown together as a single screening. THIS TIME will immediately follow the screening of SEAT 31 with no intermission.

[SHORT] SEAT 31 | Dir. Kimberly Reed | Documentary | 2024 | 13 min ▷ Montana’s House floor had already prompted concerns regarding fairness before the arrival of Zooey Zephyr, but these claims gained a nationwide audience after the swift censure of the transgender state lawmaker in 2023. After she declared that those voting in favor of Montana’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors would have blood on their hands, conservative lawmakers refused to let Zephyr speak on any bills.

Turning a tough situation into a moment, Zephyr made a nearby bench her “office.” In SEAT 31, Director Kimberly Reed’s cameras land next to Zooey, capturing shocking, funny, and joyous events as the lawmaker fights for not only the rights of her 11,000 constituents, but the precedent of trans legislation as a whole.

THIS TIME | Dir. Robert Vaughn | Drama/Comedy | 2024 | 132 min ▷ THIS TIME is a fun coming-of-age film following Grace, a closeted 16 year old girl. When her father passes away, Grace begins discovering cryptic clues about his secret life through his old journal. Knowing she’ll soon be forced into conversion therapy, Grace makes a daring break for it at her father’s funeral, taking his ashes with her in a stolen hearse.

To honor her father’s dying wish, she blackmails Red, an alcoholic hearse driver, to race her cross-country to LA for a hail mary chance at reconnecting the remnants of her father with his old pen pal, Liza Minnelli. THIS TIME highlights the power of sincere connection and being accepted just as you are.

DUINO
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 9:00 p.m.

Dir. Juan Pablo Di Pace & Andres Pepe Estrada | Drama | 2024 | 109 min ▷ DUINO follows filmmaker Matias as he struggles to finish editing a movie inspired by his elusive first love, Alexander. Tenderness and fascination defined their young friendship, but it was cut short when Alexander was suddenly expelled from their shared boarding school, leaving young Matias with a story of undeclared emotions, even 25 years later.

When Matias receives an unexpected invitation to revisit his past, he comes face-to-face with Alexander, discovering life imitating art and confronting the sneaky power of memory.

Di Pace draws on his own life for this film about the universal aching nostalgia of first love. Through flashback and meta-narrative, DUINO breathes fresh life into a classic gay coming-of-age tale by exploring the passionate memories of a just-out-of-reach lover that audiences will find both tender and crowd pleasing.