Reel Q Pittsburgh 41st LGBTQ+ Film Festival: Short Circulated Shorts

Stories of transition, self-discovery, and becoming you. Celebrating the many ways queer people define themselves. Row House Cinema, Hollywood 1449 Potomac Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15216 October 8, 2026 8:00, 9:30PM FLY When a prestigious ballet company holds auditions for a coveted apprenticeship, a dance prodigy driven by perfectionism has their world upended by a rival whose joy rekindles their sense of love and freedom. Quiet on the Ice Amidst sweeping anti-trans legislation, trans and nonbinary hockey players create a new home on the ice. Team Trans is an all-trans hockey team with hundreds of players across the US and Canada. The Twin Cities chapter is one of the largest, drawing transplants from across the country fleeing anti-trans legislation in their home state. Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites During her chaotic family’s Qingming visit, dead Grandma Nai sneaks away from her peaceful afterlife after overhearing that her queer grandson is about to get engaged to a woman. LIA In Usme, Bogotá, Chepe, 75, relives a history marked by violence and displacement. From within her body emerges Lia, a transgender woman and community leader. As she transforms herself to receive an honor, her life reveals how identity, memory, and care become forms of collective resistance. Don’t Take My Joy Away Set in Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, two friends revel in the small joys of life until violence suddenly disrupts their world. Forced to flee, they embark on a dangerous journey of survival, confronting fear, chaos, and the stark realities around them. Along the way, they must choose between remaining in the shadows or seeking the light. The End Of A Man After a married man begins transitioning to live as a woman, her wife is thrown into shock and forced to confront the collapse of the life and identity she thought they shared. Gone Fishin’ John Dixon returns to the old fishing hole to remember his late son, Rodney. But when a stranger named Clay arrives, John is forced to face the truth about his son’s identity, and the denial he imposed for all of Rodney’s life. Twink Death A short film that centers on a gay man confronting the reality of aging at his 30th birthday party. When friends throw the celebration, he’s forced to face not just turning a year older, but what it means for his identity, relationships, and how he sees himself as he leaves his youth behind.