Pink Suede Shoes

Director: Jay Bedwani

Year: 2020

Ecstatic lipsynching in downtown bars is a far cry from Donna’s Baptist upbringing in San Jose; now in her seventies, her estranged siblings haven’t even seen her in a dress. Donna is offered a chance to co-write a play about an overlooked episode in queer history, the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, in which transgender women Donna knew stood up against police harrassment. She writes a character to be played by a young transgender activist. Praised for her writing and emboldened by her new friends, she heads out of the city to meet her sister Gloria… This intimate and uplifting film is beautifully observed by director Jay Bedwani and features mesmerising moments recalled by Donna in her emerging writer’s voice. Donna is a film that shows the strength that can be drawn from your community and proves: it’s never too late to find your métier and truly blossom.

Director: Jay Bedwani

Year: 2018

Sebastien lives for the thrill of the circus. Now the oldest acrobat in the troupe, he knows this show could be his last.

Director: Ornella Mutoni

Year: 2024

A group of young adults born during or just after the 1994 genocide against Rwanda's Tutsi people gather to find the courage to break a powerful taboo. Rwanda is one of the few nations in the world providing specialist counselling for children conceived through rape, who number 10,000 across the country. Here, course leader Emilienne, a mother, therapist and genocide survivor, helps the group to imagine a future free from family secrets and societal stigma. In a circle of supportive peers, they tell their individual stories and face their struggles together, in the hope their participation will advocate for others facing similar trauma. Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2024 NY African Film Festival 2025