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Reel Affirmations LGBT Film Festival returns Oct. 13-16
Annual event to showcase 40 films from six continents
A scene from ‘Retake,’ which filmmaker Nick Corporon calls ‘a suspenseful love story.’ (Photo courtesy Reel Affirmations)
Reel Affirmations
Oct. 10-14
GALA Hispanic Theatre/Tivoli Theatre
3333 14th St., N.W.
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.
Full schedule, tickets and more at reelaffirmations.org
Reel Affirmations returns Oct. 13-16. Billed as Washington’s only international LGBT film festival, this year’s schedule includes about 40 new queer features, shorts and documentaries from across the country and around the world.
The festival kicks off with a VIP preview of “Retake” by filmmaker Nick Corporon. The director of the award-winning short “Barbie Boy” says his latest film is, “a suspenseful love story about Jonathan (Tuc Watkins), a mysterious and lonely guy, who hires a young male hustler to help him recreate a road trip from his past.”
Corporon says the movie rises from two very different personal interests: people who live in the past and the desert.
“I’m obsessed with characters who are stuck in the past, always looking backward, pining over what was and what could have been,” he says. ”And, being a Mid-Western boy, I love the iconography of the desert. So, I took those ideas and mashed them together into a road trip love story. Thankfully, two-person road trip movies are less expensive and easier to shoot.”
What proved to be a challenge on the set was controlling his lead actor.
“Tuc Watkins just turned 50 years old recently, but on set he ate like a 15-year-old,” the director says. “I just don’t understand how he has the body he does because we’d always catch him sneaking off to eat cheeseburgers in between set ups. I’d catch him with a bag of fries and say, ‘You realize we’re shooting your nude scenes in two days, right?’ He responded with ‘I know my body, we’ll be fine.’ And we were.”
On Friday night, the festival features “LOEV” a film that Festival Director Kimberley Bush has been pursuing for more than a year. Bush describes it as a “glorious film” and sadly notes that lead actor Dhruv Ganesh died of tuberculosis shortly after filming.
A scene from ‘LOEV,’ a film Reel Affirmations Director Kimberly Bush calls ‘Glorious.’ (Photo courtesy Reel Affirmations)
Indian filmmaker Sudhanshu Saria says that his movie, “is an honest, fragile film about a road-trip between men where they examine the boundaries between friendship and love. It’s set in India so the politics of the place become important given our government’s recent re-criminalization of homosexuality, making it punishable by life imprisonment.”
Saria says the impulse to make this movie came out of personal circumstances and his frustration with the Indian movie industry.
“Honestly, it came from heartbreak,” he says. “I fell for someone who didn’t like me back and instead of going to a therapist or a strip club, I decided to write about it. And I was only able to write about it honestly because I knew there was no shot in hell of this gay-themed, no-stars film finding any financing or actors in India. I could just be brutally honest.”
To his surprise, he was able to locate both money and actors: “Oh well. Two years later, here we are, but if you ask me why I became a filmmaker, well, that credit would go squarely to writer and director Mira Nair. I was perfectly happy sitting on a couch and watching films until I heard her manifesto on, ‘If we don’t tell our stories, no one will.’ So here I am, telling my stories.”
On Saturday, Reel Affirmations turns to three exciting selections of shorts, each loosely grouped around a common theme. The first, called Spectrum, takes a look at LGBT folk who don’t fit neatly into conventional ideas of gender, aging or identity. It kicks off with “Dawn,” the latest film from filmmaker Jake Graf, a transgender man living in London.
“The film is a simple story, set at dawn on a bench on the outskirts of London,” Graf says. “The lead is a trans woman who has been told all her life that she is ugly, too tall, not pretty or womanly enough, so I thought it would be interesting to pair her with a blind man. Unable to judge her by her appearance, he simply takes her for the woman that she is inside, without the stereotypical ideas and perceptions of beauty.”
The second slate of shorts is called Swipe Right, with films dedicated to new beginnings and sudden transformations. The films include the comedy “Spunkle.” If you don’t know what the title means, director Lisa Donato says you may need to consult the Urban Dictionary.
The third slate is called So Long and Farewell, because as Bush notes, “this selection of short films plays on the theme of how everything — even love — comes to an end.”
The Saturday centerpiece feature is the powerful documentary “Free Cece!,” the story of CeCe McDonald, a black trans woman who was unfairly jailed after fighting back against an attacker. Director Jacqueline Garas, known for her work on the PBS series “In the Life,” had a life-changing moment when she heard trans activist Laverne Cox speak about McDonald’s story at the 2013 GLAAD Awards.
“I was shocked that no one had actually covered her story,” she says. “I said to myself, ‘Why haven’t you done something?’ I felt compelled. I think as white people when we see racial injustice, we need to do all we can to make a difference. This was my way of doing what I could.”
The adults-only Saturday after-hours feature takes audiences on a decidedly different journey. According to German filmmaker Hendrik Schäfer, “I wanted to make a film that asks what intimacy means and whether our exposed genitals or our personal stories are more intimate.” The ensuing film, “Seducing Mr. Bluefrog: NSFW” is “a portrait of an online exhibitionist who goes by the name of Bluefrog and who doesn’t want to reveal anything personal but his nudity. He gets to direct his own porn scene and it turns out to be a much different experience than expected for both the subject and the filmmaker.”
The line-up on Sunday, the closing day of the Festival, starts with “Suicide Kale,” an intense dark mumblecore comedy written by Brittani Nichols and directed by Carly Usdin. Nichols says that she and her friends were looking for a project to work on together and that her screenplay was sparked by a chance conversation with Lindsay Hicks, who became one of the film’s stars.
“Emotional chaos ensues over the course of one lunch when a new couple, Jasmine and Penn, find an anonymous suicide note at the home of Billie and Jordan, the happiest couple they know,” she says.
Friends and colleagues are also at the core of “Strike a Pose,” a new documentary that tells the stories of the seven male dancers who performed with Madonna on the ground-breaking “Blond Ambition Tour” and who appeared with her in the infamous documentary “Truth or Dare.”
Co-directors Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan tracked down the six surviving dancers to tell the world their stories. (Gabriel Trupin died in 1995, but is represented in the movie by his mother.) Zwaan says that the movie is “the dramatic story of these seven fierce male dancers who showed the world how to vogue. At its core, our film focuses on a paradox: onstage, the dancers were paragons of pride and self-expression, but in reality their lives were clouded by compromise and secrecy. “Strike a Pose” is a film about overcoming shame and the courage it takes to be who you are.” It screens Sunday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m.
Each of these filmmakers is excited to be part of the Reel Affirmation Film Festival. They are thrilled to find new audiences for their work and they are grateful for the camaraderie of their fellow artists. But even more importantly, they rely on Bush and her stalwart band of volunteers to take a risk on independent queer filmmakers and their quirky visionary films.
As Sudhanshu Saria says, “LOEV is unusual, I know that. We worked hard to make it that way. It resists the obvious stereotyping and classifications people seek: there’s no shower scenes, no nubile twinks, no coming-out-to-dad or suicides and it doesn’t fit the clichés of Indian art-house films either: no musical numbers and no poverty porn. Films like this will always require champions who see the intent in there and who understand it for what it is and who showcase it for audiences to discover.”
A scene from ‘LOEV.’ (Photo courtesy Reel Affirmations)
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Award-winning D.C. chef reaching new culinary heights
Anthony Jones of Marcus DC competing on ‘Top Chef’
In Anthony Jones’s kitchen, all sorts of flags fly, including his own. Executive chef at award-winning restaurant Marcus DC, Jones has reached culinary heights (James Beard Award semifinalist for Emerging Chef, anyone?), yet he’s just getting started.
Briefly stepping away from his award-winning station, Jones took a moment under a different set of lights. Recently, he temporarily gave up his post at the restaurant for a starring small-screen slot on the latest season of “Top Chef,” which debuted in March. (The show airs weekly on Bravo and Peacock).
Before his strategic slice-and-dice competition, however, Jones, who identifies as gay, draws from his deep DMV roots. In the years before “Top Chef” and the top chef spot at Marcus, he was born and raised in Sunderland, Md., in southern Maryland, near the Chesapeake.
Early memories were steeped in afternoons on boats with his dad bonding over fishing, and wandering the garden of his great-grandparents spread with fresh vegetables and a few hogs. “It was Southern, old-school ethics and upbringing,” he said. “Family and food went hand in hand.” Weekends meant grabbing bushels of crabs, dad and grandma would cook and crack them. Family members would host fish fries for extra cash. In this seafood-heavy youth, Jones managed time to sneak in episodes of the “OG” Japanese “Iron Chef” show, which helped inspire him to pursue a career in the kitchen.
Jones moved to D.C. after graduating from college, ending up at lauded Restaurant Eve, and met famed chef Marcus Samuelson, who brought him to Miami to be part of the opening team for Red Rooster Overtown. After three years, Jones moved back to D.C., where he ran Dirty Habit, reinventing and reimagining the menu, integrating West African flavors and ingredients.
Samuelson, however, wouldn’t let a talent like Jones stay away for too long. Pulling Jones back into his orbit, Samuelson elevated Jones to help him open his namesake restaurant Marcus DC, which has been named a top-five restaurant by the Washington Post. Since then, Jones has been nominated as a semifinalist for the RAMMYs Rising Culinary Star in 2026 and won the Eater DC’s Rising Chef award in 2025.
Samuelson’s Marcus is a tour de force interpreting the Black Diaspora on the plate, from the American South to West Africa, along with his signature “Swedopian” touches. Yet it’s Jones who has deeply informed the plate, elevating his own story to date. Marcus DC is primarily a seafood restaurant, which serves Jones well.
“Where I’m from is seafood heavy, and as I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve moved away from meat.” Veggies and fish are hero dishes. His own dish, Mel’s Crab Rice, was not only lauded by the Washington Post, but is framed by his youth carrying home the crustaceans from Mel’s crab truck. It’s a bowl of Carolina rice, layered with pickled okra, uni béarnaise, and crab. Jones also points to a dish on the opening menu, rockfish and brassica, paying respect to a landmark D.C. institution, Ben’s Chili Bowl. Jones reverse engineered a favorite bowl of chili that’s seafood instead of meat forward, leveraging octopus and rockfish along with different riffs of cauliflower: showing his intellectual, creative, and cultural sides.
While “Top Chef” is showing Jones’s spotlight side, he also lets his identity show at work. “In the kitchen, I make sure we’re inclusive. We don’t tolerate discrimination. Everyone that’s here should feel confident to express themselves. There are so many different flags in the kitchen.”
Jones says that he didn’t fully express his gay identity until fairly recently. He felt reluctant coming out to certain family members, “you’re scared to tell them about being different,” he says, and while that anxiety ate at him, “I’m lucky and fortunate to have unconditional love and that weight off my shoulders.”
Today, “I’m me all the time, Monday to Sunday. I’m honest with people, and my staff is honest with me.”
“Being a chef is hard,” he says, “and being a chef of color is even more difficult.”
Yet his LGBTQ identity is a juggling act, he says. “I need to keep that balance, because once someone finds out something about you, their opinion can change, whether you want it or not.”
Being on a whole season of TV cooking competition, however, might mean millions more might have an opinion of him (Jones has appeared on TV already, on an episode of “Chopped”). To prepare, he says, “I’ve just kept a level head. It’s just an honor to be on top chef with amazing people happy to be there.”
Plus, this season is set in the Carolinas, and Jones attended Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s a full story of my life, now a monumental moment for me.”
Jones also recently was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. “JBF has been a north star, a dream for so long. I always had this goal on my wall.”
Being at the top spot at Marcus DC, making waves through his accolades, and cooking on Bravo means that Jones is highly visible. “I think that if someone has a similar background to me, and can see our story, trajectory, and success, they can have more ability to be themselves. This is my goal.”
Back at Marcus, Jones has plenty up his chef’s white’s sleeves. A new spring menu is in the works. He’ll be launching a new tasting menu “dining experience,” he says, and has plans to work on more events and collaborations with chefs and friends to bring in new talent and share the culinary wealth.
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Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (they/she)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriquez (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Founder of NBJC, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Board Chair - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Collective - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
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D.C. springs back to life with new, returning events
Cherry blossoms, Rehoboth season kickoff, and more on tap
Longer and warmer days are back meaning: It’s time to get out of the house and enjoy Washington D.C.’s many events. Below are a few to check out this spring.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts will host “Making their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” until Sunday, July 26. This exhibition illustrates women artists’ vital role in abstraction, considers historical contributions, formal and material breakthroughs and intergenerational relationships among women artists over the last eight decades. For more details, visit. NMWA’s website.
Art in the Attic will host a pop-up on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. at 1012 Madison St., Alexandria, Va. There will be a variety of vendors selling products across different modes of art. For more details, visit Eventbrite.
Play Play will host “Indoor Recess – The art of play” on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. This event will embody classic recess energy, including opportunities to build and experience community and connections through games, movement, art stations, and creative freedom. Tickets are $12.51 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
Spark Social will host “Gay Bar Crawl on U Street” on Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. This will be a fun night out in gay D.C. with other gay people, whether you’re visiting D.C., new to the area, or just looking to expand your social circle. Many crawlers have formed lasting friendships and even romantic relationships after just one night out. Tickets are $35.88 and are available on Eventbrite.
Creative Suitland Arts Center will host “EFFERVESCENT: House of Swann” on Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m. This will be a gay, good time where we will celebrate love, joy, wellness, and visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community. Tickets start at $17.85 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
SWAG Works DC will host “Unapologetically Her” on Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m. at 701 E St., S.E. This event is a powerful celebration of womanhood, resilience, creativity, and self-expression in honor of Women’s History Month. This all-women exhibition highlights the diverse voices, stories, and artistic perspectives of women who create boldly, live authentically, and stand confidently in their truth. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
9:30 Club will host “Gimme Gimme Disco: A Dance Party Inspired by ABBA” on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. There will also be a “Donna Summer Power Hour – The Queen of Disco” segment during this event. It’ll be one hour of music with no skips. Tickets are available on 9:30 Club’s website.
Harder Better Faster Stronger will host “Heated Rivalry Rave” on Friday, March 20 at 9 p.m. at Howard Theatre. This event is open to all ages. Tickets are available on the theater’s website.
CAMP Rehoboth hosts its 25th annual Women’s+ FEST, April 9-12 in Rehoboth Beach, Del. Entertainers include headliner Mina Hartong, a comedian, storyteller, and founder of Lez Out Loud; and singer Yoli Mayor. There are dances, dinners, pickleball, and much more. Details and tickets at camprehoboth.org.
Also in Rehoboth Beach, the Washington Blade’s 19th annual Summer Kickoff Party is set for Friday, May 15 featuring Ashley Biden, who will accept an award on behalf of her brother Beau. State Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall will also speak. More speakers and the venue to be announced soon.
The annual D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off March 21 at DAR Constitution Hall and culminates with Petalpalooza on April 4, the day-long, outdoor street party with music and art, stretching across Navy Yard, and ending with fireworks over the Anacostia River.
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