Fun In Girls’ Shorts 2

Available since April from Frameline, Fun in Girls’ Shorts 2 is an enjoyable and entertaining follow up to Fun in Girls’ Shorts that includes seven powerful and provocative short lesbian films. Each of these shorts have wowed crowds at past Frameline festivals and gone on to play to sell-out crowds at prestigious film festivals around the country. The collection has something for everyone, and all of the films are creative, unique, and extremely well executed.

Fun in Girls’ Shorts 2 brings humor, with Crafty and The Vicious and the Delicious; romance, with Will You…; a contemplative feeling, with Night Star; insightfulness, with Eddie and the documentary, Just Me?; and something truly distinctive, with Operated by Invisible Hands.

Crafty, which was one of this reviewer’s favorites, tells the tale of a cunning activist who spends the day wooing a craft-loving housewife with the goal of obtaining her signature for a gay rights petition. Despite it’s obvious silliness, the short has some truly hysterical moments (at one point the activist uses the line “Is your name Marlee Matlin? Because you look like someone who really knows how to sign?” to achieve her goal) and manages to deliver a valuable message, with valid points about gay marriage and the importance of advocating for what you believe in stressed throughout.

The other film that fits into the comedy category in this compilation is The Vicious and the Delicious, director Tonnette Stanford’s ribald parody of a fictitious soap opera and its shocking scandals. At first it seems like nothing more than a blatant attempt to poke fun at the absurdity of the soap format, but it doesn’t take long before you find yourself lost in the ridiculous plotlines and genuinely interested in the outcomes. The actresses play the parts of daytime ladies so convincingly that if it weren’t for the over-the-top dialogue, you might forget the goal was to make fun of it all.

Will You… while also having it’s funny moments (setting up a scenario where you can avoid paying for an expensive engagement ring by having a flaming mugger steal an empty box while proposing is pretty cute), was by far the most heartwarming of the seven films – as we are reminded about what true love is really all about.

And finally, it doesn’t get more creative and unique than Nicole Brending’s Operated by Invisible Hands. Two antique dolls act out the story of a night of entangled passion and the emotional aftermath of the morning after with a dialogue that – given the circumstances – is nothing short of brilliant. As the dolls come to terms with their newfound lesbianism and their feelings of being “operated by invisible hands” in their inability to control themselves with each other, the viewer is treated to one hysterical, moving, and massively original treat.

Overall, all of the films on Fun in Girls’ Shorts 2 are deserving of the praise and awards that they have received so far and together make for a must have DVD.

To learn more about Fun in Girls’ Shorts and to order your copy visit Frameline.