In Letters to Nowhere, we see that sometimes, friendship breakups happen in the middle of the work week. Crashout status: imminent.

In 2 of Hearts, Alzira, a retired seamstress, starts having intense, passionate dreams when her gambling partner stops showing up to their games.

Edges of the Earth shows us a place where TCM and BDSM collide.

Waste Time follows a queer couple, a Black woman and an Indian woman, through the fragments: first date, first kiss, first fight. When one woman looks back on what they had, the film shifts into a music-driven sequence asking whether love is worth coming back to.

In Cockroach, a Black transgender man plans to exchange sex for top surgery money with an older gay man, until the night takes a turn involving an actual cockroach, an unexpected conversation, and a reckoning with what he’s afraid of.

In Pink Oz’s, Khris, a shy lesbian working at an art gallery, is desperate to get closer to a co-worker. One problem: every time she almost gets the kiss, a Greek chorus of judgmental church ladies in her head erupts to mock and shame her. When the gallery’s featured artist starts pursuing the same woman, Khris has to fight on two fronts, the rival in the room and the voices that won’t let her want what she wants.

Desire & Defiance post-screening Filmmaker Q&A