Winter Prayer, which focuses on the brief exchange between a priest and a stranger in an outside seating area in the middle of winter, is a reflection on vulnerability.

“The last thing the world needs is another fake female orgasm,” Beatrice says to her therapist as she vents to her about her inability to authentically portray an orgasm for a film she’s shooting. Beatrice, as depicted by Dina Shihabi, is the protagonist of the film short for this month: Cinephile (2021), written and directed by Dre Ryan.

I am not a big fan of horror films. My family jokes that I’m the biggest scaredy-cat because while my siblings thrive off the jump scares, I shrink from them. This is not to say that I’ve gone my whole life without seeing any; that would be impossible. Since my siblings love watching horror it meant more often than not I’d be forced into watching alone or face relentless teasing, and as a Leo rising I hated being excluded more than I hated feeling scared.

Anyone who follows my Twitter knows that I am a huge Twilight stan. Over the last year, I’ve gotten my friends to rewatch these beloved films over and over. I tweet constantly about its awful delights and violent faults. I speculated about character development or lack thereof, I complained endlessly about my issues with Meyer’s abysmal politics and less than ideal approach to prose, but mainly I gushed endlessly about the cinematic masterpiece that was the first film in the franchise. Everything about it comes together to make the perfect indie-teen-supernatural-romance.

Coming out is never an easy experience. Even in the best-case scenario, it is incredibly nerve-wracking. You have to weigh the expectations of others and decide if you’re ready to live in your truth in the face of homophobia. For India, our main character in Late Expectations (written and starring Thais Francis and directed by Laura Arakaki), the stakes could never be higher as she debates coming out to her boyfriend the weekend of her high school graduation.

Zora’s Super Short Show returns this month to Drunk Monkeys! To celebrate Black History Month, Zora shares her favorite black film shorts.

What says “holiday spirit” more than family drama? Kimchi Fried Dumplings is a 2013 holiday short about a gay Canadian named Carl who returns to his estranged parents’ house for the first time since his father's stroke a year and a half earlier.