Somewhere all the boys are birds

Benjie, a young Filipino boy, is obsessed with Jaime Roxas, a matinée idol who died 20 years ago. He makes a trip to New York to hold a séance on the rooftop where Jaime killed himself. He summons Jaime’s ghost and over the course of their conversation, we discover the two’s real kinship is a longing for death. At the end, Benjie asks Jaime to kiss him and this carries the two into the world of the dead.

Directed by Apa Agbayani
Produced by Fernando Morett

Director’s Bio: Apa Agbayani is a Filipino writer and director who makes films and music videos. He’s working through his feelings with magic and finishing a Film MFA at Columbia University. “Somewhere all the boys are birds” is his second short film after “We kept warm” (2021). His third short film “When the house lights come on” is coming soon.

Plays in

Queer Dreams & Waking Life

The mundanity of our lives often feels torturous, especially when contrasted with the fantasies we conceive to escape that daily grind. When coupled with the longings and repression of queer love, this despair can become overwhelming. Nevertheless, the very ideas of romance and desire, whether unrequited or fleeting or separated by great distances of time and space, can provide a glimmer of hope in the bleakest of situations. In these films, characters dealing with the everyday experiences of depression, social alienation, the specter of death, and even legal and workplace frustrations are given respite by the sheer beauty of queer connection and potential freedom. Even as we are anchored to the ground by brutal realities, imagination can give us wings to soar.