Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way

Having built a colorful queer life in Iowa, a costume designer visits their island homeland of Guam to make costumes for a children’s theatre while reconnecting with distanced parents.

Directed by Hao Zhou
Produced by Tyler Hill

Director’s Bio: Hao Zhou is a filmmaker from southwestern China. Focusing on queer and feminist themes, Zhou made a no-budget feature about queer sex workers, “The Night,” in 2014. Zhou’s recent works include the short films “Frozen Out” (2021), “Future Flowers” (2022), and “Here, Hopefully” (2023). An alum of Berlinale Talents and the Cannes Résidence, Zhou has presented films at the Berlinale, Locarno, SXSW, Hot Docs, and others.

Plays in

Stepping Stones

Past and present reflect one another in this trio of short documentaries about islands caught in the web of United States influence, and people living in the shadow of that impact. Covering nearly a century of war, exploitation, and emigration, these stories reflect just a fraction of the breadth of identities and experiences blooming in the many corners of the contemporary world’s most prominent empire. The histories of these countries and communities are ripples in a stream, their present circumstances shaped subtly over all that time.

Award Nominated Shorts