In one short film, the actors communicate entirely in body language, with no spoken word. In another, a Brazilian gay pride carnival splashes across the screen, spoken in Portuguese with English subtitles.
The two vastly different films are part of a collection of the best short films from a Brazilian gay film festival, which kicked off the Minneapolis Mix Film Festival on Thursday at Intermedia Arts in Uptown.
The diversity-celebrating festival is sponsored by the Queer Student Cultural Center, the University YW and Radio K. The mix, which presents films from New York, Mexico and Brazil, is part of the nationally touring Mix NYC, a gay and lesbian experimental film festival in New York City.
“(It is) some of the best work that is done around the world,” said Miss Alison, the University’s Queer Student Cultural Center’s office coordinator. “It is really important because it shows how (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) issues are visible in other parts of the world.”
Miss Alison said that it is important to bring other perspectives of GLBT issues to the Twin Cities as well as show GLBT students who are travelling abroad queer issues from other parts of the world.
The film festival will present tonight a Mexican collection of experimental videos called “The Devil in The Eyes.” This self-portrait movie by Ximena Cuevas is comprised of 20 short films, mostly two to five minutes long.
“Jackpot,” the opening film of the New York mix last year, will close the Minneapolis mix on Saturday.
This year’s festival will serve as a way to establish a yearly Minneapolis event, said Lisa Ganser, Intermedia Arts film and video programmer.
“(We are) creating a space to screen films that aren’t necessarily from the mainstream culture,” Ganser said.

Fabiana Torreao covers the St. Paul campus and agriculture and welcomes comments at [email protected].