Hulu Highlights Queer Stories with Three If/Then Documentary Lab Fellowships

According to Variety, Hulu and the If/Then Shorts program have set a cohort for the second class of their short documentary lab, which focuses on production and career training for nonfiction filmmakers elevating LGBTQ stories.

What’s Happening:

If/Then Shorts is an initiative from Field of Vision that amplifies regional, community-centered stories and supports nonfiction filmmakers through a combination of project grants, mentorship, industry consultations, editorial feedback, filmmaker advocacy and multiplatform distribution support.
Since 2017, the program has supported more than 90 short documentary projects.
Three film teams have been awarded $30,000 in production funding as well as the opportunity for six months of individual mentorship through a production intensive led by If/Then and Hulu.
The teams will work towards premiering their shorts in September 2023 at an in-person screening event and reception at Outfest in Los Angeles. Upon completion of the films’ final cuts, Hulu will have an opportunity to review the work for acquisition and/or further development.
The projects are:

“Mother” from Meg Shutzer and Brandon Yadegari Moreno

In San Francisco, a city known for its vibrant gay community, nowhere feels like home anymore to Malia Spanyol, a self-identified dyke who sets out to build a space for the next generation of women and femmes.
Shutzer’s short documentary 8 Days at Ware was part of a multimedia investigation into a juvenile detention center that included a front-page story for the New York Times. The project was recently broadcast on PBS Reel South and Moreno has produced shorts for the Atlantic, the Guardian and KQED.

“One Night at Babe’s” from Angelo Madsen Minax

At Babe’s Bar, cribbage tournaments overlap with punk shows, while drag performances weave through afternoons of football and potluck chili. One Night at Babe’s takes an intimate glimpse into the life of a rural queer bar and its dynamic intersection of patrons to trace a tenuous yet rich alliance.
Minax is a current USA Artists and Guggenheim Fellow. His most recent short film, Bigger on the Inside, premiered at TIFF and screened at New York Film Festival and Sundance.

“Stitching Forward” from Hao Zhou and Tyler Hill

Reuniting with their craft, family and culture, a costume designer travels from Iowa to their homeland of Guam to create costumes for a children’s theater production.
Zhou and Hill’s most recent collaboration, Here, Hopefully premiered at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and will be broadcast as part of Homegrown: Future Visions, a short film series supported by Firelight Media, CAAM and PBS.

What They’re Saying:

If/Then co-director Caitlin Mae Burke: “We cannot wait to begin this journey with these exceptional teams. These stories each engage with diverse interpretations of ‘home’ – building it, returning to it, reshaping it, through strength of self and support of the queer community. Each of these filmmakers is at such an impressive moment in their careers, receiving national and international acclaim, and we are very fortunate to collaborate with them on their next project.”