Sasha Wortzel

We Have Always Been on Fire

Sasha Wortzel

Morgan Bassichis

Set among the dunes and clubs of Fire Island, which have witnessed decades of cruising and dancing, the film blends a performance of Morgan Bassichis's song "We Have Always Been on Fire" with 1976 footage by queer nightlife documentarian Nelson Sullivan. We Have Always Been on Fire traces a queer lineage and engages with loss.

We Came to Sweat

Sasha Wortzel, Kate Kunath

Facing eviction the oldest black-owned gay bar in Brooklyn relies on a passionate community in its fight for survival.

I Guess I'm Not Going to Get to Vegas

Sasha Wortzel

I Guess Im Not Going to Get to Vegas is a short portrait of Florence Sterling, who passed away from lung cancer, told through the stories and memories of her lover of over 40 years, Aileen. The piece explores illness, love, and loss through the relationship between two elderly Jewish lesbians who came out before the emergence of a visible gay rights movement.

Grit & Grind

Sasha Wortzel, Felix Endara

A short documentary about Clit Club, a lesbian party held in New York City’s Meatpacking District in the 1990s as the city struggled with the AIDS epidemic.

This Is an Address

Sasha Wortzel

Sylvia Rivera

Stonewall veterans (including prominent trans activist Sylvia Rivera) and HIV-positive New Yorkers take up residency on the Hudson River piers as cranes raze vacant buildings for a new skyline.

Paint It Again

Sasha Wortzel

Paint it Again explores the home shared by a woman and her late partner for over 40 years. Now the home of only one surviving partner, the space has become museum-like. Meticulously arranged and decorated, the house is full of objects like artifacts that hold memories and hint at a life shared in this space, a life that is now gone.

Happy Birthday, Marsha!

Sasha Wortzel, Tourmaline

Mya Taylor, Eve Lindley

It's a hot summer day in June, 1969. Marsha throws herself a birthday party and dreams of performing at a club in town, but no one shows up. Sylvia, Marsha’s best friend, distraught from an unsuccessful introduction between her lover and her family, gets so stoned she forgets about the party. Marsha, Sylvia, and friends eventually meet at the Stonewall Inn to celebrate Marsha's birth. When the police arrive to raid the bar, Marsha and Sylvia are among the first to fight back.

Fucking Different XXY

Mor Vital, Sasha Wortzel

Kay Garnellen, Jörg Hochapfel

Fucking Different XXY intends finally to dissolve the binarity of classic gender identities. Seven transgender filmmakers from all over the world have made short films about aspects of sexuality that are alien to them.

Sass Squat

Sasha Wortzel

A portrait of a queer squat in a rapidly changing area of West Philadelphia.