Our lives are full of beginnings and endings; some are exciting, others painful, and a few are totally unexpected. Exploring these beginnings and endings through five delightful and eclectic short films, NQV Media’s Upon Her Lips series returns with She Likes Girls.
From an unexpected connection with a piano teacher in Singapore to the realisation that a once-strong bond has changed forever at a Halloween party in Madrid, all five shorts in Upon Her Lips: She Likes Girls explore love, separation and transformation through a global female lens.
Opening Upon Her Lips: She Likes Girls is IN TUNE, directed by Hannah Miles Wong. Thirty-something Lin thought her life had finally found a long-sought rhythm and balance. She loves her young son with all her heart, and he is the centre of her world. But her son’s young piano teacher is about to spark feelings Lin has long attempted to suppress, feelings that stretch back to a time when Lin danced, and the world felt fresh and new. Sometimes, the most unexpected person opens a door that cannot easily be shut again, no matter how hard you try, but will Lin embrace the freedom she once felt, or, in fear, opt to conform to the identity she has crafted?
Hannah Miles Wong’s short film beautifully explores themes of constructed identity and conformity, and the power of music and dance to cut through to the real person beneath. In Miles Wong’s short, Lin’s rebirth may only be temporary, but its power is anything but.
Rebirth also sits at the heart of CLEO IS COMING OVER TONIGHT (Cleo vendrá esta noche), directed by Aitana Ahrens and Miguel Guindo. However, the rebirth at the heart of this delightfully observant short film is one of uncomfortable acceptance of a new reality.
Sometimes we all have to accept it’s time to move on, but moving on can be tough. Twenty-something, Aitana is caught in a repeating pattern: party, recover and party more. It’s a pattern that has become her life, and one she once enjoyed alongside the effervescent Cleo. Aitana loved Cleo, although she never said so, believing their world would never end. But now Cleo is gone, and she isn’t answering calls. As Aitana organises her annual Halloween Night party, she invites Cleo, but will Cleo respond? Or is this the night Aitana is forced to lay their friendship and her love to rest?
Kotowari
Aitana Ahrens and Miguel Guindo’s short captures the emotions and feelings we have all faced at some point in our lives, as a love we thought would be eternal faces the reality that everything changes and nothing lasts forever, especially in youth. Also centred on the reality that feelings, emotions, and expectations can suddenly change when faced with a new reality, KOTOWARI, directed by Coralie Watanabe Prosper, is one of the standout short films of Upon Her Lips: She Likes Girls.
Saki has been waiting two and a half years for her French residency permit. This permit would finally allow her to live without doubt or insecurity with her wife, Tom, and to embrace the world of dance she so passionately cares about. But, residency takes time, and there are so many hoops to jump through that it can feel like you’re embarking on a steep mountain climb where the summit is out of view and unknowable. After years of waiting, today is the day Saki finally collects her permit from the bustling immigration office, and the timing couldn’t be better, as her dance auditions require her to hold citizenship. With Tom by her side, Saki cues up, knowing that today she will become a joint Japanese/French citizen, but as Tom leaves her for an exam, Saki is about to discover that the state has other plans.
Coralie Watanabe Prosper’s beautifully performed, scripted and shot short film sees Saki reassess her priorities as the net of the French state tightens around her through a story that powerfully explores the challenges of systems built on political fears of immigration. It’s a system poles apart from the love, dance, and artistry Saki embodies, and one that will ultimately push Saki into a corner she cannot escape.
Have you ever felt that the easiest escape route is to forget? If you have, you’re not alone. Sometimes we would all like to take a little pill or smoke a magical vape that erased a memory and let us start all over again. But even if you did start all over again, what’s to say the outcome wouldn’t be the same? For Hélène, Samia, and Gaby, a love triangle has been difficult to navigate for some time. Still, a magic vape could now offer a fresh start in GIRLFRIENDS (Hélène et les filles), directed by Claire Bonnefoy. But be careful what you wish for, because sometimes, no matter the intervention, the outcome remains uncertain.
Closing Upon Her Lips: She Likes Girls is the second standout short film in this collection, GRETA, directed by Sparman Clark. Twenty-something Greta’s life is a mess; her New York apartment, paid for by her parents, resembles a skip, her bedsheets haven’t been washed in months, she struggles to get out of bed and function, and her therapist merely tells her what she already knows. Greta is stuck in an ever-decreasing circle, and she can’t find a way to break out. But when Greta bumps into thirty-year-old April in a thrift store, a chance encounter sparks a flicker of light that no amount of therapy sessions could deliver. But can Greta embrace the escape April offers? And can April accept the disorder of Greta’s life? Sometimes, all it takes is a picnic in the park to open the door to a whole new world.
Sparman Clark’s delightfully funny and tender tale of newfound love on the streets of New York shines through an exceptional screenplay, wonderful performances, and delightful cinematography as Greta and April tentatively explore a new, transformational bond.
NQV Media’s Upon Her Lips: She Likes Girls is now available to rent or buy on Prime Video and Payhip worldwide.
Follow Us