Jody Stillwater

Mimi's baby shower goes sideways.

Ulu (ʻŌlelo Hawai'i): “to grow, increase, spread, to protect, to rise”; Kupu: “sprout, offspring, germinate” or a “spirit or supernatural being”. Through video that mixes parallel visual narratives, Ulu Kupu follows a “Labor Hula”, a performance of harvesting plants/materials from the 'āina (land): hala which is used for weaving; wauke, which is used to create kapa or tapa, a textile; and hau which is also used as a textile or decorative fiber. This dance with the materials of the land is further expanded through the performance of a dancer, wearing the materials on their body and dancing in a wahi pana (sacred place) as well as in a grove of hau trees.

Queer performance artist and musician Saturn Risin9 returns home to the Bay Area to share their journey of perseverance centering self discovery, healing and creative expansion poetically told through dance, visual narrative, performance, and documentary.

Speculative mutualisms of the future are revealed showing humans living in symbiosis with cyanobacteria and other organisms in scenarios that are peaceful, provocative, and surreal.

Boys' night out to an Asian brothel becomes a bloody fight for survival.

A weaver navigates between survival and her connection to the land while a mysterious rash grows on her body. While working as a cleaner, she becomes entranced by a mysterious painting and learns it is inspired by a Hawaiian creation story. As her rash worsens, she realizes her drinking water has been poisoned by fuel leaking into the island’s watersheds, and undergoes a major transformation.

A cranky Gen X butch is forced to spend time with a genderqueer Gen Z’er whose gender-affirming upbringing and experiences elicits the former to critique how kids today have it easier. Generational differences aside, the two find comfort in their similarities that defy generation.

Fame driven Ken Dean becomes the subject of a documentary when he attempts to start a pornography company. Following the failure of the company, Ken uses his father's religious music to start a Christian rock band but finds himself trapped in a gay conversion cult.