Celebrating 16 Years of Queer Cinema, Art & Community
October 2-4th
Burns Court Cinema
The Fabulous Independent Film Festival (FabIFF) is an annual celebration of independent LGBTQ+ cinema, emerging filmmakers, and transformative storytelling.
For 16 years, FabIFF has created space for artists and audiences to gather through film screenings, conversations, performances, and community experiences that uplift queer voices and inspire social change.
Coming soon…
THE DADS
2026 | USA | 72 MIN
Inspired by the Emmy Award-winning short documentary of the same name (Netflix, 2023), THE DADS chronicles a community of fathers of trans and nonbinary children as they are forced to choose family over country as a powerful anti-trans agenda takes hold in the United States. Filmed over the course of a year spanning retreats in rural Maine and Minnesota, protests, family milestones, a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court decision, and the collapse of gender-affirming care for youth, THE DADS captures this national reckoning with remarkable intimacy through verité footage and interviews with the film’s main protagonists, as documented by Emmy Award-winning director and producer Luchina Fisher and executive producer Dwyane Wade. This is fatherhood as an act of radical love and resistance.
DIRECTOR LUCHINA FISHER
PRODUCERS LUCHINA FISHER, STEPHEN CHUKUMBA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS DWYANE WADE, JON MARCUS, JOSEPH DEITCH, CAROLINA GARCÍA JAYARAM, EVA BLOOMFIELD, LAURA TANNER, ANTHONY CHUKUMBA, RICK WHITE, REBECCA B WHITE
EDITORS PATRICK WRIGHT, CHELSI BULLARD
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY UKACHI ARINZEH
ORIGINAL SCORE ELLA FEINGOLD AND CHARLIE HUNTER
ORIGINAL SONG “MAKE IT OUT ALIVE” CO-WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MORGXN
CAST STEPHEN CHUKUMBA, WAYNE MAINES, DAVID PARR, FRANK GONZALES, ED DIAZ, CHRISTOPH HEINZER, JOSE TRUJILLO, ALEX POLOTSKY, AC GOLDBERG, JR FORD, ANDY DUMONT, CARLOS SALAZAR, CASEY DECK, MIKE HOFFMAN, BILL MAGNESS, CHRIS
Produced by the Fabulous Arts Foundation, FabIFF supports:
Independent LGBTQ+ filmmakers
Emerging artists and youth creators
Accessible arts programming
Community-centered storytelling
Safe and affirming cultural spaces
Each year, the festival brings together filmmakers, artists, advocates, and audiences from across Florida and beyond for a vibrant multi-day cultural experience rooted in visibility, creativity, and connection.
Your sponsorship helps ensure queer stories continue to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
-
Independent LGBTQ+ filmmakers
Emerging artists and youth creators
Accessible arts programming
Community-centered storytelling
Safe and affirming cultural spaces
Each year, the festival brings together filmmakers, artists, advocates, and audiences from across Florida and beyond for a vibrant multi-day cultural experience rooted in visibility, creativity, and connection.
Your sponsorship helps ensure queer stories continue to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
-
506 Burns Court
Sarasota, Florida 34236
United States -
Interested in joining our film committee. Contact info@fabaf.org
-
Opening night After Party TBA
Closing party
BOOKENDS
2026 | USA | 99 MIN
When Nate (Noam Ash) is forced to leave his fabulous city life behind and move in with his grandparents after a bad breakup with his boyfriend, he is determined to escape the confines of retirement community life and his meddlesome grandparents’ relentless attempts to ‘improve’ him. But when his Holocaust-surviving grandfather, Saul (F. Murray Abraham), shows signs of cognitive decline and his grandmother, Miriam (Caroline Aaron), refuses to acknowledge her husband’s early dementia, Nate finds himself torn between his desire to flee, family responsibilities, and an unexpected romance with his grandparents’ handsome doctor (Charlie Barnett).
DIRECTOR MIKE DOYLE
WRITER NOAM ASH
PRODUCERS ALON SHTRUZMAN, SCOTT EINBINDER, NOAM ASH, HENRY RUSSELL BERGSTEIN, WARREN OSTERGARD
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SCOTT KRIEGER, CHAD E. BROWN, GIL GOLDSCHEIN, NOAH EISENBERG, NICOLE EISENBERG, STANFORD BROWN, NICK FRANCESCON, DEBORAH SHMUELI, ODED SHMUELI, C. GRAHAM BERWIND III, ELENI GIANULIS-VERMEER, REBECCA GOLD, SHIRA MILIKOWSKY, S. ASHER GELMAN, STEFANO MILICI, F. MURRAY ABRAHAM, CAROLINE AARON, MIKE DOYLE, CHARLIE BARNETT
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY DABNEY MORRIS
CAST F. MURRAY ABRAHAM, CAROLINE AARON, NOAM ASH, CHARLIE BARNETT
KILORAN BAY (Short Film)
2026 | UK | 13 MIN
Starring Alan Cumming and Jack Wolfe, Kiloran Bay is a 13-minute musical short set amid the wild beauty of the Scottish Hebrides and the fierce joy of a wedding cèilidh. A moving story of queer joy and self-acceptance, it follows a man returning to his hometown, where he faces the forces that drove him away.
The ensemble cast also stars Stuart Thompson, Giles Terera, David Fynn and David Hayman.
WRITER & DIRECTOR MICHAEL BRUCE
PRODUCERS DAVID HARWOOD, BETH LEVISON, REBECCA WOLFF
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS JUSTIN MIKITA, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, DAWN BONDER, DANIEL CHALFEN, MARCI WISEMAN, JONATHAN COHEN, ERIC KUHN, DAVID THOMAS TAO, TREVOR BURGESS, JAMES COSTA, STEPHANIE HENSEN DITTMER, HARLENE FREEZER, HILARY WILLIAMS, STUART WILLIAMS
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BRYAN MCCAFFREY, MICHAEL SHERMAN
CO-PRODUCER TOM GENTLE
EDITOR GIORGIO GALLI BFE
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY IAN FORBES
PRODUCTION DESIGNER JENNY ALEXANDER
COSTUME DESIGNER LIBERTY BRAMALL
SOUND DESIGN DAVID MCAULAY
MUSIC & LYRICS BY MICHAEL BRUCE
CHOREOGRAPHER VICKI MANDERSON
CAST ALAN CUMMING, JACK WOLFE, STUART THOMPSON, GILES TERERA, DAVID FYNN, SAMMY HAYMAN, JACK MOONEY, NATHAN LUNDIE, DAVID HAYMAN
Produced by the Fabulous Arts Foundation, FabIFF supports:
Independent LGBTQ+ filmmakers
Emerging artists and youth creators
Accessible arts programming
Community-centered storytelling
Safe and affirming cultural spaces
Each year, the festival brings together filmmakers, artists, advocates, and audiences from across Florida and beyond for a vibrant multi-day cultural experience rooted in visibility, creativity, and connection.
Your sponsorship helps ensure queer stories continue to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
-
Independent LGBTQ+ filmmakers
Emerging artists and youth creators
Accessible arts programming
Community-centered storytelling
Safe and affirming cultural spaces
Each year, the festival brings together filmmakers, artists, advocates, and audiences from across Florida and beyond for a vibrant multi-day cultural experience rooted in visibility, creativity, and connection.
Your sponsorship helps ensure queer stories continue to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
-
506 Burns Court
Sarasota, Florida 34236
United States -
Interested in joining our film committee. Contact info@fabaf.org
-
Opening night After Party TBA
Closing party
BOOKENDS
2026 | USA | 99 MIN
When Nate (Noam Ash) is forced to leave his fabulous city life behind and move in with his grandparents after a bad breakup with his boyfriend, he is determined to escape the confines of retirement community life and his meddlesome grandparents’ relentless attempts to ‘improve’ him. But when his Holocaust-surviving grandfather, Saul (F. Murray Abraham), shows signs of cognitive decline and his grandmother, Miriam (Caroline Aaron), refuses to acknowledge her husband’s early dementia, Nate finds himself torn between his desire to flee, family responsibilities, and an unexpected romance with his grandparents’ handsome doctor (Charlie Barnett).
DIRECTOR MIKE DOYLE
WRITER NOAM ASH
PRODUCERS ALON SHTRUZMAN, SCOTT EINBINDER, NOAM ASH, HENRY RUSSELL BERGSTEIN, WARREN OSTERGARD
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SCOTT KRIEGER, CHAD E. BROWN, GIL GOLDSCHEIN, NOAH EISENBERG, NICOLE EISENBERG, STANFORD BROWN, NICK FRANCESCON, DEBORAH SHMUELI, ODED SHMUELI, C. GRAHAM BERWIND III, ELENI GIANULIS-VERMEER, REBECCA GOLD, SHIRA MILIKOWSKY, S. ASHER GELMAN, STEFANO MILICI, F. MURRAY ABRAHAM, CAROLINE AARON, MIKE DOYLE, CHARLIE BARNETT
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY DABNEY MORRIS
CAST F. MURRAY ABRAHAM, CAROLINE AARON, NOAM ASH, CHARLIE BARNETT
KILORAN BAY (Short Film)
2026 | UK | 13 MIN
Starring Alan Cumming and Jack Wolfe, Kiloran Bay is a 13-minute musical short set amid the wild beauty of the Scottish Hebrides and the fierce joy of a wedding cèilidh. A moving story of queer joy and self-acceptance, it follows a man returning to his hometown, where he faces the forces that drove him away.
The ensemble cast also stars Stuart Thompson, Giles Terera, David Fynn and David Hayman.
WRITER & DIRECTOR MICHAEL BRUCE
PRODUCERS DAVID HARWOOD, BETH LEVISON, REBECCA WOLFF
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS JUSTIN MIKITA, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON, DAWN BONDER, DANIEL CHALFEN, MARCI WISEMAN, JONATHAN COHEN, ERIC KUHN, DAVID THOMAS TAO, TREVOR BURGESS, JAMES COSTA, STEPHANIE HENSEN DITTMER, HARLENE FREEZER, HILARY WILLIAMS, STUART WILLIAMS
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BRYAN MCCAFFREY, MICHAEL SHERMAN
CO-PRODUCER TOM GENTLE
EDITOR GIORGIO GALLI BFE
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY IAN FORBES
PRODUCTION DESIGNER JENNY ALEXANDER
COSTUME DESIGNER LIBERTY BRAMALL
SOUND DESIGN DAVID MCAULAY
MUSIC & LYRICS BY MICHAEL BRUCE
CHOREOGRAPHER VICKI MANDERSON
CAST ALAN CUMMING, JACK WOLFE, STUART THOMPSON, GILES TERERA, DAVID FYNN, SAMMY HAYMAN, JACK MOONEY, NATHAN LUNDIE, DAVID HAYMAN
THEYDREAM
2026 | USA | 86 MIN
THEYDREAM is a deeply personal autobiographical documentary that traces how art can become a lifeline in the wake of loss. Drawing on two decades of mixed-media filmmaking, Caballero revisits his family’s history in Fayetteville, North Carolina—interweaving new 2D and 3D animations with live-action vérité, archival materials, and raw, deeply human conversations with his mother.
Anchored in the death of his grandmother Isolina, the film follows Caballero’s mother as she spirals into grief and self-blame for not being at her mother’s side in her final moments. Rather than allowing her to retreat, Caballero hands her a camera and the tools of animation—inviting her to collaborate in bringing her mother back to life. Viewers witness her trembling first attempts to animate, the tears she sheds while performing in front of a green screen and recreating her mother’s voicemails, and the unexpected reawakening of her artistic power.
The film also confronts Caballero’s own unhealed wounds: from animated sequences featuring deceased relatives to a raw, emotional reckoning with his father about accepting his bisexuality. Tender, funny, vulnerable, and unvarnished, these moments reveal the fierce loyalty and imperfections of a Puerto Rican family navigating illness, identity, and generational trauma together.
Through a one-of-a-kind blend of miniature artistry, handcrafted figurines, digital rotoscoping, and full 3D motion capture, Caballero and his mother literally transform themselves into their ancestors—reanimating family stories with honesty, complexity, and profound love.
Ultimately, THEYDREAM becomes a cinematic act of survival: a testament to creative collaboration, intergenerational healing, and the ability of art to resurrect memory, restore connection, and guide families through the darkest grief toward light.
DIRECTOR WILLIAM D. CABALLERO
WRITERS WILLIAM D. CABALLERO, BRAD JONES, ERIN PLOSS-CAMPOAMOR, ELAINE DEL VALLE
PRODUCERS WILLIAM D. CABALLERO, BRAD JONES, ERIN PLOSS-CAMPOAMOR, ELAINE DEL VALLE
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS CARRIE LOZANO, SANDIE VIQUEZ PEDLOW, GRACE LAY, INA FICHMAN
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MEGAN GELSTEIN, JAMIE WOLF, NATHALIE SEAVER
CO-PRODUCERS COLIBRI CREATIVE MEDIA, LATINO PUBLIC BROADCASTING, ITVS
SUPERVISING PRODUCERS JUN STINSON YAMAGISHI, LUIS ORTIZ
CONSULTING PRODUCERS LOUIS E. PEREGO-MORENO, JANNET NUÑEZ
CREATIVE ADVISOR DR. JILLIAN BÁEZ (HUNTER COLLEGE)
EDITOR WILLIAM D. CABALLERO
CINEMATOGRAPHERS WILLIAM D. CABALLERO, BRAD JONES, BEN PREMEAUX, ANTONIO CISNEROS
STORY CONSULTANT VIRIDIANA LIEBERMAN
SOUND DESIGN & MIX RUY GARCIA
COMPOSER RENÉ G. BOSCIO
ANIMATORS WILLIAM D. CABALLERO, BRAD JONES, JORDIN GOFF, FRANK MARTINEZ, JULISSE TINOCO, ERICA PEREZ, ASHLEY STEPHENS, CHERYL OKONKWO
MINIATURE PROPS AND SET DESIGNERS GREGORY PINSONEAULT, WILLIAM D. CABALLERO
ACTORS DIANA ALVORT, VIC RICO
CAST MIGDALIA “MILLY” CABALLERO, GUILLERMO "CHILLY" CABALLERO, ISOLINA APONTE, VICTOR MURIEL, WILLIAM D. CABALLERO