Now in its 27th year, the Washington Jewish Film Festival presents traditional film screenings as well as related cultural and educational programs at six different theaters. Six films at this year’s festival are “Rated LGBTQ,” exploring sexuality, gender and identity on screen.
Cabaret, the hit 1972 adaptation of the stage musical classic starring Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli, which screens Sunday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m., at the Edlavitch DCJCC, and Saturday, May 27, at 12:30 p.m., at AFI Silver Theatre.
Family Commitments, an outrageously quirky comedy about a Jewish-Arab same-sex wedding, in its Mid-Atlantic Premiere Saturday, May 20, at 8:45 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema, and Saturday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m., at Edlavitch DCJCC.
In Between, Maysaloun Hamoud’s remarkable feature debut about three Arab-Israeli women sharing an apartment in the vibrant heart of Tel Aviv and struggling with contemporary and traditional pressures, which screens Wednesday, May 24, at 8:15 p.m., at Landmark E Street Cinema, and Sunday, May 28, at 1:45 p.m., at AFI Silver Theatre.
The Freedom to Marry, a riveting ride through history with Evan Wolfson and Mary Bonauto, who led the push for one of the most successful civil rights campaigns in modern history, screening on Sunday, May 21, at 5:15 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre, and Wednesday, May 24, at 7:15 p.m., at Edlavitch DCJCC.
The Guys Next Door, a lyrical documentary about the bonds between a straight family and their gay neighbors, screening Sunday, May 21, at 6 p.m., at Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema, and Monday, May 22, at 6:15 p.m., at Landmark E Street Cinema.
Uncle Howard, a paean and an elegy to Aaron Brookner’s uncle and the film he made about his friend William S. Burroughs before his premature AIDS-related death, screening on Sunday, May 21, at 4:15 p.m., at Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema, and Monday, May 22, at 8:45 p.m., at Landmark E Street Cinema.
The Festival runs to Sunday, May 28. Tickets are $14.95 for regular screenings. Visit wjff.org.
WorldPride participants share why Pride still matters, what issues drive them, and why visibility remains vital in today’s political climate.
By André Hereford, Ryan Leeds, and John Riley
June 21, 2025
WorldPride DC on Sunday, June 8, 2025 - Photo: Randy Shulman / Metro Weekly
Interviewed on Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8, 2025, at the WorldPride Street Festival, Parade, and March for Freedom.
Nic Ashe
Los Angeles, Ca.
Queer, He/Him
Why did you come to WorldPride?
I've been following WorldPride through the lens of Black queerness, namely with a focus on Christianity and religion. Early in my life, when I think about the first times that I was learning that queer may be a pejorative or that being gay was "not good," it was through my church upbringing. So I was very curious to find if there were examples in 2025 of those two oxymoronic opposing forces existing in harmony.
Gina Ortiz Jones was elected mayor of San Antonio in a runoff election on June 7.
The victory was historic, as Jones is not only San Antonio's first out LGBTQ mayor but the first Asian-American female mayor of a major city in Texas and the first female mayor in Texas to have served in a war.
(She's a former Air Force officer and Iraq War veteran who previously served as Under Secretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration.)
Jones is also the first mayor since 2005 to not have previously served on the city council and will serve a four-year term.
A masked assailant threw a sharp rock through the front window of a gay couple's home in Northeast D.C., striking one of the men in the head.
The attack occurred last Friday in the city’s Kingman Park neighborhood, just as WorldPride weekend festivities were set to begin.
Surveillance video captured the assault. In the footage, a masked individual approaches the couple’s house -- decorated with rainbow Pride flags in the front yard -- and hurls a rock through the front window before fleeing. A cry can be heard from inside the home.
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Now in its 27th year, the Washington Jewish Film Festival presents traditional film screenings as well as related cultural and educational programs at six different theaters. Six films at this year’s festival are “Rated LGBTQ,” exploring sexuality, gender and identity on screen.
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