SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN) — The city of Nogales took a colorful and cinematic step forward in LGBTQ+ inclusion this weekend by hosting its first-ever Pride Film Festival at the Gók Building.
Organized as part of the broader Morley Arts District (MAD) Fest celebration, the festival shone a spotlight on queer representation through film, storytelling and community dialogue.
The event featured seven short films and two feature-length narratives, all exploring LGBTQ+ themes from a diverse array of perspectives. The festival also included filmmaker panels, community group discussions and a special screening of The Little Mermaid, along with a conversation on the film’s underlying LGBTQ+ symbolism.
“We realized there was this interest, this desire for representation,” said local artist and lead organizer Juan Miguel Garcia. “If people can see themselves in stories, it normalizes it. So it demystifies it, so we’re no longer this threatening presence.”
The festival follows the recent growth and increased visibility of Nogales’ LGBTQ+ community. The Gók Building was opened in March 2025 and has since hosted other LGBTQ+ focused events.
Garcia says that while the LGBTQ+ community has "always been here," they typically didn't have spaces to create art or meet. As street traffic has slowed in the city following issues at the border, artists across Nogales have increasingly taken up residence in what formerly were shops.
Garcia recalled how “all of a sudden, we had quote-unquote safe spaces to be in, in which to congregate, in which to express ourselves and live authentically.”
The idea of living authentically loomed large in Ames Stevens' Camera Child.
The story follows a trans protagonist named Lucky, who believes a hidden camera is recording their everyday life, a metaphor for the constant sense of scrutiny many trans people feel.
“The camera in the film signifies being watched,” said Stevens. “As a trans person, there’s this feeling of performance and this constant feeling of I’m being perceived differently than I feel.”
The film was produced in 2021 through a collaborative effort involving local artists who learned together and taught each other during the production. This included teaching subjects beyond filmmaking, such as food preparation and how to properly dialogue respectfully during a film shoot.
“When Ames came to me and was like, ‘I want to get a group of people together to experiment with different kinds of filmmaking and see if we can make something that’s truly collaborative,’ I said, ‘count me in, that sounds amazing,’” Youngerman said.
That spirit of collaboration blossomed into community, a theme echoed in the film and throughout the weekend.
“When you find a community and you find a circle of people that care about you, then your performance becomes genuine,” said Stevens.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
