Woman Meets Girl
2023 · 17m · Canada
Directed by Murry Peeters
Genres: drama, LGBTQ+, romance
Tones: contemplative, sensual, tender
Annabelle, an awkward 42-year-old virgin, invites Tessie, an 18-year-old homeless sex worker, to stay with her in her suburban home. Over a vodka-fueled game of Never Have I Ever, fractured parental histories surface and a fragile intimacy almost — but not quite — bridges the distance between them.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Most shorts would've turned that near-kiss into catharsis or tragedy—Peeters just lets it *hang* there, which is either brave or infuriating depending on your patience for unresolved longing, and I'm genuinely unsure which.
A formally restrained two-hander that knows its lineage in intimate queer cinema; the vodka-and-confession structure recalls the best of Chloé Zhao's character work, even if the film's refusal to resolve into romance feels slightly incomplete.
The entire film hinges on the moment Peeters chooses *not* to cut away from the almost-kiss—that held frame while both characters' breath changes—and it's the kind of negative space decision that transforms what could've been sentimental into something genuinely unsettling and true.
Reviews
This sensitively handled character study, set in the suburban home where Annabelle has apparently taken Tessie in, works because of its nuanced acting.
Festivals
- Toronto Black Film Festival 2023
- Queer Screen's Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023
- BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival 2023
- Vancouver Short Film Festival 2023, Best Canadian Short Film; Best Performance (Enuka Okuma)
- Sunday Shorts 2023, Best Romantic Film; Best LGBTQ+ Film
- Imagine This Women's International Film Festival 2023, Best Performance (Enuka Okuma); Honorable Mention Best Short Film
- OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2023
- Newport Beach Film Festival 2023
- Phoenix Film Festival 2023
- Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival 2023
- Reel Affirmations Film Festival 2023