The Listeners
An intimate animated tale of the power of listening and queer care. This film follows a young queer person as they train to volunteer with one of the world’s oldest LGBTQ+ phone helplines. As they learn to really listen – through calls, texts and emails – the film employs a creative and time-hopping animated style to journey through 50 years of queer life, via recreating the calls that have come in across the decades. Ultimately, as the trainee volunteer immerses in 50 years of LGBTQ+ culture over phone lines and text threads – on everything from how to come out, start a family, navigate illness, be better in bed, learn to love themselves, communicate in a throuple, or mend a broken heart – they find their own voice and blossom, thanks to the wisdom and love of their queer elders and the callers and listeners who went before. The film serves as a reminder of the power of listening and queer courage to help us become who we really are.