The Last Goodbye

In-person, Virtual

Date/Time: 9/6 (Sat) 2:30 PM (Doors open at 2 PM)
Location: Brooklyn Art Haus (24 Marcy Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211)

Streaming period: 9/8 (Mon) 12:00 AM ET - 9/14 (Sun) 11:59 PM ET.

Streaming is only available in the U.S. Get your free ticket to receive the link for streaming.

Director   Ahlaam Yasmin
Country   United States
Year   2025
Language   English
Genre   Drama, Romance
Running Time   3 min

A vibrant hum synchronizes its rhythm to the bright life of a Chicago park in the summer. Nic and Kitty laugh alongside each other, seated a familiar distance away on the bench. The two wade between what was and what will be. Why is life so bittersweet? Kitty initiates their final goodbye, marking the end of their romantic connection. Nic sheepishly tries to extend their time together, but Kitty asks for her apartment key back. A quiet understanding: this is the end. Nic hands the key over, and the two embrace.A vibrant hum synchronizes its rhythm to the bright life of a Chicago park in the summer. Nic and Kitty laugh alongside each other, seated a familiar distance away on the bench. The two wade between what was and what will be. Why is life so bittersweet? Kitty initiates their final goodbye, marking the end of their romantic connection. Nic sheepishly tries to extend their time together, but Kitty asks for her apartment key back. A quiet understanding: this is the end. Nic hands the key over, and the two embrace.

This film is part of the Shorts: Queering the Dreamscape program.

Director’s Statement

Why does everything queer happen at night? As if we are a dream? I find my lesbian escapades and relationship reckonings unfold in broad daylight—out in the open, for everyone to see. Do my soon-to-be ex-partner and I look strange in the light? Is it because we both have vaginas or because we’re still smiling? Between the laughter, the yearning, and the feeble attempts at what once was, we don’t look like a couple who ""just ended things.”

You don’t have to throw a stone very far before you run into a lesbian going through the most gut-wrenching breakup you’ve ever heard of, and that was true for me and my co-writer, Asya Meadows. We were no strangers to devastating breakups, but this time, we wanted to tell a different story—one with no villains, only the inevitable. I wanted to capture the complexity of a queer breakup not as destabilizing and tragic, but lived-in—mundane yet profound, tender yet transformative.

Chicago’s sunshine and park greenery are the perfect setting for the quiet, complicated beauty of an understood ending. The sunshine bathes both characters, leaving no space for secrets. What’s happening is clear as day. The camera traces the distance between two people lingering in belonging to each other and the change before them. The future looks bright.

Director’s Bio

Ahlaam Yasmin (he/him)

Ironically Southern, Ahlaam Yasmin (he/him) is a Texas-born, Chicago-based director, writer, and producer whose work explores displacement, grief, and the space between belonging and [trans]formation. He began his career in journalism, reporting on arts and culture for the Chicago Sun-Times, where he honed his ability to capture nuance in people and places. Drawn to visual storytelling, he transitioned into filmmaking, bringing with him a documentarian’s sensibility—an instinct for rhythm, deep observation, and an understanding of how images shape narrative.

His films challenge cultural monoliths surrounding gender in Black and Desi communities, the weight of personal transformation, and the quiet intimacies of friendship. In 2024, as part of the Filmmaker’s Mixtape Challenge Cohort, created by director Briana Clearly, Ahlaam produced and directed a short film each month. His films have screened at the Music Box Theater, the Chicago Cultural Center, and Blanc Gallery. That same year, his half-hour pilot, It’s a Serial Thing, was selected as a Quarterfinalist for the Black Boy Writes & Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative. He has worked across independent and mainstream media, serving as a Showrunner’s Assistant on Emperor of Ocean Park (MGM+) and in production roles on The Bear (Hulu) and Dark Matter (Apple TV).