A Queercore Documentary
"What makes this film extraordinary is how personal it gets. These are not talking-head interviews about history. These are living, breathing people whose stories ARE history — people who lost entire generations of friends, who rebuilt community from the ground up, and who now find themselves once again having to defend their right to simply exist and gather together."
- Manny the Movie Guy, NBC Palm Springs
"The order is the argument. Welcome, in this documentary's own grammar, isn't a quality a building naturally possesses. It's work—prepared, repeated, and performed by people who were never supposed to live long enough to need somewhere to grow old. Daniel Talbott and Andrew Klaus-Vineyard, making their documentary debut together after years of narrative film and theater, could have built this short as an elegy: dignified interviews, tasteful archive, elders preserved as solemn monuments to endurance. They make the more difficult choice instead. The people at the center of this film stay sexual, funny, flirtatious, occasionally difficult, and openly unfinished. The film's deepest act of respect is refusing to turn survival into sainthood. Survival was never the ending. It was the right to keep becoming someone."
Official Trailer
The Film
Welcome to Tool Shed takes a dive into the colorful community of queer seniors who congregate at the Tool Shed — a long-standing leather bar and sanctuary in Palm Springs, California.
Many of its denizens are the oldest survivors of the AIDS epidemic. This film talks about the warrior mentality and spirit, the fortitude and the humor, and the queer community's emphasis on chosen family that has seen them through centuries of hate, discrimination, and persecution.
Queercore filmmaking began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture — something is always at risk emotionally, spiritually, and in how the film is dreamt up and made.
Where to Watch
Select dates at film festivals and special events. Get tickets below.
Critical Reception
"Tool Shed will not allow us to run and hide — we can't afford to. This doc reaches into those dark places that other films might be afraid to venture to."
"...visibility for people whose specific experience of survival has gone largely undocumented, extended while there’s still time to ask them directly rather than reconstruct their answers secondhand."
"It's a portrait of the people who kept showing up when the world gave them every reason not to. Survival, fellowship, and the stubborn decision to be seen."
"A passionate, loving human interest story and an overall celebration of queer history."
"A glorious tapestry of life... I was moved by how everyone has banded together and found a home and a community in a bar."
"Featuring poignant interviews along with images of both hate and resistance, emphasizes how the gay community must continue to fight to survive."
"A passion project stemming from Talbott's friendship with playwright, public health advocate, and gay rights activist Larry Kramer."
"...an impactful look at queer history, the challenges our community currently faces, and where we go from here."
"Permission to Make Queer Art" Ep. 569 - Gregg Araki Films / Daniel & Andrew
"...film gives a voice to those queer senior citizens that survived the AIDS epidemic, who never expected to be able to pass on their wisdom or queer history to the younger generation."
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The Filmmakers
Director & Writer
Award-winning screenwriter and director, Lucille Lortel Award winning theatre producer, and artistic director of Rising Phoenix Rep. His feature Midday Black Midnight Blue premiered at SIFF. Graduate of Juilliard. Golden Palm Award winner at the Beverly Hills Film Festival.
Director
Proudly bisexual LA-based filmmaker, musician, and visual artist. MFA in Directing from University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Internationally exhibited with commissions from The Tate Modern. Of Inuit, Icelandic, and Jewish descent. Releases music as Lovers of the Arctic Circle.
Producer
Actor, producer, community organizer, and journalist with a background in investigative and entertainment news. Credits include ABC News, CNN International, and Extra!. Producing credits include Days with Dandekar and Hicksters. Most recently appeared in Didn't Die, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Producer
Producer with broad, hands-on experience across development, production, and post-production — leading projects from concept through delivery with a commitment to equity and authentic representation of marginalized voices.
Composer
2024–2025 SCL mentee and fellow in the LA Film Conducting Intensive and Sundance Film Music Intensive. His debut feature score for The Grand Strand won Best Feature at the Beverly Hills Film Festival. Has performed on Avatar: The Way of Water, Oppenheimer, and The Mandalorian.
Sound Design & Music
LA-based music producer, Dolby Atmos mixer, and sound designer. Berklee College of Music graduate and founder of The Record House. Credits include Major Lazer, Sigur Rós, alt-J, St. Vincent, Denzel Curry, and David Guetta.
Editor
Editor known for The Rivals of Amziah King, A Little White Lie, and Midday Black Midnight Blue. His work has also contributed to F1: The Movie, Top Gun: Maverick, Oppenheimer, Ocean's 8, The Hunger Games, and Mad Men.
Cinematographer
Award-winning freelance filmmaker and actor. Has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Nike. His short film Hemorrhage screened and won at the Directors Guild of America. Army infantry veteran and member of the San Bernardino Valley College film program advisory board.
Post Production
Post production services by Tunnel Post.
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