Wolfe Video has begun accepting orders for The Ultimate Lesbian Short Film Festival. The DVD features 10 shorts, including Silas Howard’s Frozen Smile.

Frozen Smile (7 minutes) is the latest from Silas Howard, co-director/star of the critically lauded By Hook or By Crook (2001) and former and founding member of dyke punk band Tribe 8. This film offers a humorous peek into the lives of three women: a young faux-hawked dyke, her disapproving straight-laced mom, and her drag-fab grandmother/ally. The trio pays a graveside visit to the recently departed grandpa, a grumpy man with a perma-grin courtesy of his advanced Parkinson’s disease. Howard says that several of her own relatives provided inspiration for much of this delightful film’s quirkiness: “My grandmother’s car only worked in one gear, reverse. So she’d drive backwards to the store when she had to pick up her medicine.” There was even a family headstone mishap similar to one depicted in the film: “That’s how it goes if you can’t afford better. The funeral home actually gave out ice scrapers with their name on it as souvenirs.” Revel in the inanity (flowers made out of soap?), wince at the all-too-familiar motherly jabs, and keep an eye out for a lesbian icon who makes a brief, non-speaking appearance.

If you haven’t seen By Hook or By Crook yet, SEE IT!