August & Ebony
A 13-minute comedy about chosen family, U-Haul marriages, and the beautifully messy math of making it work.
Here's what you need to know upfront: August & Ebony (2026) is a short film that trusts its audience completely. Director Sunyin Zhang takes 13 minutes to tell a story about Ebony, who's unexpectedly pregnant after a whirlwind marriage to August, and now has to hold together a household that includes her new wife and her best friend Justin—who also happens to be the baby's father. It's a comedy, but not the kind that punches down or over-explains itself.
The cast is Ayesha Harris (Ebony), John Clarence Stewart (Justin, Netflix's What/If), and Rejena Taylor (August). All three have real chemistry—the kind you can't manufacture.
Why This Film Actually Works
What's striking is how the film doesn't treat these relationships as problems to solve. They're just the texture of Ebony's life—messy, warm, real. There's a moment (brief, almost throwaway) where Ebony gets caught between August's quiet frustration and Justin's oblivious good humor, and Harris plays it with this micro-expression that does more work than a full monologue could. That specificity is what separates a good short from a memorable one.
The thing nobody mentions enough about short-form queer comedy is how rarely it trusts its audience. Too often these films over-explain, hedge the queerness, reach for pathos when they should land a punchline. August & Ebony doesn't do any of that. Zhang's direction has a confidence to it—she lets scenes breathe, lets the awkwardness sit for a beat longer than comfortable, then punctuates it with exactly the right comedic release.
What I keep coming back to is how the film handles the chosen-family dynamic without ever feeling like it's making a statement about it. The Urbanworld Film Festival 2024 listing describes it as a celebration of love and resilience in Black and LGBTQ+ communities. On screen? It just feels like people who love each other figuring out a genuinely complicated situation. That's harder to pull off than it sounds.
Festival Run & Recognition
The film screened at Micheaux Film Festival, Urbanworld Film Festival 2024, and Queens World Film Festival, with an announcement for the 2025 Cinema Femme Short Film Festival. It also earned a nomination for Outstanding Comedic Short, according to the production's official Instagram.
That's a meaningful run for a 13-minute film. Festival programmers don't keep booking something unless audiences keep responding to it. There are no aggregated scores on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic yet—typical for short-form work at this stage—but the festival circuit tells its own story. Hard to say if a longer version or follow-up is in the works, but the world Zhang built here feels like it has room to grow.
The film was produced under the Film Independent banner, which has long been a launchpad for exactly this kind of sharp, identity-forward work. According to the Queens World Film Festival, Zhang has spoken openly about the film's central intention: framing non-traditional family structures not as obstacles, but as sources of genuine, deeply loving connection. That framing shapes everything—the tone, the pacing, the way conflict is handled with humor rather than melodrama.
Where to Watch & How to Find It
August & Ebony is currently available on major OTT services. Check Movie OTT's where-to-watch widget for the most current platform listings—streaming rights for short films can shift quickly, and the tracker updates in real time. The film also has entries on both Letterboxd and MUBI, which have become important discovery platforms for festival-circuit shorts that haven't landed wide commercial distribution yet.
As of now, there's no verified mainstream subscription-streaming release on the largest platforms (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), but that picture can change. Given the festival momentum behind this title, wider availability wouldn't be surprising. Movie OTT is a good place to start if you want to find where it's streaming today—just plug in your location and the widget does the heavy lifting.
Who Should Watch This
If you've got 13 minutes, you do. It's made for anyone tired of queer stories that treat queerness as the conflict rather than the context. For anyone who believes that chosen family is just family. The comedy lands. The heart is genuine.
If you liked: Happiest Season, The Half of It, or Shiva Baby—shorts or features that mix queer intimacy with real comedic timing—this'll resonate.
Short films don't always get the attention they deserve. This one has earned its festival run and then some.
FAQ
How long is it?
13 minutes.
What year was it made?
2026.
Who directed it?
Sunyin Zhang, working under the Film Independent label.
Is it based on a true story?
There's no indication it's autobiographical. Zhang has described it as a story about non-traditional, deeply loving connections—it draws on recognizable emotional truths from Black and LGBTQ+ experiences rather than any documented real-life case.
Where can I watch it right now?
The Movie OTT where-to-watch widget at the top of this page has live, up-to-date platform listings. It's also on MUBI and Letterboxd.
What's the rating?
Not yet aggregated on major critic sites, but it's earned consistent festival programming and an Outstanding Comedic Short nomination—which tells you what you need to know.