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UPCOMING SCREENINGS
:: FILM PRIDE - BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE LGBTQ+ FILM FEST (Brighton, UK)
When: August 6th @ 4:15pm (+ on TV in Brighton, Sheffield
and Belfast at 9pm on August 11th and 14th)
Venue: Preston Park
Premiere Status: Brighton Premiere
About the Festival: FilmPride is run on behalf of Brighton & Hove Pride by The Latest Music Bar. Brighton & Hove Pride is one of the biggest Pride festivals in the world, and The Guardian describes it as “The country’s most popular LGBTQ+ event”. FilmPride 2022 will be part of Fabuloso in the Park – Brighton & Hove Pride’s official fundraiser for the Brighton Rainbow Fund. During Brighton & Hove Pride weekend on 6th and 7th August, the FilmPride festival will take place in Preston Park, the beating heart of every year’s event.
The festival is unique as, as well as hosting live events during Brighton & Hove Pride, they offer selected filmmakers the opportunity to be screened on community, not-for-profit local TV channels in the UK such as Latest TV in Brighton and Northern Visions in Belfast. The FilmPride TV festival is a huge success; the two channels combined serve over 700,000 households, so if the film is on their channels, it will be seen by thousands more!
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:: OUT & LOUD - PUNE INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL (Pune, India)
When: August 14th (+ online between August 11th and 21st)
Venue: Goethe Institut
Premiere Status: Pune Premiere
About the Festival: The Out & Loud - Pune International Queer Film Festival, organized by Mist LGBTQ Foundation, is an annual event showcasing handpicked queer films from all over the world. What’s more!? The festival promises an amazing line-up of performances and thought provoking panel discussions. Besides coming together for the love of art and cinema, the festival will also be an open platform for the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer) to voice their concerns in a social-friendly environment. The first Out & Loud – PIQFF was held in Pune in the April of 2017 to an overwhelming response.
FESTIVAL HISTORY
:: THE BUSH FILMS (New York City, NY, USA)
When: August 5th @ 7:30pm
Venue: A Private Backyard in Brooklyn
Premiere Status: New York Premiere
About the Festival: Since its creation in May 2018, The Bush Films has exemplified inclusivity, safety, and representation for queer women and trans and non-binary people. The Bush Films is the only consistent monthly queer film series in New York that focuses exclusively on films for, about, and by queer women, trans, and non-binary people. They understand that the community craves representation in cinema, and they’re dedicated to making such films more accessible.
:: LAKESIDE FILM FESTIVAL (Brandenburg, Germany)
When: August 5th after the sunset
Venue: Klingemühle (Chossewitz, Brandenburg)
Premiere Status: Brandenburg Premiere
About the Festival: Lakeside Film Festival is an open-air cinema weekend held by a remote lake in the woods just outside of Berlin. The Lakeside festival team take over an entire former GDR holiday camp and convert it into a weekend film festival consisting of four large outdoor cinema stages. Screening late into the night the open-air film program includes a selection of the latest film festival titles, plus cult classics, psychedelic horrors, stoner comedies, documentaries, and short films.
:: PODFEST BERLIN (Berlin, Germany)
When: July 16th @ 6:30pm & July 17th @ 6pm
Venue: Noisy Rooms
Premiere Status: /
About the Festival: PodFest Berlin exists to celebrate and serve Berlin’s community of podcasters, podcast fans, and their neighbors, friends and families. They invite the world to join them and see Berlin as a nest of talented and hardworking people making amazing shows. Equality is their guiding value. Diversity and inclusion are foundational commitments. They recognize that many opportunities and privileges are not evenly distributed within our community and aim to rectify that inequality.
:: QUEER MOVIE NIGHT at SETT STUDIOS (Edinburgh, Scotland)
When: June 26th @ 7:30pm
Venue: Sett Studios
Premiere Status: Scottish Premiere
About the Screening: The screening is organised Sett Studios which are artist-run studios with dedicated gallery space in Leith, Edinburgh. Run for artists, by artists. This was their first queer movie night event.
:: FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE TRANSFEMINISTA (Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
When: June 25th from 2pm on
Venue: Museo para la Identidad Nacional de Honduras
Premiere Status: Honduran Premiere
About the Screening: Una ventana presencial del Festival en el Museo para la Identidad Nacional de Honduras, ciudad de Tegucigalpa, con una selección de 2 largos y 7 cortos, que abordan las categorías temáticas destacadas en primera edición de Festival Internacional de Cine Transfeminista.
:: KASHISH MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL (Mumbai, India)
When: June 14th and June 15th
Venue: Online
Premiere Status: Indian Premiere
About the Festival: KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is the first LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, Intersex, Asexual) film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theater, and the first LGBTQIA+ film festival in India to receive clearance from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
KASHISH MIQFF, now considered South Asia’s biggest LGBTQIA+ film festival and one of world’s top 5 coolest LGBTQIA+ film festival, has over the past 12 editions become one of the biggest pride events in India.
Founded in 2010, the festival has grown from strength to strength, attracting close to 9000 footfalls over the 4 1/2 days of the festival at two/three venues. The festival, every year, has screened 110 - 180 films that include shorts, documentaries, features - all centered around LGBTQIA+ themes. The festival also attracts topline Bollywood celebrities, prominent filmmakers and media personalities, and receives every year over 150 write-ups in mainstream press in India and globally.
:: POST PXRN FILM FESTIVAL WARSAW (Warsaw, Poland)
When: Wednesday, June 8th @ 3pm ( in sala Zbyszek)
Friday, June 10th @ 10pm (in sala Pola)
Saturday, June 11th @ 7:30pm (in sala Gerard)
Venue: Kino Muranów
Premiere Status: Polish Premiere
About the Festival: Post Pxrn Film Festival Warsaw is a joint initiative by Roman Gutek, Aga Szreder, and Rafał Żwirek. The idea was directly influenced by the current political situation in Poland and beyond, and a text published by Rafał Żwirek in “Notes na 6 Tygodni”, igniting the spark for their first meetings and discussions.
They subscribe to the words written by the Spanish philosopher Paul Preciado:
“In the 21st century, the living body is what the factory was in the 19th century: the main centre of political struggle.”
:: LEZBIČNA ČETRT / LESBIAN QUARTER FESTIVAL (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
When: Tuesday, May 24th @ 9pm
Venue: Slovenska Kinoteka
Premiere Status: /
About the Festival: Lezbična četrt [Lesbian Quater] is a festival and a platform for lesbian* creativity at the intersection of art and activism.
:: CCCHAOS Film-/ Video-/ GIF-Festival (Bern, Switzerland)
When: Tuesday, May 21st @ 9pm
Venue: Zähringerstraße 42
Premiere Status: /
About the Festival: The festival was organised by the 500ml collective and it was not a commercial event. Moreover, part of the proceeds were donated to the following organisations: SoliSoli, Sphere and The Alliance for Black Justice in Poland.
:: PXRN NIGHTS (Vienna, Austria)
When: Thursday, May 12th @ 8:15pm
Venue: Schikaneder
Premiere Status: /
About the Festival: PORNights take place each Thursday at 20:15 at Schikaneder. Opening with a tasty, colorful, and fabulous mixture of different sexualities, bodies, and fantasies, the PORNights will wake up even the laziest couch potato after a long festive sleep and feasting! Luckily, this is just the beginning of a spicy film program with a lot of juicy surprises! Are you ready to dive into new sexy porn spheres with us? 2022, we are ready!
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:: VIENNA PXRN FILM FESTIVAL (Vienna, Austria)
When: Wednesday, April 20th @ 22pm
Venue: Schikaneder
Screening in: Female* Gazes Pxrn Shorts
Premiere Status: Austrian Premiere
When: Friday, April 22nd @ 5pm
Venue: Schikaneder
Screening in: Fun Pxrn Shorts
About the Festival: The Porn Film Festival Vienna wants to create an open and welcoming space for reception, discussion, and reflection. It aims to challenge and broaden horizons. Their vision is to create a safe space to collectively discuss and reflect on pornography, sexuality and sexual identity. Because porn can be: sensual, honest, friendly and self-determined!
The festival offers a film and theory program that breaks the monotony of boring cheesy mainstream porn - to proudly present feminist, queer & LGBTQIA+ positions. The program is carefully curated selection of feature, documentary and short films depicting a wide variety of sexual orientations, identities, and body norms. Expect everything but boring cheesy mainstream porn. Q&As with filmmakers, panel discussions, lectures, and their legendary workshops complement the four days.
:: PRIDE ARTS SPRING FILM FEST (Chicago, IL, USA)
When: March 21st - March 27th
Venue: Online via Elevent
Premiere Status: Chicago Premiere
About the Festival: PrideArts celebrates the best in independent film! The program is a year-round film fest, with short film festivals on a quarterly basis, and feature length films and documentaries throughout the year.
:: TAG! QUEER SHORTS FESTIVAL (Portland, OR, USA)
When: Saturday, February 26th
Venue: Online
Premiere Status: Oregon Premiere
About the Festival: Tag! Queer Shorts Festival brings thought-provoking films about queer and trans experiences to new audiences in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Originally known as the Corvallis Queer Film Festival, they are now a Portland-based program offering screenings, panels, and workshops.
:: FESTIVAL RAČKA SHORTS FESTIVAL (Celje, Slovenia)
When: Tuesday, February 8th @ 7pm
Venue: Gallery of Contemporary Art Celje
Premiere Status: Celje Premiere
About the Festival: Festival Račka is a project spanning over several years that deals with the relationship between sexuality and art. The evening of short films is organised in collaboration with Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival.
:: MICRO ACTS ARTIST FILM SCREENING (London, UK)
When: January 26th @ 7pm
Venue: Anatomie Studio
Premiere Status: /
About the Festival: MicroActs is a program of short films, 6 minutes or less, exploring concentrated storytelling through moving image. From bold political expression to delicate personal memories to abstract experimental collages; MicroActs aims to create a thought-provoking, informative and diverse evening of film. Works can be narrative or non-linear, experimental or scripted, abstract emotions, comedy sketches, music videos, and more, MicroActs is looking for works that share politics, intersectional experiences and tell stories. MicroActs is a truly international film night, with works coming from all over the world to create an evening of conversation through moving image.
Founded in 2017, the aim of these events is to champion subjective & personal political moving image works, promote artist film in London, and create a community of artists & filmmakers sharing their works and supporting each other.
:: BLN KURZFILMABEND (Berlin, Germany)
When: Tuesday, December 20th @ 6:30pm
Venue: Kino Sputnik
Premiere Status: Berlin Premiere
About the Festival: Kurz nach dem 4. Berlin Lesbian Non-Binary Filmfest (BLN) lassen wir das Jahr 2021 mit einem bunten, vielfältigen BLN-KURZFILMABEND ausklingen und freuen uns auf den gemeinsamen Austausch mit Euch in unserem Heimkino SPUTNIK am Südstern. Bevor die Weihnachtstage und der Jahreswechsel anstehen nochmal lesbsiche Freund:innen treffen und ganz nach dem Motto des diesjährigen 10. Deutschen Kurzfilmtages 2021 einige filmische Fundstücke gemeinsam über die Kinoleinwand flimmern sehen. Wir freuen uns auf Euch!
:: OMOVIES HOMOSEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND QUESTIONING FILM FESTIVAL
(Naples, Italy)
When: Monday, December 13th
Venue: Online
Premiere Status: Naples Premiere
About the Festival: TBA
:: LJUBLJANA LGBT FILM FESTIVAL (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
When: Sunday, December 12h @ 4:30pm
Venue: Slovenska Kinoteka
Premiere Status: Slovenian Premiere
About the Festival: The festival was first organized in 1984 as part of the Magnus Festival. It is the oldest LGBT film festival in Europe and at the same time the oldest international film festival in Slovenia. Film screenings take place at the Slovenian Cinematheque, traditionally around 1 December – World AIDS Day. In its 30th edition, the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival as it was known at that time was renamed to LGBT Film Festival.
:: GUTTERCAST FILM FESTIVAL (South Carolina, USA)
When: Saturday, December 11th @ 6pm
Venue: Online via Twitch
Premiere Status: South Carolina Premiere
About the Festival: This is a festival that pushes the boundaries of presentation. They broadcast a stream of varied film forms and especially love to showcase locally made films. This is all about expanding options for people to present and discover cinematic work in digital age. They’re looking for anything creative in the film form, including music videos, documentaries, westerns, experiments, shorts and, features. The festival is looking to showcase the underground of filmmakers that have gone undiscovered thus far in the digital age. They love films that are lofi, strange, unconventional, distinct, and ambitious.
All of the selected films are divided into two blocks playing back to back. Festival opens with BLock of Bliss where they showcase films made locally in North Carolina. The event then concludes with the Gutter Block where they showcase films made all around the world.
:: INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL PLAYA DEL CARMEN
(Playa del Carmen, Mexico)
When: Sunday, November 14th @ 5pm
Venue: Online
Premiere Status: Mexican Premiere
About the Festival: The Queer International Film Festival Playa del Carmen was inaugurated in 2013. In November 2021 it held its 8th edition. The main objective of the festival, in addition to promoting a message of tolerance and equal rights, is to vindicate the rights of the LGBTTTQIA + community through the Seventh Art, as well as to provide a space for honest, frontal, responsible expression and free of clichés about the community.
The festival is the only one of its kind in Mexico since the entire portfolio is made up of LGBTTTQIA + stories. Across the different film genres, directors from around the world expose points of view, tell stories and generate visibility for our community by representing us on the big screen. As a completely independent festival, their selection of films includes both commercially successful films and independent works, enriching their audience's experience in every way.
In recent years, they have noticed an important increase in the protest aspect and the number of actions that LGBTTTQIA + groups carry out to claim the rights of our community. Unfortunately, visibility is still low and limited, finding ourselves practically excluded in the 21st century both in the cinema and in other aspects of public life. This is why generating a greater presence within the cinema is of vital importance, since the cinematographic medium reaffirms itself, day by day, as an unbeatable speaker for our community.
Thanks to the Seventh Art, the fight against homophobia has a powerful tool for transforming the common imagination. Through cinema we can show the world that people who identify themselves within the LGBTTTQIA + collective are like any other who loves, suffers, grows, makes mistakes and gets it right; and at the same time, show the same LGBTTTQIA + community, especially the youngest, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, that they are not alone and that they have the right to live their life fully, with the same rights as anyone else.
:: FRINGE! QUEER FILM & ARTS FEST (London, UK)
When: Saturday, November 13th @ 6:30pm
Venue: Rose Lipman Building
Screening in: Shorts: 10 Things I hate About Dykes
Premiere Status: UK Premiere
About the Festival: Since 2011, Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest has been an entirely volunteer-run organisation rooted in London's queer creative scene. In Novembers, and throughout the year, they showcase an eclectic mix of films, arts and events celebrating LGBTIQA+ stories from around the world, welcoming everybody.
Fringe! started in 2011 as a community response to arts cuts carnage, and since then they’ve ‘expanded exponentially to become one of the most innovative and exciting festivals on the circuit.’(Londonist)
From feature films to experimental installations, workshops and lively debates to wild parties, Fringe! hosts a multitude of diverse events to tickle every one of the senses. You'll see them flooding East London's cinemas, art galleries, pop-up venues and basement clubs with the powerful, provocative and strange.
As they continue to develop and their Fringe! family continues to grow, some things stay the same: a lot of our screenings and events are free or affordable, they remain open to new voices and ideas, and they’ll always be queer: celebratory but critical as hell.
:: QUEERSTREIFEN MÜNSTER (Münster, Germany)
When: Sunday, November 7th @ 3pm
Venue: CINEMA & Kurbelkiste
Screening in: Best of 32nd Hamburg Int. Queer Film Festival
Premiere Status: Münster Premiere
About the Festival: The „Queerstreifen“ are an annual, non-profit LGBTI film festival in the city of Münster. It takes place every early November and usually runs four days, from Thursday to Sunday. Being one of the smaller LGBTI festivals in Germany, they have a very loyal audience base in Münster and the region with about from 1.300 to 1.700 visitors every year. The festival takes place in the local movie house „Cinema“ with the main festival hall with 158 seats. Currently the Queerstreifen organizing team consists of six members, three women and three men.
Festival program features LGBTI dramas, comedies, short films and documentaries from all over the world. Whenever possible, they invite guests like filmmakers, actors to talk about the movie with the audience. In addition to films they also often have readings by current LGBTI authors and each Queerstreifen festival is opened with a little show gig with local or regional artists, singers or bands performing.
:: QUEERSICHT FILM FESTIVAL (Bern, Switzerland)
When: Friday, November 5th @ 8:30pm
Venue: Kino i. d. Reitschule
Screening in: Kurzfilm-Block 2
Premiere Status: Bern Premiere
When: Sunday, November 7th @ 6pm
Venue: Kino i. d. Reitschule
Screening in: Kurzfilm-Block 2
When: Tuesday, November 9th @ 6pm
Venue: Kellerkino
Screening in: Kurzfilm-Block 2
About the Festival: QUEERSICHT is the oldest LGBTI film festival in Switzerland and the largest LGBTI cultural event in the Canton of Berne. Every year around 50 films are screened in 6 cinemas in Bern. The international film programme shows the latest productions, including many premieres, and includes author portraits, feature films and documentaries, Swiss films and three short film programmes. A rich selection of events rounds off the film programme, including panel discussions, the lounge as a central meeting place during the festival, the legendary party on Saturday evening and the brunch on Sunday.
The 15 or so members of the organising committee have a basic democratic structure and volunteer their time throughout the year. Numerous volunteers support QUEERSICHT at the festival. It is not only in November that QUEERSICHT offers the opportunity to watch films. During the summer, selective screenings shorten the time until the festival.
:: FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE TRANSFEMINISTA (Bogotá, Colombia)
When: Sunday, October 31st
Venue: Online
Screening in: Nuestro Deseo, Nuestra Revolucion
Premiere Status: Colombian Premiere
About the Festival: Del 27 al 31 de octubre en Sala de cine On Line: festicinealborde.bombozila.com podrás disfrutar de una selección de 45 películas que ponen el foco en el cruce de identidades racializadas y disidencias sexo género, en las rebeldías sexuales, amorosas y corporales, en las luchas antiCistema. Películas creadas por comunidades que hacen arte y cine para narrarse con voz propia, películas protagonizadas por seres y relatos que habitan las periferias y resisten creativamente a las injusticias!
El festival es completamente gratuito, solo entra a la Sala de Cine On line, regístrate y elige las películas que quieres ver, cada día estarán disponibles por 24 horas, 9 de las 45 películas. Atrevete a ver cine para hacernos cuerpes, para acuerparnos unxs a otrxs, para mirar desde los ojos de las desobediencias <3!!
:: HAMBURG QUEER FILM FESTIVAL (Hamburg, Germany)
When: Sunday, October 24th @ 3pm
Venue: Metropolis Kino
Premiere Status: Hamburg Premiere
Screening in: Made in Germany
About the Festival: The Hamburg International Queer Film Festival (HIQFF) is Germany’s oldest, largest and, from the very start, queerest film festival. Once a year in October it attracts some 15,500 visitors to cinemas and various supporting events in Hamburg. It is the city's second largest film festival and has a firm place in the Hamburg cultural landscape.
The HIQFF aims to show its audience both diverse and current international film productions. The films in the programme address relevant topics, tell exciting stories and confront themselves with totally varied personalities. Apart from this, the festival provides a forum for a socially-committed film culture which is both worthy of discussion and challenging. The festvial is well networked internationally and as a result many people involved with festivals from other countries, as well as our invited film guests, travel to Hamburg for the event. This mixture makes the Hamburg International Queer Film Festival a fascinating event for both the queer community as well as for all those interested in film and culture in general.
Since its beginning in 1989 the festival has become one of the most important events for audiences in and around Hamburg. The festival is organised by enthusiastic lesbians, gays and queers for the whole queer community. In addition to the film events there are also workshops, presentations and parties. During the festival week, the autonomous N8bar, organised by a team independent of Querbild, provides a nightly programme. The pleasant and friendly atmosphere there encourages an equal exchange of ideas between the audience, directors, guests and team members.
Since 2020, film programs have also been offered online via a streaming platform. It is one of Hamburg’s largest film events and screens over 65 programmes and 130 films from around the world in seven locations over six days.
:: FESTIVAL DE CINE GLBT LA PAZ (La Paz, Bolivia)
When: Monday, October 18th
Venue: Online
Premiere Status: Bolivian Premiere
About the Festival: The very first film festival in La Paz, Bolivia which focuses on issues related to sexual diversity and human rights.
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:: CINEMATIC PANIC FILM FESTIVAL (Memphis, TN, USA)
When: Friday, October 8th
Venue: Black Lodge
Premiere Status: Tennessee Premiere
Screening in: Comoedia Disturbia
About the Festival: Cinematic Panic is A New Kind of Film Festival. There’s a time and a place for charming, simple, beautiful films...for sweet, positive, life-affirming cinema... This ain’t that. Bizarre. Strange. Peculiar. Eccentric. The abnormal. The disturbing. The troubling. The unsettling, the unsavory, the upsetting, the unusual, and the uncategorizable. Cinematic Panic is a place for underground, bizarre, insane, ludicrous, outlandish, unconventional, preposterous, incephalonamous, unorthodox films. All films screen at the historic Black Lodge in Memphis, TN.
Black Lodge and Piano Man Pictures offer you a unique cinematic dare: to test your limits and subject yourself to the most subversive cinema we can find. Can you handle it? Cinematic Panic offers special screenings of some of the most notorious movies and short films in cinema history. Prepare for a universe of deranged movie treasures!
:: EVERYBODY''S PERFECT QUEER FILM FESTIVAL (Geneva, Switzerland)
When: Saturday, October 9th @ 9:45pm
Venue: Les Cinémas Du Grütli (Salle Langlois)
Screening in: ''Butineries'' Séance de Courts-métrages
Premiere Status: Swiss Premiere
When: Saturday, October 16th at 12:15pm
Venue: Les Cinémas Du Grütli (Salle Langlois)
Screening in: ''Butineries'' Séance de Courts-métrages
About the Festival: Everybody’s Perfect is the only LGBTIQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) film festival of this magnitude in French-speaking Switzerland. The festival runs for 10 days and will touch on themes linked to LGBTIQ+ minorities, with a particular strength: the discussion nights, with the presence of experts in the relevant fields, with the support and the collaboration of our partners, associations and institutions, both local and international. Cinema involves all kinds of artistic forms, and within Everybody’s Perfect, it flirts with them all… with performances, exhibitions, workshops and parties, the festival gives freedom to expression and allows everyone to share feelings and to confront identities.
Principles of the festival: culture, quality, a critical eye, and inclusion.
Human rights through culture: Everybody’s Perfect is a major cultural event committed to human rights. In a global socio-political context, where, despite significant progress, individuals from the LGBTIQ+ minorities still endure incomprehension, discrimination and repression, the presence of a film festival is in itself a militant act.
A high-quality programme: Quality film-making as well as the power of filmmakers’ vision are main selection criterion of the festival. The programming is ambitious and is established after visioning a few hundreds of films, both mainstream and independent. The festival aims to offer premiere screenings of works shown in prestigious international festivals as well as films that have not been distributed in Switzerland or Europe.
A critical eye: The festival is determined to question all norms (be they hetero-centrist, paternalist or homosexual), gender, sexualities and feminisms, through the lenses of the diversity of cultural and religious experiences. Critical views and new ideas are favoured throughout the programming, not only by way of the screened works but also during the debates and conferences.
Inclusion: The festival is committed to reach out to all those concerned, interested individuals – whether they identify or not as LGBTIQ – to film lovers and to those just looking for entertainment.
:: QFEST: HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ FILM FESTIVAL (Houston, TX, USA)
When: September 30th - October 4th
Venue: Online (via Cinenso)
Premiere Status: Texas Premiere
About the Festival: After 25 years, QFest - Houston’s international LGBTQIA+ film festival- is hitting screens for the last time. All feature and short films will be available to screen virtually through the Cinenso platform from September 30–October 4, 2021. This year, QFest anticipates its lineup to comprise 50 to 55 films—the largest slate of films in the festival’s quarter-century history.
QFest began in 1996 as a collaboration between women across various arts organizations to launch the first-ever Houston gay and lesbian film festival. Since then, the festival has worked tirelessly with numerous arts, culture, film, and media organizations to deliver exceptional film programming to Houston’s LGBTQ community (and, over the past two years, to international audiences with its virtual screenings). The festival leaves behind a legacy that has changed the lives of many filmmakers, audiences, and the Houston community itself.
Since QFest is a small organization, every year the team faces a challenge to keep the festival up and running. “Just because we’re the fourth-largest city in the country does not mean we are entitled to these things [such as a queer film festival],” Kristian Salinas (executive and artistic director of QFest) says. “These things require the support of the community at large, and so without that support, these organizations eventually wither and die.”
The feature and short films included in this year’s final selection were chosen from over 2,000 submissions across many countries, meticulously sifted through by the QFest team. Salinas stresses the importance for audiences to take advantage of the opportunity to see the films included in the festival’s lineup, as they’re not available on high-profile streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. Below, Salinas gives our readers a glimpse into the many films in store for LGBTQ and allied audiences alike at this year’s final fest. (source: Spectrum South)
:: FABULOUS INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL (Sarasota, FL, USA)
When: September 23rd - October 2nd
Venue: Online (via Eventive)
Premiere Status: USA Premiere
About the Festival: Fabulous Independent Film Festival is Sarasota's only LGBTQ+ film festival and is produced by the Harvey Milk Festival. This year, the festival runs for two weeks and takes place in-person as well as online via Eventive.
Each short and feature length film represent the mission of the Harvey Milk Festival, which is to inspire positive political and social change for the LGBTQ+ community through the arts. The Fabulous Independent Film Festival is a facet of Harvey Milk Festival’s yearly programming intended to engage emerging artistic talent and bring poignant, humorous, and honest representations of LGBTQ+ individuals to the silver screen.
:: FLORENCE QUEER FESTIVAL (Florence, Italy)
When: Wednesday, September 22nd @ 6pm
Venue: Cinema La Compagnia & Online
Screening before: Coccon (Leonie Krippendorff, Germany, 2020)
Premiere Status: Italian Premiere
About the Festival: The Florence Queer Festivak is the most important festival in Tuscany dedicated to queer culture (gay, lesbian, transgender.. and many more), organized by the IREOS association of Florence. The festival grew to become one of the most frequented of the Florence scene, and one of the most important LGBT Italian festivals.
The festival was launched in 2003 as a four-day gathering in a Florentine theater and continually expanded its program, events, and audiences. Starting in 2008, the festival began to take part in the “50 Giorni di Cinema Internazionale a Firenze” (50 Days of International Cinema in Florence), a project of Mediateca Regionale Toscana Film Commission for the Region of Tuscany in collaboration with the Province and City of Florence.
Films and videos, theatre and photography, and literature are all at the core of how the FQF proposes to represent the spheres of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans*, and intersex life, a queer identity that is constantly in movement and evolving, while intending to transcend the stereotypes that have been long enforced. Contemporary queer culture is one that has freed itself from the rigid bonds of identity, that has the ability to speak to all types of people, and communicates stories in which sexual identity is but one of the elements within the narrative.
Inside the FQF, you can find VIDEOQUEER, a short films contest that speaks to our contemporary times, from everyday life and the hope for affirmation, desires and fantasies, to cross-cultural comparisons that reveal varying conditions and diverse perspectives.
:: LesBiGayTrans FILM FESTIVAL PARAGUAY (Asunción, Paraguay)
When: September 6th @ 7pm
Venue: Centro Cultural Juan De Salazar & Online
Screening in: Short Film Program
Premiere Status: South American Premiere
About the Festival: Aireana, grupo por los derechos de las lesbianas junto al Centro Cultural de España Juan de Salazar celebran el 17º Festival Internacional de Cine LesBiGayTrans. Este año el festival viene en versión mixta, se realizará del 6 al 11 de septiembre, y las proyecciones presenciales serán en el Centro Cultural toda la semana, de 19:00 a 21:30, en versión virtual desde la plataforma festival.aireana.org.py hasta la medianoche. En su decimoséptima edición, producciones de todo el mundo forman parte de su sección oficial; cinco de ellas paraguayas y otras cincuenta de Austria, España, Guatemala, Argentina, Francia, Bulgaria, Brasil, México, Chile, Colombia, Irán, EEUU, Corea del Sur, Italia y Alemania.
En cada una de sus ediciones, el festival internacional de cine LesBiGayTrans se ha propuesto alcanzar objetivos que favorezcan la difusión y promoción de la cinematografía paraguaya de temática LGTBIQ+, y contribuir de esa manera al desarrollo de la diversidad cultural, además de convertirse en un referente a nivel nacional e internacional en el ámbito del cine con perspectiva feminista y de derechos humanos. El festival organiza y presenta proyectos cinematográficos internacionales y nacionales, siendo una ventana a otros festivales de cine impulsados por objetivos que visibilicen los derechos de las personas LGBTIQ+. Busca acentuar su objetivo como espacio de encuentro y generador de cultura a través de un programa que agrupa actividades que promueven los derechos.
En la convocatoria 2021 se inscribieron más de 237 títulos que disputaron por un lugar en la semana de cine LGTBI de Paraguay. La categoría nacional competirá por el premio del jurado, conformado por las reconocidas directoras Arami Ullón y Tana Schémbori, mientras que la categoría internacional disputará por el premio del público. La premiación se realizará el último día del festival.
Desde 2005, Aireana grupo por los derechos de las lesbianas invita a la sociedad en general a asistir de forma gratuita al festival de cine “LesBiGayTrans” en Asunción. Todos los años, durante seis días el público puede disfrutar de largometrajes cortometrajes, documentales y animaciones de temáticas Lésbica, gay, bisexual, trans e intersex de diferentes países del mundo y del Paraguay. Este festival de cine independiente de temática LGBTI permite cambiar de a poco el imaginario social, los mitos y la discriminación y violencia que viven las personas LGBTI en nuestro país. Este festival de cine LesBiGayTrans, se une a la oferta cultural de Asunción, siendo el único de temática LGTBI en Paraguay. El festival cuenta anualmente con el apoyo de más de 30 organizaciones feministas, de derechos humanos y artistas.
:: QUEER FILM FESTIVAL OLDENBURG (Oldenburg, Germany)
When: Friday, August 27th @ 9pm
Venue: Cine K Oldenburg (Halle der Kulturetage)
Screening in: Best of Shorts / Die Besten Kurzfilme
Premiere Status: European Premiere
About the Festival: The Queer Film Festival Oldenburg takes place in the art-house cinema Cine k, the smallest cinema in Oldenburg, since 2010. Programme this year includes 5 feature and documentary films, a short film programme, a mid-long film programme and a Queerotic-programme.
:: QUEER NORTH FILM FESTIVAL (Sudbury, ON, Canada)
When: Sunday, August 22nd @ 1pm
Venue: Sudbury Indie Cinema
Screening in: Best of Queer Shorts 2: Alphabet Soup
Premiere Status: World Premiere
About the Festival: Queer North Film Festival is currently the only queer film festival in Northern Ontario. Queer North celebrates the diversity of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & two-spirited communities through quality cinema. The 5th Edition of the festival will span 4 days this August drawing crowds from across the region with film premieres, artist talks, and parties that focus squarely on queer-themed films and videos from Canada and around the world.
Queer North Film Festival will celebrate outstanding, award-winning feature films plus International and Canadian LGBTQ short films: documentary and fiction over the course of 4 days including some locally-produced films. To enhance Queer North Film Festival’s impact, audience & jury awards are an important component.
:: FILM PRIDE - BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE LGBTQ+ FILM FEST (Brighton, UK)
When: August 6th @ 4:15pm (+ on TV in Brighton, Sheffield
and Belfast at 9pm on August 11th and 14th)
Venue: Preston Park
Premiere Status: Brighton Premiere
About the Festival: FilmPride is run on behalf of Brighton & Hove Pride by The Latest Music Bar. Brighton & Hove Pride is one of the biggest Pride festivals in the world, and The Guardian describes it as “The country’s most popular LGBTQ+ event”. FilmPride 2022 will be part of Fabuloso in the Park – Brighton & Hove Pride’s official fundraiser for the Brighton Rainbow Fund. During Brighton & Hove Pride weekend on 6th and 7th August, the FilmPride festival will take place in Preston Park, the beating heart of every year’s event.
The festival is unique as, as well as hosting live events during Brighton & Hove Pride, they offer selected filmmakers the opportunity to be screened on community, not-for-profit local TV channels in the UK such as Latest TV in Brighton and Northern Visions in Belfast. The FilmPride TV festival is a huge success; the two channels combined serve over 700,000 households, so if the film is on their channels, it will be seen by thousands more!
:: THE SHORT NIGHTS OF BERLIN (Berlin, Germany)
When: August 8th @ 8:45pm
Venue: Open Air Kino Mitte (Kino Central)
Premiere Status: /
About the Festival: Hidden in the backyard of Haus Schwarzenberg cozy »Open Air Kino Mitte« opens its doors for cinema screenings in summer. Professionals, amateurs, hobbyists and beginners are invited to show their view on the city or on the way of living in Berlin on several short nights in summer 2022.
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