List of LGBT film festivals

(Redirected from LGBT film festival)

An LGBT film festival or queer film festival is a specialized film festival that has an LGBTQ+ focus in its selection of films.[1][2][3] LGBT film festivals often screen films that would struggle to find a mainstream audience and are often activist spaces for awareness-raising around LGBT rights as well as for community building among queer communities.[4][5]

The long-running Frameline Film Festival is held annually at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

The first LGBT-focused film festivals were organized in the United States as part of the awakening LGBT movement in the United States in the 1970s. The longest-running film festival with an LGBT focus is the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco, which was established in 1977.[6] Until the 1990s, LGBT film festivals were mostly informal screenings in Western countries. In the 1990s, NGOs were founded to create and promote queer-focused film festivals and festivals became more commercialized. Around this time, more queer-focused film festivals began to emerge, especially in East Asia and Eastern Europe.[7]

LGBT film festivals use different labels to promote their focus on LGBT topics, for instance "gay and lesbian" (such as the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival); "queer" (such as the Asian Queer Film Festival); "rainbow" (such as the Rainbow Reel Tokyo); "LGBT", "LGBTQ", and other variations of the acronym (such as the Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival); or they might not use a label in their name at all (such as the MIX NYC).[8]

In 2020, several queer film festivals—Los Angeles's Outfest, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, Toronto's Inside Out Film and Video Festival, and San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival—partnered to launch the North American Queer Festival Alliance, an initiative to further publicize and promote LGBT film.[9]

List edit

Name Location Established Notes
City or cities State, province or region Country
&PROUD Yangon LGBTIQ Film Festival Yangon Yangon Region   Myanmar 2014 Now part of Yangon Pride, yearly at the end of January
Abhimani Film Festival Colombo Western Province   Sri Lanka 2006 Also known as Celluloid Rainbows, this is the oldest LGBT film festival in the South Asian region,[10] and the only LGBT film festival in Sri Lanka.[10]
Amor Festival Santiago de Chile   Chile 2016
Aomori International LGBT Film Festival Aomori Aomori Prefecture   Japan 2006
Asian Queer Film Festival Tokyo Greater Tokyo Area   Japan 2007
Asterisco Festival Internacional de Cine LGBTIQ Buenos Aires   Argentina 2014
Atlanta Film Festival Atlanta Georgia   United States 2008, 1976 (original festival) Listed for the Pink Peach Prize LGBTQ Film Award, 2008
Bangalore Queer Film Festival Bangalore Karnataka   India 2008
Bangkok Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Bangkok Bangkok Metropolitan Region   Thailand 2015 Defunct in 2016
Beijing Queer Film Festival Beijing Beijing Municipality   China 2001
BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival London Greater London   United Kingdom 1986
Budapest Pride LGBTQ Film Festival Budapest   Hungary
Cancún International Gay Festival Cancún   Mexico
CinegailesAST Gijón   Spain 2006
Chennai International Queer Film Festival Chennai Chennai Metropolitan Area   India 2005
Chéries-Chéris Paris   France 1994
CINHOMO Valladolid Castilla y León   Spain 2017
Cine Movilh Santiago   Chile
Cinema Queer International Film Festival Stockholm   Sweden
CINEMQ Shanghai Shanghai

(municipality)

  China 2015
CineQ Queer Film Festival Birmingham West Midlands   United Kingdom 2019
Connecticut LGBTQ Film Festival Hartford Connecticut   United States 1988 Produced by Out Film CT. Connecticut's longest-running film festival.
Cuórum Morelia   Mexico 2019 [1]
Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival Salt Lake City Utah   United States 2003 Longest-running LGBTQ film festival in the Mountain West[11]
Dayton LGBT Film Festival Dayton Ohio   United States 2005
DIGO Goiás Goiânia   Brazil 2016
DIVERSA Buenos Aires   Argentina 2004
DOTYK Minsk Minsk Region   Belarus 2015
Durban Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Durban   South Africa
Ehime LGBT Film Festival Matsuyama Ehime Prefecture   Japan
ENDIMARIS Sitges LGTBIQ+ Film Festival Sitges Catalonia   Spain 2021
EQUAL Film Fest San José   Costa Rica 2019 EQUAL FILM FEST
FACE à FACE Saint-Étienne Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes   France 2005
Fancinegay Badajoz   Spain 1998 Fancinegay
Faroe Islands International Minority Film Festival Tórshavn   Faroe Islands 2017
Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival Calgary Alberta   Canada 1999
FestDivQ Caracas   Venezuela
Festival de Cine LesBiGayTrans de Asunción Asunción   Paraguay 2005
Festival de cine Gay y Lésbico de Canarias Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife   Spain 2007
Festival de Cine Lésbico y Gai de Andalucía Seville, Huelva, Cádiz and Córdoba   Spain 2006 Andalesgai
Festival de Cine LGBTIQ - Asturias Avilés   Spain 2016
Festival Internacional de cine LGBT El Lugar Sin Límites Quito, Guayaquil and others   Ecuador 2002
Festival Mix Brazil de Cultura da Diversidade São Paulo   Brazil
Festival MIX Milano Milan Lombardy   Italy 1986 Festival MIX Milano of GayLesbian cinema and Queer culture
Filmfest homochrom Cologne & Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia   Germany 2011 defunct in 2019[12]
FilmOut San Diego San Diego California   United States 2005 San Diego's only LGBT film festival
FFTG Awards Film Fest New York Worldwide   United States 2020 International digital film fest
FICGLB – Festival Internacional de Cine Gay y Lésbico de Barcelona Barcelona Catalonia   Spain
FIRE!! Barcelona Catalonia   Spain
FiveFilms4freedom Online Online   United Kingdom 2015 World's first online, global and free 10-day LGBT film festival, created by the British Council and British Film Institute, and supported by the UN Free & Equal campaign
Frameline Film Festival San Francisco California   United States 1977
Gay Film Nights Cluj-Napoca Cluj County   Romania 2004
Gaze Dublin Leinster   Ireland 1992
Geelong Pride Film Festival Geelong Victoria   Australia 2017
GFest – gayWise LGBT Arts Festival London Greater London   United Kingdom
Glasgay! Festival Glasgow Scotland   Scotland 1993
Hamilton Queer Film Festival Hamilton Ontario   Canada 2021
Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Central and
Pok Fu Lam
Hong Kong Island   Hong Kong
  China
1989
Image+Nation Montreal Quebec   Canada 1987
ImageOut Rochester New York   United States
In & Out Nice Alpes-Maritimes   France 2009
Inside Out Film and Video Festival Toronto and Ottawa Ontario   Canada 1991
Iris Prize Film Festival Cardiff Wales   United Kingdom 2007
International Queer Film Festival Playa del Carmen Playa del Carmen   Mexico 2013
Kagawa Rainbow Film Festival Kagawa Kagawa Prefecture   Japan
KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival Mumbai Maharashtra   India 2010
Kansai Queer Film Festival Osaka Osaka Prefecture   Japan
Korea Queer Film Festival Seoul Seoul Capital Area   South Korea 2001
Kreivės Vilnius Lithuania   Lithuania 2014 The festival is open to feature films, documentaries and short films focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex themes.[13][14]
Leeds Queer Film Festival Leeds West Yorkshire   United Kingdom 2005
LesGaiCineMad Madrid Community of Madrid   Spain 1996
Lethal Lesbian Tel Aviv   Israel 2008 Screens independent films by and about women who love women.
LGBT Film Festival Warsaw   Poland 2010 Largest festival of LGBT cinema in Central and Eastern Europe
LGBT+ Film Festival Bangkok Bangkok Metropolitan Region   Thailand 2018 Curated and hosted by Bangkok Screening Room
Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival Ljubljana Central Slovenia   Slovenia 1984[15] Europe's oldest gay and lesbian film festival[16]
Llamale H Montevideo   Uruguay
London Lesbian Film Festival London Ontario   Canada 1991
Lovers Film Festival - Torino LGBTQI Visions Turin Piedmont   Italy 1986
Making Scenes Film and Video Festival Ottawa Ontario   Canada 1992 Defunct in 2005; replaced with Ottawa edition of Inside Out.
Mardi Gras Film Festival Sydney New South Wales   Australia 1993
Massimadi Festival Montreal Quebec   Canada 2009 Centres on film and art relating to LGBTQ issues in the Black/African diaspora
Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival Tunis Tunis Tunisia 2018
Melbourne Queer Film Festival Melbourne Victoria   Australia 1991
Merlinka Festival Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Podgorica Former Yugoslavia   Serbia   Bosnia and Herzegovina   Montenegro 2009 Only queer film festival that is organized in several countries.
Mezipatra Brno and Prague Moravia and Bohemia   Czech Republic 2000
MICGénero Mexico City State of Mexico   Mexico
Milwaukee LGBT Film & Video Festival Milwaukee Wisconsin   United States 1987
MIX Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen Metropolitan Area   Denmark 1986
MIX NYC New York City New York   United States 1987
Movida Gay   Cuba 2007
Muestra Internacional de Cine Diversex Nicaragua Managua, León, Jinotepe, Masaya, Matagalpa, Granada and others   Nicaragua 2008
Muskoka Queer Film Festival Bracebridge, Huntsville Ontario   Canada 2020 Launched online during the COVID-19 pandemic following the cancellation of its planned live inaugural edition[17]
National Queer Arts Festival San Francisco California   United States 1998
NewFest New York City New York   United States 1988
North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Durham North Carolina   United States 1995
Notre Dame Queer Film Festival Notre Dame Indiana   United States 2004
Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival Oslo   Norway
OUTeast Film Festival Halifax Nova Scotia   Canada 2012
Out in Africa Johannesburg and Cape Town Gauteng and Western Cape   South Africa 1994
Out and Loud Pune International Queer Film Festival Pune Maharashtra   India 2017
Out North Queer Film Festival Whitehorse Yukon   Canada 2012
Out on Film Atlanta Georgia   United States 1987
Out Takes: A Reel Queer Film Festival Auckland and Wellington Auckland Region and Wellington Region   New Zealand 1995
Outburst Queer Arts Festival Belfast Belfast Northern Ireland   United Kingdom
Outfest Los Angeles California   United States 1982
OutfestPerú Lima   Peru
OutLove International Film Festival[18] Fort Myers Florida   United States 2020
Outview Film Festival[19] Athens Greece   Greece 2007
Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival Paris France   France 1989 Women-only film festival featuring films by and about lesbians and feminism
Pink Life QueerFest Istanbul   Turkey
Philadelphia QFest Philadelphia Pennsylvania   United States 1996
Pink Apple Zürich and Frauenfeld Canton of Zürich and Canton of Thurgau    Switzerland 1997
Pink Lobster Film Festival Fredericton New Brunswick   Canada 2017
Pink Screens Brussels Brussels   Belgium 2002 Gay and Lesbian Film Festival of Brussels
Pride International Film Festival Manila Metro Manila   Philippines 2004 Films specialising in HIV and AIDS awareness
Puerto Rico Queer Filmfest San Juan Puerto Rico   United States
Q! Film Festival Jakarta Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek)   Indonesia 2002 Asia's largest LGBT film festival,[20] and the first in a predominantly Muslim country.[21] It was established in 2002 and closed, until further notice, in early 2017.
QFest Houston Texas   United States 1997
Queer City Cinema Regina Saskatchewan   Canada 1996
Queer Film Festival Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Fürstenwalde, Halle (Saale), Leipzig, Magdeburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart & Vienna Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Vienna   Germany
  Austria
[22]
Queer Film Festival Oldenburg Oldenburg Niedersachsen   Germany 2010
Queer Kampala International Film Festival Kampala   Uganda
Queer Lisboa International Queer Film Festival Lisbon Lisbon metropolitan area   Portugal 1997
Queer Media Festival Manchester Greater Manchester   United Kingdom
Queer North Film Festival Sudbury Ontario   Canada 2016
QUEER-Streifen Regensburg [2] Regensburg Bavaria   Germany 2012
Queer Vision Film Festival Bristol South West England   United Kingdom
Queersicht Bern Canton of Bern    Switzerland 1997
Rainbow Film Festival Honolulu Hawaii   United States 1989
Rainbow Film Festival Shrewsbury Shropshire   United Kingdom
Rainbow Reel Tokyo Tokyo Greater Tokyo Area   Japan 1992 'Rainbow Reel Tokyo' is the official new name for the 'Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival' (since 2016).
Rainbow Reels Queer and Trans Film Festival Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario   Canada
Rainbow Visions Film Festival Edmonton Alberta   Canada 2015
Reel Affirmations Washington, D.C. District of Columbia   United States 1991
Reel Out Charlotte Charlotte North Carolina   United States 2008 'Reel Out Charlotte' is the new name for 'GayCharlotte Film Festival' (since 2018).
Reel Pride Winnipeg Manitoba   Canada 1985
Reel Pride Fresno California   United States 1989
Reelout Queer Film Festival Kingston Ontario   Canada 1999
Reeling Chicago Illinois   United States 1981
Rio Festival de Gênero & Sexualidade no Cinema Rio de Janeiro   Brazil 1995
Rio LGBTQIA+ Film Festival Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro   Brazil 2011 Formerly known as Rio Festival Gay de Cinema, the festival adopted its new name in 2016. Rio LGBTQIA+ Film Festival is the new title of the festival.
RO Q DOC Bucharest   Romania
Roze Filmdagen Amsterdam   Netherlands 1996
San Francisco Transgender Film Festival San Francisco California   United States 1997[23] Originally named 'Tranny Fest'
Santo Domingo Outfest   Dominican Republic 2010
Screened Out Cablecast film festival Nationwide cablecast   United States 2007 only
SQIFF Glasgow Scotland   United Kingdom 2015
Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Seattle Washington   United States 1996
Shanghai Queer Film Festival Shanghai Shanghai
(municipality)
  China 2017 New LGBT film festival, run by volunteers and as a not-for-profit community event;[24] opened in September 2017
ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival Shanghai Shanghai
(municipality)
  China 2015 Originated from ShanghaiPRIDE film screening nights in collaboration with Beijing Queer Film Festival.[25]
Sicilia Queer filmfest Palermo Sicily   Italy 2010 International & New Visions filmfest
Side by Side Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg
('Federal Subject')
  Russia 2008
Slovak Queer Film Festival Bratislava   Slovakia
Sunny Bunny Kyiv   Ukraine 2023 First Ukrainian LGBT film festival, expansion of an existing program within Kyiv International Film Festival "Molodist"[26]
Taiwan International Queer Film Festival Taipei and
Taichung
Taipei–Keelung Metropolitan Area and
Taichung-Changhua Metropolitan Area
  Taiwan (R.O.C) 2014
Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Tampa Florida   United States 1989
Tels Quel Festival Brussels   Belgium
Thessaloniki International G.L.A.D. Film Festival (LGBTI+) Thessaloniki   Greece 1998
TLVFest Tel Aviv Gush Dan   Israel 2006
Toronto Queer Film Festival Toronto Ontario   Canada 2016
TranScreen Filmfestival Amsterdam Amsterdam Netherlands   Netherlands 2011
Transition International Queer Minorities Film Festival Vienna   Austria
Translations: The Seattle Transgender Film Festival Seattle Washington   United States 2006 Films by, for, and about transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse people and the issues facing the community
Vancouver Queer Film Festival Vancouver British Columbia   Canada 1988
Vinokino Turku and Helsinki Southwest Finland (or 'Finland Proper') and Uusimaa (or 'Nyland')   Finland 1991
Way OUT West Film Fest Albuquerque New Mexico   United States 2003
Wicked Queer Boston Massachusetts   United States 1984 Formerly known as the Boston LGBT Film Festival[27]
West Pride Gothenburg Metropolitan Gothenburg   Sweden 2007
XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin Berlin   Germany
Zinegoak Bilbao   Spain 2004

References edit

  1. ^ Renzi, Daniel (2020-01-29). "10 of the world's best queer film festivals". www.gaycities.com. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  2. ^ "the big queer film festival list". www.queerfilmfestivals.org. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  3. ^ Coleman, Ryan (2021-02-15). "20 Fantastic LGBTQ+ Film Festivals Around the Globe". MovieMaker Magazine. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  4. ^ Webb, Daisy (2019-06-08). "Queer fests: The best LGBTQI indie film festivals". Film Daily. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  5. ^ Webb, Daisy (2018-02-18). "Queer here: The very best LGBTQI indie film festivals". Film Daily. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  6. ^ Loist, Skadi (2016). "Crossover Dreams: Global Circulation of Queer Film on the Film Festival Circuits". Diogenes: 1–16. doi:10.1177/0392192115667014.
  7. ^ Richards (2016), p. 8.
  8. ^ Richards, Stuart James (2016). The Queer Film Festival. Popcorn and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-137-59034-3.
  9. ^ Jeff Ewing, "Major LGBTQ Film Festivals Partner To Create The 'North American Queer Festival Alliance' (NAQFA)". Forbes, June 17, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Rosanna Flamer Caldera (12 June 2017). "Colombo PRIDE: Challenge and Change". Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  11. ^ "Damn These Heels". Archived from the original on 2018-07-15. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  12. ^ "Archive: Filmfest". homochrom.de (in de en). Retrieved 2024-03-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  13. ^ "Vilniaus LGBT festivalis "Kreivės" – jau po dviejų savaičių". 15min.lt. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  14. ^ "Vilniaus queer festivalis "Kreivės"". renginiai.kasvyksta.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  15. ^ SiQRD. "Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival". www.ljudmila.org. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  16. ^ "Europe's oldest gay and lesbian film festival". www.visitljubljana.com. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  17. ^ "'Exciting, ambitious' Muskoka Queer Film Festival on tap". Orillia Matters, March 6, 2021.
  18. ^ OutLove International Film Festival
  19. ^ Outview Film Festival
  20. ^ Maimunah (18 October 2008). "Indonesia's Q! Film Festival". Inside Indonesia. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  21. ^ "About Us - WHO WE ARE". Q! Film Festival. 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  22. ^ "Queer Film Festival". Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  23. ^ "San Francisco Transgender Film Festival - About Us". San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  24. ^ Michael Rinaldi (16 February 2017). "New Shanghai Queer Film Festival to launch this September". Time Out Shanghai. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  25. ^ "上海骄傲电影节 | 上海骄傲节 ShanghaiPRIDE".
  26. ^ Marta Bałaga, "Ukraine to Host its First Ever Queer Film Festival: 'We Are Here, We Are Queer, and We Are Defending This Country'". Variety, January 31, 2023.
  27. ^ "About US". Wicked Queer. Retrieved 29 May 2020.