TEN QUEER FILM FESTIVALS

TEN QUEER FILM FESTIVALS BRINGING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER THROUGH ENTERTAINING, SOPHISTICATED FILMS AND FILMMAKING

BY JEFFREY JAMES KEYES

CINEPHILES AND FILMMAKERS ALIKE CANNOT WAIT TO GET BACK TO THE MOVIE THEATRES AFTER BEING ISOLATED FOR MUCH OF THE SPRING. While film festivals from the first half of 2020 have either postponed or moved to online streaming platforms, there are still many to look forward to in 2020. Ever year more queer film festivals pop up, and crowds come out of the woodwork to take in what might be the next Kinky Boots, Eastsiders, or Call Me By Your Name. Here are ten LGBTQIA+ Film Festivals to get excited about.

OUTFEST JUNE 16-26, 2020 Outfest.org The Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival is an 11-day lineup of world-class films, panels, and parties celebrating the queer experience. Join in the celebration of over 200 feature and short films. Outfest, founded in 1982, has screened over 6,500 international films for audiences of well over half a million people. Often considered the preeminent LGBTQ film festival in the world, the festival is the largest and oldest film festival in Los Angeles. Last year’s lineup included Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts, Circus of Books, Before You Know It, and Gay Chorus Deep South.

QFLIX PHILADELPHIA JULY 12-19, 2020 qflixphilly.com qFLIX Philadelphia, a production of qFLIX USA, Inc., was founded in 2014. This year’s lineup will include an opening night showing of Straight Up, written, directed, and starring James Sweeney. The opening night will follow with the Black & Pink Gala, kicking off a lineup of films like Tu Me Manques, Sell By, and Disclosure direct from Sundance. Festival awards will include the Marsha P. Johnson Inspiration Award to Laverne Cox, the festival’s Rising Star Award to Ben Bauer, and the Artistic Achievement in Acting Award to Haaz Sleiman. The festival will close with the East Coast premiere of Breaking Fast.

HONOLULU RAINBOW FILM FESTIVAL AUGUST 13-16, 2020 hglcf.org Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival (HRFF), one of the longest-running queer film festivals in the country, will celebrate its 31st anniversary this year. Known as a bridge from Hawaii, the Pacific Islands and Asia to mainland USA, HRFF is a member of the Asia Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance. HRFF uses the power of film to raise awareness, engage, energize, and instill a sense of pride and respect in Hawaii’s thriving lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender and Māh community. Presented annually by the Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Cultural Foundation, filmmakers are welcomed to the festival with the friendly spirit of aloha. Screenings are held at the buzzing Doris Duke Theater, and last year’s red carpet brought stars like Shangela and Gia Gunn from RuPaul’s Drag Race to the islands. You never know who might show up and turn it out at this year’s HRFF!

OUTSOUTH QUEER FILM FESTIVAL AUGUST 23-16, 2020 carolinatheatre.org/ The North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival (NCGLFF: 1996-2019) was renamed as the OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival. The inaugural event is scheduled for August 13-16, 2020. The OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival is the second largest queer, lesbian, gay and transgender film festival in the Southeast, attracting thousands of patrons to downtown Durham every August. Since beginning in 1995, as QFest and running from 1996-2019 as the North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival, this event has always featured a diverse array of shorts, documentaries, and feature films. Discover Durham named this festival a Signature Event for Durham, the highest honor bestowed on a cultural event or attraction by the organization. OUTSOUTH celebrates a worldwide glimpse of today’s queer, lesbian, gay and transgender life, helps bring the community together and features entertaining and sophisticated films and filmmaking.

CINEMA DIVERSE: THE PALM SPRINGS LGBTQ FILM FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 17 - 20, 2020 psculturalcenter.org/filmfest The desert is calling, and the cinephiles always come out of the woodwork for Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival. The festival, dedicated to advancing and further strengthening our diverse gay community through the establishment of a world-class forum that presents lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cinema from around the world. The 2019 festival featured films like Last Ferry, Del Shores Six Characters in Search of a Play, and Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street. This year will mark its 13th year, and Cinema Diverse will bring together film artists, film lovers and industry professionals in a celebration of motion pictures that reflect, inform, enrich, and often transform lives.

OUT ON FILM, ATLANTA’S LGBT FILM FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 3, 2020 outonfilm.org Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBT Film Festival, will hold their 33rd annual festival this fall, showcasing 75-100 films including narratives, documentaries, and short films. The festival, which started as part of IMAGE Film and Video and later the Atlanta Film Festival broke off on its own in 2008, becoming an 11-day celebration of LGBTQ stories and artists. The festival, an Oscar qualifying film festival, received the 2018 Beacon Award for Community Engagement from the Arts ATL Luminary Awards.

REELING: THE CHICAGO LGBTQ+ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 24 -OCTOBER 4, 2020 reelingfilmfestival.org Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival is the second longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival of its kind. The festival aims to showcase award-winning international feature films, social documentaries, and experimental shorts. The first Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival took place in April 1981 in Chicago Filmmakers’ screening room. The festival sold out almost every screening, leaving audiences ready for more. Last year’s festival included films like: Where We Go From Here, The Blonde One, and Sid & Judy. The mission of Reeling is to recognize the important artistic contributions that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender filmmakers have made to our culture; to educate the general population and sensitize them to lesbian, gay and transgender issues; to investigate the history of LGBTQ+ film, including the stereotyping that has been a major part of this history; and to counteract this stereotyping with valid, meaningful and diverse LGBTQ+ stories. This year will be the 38th year of the festival.

FRAMELINE44, THE SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ+ FILM FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 17 - DECEMBER 21, 2020 frameline.org The 44th installment of Frameline, the San Francisco LGBTQ+ Film Festival has been postponed until the fall. Frameline’s mission is to change the world through the power of queer cinema. The festival pays tribute to LGBTQ+ experiences through documentaries, features, shorts, classics, and more. As a media art non-profit, Frameline’s programs connect filmmakers and audiences in San Francisco and around the world. Founded in 1977, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival is the longest-running, largest, and most widely recognized queer film exhibition event in the world. With an annual attendance over 63,000, the festival is the most prominent and well-attended LGBTQ+ arts program in the Bay Area. Last year’s festival included films like Vita & Virginia, Gay Chorus Deep South, and the world premiere of Sid & Judy.

INSIDE OUT TORONTO LGBT FILM FESTIVAL OCTOBER 1-11, 2020 Insideout.ca Inside Out has shifted the kickoff of its 30th annual film festival to this October. The festival has brought Toronto’s LGBTQ community together in celebration of the best queer films from Canada and around the world. Through the annual festivals in Toronto and Ottawa, filmmaker initiatives, a youth engagement and year-round events and screenings, Inside Out is engaged every day in challenging attitudes and changing lives. The festival takes place over 11 days, drawing crowds of over 35,000 to screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, installations and parties that highlight roughly 150 films from Canada and around the world.

WICKED QUEER, THE BOSTON LGBT FILM FESTIVAL (TBD) wickedqueer.org Wicked Queer, The Boston LGBT Film Festival is the fourth oldest LGBT film festival in North America and the largest LGBT media event in New England. This year’s festival, the 36th annual festival, will be postponed to a later day in 2020. The festival, founded in 1984 by film programmer George Mansour, has been hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts since 1992, and branched out across the greater Boston area since 2012, including screenings at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge, the Fenway Health Center, and the Institute of Contemporary Art. In 2019, the festival screened over 160 films in 49 programs across 11 days.