List of LGBT film festivals

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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

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 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

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
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
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 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

  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. .
  7. ^ Richards (2016), p. 8.
  8. .
  9. 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.