List of LGBT film festivals
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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 use no label in their name at all (such as the MIX NYC).[8]
In 2020, several queer film festivals—Los Angeles' 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] |
| Aomori International LGBT Film Festival | Aomori | Aomori Prefecture |  Japan
|
2006 | |
| Asian Queer Film Festival | Tokyo | Greater Tokyo Area | Japan
|
2007 | |
| Buenos Aires |  Argentina
|
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| 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 |  Hungary
|
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| Chennai International Queer Film Festival | Chennai | Chennai Metropolitan Area | India
|
2005 | |
| Chéries-Chéris | Paris |  France
|
1994 | ||
| Quito, Guayaquil and others |  Ecuador
|
2002 | |||
| Santiago |  Chile
|
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| Stockholm |  Sweden
|
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| CINEMQ | Shanghai | Shanghai
(municipality) |
China
|
2015 | |
| 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. |
| Salt Lake City | Utah | United States
|
2003 | Longest-running LGBTQ film festival in the Mountain West[11] | |
| DOTYK | Minsk | Minsk Region |  Belarus
|
2015 | |
| Goiás | Goiânia |  Brazil
|
2016 | ||
| Durban |  South Africa
|
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| Matsuyama | Ehime Prefecture | Japan
|
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| FACE à FACE | Saint-Étienne | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | France
|
2005 | |
| Torshavn |  Faroe Islands
|
2017 | |||
| Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival | Calgary | Alberta |  Canada
|
1999 | |
| Caracas |  Venezuela
|
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| São Paulo | Brazil
|
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| Milan | Lombardy |  Italy
|
1986 | Festival MIX Milano of GayLesbian cinema and Queer culture | |
| 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 |
| Barcelona | Catalonia |  Spain
|
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| 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
|
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| 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 | |
| Rochester | New York | United States
|
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| 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 | |
| Kagawa | Kagawa Prefecture | Japan
|
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| KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival | Mumbai | Maharashtra | India
|
2010 | |
| 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.[12][13] |
| 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. | |
| Warsaw |  Poland
|
2010 | Largest festival of LGBT cinema in Central and Eastern Europe | ||
| Bangkok | Bangkok Metropolitan Region | Thailand
|
2018 | Curated and hosted by | |
| Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival | Ljubljana | Central Slovenia |  Slovenia
|
1984[14] | Europe's oldest gay and lesbian film festival[15] |
| Montevideo |  Uruguay
|
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| London Lesbian Film Festival | London | Ontario | Canada
|
1991 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| Mexico City | State of Mexico |  Mexico
|
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| 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 | |
| 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[16] |
| 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 |  Norway
|
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| OUTeast Film Festival | Halifax | Nova Scotia | Canada
|
2012 | |
| Out in Africa | Johannesburg and Cape Town | Gauteng and Western Cape | South Africa
|
1994 | |
| Pune | Maharashtra | India
|
2017 | ||
| Out North Queer Film Festival | Whitehorse | Yukon | Canada
|
2012 | |
| Out on Film | Atlanta | Georgia | United States
|
1987 | |
| Auckland and Wellington | Auckland Region and Wellington Region |  New Zealand
|
1995 | ||
| Outburst Queer Arts Festival Belfast | Belfast | Northern Ireland | United Kingdom
|
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| Outfest | Los Angeles | California | United States
|
1982 | |
| Lima |  Peru
|
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| [17] | Fort Myers | Florida | United States
|
2020 | |
| [18] | 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
|
1995 | |
| Pink Apple | Zürich and Frauenfeld | Canton of Zürich and Canton of Thurgau |  Switzerland
|
1997 | |
| Pride International Film Festival | Manila | Metro Manila |  Philippines
|
2004 | Films specialising in HIV and AIDS awareness |
| San Juan | Puerto Rico | United States
|
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| Q! Film Festival | Jakarta | Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek) |  Indonesia
|
2002 | Asia's largest LGBT film festival,[19] and the first in a predominantly Muslim country.[20] 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 | |
| Oldenburg | Niedersachsen | Germany | 2010 | ||
| Kampala |  Uganda
|
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| Queer Lisboa International Queer Film Festival | Lisbon | Lisbon metropolitan area |  Portugal
|
1997 | |
| Manchester | Greater Manchester | United Kingdom
|
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| Queer North Film Festival | Sudbury | Ontario | Canada
|
2016 | |
| QUEER-Streifen Regensburg [1] | Regensburg | Bavaria |  Germany
|
2012 | |
| Bristol | South West England | United Kingdom
|
|||
| Queersicht | Bern | Canton of Bern | Switzerland
|
1997 | |
| Rainbow Film Festival | Honolulu | Hawaii | United States
|
1989 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil
|
2011 | Formerly known as Rio Festival Gay de Cinema, the festival adopted its new name in 2016. Rio Festival de Cinema LGBTQIA+ is the new title of the festival 2021. |
| Bucharest | Romania
|
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| Amsterdam |  Netherlands
|
1996 | |||
| San Francisco Transgender Film Festival | San Francisco | California | United States
|
1997[21] | Originally named 'Tranny Fest' |
| Screened Out | Cablecast film festival | Nationwide cablecast | United States
|
2007 only | |
| 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;[22] 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.[23] |
| Palermo | Sicily | Italy
|
2010 | International & New Visions filmfest | |
| Side by Side | Saint Petersburg | Saint Petersburg ('Federal Subject') |
 Russia
|
2008 | |
| Bratislava |  Slovakia
|
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| 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 | |
| Brussels |  Belgium
|
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| 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 | |
| Vienna |  Austria
|
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| 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 | |
| Boston | Massachusetts | United States
|
1984 | Formerly known as the Boston LGBT Film Festival[24] | |
| West Pride | Gothenburg | Metropolitan Gothenburg | Sweden
|
2007 | |
| Berlin | Berlin | Germany
|
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| Valladolid | Castilla y León | Spain
|
2017 | ||
References[]
- ^ Renzi, Daniel (2020-01-29). "10 of the world's best queer film festivals". www.gaycities.com. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ "the big queer film festival list". www.queerfilmfestivals.org. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ Coleman, Ryan (2021-02-15). "20 Fantastic LGBTQ+ Film Festivals Around the Globe". MovieMaker Magazine. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ Webb, Daisy (2019-06-08). "Queer fests: The best LGBTQI indie film festivals". Film Daily. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ Webb, Daisy (2018-02-18). "Queer here: The very best LGBTQI indie film festivals". Film Daily. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ Loist, Skadi (2016). "Crossover Dreams: Global Circulation of Queer Film on the Film Festival Circuits". Diogenes: 1–16. doi:10.1177/0392192115667014.
- ^ Richards (2016), p. 8.
- ^ Richards, Stuart James (2016). The Queer Film Festival. Popcorn and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-137-59034-3.
- ^ Jeff Ewing, "Major LGBTQ Film Festivals Partner To Create The ‘North American Queer Festival Alliance’ (NAQFA)". Forbes, June 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Rosanna Flamer Caldera (12 June 2017). "Colombo PRIDE: Challenge and Change". Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- ^ "Damn These Heels". Archived from the original on 2018-07-15. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
- ^ "Vilniaus LGBT festivalis "Kreivės" – jau po dviejų savaičių". 15min.lt. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
- ^ "Vilniaus queer festivalis "Kreivės"". renginiai.kasvyksta.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2018-06-13.
- ^ SiQRD. "Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival". www.ljudmila.org. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
- ^ "Europe's oldest gay and lesbian film festival". www.visitljubljana.com. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
- ^ "'Exciting, ambitious' Muskoka Queer Film Festival on tap". Orillia Matters, March 6, 2021.
- ^ OutLove International Film Festival
- ^ Outview Film Festival
- ^ Maimunah (18 October 2008). "Indonesia's Q! Film Festival". Inside Indonesia. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "About Us - WHO WE ARE". Q! Film Festival. 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "San Francisco Transgender Film Festival - About Us". San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ Michael Rinaldi (16 February 2017). "New Shanghai Queer Film Festival to launch this September". Time Out Shanghai. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- ^ https://www.shpride.com/films
- ^ "About US". Wicked Queer. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
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