List of LGBTQ film festivals

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

An LGBTQ 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.^{[ citation needed ]}

The first LGBTQ-focused film festivals were organized in the United States as part of the awakening LGBTQ 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. ^[4] Until the 1990s, LGBTQ 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. ^[5]

LGBT film festivals use different labels to promote their focus on LGBTQ 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). ^[6]

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 LGBTQ film. ^[7]

List

Name	Location			Established	Notes
	City or cities	State, province or region	Country
Cinema Queer México	Mexico	CDMX , Chihuahua, Michoacán, Yucatán, Querétaro	Mexico	2018
&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, [8] and the only LGBT film festival in Sri Lanka. [8]
Amor Festival	Santiago		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	2015 LOVE QUEER CINEMA WEEK (BJQFF)
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
Utah Queer Film Festival	Salt Lake City	Utah	United States	2003	Longest-running LGBTQ film festival in the Mountain West. [9] Formerly known as Damn These Heels LGBTQ Film Festival. [10]
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
East London LGBTQ+ Film Festival	London	East London	United Kingdom	2023
Écrans mixtes	Lyon	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	France	2011
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
FACE à FACE	Saint-Étienne	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	France	2005
Fancinegay	Badajoz		Spain	1998
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
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 [11]
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	1995
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. [12] [13]
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 [14]	Europe's oldest gay and lesbian film festival [15]
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 [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/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	Fort Myers	Florida	United States	2020
Outview Film Festival	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
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, [17] and the first in a predominantly Muslim country. [18] It was established in 2002 and closed 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		[19]
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	Regensburg	Bavaria	Germany	2012
Queer Vision Film Festival	Bristol	South West England	United Kingdom
Queer Voices: NYC Film Festival	New York City	New York	United States	2023	Queer Voices: NYC is focused on centering and celebrating LGBTQIA+ filmmakers of color.
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 LGBTQIA+ Festival Internacional de Cinema	Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	1995	Originally 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 [20]	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; [21] 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. [22]
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" [23]
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 [24]
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. Loist, Skadi (2016). "Crossover Dreams: Global Circulation of Queer Film on the Film Festival Circuits". Diogenes: 1–16. doi:10.1177/0392192115667014.
5. Richards (2016), p. 8.
6. Richards, Stuart James (2016). The Queer Film Festival. Popcorn and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 5. ISBN   978-1-137-59034-3.
7. Jeff Ewing, "Major LGBTQ Film Festivals Partner To Create The 'North American Queer Festival Alliance' (NAQFA)". Forbes , June 17, 2020.
8. Rosanna Flamer Caldera (12 June 2017). "Colombo PRIDE: Challenge and Change". Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
9. "Damn These Heels". Archived from the original on 2018-07-15. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
10. Benensohn, Meagan (2024-05-09). "Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival is renamed to Utah Queer Film Festival". Utah Film Center. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
11. "Archive: Filmfest". homochrom.de (in German and English). Retrieved 2024-03-21.
12. "Vilniaus LGBT festivalis "Kreivės" – jau po dviejų savaičių". 15min.lt. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
13. "Vilniaus queer festivalis "Kreivės"". renginiai.kasvyksta.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2018-06-13.
14. SiQRD. "Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival". www.ljudmila.org. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
15. "Europe's oldest gay and lesbian film festival". www.visitljubljana.com. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
16. "'Exciting, ambitious' Muskoka Queer Film Festival on tap". Orillia Matters , March 6, 2021.
17. Maimunah (18 October 2008). "Indonesia's Q! Film Festival". Inside Indonesia. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
18. "About Us - WHO WE ARE". Q! Film Festival. 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
19. "Queer Film Festival" . Retrieved 12 July 2022.
20. "San Francisco Transgender Film Festival - About Us". San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
21. Michael Rinaldi (16 February 2017). "New Shanghai Queer Film Festival to launch this September". Time Out Shanghai. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
22. "上海骄傲电影节 | 上海骄傲节 ShanghaiPRIDE".
23. 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.
24. "About US". Wicked Queer. Retrieved 29 May 2020.