BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and lesbian films at the National Film Theatre for two years, under the title "Gay's Own Pictures", curated by Peter Packer of the Tyneside Cinema. It was renamed the 'London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival' in 1988. Having been a two-week festival for many years, the festival was shortened to a week in 2011, then increased to 10 days in 2012. The events name change to BFI Flare occurred in 2014. On its 30th anniversary, screenings attendance at BFI Flare was up 9% and box-office results surpassed the previous, record-breaking year. Audiences at all events and screenings over the eleven-day festival totalled 25,623 in 2016. Additional programming under the BFI Flare tag is available at throughout the year.
Philadelphia QFest was founded in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. It was not until 2009 when the festival was given its current name, QFest. One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymond Murray, stays true to QFest's mission to give gay and lesbian audiences the opportunity to see films that accurately reflect their life experiences without the filter of the "straight" Hollywood system.
NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival put on by The New Festival, Inc., is one of the most comprehensive forums of national and international LGBT film/video in the world.
The Inside Out Film and Video Festival is an annual Canadian film festival, which presents a program of LGBT-related film. The festival is staged in both Toronto and Ottawa.
New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The LGBT-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBT community, LGBT rights are protected by the New Zealand Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBT community, with well attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.
Reel Affirmations (RA) is a non-profit, all-volunteer LGBT film festival in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1991 and held every year in mid-October, as of 2011 Reel Affirmations was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the United States. Baltimore's Gay Life newspaper called it "one of the top three films festivals for the entire LGBT community." A 2007 guidebook claims it was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the world. A listing of LGBT film festivals claims it is the largest all-volunteer film festival in the world.
"Side by Side" Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival is an international film festival that seeks to explore the issues of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender (LGBT) through art cinema. Since 2008 it has taken place every autumn in Russia, in Saint Petersburg. In addition, various special events are held almost every month, and since 2009 film showings and discussions have also been conducted in other parts of Russia.
The Milwaukee LGBT Film & Video Festival takes place every fall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The festival was established in 1987 and is presented by the Film Department in the Peck School of the Arts of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM). Opening night and centerpiece gala screenings take place at the Oriental Theatre located on the East Side of Milwaukee. In 2018 the format of the festival changed to provide screenings throughout the year instead of the concentrated 11 day format primarily screened athe UW Milwaukee Union Theatre.
The GAZE International LGBT Film Festival Dublin is an annual film festival which takes place in Dublin, Ireland each Bank Holiday weekend in late July and early August. Since 1992, it has become Ireland's largest LGBT film event, and the country's biggest LGBT gathering outside of Dublin Pride.
L.A. Zombie is a 2010 gay pornographic zombie horror film written and directed by Bruce LaBruce. It premiered in competition at Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland in 2010. The film exists in two versions, a 63-minute cut version showcased at various festivals and theatres and a 103-minute directors cut DVD release containing hardcore gay pornography not seen in the cut version.
The Out In Africa South African Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (OIA) is a gay and lesbian film festival launched in 1994 to celebrate the inclusion, in the South African Constitution, of the clause prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. The Festival set out to address the lack of visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex individuals (LGBTIs) in South African social and cultural life after decades of apartheid repression, to counter negative images of LGBTIs that prevail in traditional and religious communities, and to serve as a platform for discussion and debate about the situation of LGBTIs in a newly founded democracy.
Out in the Silence is a 2009 documentary film directed by Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer. It chronicles the chain of events that occur when the severe bullying of a gay teenager draws Wilson and his partner back to the conservative rural community of Oil City, Pennsylvania where their own same-sex wedding announcement had previously ignited a controversy. The film focuses on the widely varying, emotional reactions of the town's residents including the teenager and his mother, the head of the local chapter of the American Family Association, and an evangelical pastor and his wife.
Minsk Pride — gay pride in Minsk (Belarus). This is a festival in support of tolerance for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in Belarus.
ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival (ShPFF), is an annual LGBT film festival held in Shanghai, China. It was first established in 2015.
Beijing Queer Film Festival (BJQFF),, is an LGBT film festival, held annually in Beijing, the capital city of the People's Republic of China. It was the first LGBT film festival to be established in mainland China, founded in 2001 by the Chinese author and LGBT film director Cui Zi'en, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy.
&PROUD is a non-profit organization in Yangon, Myanmar, that organizes LGBTIQ art and culture events. &PROUD is best known for their yearly Yangon Pride festival, which takes place over two weekends at the end of January. The festival includes &PROUD LGBTIQ Film Festival, which usually occurs during the second weekend. In addition, there is an 'On The Road' programme that takes film screenings to other towns, cities and universities around Myanmar.
Sisak (2017) is the First Indian Silent LGBTQ Love Story in the format of a short film, starring Jitin Gulati and Dhruv Singhal. It is written and directed by Faraz Arif Ansari and is billed as India’s first silent queer love story. The trailer was launched by Sonam Kapoor on 30 January on Twitter. It has won 59 international awards at various film festivals.
Leitis In Waiting is a 2018 feature-length documentary about transgender rights in Tonga. It was produced and directed by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. The filmmakers previously explored trans rights in the Pacific in their films Kumu Hina and A Place in the Middle.
The Queer North Film Festival is an annual film festival in Sudbury, Ontario, which presents an annual program of LGBT film. Presented by the Sudbury Indie Cinema Coop, the festival was staged for the first time in 2016. The same organization also stages the city's Junction North International Documentary Film Festival.
