An LGBTQ film festival or queer film festival is a specialized film festival that has an LGBTQ focus in its selection of films. LGBTQ film festivals often screen films that would struggle to find a mainstream audience and are often activist spaces for awareness-raising around LGBTQ rights as well as for community building among queer communities.
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 LGBTQ focus is the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco, which was established in 1977. 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.Richards (2016), p. 8.
LGBTQ 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).
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.Jeff Ewing, "Major LGBTQ Film Festivals Partner To Create The 'North American Queer Festival Alliance' (NAQFA)". Forbes, June 17, 2020.
List
NameLocationEstablished 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 LGBTQ film festival in the South Asian region, and the only LGBTQ film festival in Sri Lanka.Amor FestivalSantiago Chile2016 Aomori International LGBTQ 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 FestivalCancúnMexicoCinegailesASTGijónSpain2006 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 2012CINEMQShanghaiShanghai