Chicago gay film festival
Queer Film Festivals to Bookmark
Are you a queer filmmaker ready to showcase your latest project?
In celebration of Pride Month, we’ve curated a list of essential queer film festivals to get you started. These festivals—from historic institutions to invigorating newcomers—are dedicated to celebrating and amplifying LGBTQIA+ voices in cinema.
Most queer production festivals now give virtual screening options alongside in-person events, so no matter where you’re based, you can participate with these communities.
Frameline
Dates: June 18–28,
No roundup of LGBTQ film festivals would be complete without Frameline—the longest-running homosexual film festival in the world.
Frameline has championed LGBTQIA+ cinema since and remains the only BAFTA-qualifying queer film festival on this list. They also work a nonprofit distribution program dedicated to LGBTQIA+ films.
Deadline entry date: December 4, (Earlybird), January 24, (Regular), February 14, (Late), March 5, (Extended).
Deadline entry fee: $35 (Earlybird), $50 (Regular), $70 (Late), and $85 (Extended). Discounts available fo
The Chicago Latino Film Festival kicks off its 41st edition next month and includes a handful of LGBTQ+-themed films.
The festival runs April with a program of 51 features and 30 short films hailing from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and the United States—and more than a third of the films are directed or co-directed by women.
This was part of a concerted effort among the programmers to make sure the festival reflects the diversity of the Latino community, said Pepe Vargas, executive director and founder of the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, which produces the fest.
“This year’s program is as diverse in its themes, genres and cinematic approaches as the countries they come from,” Vargas said.
Nearly all of the festival’s screenings will happen at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema, N. Clark St., aside from the opening and closing night programs at the Davis Theatre, N. Lincoln Ave., and the centerpiece presentation at Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St. Tickets are available on the Chicago Latino Film Festival website.
In addition
OutLook
Competing for the Q Hugo Award, these superbly crafted films reflect the myriad perspectives and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals.
OutLook
Baby
Marcelo Caetano | Brazil, France, Netherlands
Portuguese
Coming of Age, LGBTQ, Sex and Sexuality
A young gay male is taken under the wing of his older lover, finding excitement and empowerment in learning unused ways of surviving.
DocumentaryDocumentary CompetitionOutLook
Between Goodbyes
Jota Mun | Merged States
Korean, English, Dutch
Family Affairs, LGBTQ, Women Centered
A beautifully conceived and profoundly multilayered portrait of a Korean-born Dutch adoptee who reconnects with her birth parents after years of separation.
New Directors CompetitionOutLook
Cabo Negro
Abdellah Taïa | France, Morocco
Arabic, French
Drama, LGBTQ, Sex and Sexuality
Two young homosexual Moroccans seek refuge and human connection as they wait at a luxury villa for a wealthy American who is nowhere to