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Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival – Fairytales Presentation Society is a not-for-profit, charitable organization located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, focusing on celebrating local and national queer artists of all artistic mediums including but not limited to film. Our artistic endeavors strive to provide a safe and respectful venue for members of all communities to celebrate queer culture.  While the term queer often refers to people who are LGBTTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit and questioning), Fairytales understands queer to also include those who subscribe to culturally, politically, artistically, and otherwise alternative and innovative ways of contributing to society. We see queer as a vista, a way of looking at the world differently- with an eye towards diversity, criticality and inclusion. Calgary, Canada.

Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival 2015

Fairy Tales adds a dynamic flare to Calgary’s cultural offerings while improving upon the city’s national and international reputation as an accepting destination, having a positive impact on residents of Calgary and on tourism.

The Fairy Tales Presentation Society is best known for our annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival, celebrating films made by and/or about the LGBTTQA and Queer communities. Since 1999, The Festival has attracted over 14,000 patrons. We present over 25 entertaining and thought provoking films of all genres that otherwise may not be presented in Calgary. Our innovative programming ensures that film leaps from the screen to the lived experience, through panels, Q&As and other related events. We show local, national and international work with opportunities for filmmakers, audiences and emerging audiences to engage, network and grow.

Fairy Tales also delivers the year-round OUTReels Diversity Education Program. OUTReels provides diversity education to the communities around Calgary by using filmmaking and other art forms as educational vehicles. Screenings have included: Miscellaneous Youth Group, Queers on Campus, Alliance to End Violence, Calgary Public Library (Fish Creek, Central and Louise Reily branches), Hillhurst United Church, and St. Stephen’s Anglican Church. OUTReels features films that generate conversations on topics such as bullying, the intersection between religion and sexuality, queer history and the global struggle for human rights worldwide.

In 2011, Fairy Tales also launched two new programs: Q the Arts, and the Youth Queer Media Program (YQMP). The YQMP mentors youth in creating a first film, video or animation addressing issues faced by Queer Youth today. Each year, YQMP work is elegible to be selected as part of the YQMP screening Gala, held as part of the annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival anually. Q the Artsbegan as an annual festival event at the Arrata Centre in March 2011, showcasing queer artists through performance, music, spoken word, and visual arts. The program has developed into our community partnership program, where we join forces with other organizations throughout the year to present exciting cinematic and queer focused events.

The Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival began in 1999, under the umbrella of the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), and was incorporated January 30, 2004, as the FairyTales Presentation Society. In 2006 we also gained federal charitable status, and at the time we were largely a volunteer-run organization.

Since then, our society has moved forward, currently being lead by a governance board, with staff epxaning from one to three permanent positions in since 2008. Fairy Tales also relies on our many dedicated volunteers, community members and organizations, as well as festival and event contract staff throughout the year. Fairy Tales programming has more than doubled since 1999, significantly growing in length, with the festival now featuring over 70 works of various genres and lengths, Q&A’s and panels.

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