US LGBTQ Film Festivals

International Directory of Lesbian & Gay Film and Video Festivals

Seasons of Pride is pleased to offer this LGBT Film Festival directory as a resource to help make connections between audiences, film/video makers, and festival programmers.

 LGBT Film Festival Calendar

Jan – Mar | Apr – Jun | Jul – Sept | Oct – Dec

Feel free to email updates, corrections or add festival dates

California

• Cinema Diverse! Palm springs LGBTQ Film Festival – dedicated to presenting the best in LGBT Cinema.
• Frameline San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival – Founded in 1977, the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival is the longest-running, largest and most widely recognized LGBTQ film exhibition event in the world. As a community event with an annual attendance of 63,000, the Festival is the most prominent and well-attended LGBTQ arts program in the Bay Area. Frameline also presents year-round exhibitions, including Frameline Encore, a free film series highlighting diverse, socially relevant works. Year-round programs also include members-only sneak previews and special events, as well as special screenings and events featuring directors, actors and other queer media icons.
• Fresno Reel Pride: An Annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – Every year, it is our goal to bring a wide array of LGBTQ cinema and entertainment home to the Central Valley.
• OUTFEST: Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – Founded by UCLA students in 1982, Outfest is the leading organization that promotes LGBT equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. Outfest builds community by connecting diverse populations to discover, discuss and celebrate stories of LGBT lives. Over the past three decades, Outfest has showcased thousands of films from around the world, educated and mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers and protected more than 20,000 LGBT films and videos.
• OUTrageous: The Santa Barbara Lesbian & Gay Film Festival – OUTrageous provides a diverse selection of films that entertain, challenge, and educate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered communities. OUTrageous also provides filmmakers with opportunities to screen their work that might not otherwise be seen locally.
• SF Transgender Film Festival – The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival was founded in 1997 as North America’s first transgender film festival. We exhibit groundbreaking, provocative, outrageous, courageous, moving and innovative works that show the complexity of lives lived on the transgender spectrum.

Florida

• MiFo LGBT FILM FEST – The MiFo LGBT Film Festival, a critically acclaimed event, has two film festivals per year: Miami in April and Fort Lauderdale in October. This year we have combined the names of the Miami and Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festivals into MiFo.
• Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – The Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) was founded in 1990 as a three-day extension of Tampa’s gay pride celebrations by representatives of three LGBT organizations: The Tampa Bay Business Guild (TBBG), the Bay Area Human Rights Coalition, and the Tampa Bay Gay Men’s Chorus. Over the course of its first decade the film festival was a fundraising event for a number of local non-profit groups, eventually falling under the umbrella of Tampa Bay Arts.

Hawaii

• Honolulu “RAINBOW” Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – the HRFF is one of the longest-running and well-respected Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) film festivals in the country. The festival has presented hundreds of documentaries, feature films, shorts and animations from around the world, with special consideration given to Hawai’i-based filmmakers. The HRFF has an excellent reputation in the film festival community and has been the venue for both U.S. and world film premieres.

Illinois

• Chicago Underground Film Festival – Founded in 1993, The Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) is a year-round organization dedicated to the work of film and video makers with defiantly independent visions. Unlike many other “independent” film events our goal is not to imitate old guard, market-driven events such as Sundance but Instead to focus on the artistic, aesthetic and fun side of independent filmmaking. CUFF promotes works that dissent radically in form, content and technique from both the tired conventions of Hollywood and the increasingly stagnant IndieWood mainstream.

Massachusetts –

• Wicked Queer: Boston LGBT Film Festival – From comedy and drama to documentary and fiction, discover an array of vibrant films that speak to the depth and variety of queer experience. The Boston LGBT Film Festival provides an opportunity for film lovers of every gender and sexual identity to be united by the moving image, as we celebrate the medium’s capacity to create empathy and understanding across cultural boundaries.
• Provincetown International Film Festival – The Provincetown Film Society (PFS) first started out as the Provincetown Film Festival (PIFF) in 1999 as a means to attract economic development to the town during the shoulder month of June. Since then, the festival has attracted millions of dollars to the town and has become one of the country’s preeminent film festivals. It presents a diverse array of American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films, while highlighting the unique attributes of Provincetown’s rich and diverse history as an arts colony, Portuguese fishing village, gay and lesbian mecca, and a town first inhabited by Native Americans.

Missouri

• Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – Join in our 17th Season Celebrating the Diverse Richness of LGBT Stories on Screen. June 23-30 at the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport.

New York

• Annual Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – The Festival showcases a monthly “Out at the Movies” series and a Film Festival in November. It is Long Island’s largest LGBT arts event. We are a 501c3 arts charity and are committed to bringing quality LGBT film to Long Island.
• Image Out – Rochester’s LGBT Film Fest. ImageOut presents LGBT arts and cultural experiences showcasing films, other creative works and artists to promote awareness, foster dialogue and build community.
• MIX: The New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film and Video Festival – MIX NYC  is the nonprofit home of the New York Queer Experimental Film Festival, the longest-running queer film festival in New York City and a decisive launching pad for emerging talents—including some of the best-known names in cinema today. Over the years, the festival has debuted early works from such important artists as Todd Haynes, Jennie Livingston, Miranda July, Gus Van Sant, Barbara Hammer, Isaac Julien, Christine Vachon, Jonathan Caouette, and many others.

North Carolina

• North Carolina Annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival -The North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival (NCGLFF) is the second largest gay, lesbian and transgender film festival in the Southeast, attracting thousands of patrons yearly. Since its beginning in 1995, the Festival has featured a diverse array of shorts, documentaries, and feature films. The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau named the NCGLFF a Signature Event for Durham, the highest honor bestowed on a cultural event or attraction by the organization. The NCGLFF celebrates a worldwide glimpse of today’s gay, lesbian and transgender life, helps bring the community together and features entertaining and sophisticated films and filmmaking.

Ohio 

• Stonewall Columbus LGBT Fest – Part of the Columbus International Video and Film Festival.

Pennsylvania

• ReelQ – Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival – The Pittsburgh Lesbian and Gay Film Festival provides a unique cultural event in the tri-state region designed to support LGBT artists and to provide an educational and entertaining cultural outlet for the LGBT community.

Texas

• Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival – aGLIFF- The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival – was founded in 1987 and became a 501(c)3 in 1995. This year we celebrate 29 years of programming for the Austin community. aGLIFF has grown tremendously in size and scope from a short four-day run of four films primarily focused on coming out and AIDS to a multifaceted nonprofit organization with year-round community programs culminating in our annual film festival program with over 100 films depicting a myriad of issues across cultures, race, immigration status, class, gender identity and expression, age, and religion.
• Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – The Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is a non-profit organization that exists to promote the media arts as a powerful tool for communication and cooperation among diverse communities by presenting films, videos, and programs by, about, or of interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. You may have learned that our reach has recently broadened to include sister organizations overseas, but there are still many countries in which the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community is still demonized. All you have to do is looked at the news from Russia and the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government.
• Q Cinema: Fort Worth’s Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival – QCinema is Fort Worth’s source for the best in gay and lesbian film. Founded in 1998 by Shawn Moore and Todd Camp, QCinema’s early origins included occasional community screenings and a film discussion group at Texas Christian University before Moore suggested that it be expanded into a full-fledged, four-day festival in July of 1999. It has since evolved to become the presenter of a year-round series of events including monthly film screenings, live programs, fund-raisers and, of course, our annual film festival, now in its 18th year.

Washington

• Reel Affirmations: International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – over 40 Stunning films from 6 different continents.

Wisconsin

• Milwaukee Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival – Presenting regional premieres of films by, for, and about the LGBT+ community, the 31st Annual Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival will be illuminating local screens starting on Opening Night on October 12 and then continuing October 14-23, unspooling narrative features, documentaries, short films, experimental work, presentations from visiting artists, and more!

US LGBTQ Film Festivals

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