Vancouver Queer Film Festival Announces Full Lineup

Out On Screen announces the full lineup for the 38th annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF). Returning to theatres across Vancouver from September 10–20, before streaming September 21–27.

2SLGBTQIA+ From Around The Globe

Featuring 87 feature-length and short films by 2SLGBTQIA+ creators from around the world, alongside parties, filmmaker Q&As, workshops, and community events, this year’s Festival invites audiences to discover stories by us, for us through the theme A Seat at the Table.

Inspired by the breathtaking festival artwork created by local Black queer artists Odera Igbokwe and Tolu Ayoka. This year’s theme celebrates belonging, generosity, and the many ways queer communities gather to nourish one another. Across every screening and event, A Seat at the Table asks audiences to imagine what becomes possible when everyone is welcomed to participate in shaping our collective future.

Opening the Festival is ECOSYSTEMS NOT EMPIRES, a bold collection of seven short films envisioning queer futures rooted in care, kinship, and collective liberation. The Festival’s Centerpiece Presentation, APOLO, is an intimate documentary following Brazilian trans couple Isis Broken and Lourenzo Gabriel as they navigate an unexpected pregnancy, followed by a special post-screening Q&A. The Festival concludes with the Closing Presentation, GUGU’S WORLD, a heartwarming portrait of unconditional love as a young queer boy tends to the onset of his grandma’s Alzheimer’s in secret.

Highlights of the Festival

The 2026 programme features celebrated performers alongside exciting new voices in queer cinema.

Highlights include:

KILORAN BAY, starring Alan Cumming
First Death, featuring Kimia Behpoornia, Dylan Mulvaney, and Vic Michaelis
BEBA FROM 5 TO 9, starring Emmy Award winner Michaela Jaé Rodriguez
TEST, featuring Matthew Morrison and Brock Yurich
AGAIN AGAIN, starring House of the Dragon actor Abigail Thorn and executive produced by Lilly Wachowski.

Returning for its 26th year, The Coast Is Queer remains one of VQFF’s signature showcases, celebrating the remarkable breadth of 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmaking in British Columbia. Since 2000, the beloved annual shorts programme has championed regional stories of love, legacy, humour, resistance, and liberation across documentary, animation, drama, and experimental film. This year’s programme includes work from acclaimed local filmmaker/actors Jess McLeod (Normal, The Audacity) and Johnny Wu (Joy Ride), alongside a vibrant collection of emerging BC voices.

This year’s programming was curated with a commitment to expanding the table rather than narrowing it; bringing together films that challenge, delight, provoke, and connect while reflecting the richness and complexity of queer lives across generations, identities, and borders.

“As Out On Screen enters this next chapter, we’re proud that this year’s festival reflects not only the stories we want to share, but also the way we want to work together,” says Out On Screen’s Shared Leadership Team: Eli Morris (Strategy & Programs), fanny kearse (Development & Communications), and Piper Fawkes (Operations & Finance). “Our shared leadership model is rooted in collaboration, care and accountability, and A Seat at the Table embodies those same values. We believe queer storytelling flourishes when leadership is shared, when many perspectives shape the conversation, and when communities are invited not just to watch, but to belong.”

SOURCE: queerfilmfestival.ca