The 32nd Vancouver Queer Film Festival has adapted to an online format to offer at-home audiences the best in independent queer cinema experience. VQFF will include workshops, artist Q&As, panels, watch parties and – most importantly – the feeling of gathering with friends and kin.
Out On Screen presents a digital Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF), Vancouver’s second-largest film festival and the largest queer arts event in Western Canada, which will run online this summer from August 13 to August 23.
New Interim Executive Director, Brandon Yan said “In times like these, the importance of art and storytelling is even more apparent. We must remain committed to being a platform to uplift and celebrate the LGBT2Q+ stories at the margins.”
VQFF’s 2020 theme is ‘Still Here”, chosen to demonstrate that survival is an inevitable miracle. You can look forward to films and interdisciplinary programming from queer filmmakers and artists whose work illuminates and celebrates LGBTQ2+ lives in all their dimensions and complexity.
The Festival’s Centrepiece Gala film is Lingua Franca, an ambitious feature film that follows a trans Filipina migrant as she navigates being undocumented in a Trump-era America. The film is written, directed by and stars trans actress Isabel Sandoval, who will join audiences virtually to discuss the film in a digital Q&A.
VQFF will once again feature a variety of youth-focused programming, including a Youth Gala screening of the inspirational documentary Changing The Game, which follows three boundary-breaking young trans athletes changing the face of sports in their communities and across the United States.
The Festival will continue to celebrate B.C.’s most standout emerging and established filmmakers with Festival favourite, The Coast is Queer – an evening dedicated to local talent.
Finally, this year’s VQFF will close with the heartwarming queer Muslim romantic comedy, Breaking Fast, directed by Mike Mosallam.
Full programing and tickets are available now from queerfilmfestival.ca.
