Browse Films
Thursday Feb 12
Jimpa
Award winners Olivia Colman and John Lithgow star in this uplifting multi-generational family story from acclaimed filmmaker Sophie Hyde.
Friday Feb 13
Pillion
An impossibly handsome biker (Alexander Skarsgård) takes a directionless wallflower (Harry Melling) on as his submissive, in a kinky “dom-com”.
Skiff
A gifted rower develops unexpected feelings for her brother’s new girlfriend, in this wind-brushed coming-of-age drama capturing the intensity of first love.
Gay Shorts
Featuring Zane Phillips (Fire Island) as the son of a diva muppet, these short films explore gay life in all its facets, from the ridiculous to the heartfelt.
Saturday Feb 14
Second Nature
Narrated by Elliot Page, this engaging documentary is about the scientists studying the diversity of gender and sexuality in the animal world.
Panel: Problematic Faves
A humorous, interactive panel that will unpack the films and TV that still have a hold on our queer hearts, even if they're now deemed “problematic”.
In Conversation with Sophie Hyde
Acclaimed Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde will sit down for a wide-ranging discussion about her storied career and creative process.
The Best Friend
Featuring bright and catchy ‘80s-style tunes, this frothy, feel-good musical rom-com about reuniting with an old crush is a true crowd-pleaser.
Nova & Alice
When waning pop star Alice and rising singer-songwriter Nova are forced into a joint tour, their on-stage rivalry develops into a love affair.
Night Stage
An actor and a politician struggle to keep their secret affair hidden, in this bold and playful erotic thriller that embraces voyeurism and spectacle.
Sunday Feb 15
Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds
The second part of a labyrinthine post-modern trans epic, from underground Canadian filmmaker Louise Weard, amassed a cult following.
The Little Sister
The Queer Palm and Best Actress (Nadia Melliti) winner at Cannes, this subtle drama traces a young Muslim woman’s path between faith and self-discovery.
Plainclothes
Back by popular demand after opening QSFF25, Russell Tovey (Looking) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games) star in this tense romantic thriller.
Monday Feb 16
A Good Child
A tender and heartfelt comedy-drama about a glamorous drag queen caring for his mother, from Singaporean director ONG Kuo Sin (Number 1).
Indigenous Queer Shorts
Centring the lives of Indigenous queer people from across the globe, these films celebrate LGBTIQ+ Aboriginal, Māori, Samoan and First Nations voices.
Amantes
An interconnected group of lesbians navigate their desires and fears in Paris, in this charming and romantic French answer to The L Word.
Fatherhood
A gay throuple – including the first pregnant trans man in Norway – prepare for impending fatherhood in this warm and observant documentary.
Drunken Noodles
Lucio Castro (End of the Century) returns with a very different sensuous drama, shaped by art, desire and chance encounters that blur time itself.
Tuesday Feb 17
QueerDOC Shorts
Gay male nuns, lesbian custody battles, trans surfers and the bond between a sperm donor and his child are the subjects of just some of these documentaries.
Pillion
An impossibly handsome biker (Alexander Skarsgård) takes a directionless wallflower (Harry Melling) on as his submissive, in a kinky “dom-com”.
Dreamers
Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ delivers a luminous and deeply affecting performance as a queer Nigerian asylum seeker detained in a UK asylum centre.
Queer Comedy Shorts
This selection of shorts will make you laugh, finding humour in sibling relationships, first crushes, mean gays and even racial profiling. Featuring Cathy Moriarty.
Queen of Coal
A trans woman overcomes bigotry to become the first woman to work in the Patagonian coal mines, in this rousing drama based on true events.
The Last First Time
Erotically charged and alive with unspoken longing, The Last First Time is a raw, immersive portrait of a young man on the brink of becoming.
Wednesday Feb 18
3670
A gay North Korean defector arrives in Seoul, hiding his sexuality from his fellow defectors as he navigates a new life and the city’s queer spaces.
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
In 1950s Yugoslavia, celebrated filmmakers face surveillance and persecution as queer lives and artistic freedom collide in this sweeping historical drama.
Love and Other Catastrophes
A 30th anniversary screening of the recently remastered Aussie classic about chaotic student life, starring Frances O’Connor and Radha Mitchell.
Bouchra
A 35 year-old queer Moroccan filmmaker in New York reflects on how her sexuality has shaped her relationship with her mother in Casablanca.
Jimpa
Award winners Olivia Colman and John Lithgow star in this uplifting multi-generational family story from acclaimed filmmaker Sophie Hyde.
On the Sea
A gruff, burly mussel farmer is forced into close proximity with a ruggedly handsome skipper, in this sweaty, salt-weathered romantic drama.
Thursday Feb 19
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut in this visceral adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s best-selling memoir, starring Imogen Poots.
The Serpent's Skin
Alice Maio Mackay’s sixth feature is witchy, ferocious and defiantly trans, blending occult horror with coming-of-age vulnerability.
I Was Born This Way
Lady Gaga and Billy Porter feature in this joyful documentary celebrating the life of Carl Bean, singer of gay anthem “I Was Born This Way”.
Girlfriends
Poetically tracing the journey from adolescence to adulthood, Girlfriends offers up an artful triptych of love stories in a woman’s life.
QueerScream Shorts
From the weird and wonderful, to the surreal and strange, through to the genuinely frightening, this eclectic package of queer genre films is a real scream.
Friday Feb 20
High Art
Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell star in Lisa Cholodenko’s award-winning debut, a landmark of ‘90s indie cinema and a modern queer classic.
Queens of the Dead
An eclectic group of drag queens and club kids must battle the undead when the zombie apocalypse breaks out, in this laugh-out-loud comedy.
Tiger
An erotic and provocative portrait of Japan’s hidden gay subculture, following a gay masseuse drifting through parlours, bathhouses and the adult film industry.
Drone
A mysterious drone appears outside a student’s Parisian window, turning surveillance into obsession and control in this sleek techno-thriller.
Bi+ Shorts
Bi, pan, fluid, queer – those attracted to more than one gender take centre stage in this inclusive package about finding acceptance at any age.
Saturday Feb 21
Row of Life
Executive-produced by Olympic gold medallist Sue Bird, Row of Life tells the remarkable story of Paralympian Angela Madsen's solo, unassisted row across the Pacific Ocean.
Night in West Texas
Forty years after a gay Apache man was framed for the murder of a priest, long-buried evidence is uncovered that could prove his innocence.
Perro Perro
Festival favourite Marco Berger (The Astronaut Lovers, QSFF24) returns with a gently absurd, homoerotic fable where “man’s best friend” is literally a man.
Love Me Tender
Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) gives a tour de force performance as a mother separated from her son in this complex, deeply affecting drama.
Thesis on a Domestication
A famous trans actress balances her hedonistic lifestyle and public image in this compelling erotic melodrama, co-starring Alfonso Herrera (Sense8).
Hot Boys Shorts
From unexpected hook-ups to romantic rendezvous, things get hot and heavy in this collection of films. Featuring John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).
Truth or Dare
An evocative experimental documentary exploring queer sexuality, consent and belonging within Berlin’s sex-positive community.
Sunday Feb 22
Queer Comedy Shorts
This selection of shorts will make you laugh, finding humour in sibling relationships, first crushes, mean gays and even racial profiling. Featuring Cathy Moriarty.
Afternoon Delight: I Was Born This Way
A movie matinee, afternoon tea and intergenerational social gathering celebrating our older LGBTIQ+ community (plus friends and allies).
Live Commentary: Lesbian Space Princess
Filmmakers Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese join moderator Nina Oyama (Deadloch) to discuss the making of their award-winning film.
Industry Panel & Networking
Join us for a panel discussion with film professionals from here and abroad, followed by a chance to connect with other screen professionals.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
A rare animated film with a LGBTIQ+ lead, this sci-fi action comedy about embracing differences is chaotic fun for the whole rainbow family.
Four Mothers
Darren Thornton’s (A Date for Mad Mary, MGFF17) warm, sharply observed comedy about the bond between mother and gay son won the Audience Award at BFI London Film Festival.
If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile
This Teddy Jury Prize winner brilliantly captures those nascent years when someone first begins to question and explore their own identity.
Sapphic Shorts
From early sexual awakenings to late-in-life discoveries and everything in between, this collection of sapphic films features T’Nia Miller and Dominique Provost-Chalkley.
Rains Over Babel
A delirious, queer reframing of Dante’s Inferno as a neon-drenched tropical fantasy at the border between life and death, charged with punk spirit and camp spectacle.
We Are Faheem & Karun
A defiant queer romance set on the volatile Kashmir border, where two men risk everything to choose love over fear and division.
Monday Feb 23
Departures
After a break-up, Benji reflects on his doomed relationship with macho, closeted Jake in this darkly funny, emotionally charged anti-rom-com.
Girl for a Day
The extraordinary but little-known true story of Anne Grandjean, an intersex person subjected to public trial for the crime of falling in love in 18th century France.
My Queer Career: Australian Shorts
Don’t miss these eight films competing in My Queer Career, Australia’s richest LGBTIQ+ short film prize, with over $16K worth of prizes.
Trans & Gender Diverse Shorts
Spotlighting T4T romances, an attempted egg cracking and a luxury brand heist, these films showcase the varied lives of trans and gender diverse people.
Night Stage
An actor and a politician struggle to keep their secret affair hidden, in this bold and playful erotic thriller that embraces voyeurism and spectacle.
Tuesday Feb 24
Bearcave
Fresh off its premiere at Venice, this poetic genre-blending romantic odyssey is sparked by the love between two best friends in the rural Greek mountains.
A Useful Ghost
A Grand Prix winner at Cannes Critics’ Week, Thai superstar Davika Hoorne stars in this absurd, genre-defying comedy about a haunted vacuum.
Between Dreams and Hope
Visionary filmmaker Farnoosh Samadi drew on the Iranian LGBTIQ+ community’s real experiences to craft this tense yet poignant thriller.
Queer Comedy Shorts
This selection of shorts will make you laugh, finding humour in sibling relationships, first crushes, mean gays and even racial profiling. Featuring Cathy Moriarty.
Women Loving Women Shorts
These films, all about women in love, play out against the backdrop of women’s soccer, a holiday caravan park, a 1990s Melbourne sharehouse and the rodeo.
Wednesday Feb 25
Summer's Camera
A young lesbian teen accidentally stumbles upon photos of a man who was her father’s first love, in this sweet and tender coming-of-age tale.
A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint
Charting the rise of trailblazing performer and trans icon Miss Peppermint (RuPaul’s Drag Race), a turning point for trans representation.
The Little Sister
The Queer Palm and Best Actress (Nadia Melliti) winner at Cannes, this subtle drama traces a young Muslim woman’s path between faith and self-discovery.
The Naked Civil Servant
Marking its 50th anniversary, John Hurt stars as Quentin Crisp, who made the bold decision to be openly gay in 1930s and ‘40s England.
Maspalomas
A sun-drenched gay paradise gives way to clinical corridors and quiet closets in this poignant, late-in-life reckoning with freedom and desire.
Thursday Feb 26
She's the He
Full of over-the-top humour with an authentic heart, She’s the He is a bold reinvention of the high school teen comedy, joyfully reframed through a much-needed queer and trans lens.