Industry: Pitch Competition

🌟 Pitch, Please! VQFF’s first-ever pitch competition! 🌟

Get ready for an afternoon of bold ideas, fierce storytelling, and unforgettable voices. For the very first time, the Vancouver Queer Film Festival is hosting a national pitch competition where 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmakers from across Canada present their original narrative concepts to a panel of esteemed industry judges.

One visionary storyteller will walk away with a game-changing prize pack—including the creative and production support needed to bring their project to life. This is your chance to witness the future of queer cinema in the making, cheer on emerging and mid-career filmmakers, and be part of the energy as stories that reflect the depth, diversity, and dynamism of our communities take center stage.

Don’t miss this electrifying new addition to VQFF—where the next big queer story could be born right before your eyes.

The winning project will receive:

• Story Editing Mentorship with Lark Productions
• 3 Days of Studio Space at Cracked Compass Media ($3000 value)
• Prize package from K & K Casting
• Director Mentorship
• Test Screening with VQFF’s Programming team
• Guaranteed public screening at a future VQFF

The judges for the VQFF Pitch Competition are: award-winning Indigenous (Cree-Métis) director and screenwriter Asia Youngman, and Co-founder & Chief Content Officer for Revry TV Christopher J. Rodriguez. 

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The five finalist projects for the inaugural VQFF Pitch Competition are as follows:

Pretty Boy$

Peihwen J. Tai, Hannah Yang, Ronald Lee – short film

Logline: In the glittering but suffocating world of a K-pop-inspired boy band, two closeted idols in their late 20s struggle between desire and survival when they fall for each other, forcing them to confront the exploitative machinery of the industry and their need for freedom.

Astronomical Bodies

Melanie Jones, Kristyn Stilling – short film

Logline: Nonbinary passenger Petra is adrift in an escape pod with no propulsion capabilities. As time passes and ship rations start to run out, Petra must convince the onboard AI to ignore its programming in order to die peacefully.

Orpheus

Helen Shen, Xintong Hong – short film

Logline: Orpheus is an experimental sci-fi surrounding a young physicist in a future world, embarking on a journey to bring her late wife back from death through cross-dimensional travel.

Vigil

Lora Campbell – proof of concept for a feature film

Logline: Vigil is an intimate, naturalistic short film exploring grief, chosen family, and the painful transition into orphanhood as a transgender child estranged from bio fam.

Aking Parol (My Lantern)

King Louie Palomo, Paean “Yap” Sabangan – short film

Logline: In 1994, in a close-knit Filipino-Canadian community, a young boy’s painstakingly crafted Christmas parol transforms from a beacon of welcome into a ritual of release when the father he awaits fails, once again, to return home.