Vancouver Queer Film Festival Announces 2024 Industry Program & Visiting Artists

VANCOUVER, BC (September 5, 2024) –  The Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) has announced its Industry Programming as well as all artists who will be attending and performing this year. The Festival, which takes place across Vancouver from September 11-22, 2024, includes parties, performances, screenings and panels that celebrate the community and centre queer joy.

Industry highlights include four panels featuring local and international 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmakers: Queer Intimacy on Screen is a discussion with VQFF 2024 filmmakers and intimacy coordinators on depicting queer intimacy on screen; Nonbinary Creatives in Film is a panel featuring nonbinary artists from across the industry discussing how to create nonbinary characters and support nonbinary people in front of and behind the camera; in Levelling Up Your Projects four filmmakers share how they “levelled up” their projects and careers; and The Creation of ‘Layla’ is a discussion with the team from Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Layla about the making of the film. Layla premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year and is making its Canadian premiere screening as the closing night presentation at VQFF.

Industry panelists and moderators this year include two-time Canadian Screen Award nominated Indigiqueer director, writer and actor Mary Galloway (Querencia); Aryn Mott (Shogun) a queer, non-binary, neurodivergent Intimacy Coordinator, and Canada’s first Certified Mental Health Coordinator; Giselle Miller the writer/director of Vancouver’s first black queer web series Novelette is Trying; Amy Fox showrunner and co-creator of the first TV fictional series starring trans people in sitcom The Switch; Donia Kash, an agender multi-disciplinary performer and filmmaker; French documentary filmmaker Alexis Taillant, who is bringing his feature documentary If I Die, It’ll Be Of Love to the Festival this year; award-winning director and writer Alex Caulfield (What Comes Next); Panta Mosleh a queer Muslim Middle Eastern-Canadian director/writer; and Olivia Marie Golosky (pîķîwî) a Two-Spirit Michif writer/director. This year’s Festival boasts many more artists, speakers, industry experts and performers who will be in Vancouver to celebrate VQFF this year. 

A selection of directors attending the festival this year include screenwriter, director, drag queen, actor and author Amrou Al-Kadhi (Layla), Toronto-based filmmaker, writer and educator Laurie Townshend (A Mother Apart), filmmaker Regan Latimer with Bulletproof: A Lesbian’s Guide to Surviving the Plot, Tom Stuart with the Ben Wishaw starrer Good Boy and Ivan Leung, Harrison Xu and producer Noel Do-Murakami with their triple-meta film Extremely Unique Dynamic. And films and filmmakers with local connections in the shorts categories who will be attending include Hayley Morin (i’ll tell you when i’m ready), Taylor James (ILY, BYE), Romi Kim (The Birdhouse), Justin Ducharme (KIN.) Patrice Leung (12 Angry Lesbians), lisa g (artist / autist), Gabriel Souza Nunes (Passiflora), David Ng and Jen Sungshine  of Love Intersections with (Drag is for Everyone) and many more.

Actors and subjects from some of this year’s standout films who will be in Vancouver include British rising star Samuel Small (Game of Thrones) who plays ‘Max’ in Bonus Track, Two-spirited Black-Mi’kmaq comedian and filmmaker Janelle Nilles will be in attendance for Janelle Nilles: Inconvenient and is hosting the Closing Presentation screening, Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer writer, activist, and drag performer jaye simpson (Persephone Estradiol), who is featured in three short films  i’ll tell you when i’m ready, Passiflora and The Birdhouse all playing at this year’s Festival.

The VQFF Opening Night Party will be taking place at the Playhouse after the Opening Presentation: Closer and will include fabulous performances by Persephone Estradiol and Continental Breakfast (Chris Reed, cast of The Birdhouse), and music from DJ Bella. Other parties include  The Coast is Queer Reception, a casual networking social for filmmakers; the FUEGO/FOGO party co-produced with Vancouver Latin American Film Festival which will include voguing, DJs, gogo dancers and Brazilian batucada; and the Closing Party, one last star-studded dance party, featuring multi-talented local artists from this year’s VQFF films: drag performers SKIM (Romi Kim, director of The Birdhouse) and Maiden China (Kendell Yan, cast & editor of The Birdhouse), and DJs DJAMA (Aya Clappis, cast of KIN.) and Softieshan (Shanique Kelly, cast of The Birdhouse). Watch the show & dance the night away at The Birdhouse, the beloved local queer & trans-run DIY event space featured in a documentary in this year’s The Coast is Queer local shorts program.

All parties are free with tickets to related same-day screenings or ticketed at our regular sliding scale prices of $7-$17.

VQFF is pleased to offer 175 complimentary all-access Industry Passes to equity-deserving filmmakers, programmers, and students in related fields. This initiative, powered by Warner Bros. Discovery, aims to reduce financial barriers and improve access to networking, professional development, and community-building opportunities for 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmakers and students. We invite industry members and students who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled, BIPOC, or experiencing financial barriers to apply for an Industry Pass now.

VQFF thanks its generous partners for their support of our industry programming, including lead partner RBC Royal Bank; screening partners UBCP/ACTRA and the Canadian Media Producers Association, BC Producers Branch; premiere partners Canada Media Fund, Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and Telefilm Canada; festival supporters IATSE 891 and Vancouver Film Studios; and award partners Directors Guild of Canada BC, Panavision Vancouver, and Keslow Camera.

-30-

MORE INFORMATION:

Media Kit can be downloaded here.
Passes to VQFF are on sale now
More info and Festival images at the VQFF Press & Media page.
More info on VQFF Industry Panels & Parties. 

For ticketing details, including sliding scale pricing beginning at just $7, The complete festival lineup will be announced August 12, 2024. www.queerfilmfestival.ca

About Out On Screen

Out On Screen is a charitable organization that illuminates, celebrates, and transforms 2SLGBTQIA+ lives through film, education, and dialogue. We pursue our mission with two core programs: The annual Vancouver Queer Festival celebrates and promotes authentic authorship and representation that uplifts, empowers, and furthers the liberty, culture, and justice of 2SLGBTQIA+ people. The award-winning Out In Schools program brings age-appropriate 2SLGBTQIA+ cinema into school classrooms and communities across BC to combat homophobia, transphobia, and bullying, and to provide the language and tools for inclusion. Out On Screen is proud to be a leading organization working to create an equitable society where 2SLGBTQIA+ people are respected, valued, and protected across all our intersections of identity. 

www.outonscreen.com / Instagram /  Facebook / X / #VQFF2024

Media Requests:
Nicola Pender, Pender PR
m: 604.617.4807 / nicola@penderpr.com 
penderpr.com / @penderpr