We all need a little R&R now and then, especially once the winter rains set in. Why not plan the perfect getaway and support LGBT2Q+ representation?

The Fall Raffle – on now through November 16 – is the perfect way for you to relax and get away from it all while also supporting the work of Out In Schools and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. This year’s raffle includes four amazing travel packages including:

Grand Prize: Delta Air Lines Voucher – Valid for use on all flights booked at delta.com through August 1, 2019; some restrictions may apply.
[Valued at $2,000USD]

1st Runner Up: Gay Whistler Pride & Ski Festival Package including:
– 3 Nights at the Aava Whistler Hotel – Jan 24 – 27
– 2x Weekend Whistler Pride Passes – Thursday Night Throwback, Friday & Saturday Apres Ski, Friday Furrocious, Saturday Snowball
(winner responsible for transportation to and from Whistler)
[Valued at $1,350CAD]

2nd Runner Up: Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa Package including:
– 2 Nights’ Midweek stay in a Chinook Suite, Romance Suite or Orca Suite at Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa, including shuttle from and to the Comox airport
– Hydropath treatment for two at the Pacific Mist Spa in Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa
– Silver Round trip voucher for two between Vancouver and Comox on Pacific Coastal
(winner responsible for transportation to and from South Terminal at YVR Airport)
Valid through November 2019; conditions and some restrictions apply.
[Valued at $1,400CAD]

3rd Runner Up: 1 week’s luxury accommodations in BC’s Naramata Bench region – June 22 – 28, 2019
(sleeps 6; winner responsible for transportation)
[Valued at $2,000CAD]

Tickets are $50 each and there are just 200 tickets available! Proceeds will support the Out In Schools program as it works to create inclusive learning environments for youth across BC, and will also provide a platform for queer, trans, and two-spirit stories to be told on the big screen at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.

 

Tickets will be on-sale at this year’s Fall Gala. You can also contact our office to buy tickets through Friday, November 16.

 

Draw to take place at 10AM on Monday, November 19, 2019 at Out On Screen.
BC Gaming Event Licence #110006. Participants must be 19+.
Odds of winning the Grand Prize are 1 in 200. Know your limit, play within it.

We’re less than two weeks away from this year’s Fall Gala, the fabulous art auction and cocktail party supporting Out In Schools and the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. This year’s fundraising auction will feature works from local artists Jaik Puppyteeth, Christopher Tamas Kovacs, Michela Sorrentino, Ann Goldberg, and David Burdeny – do you have your tickets yet?

The 2018 Fall Gala is presented by TD Bank Group as part of a new three-year sponsorship of Out On Screen. The fundraiser will also feature performances by drag sensations Shay Dior, Maiden China, and Karmella Barr.

“Our Fall Gala represents the best of LGBT2Q+ communities, auctioning art to raise funds so we can showcase the finest in queer film,” says Executive Director Stephanie Goodwin. “It’s a contested time for queer, trans, and two-spirit communities across BC and globally. Art is a key medium for communicating not only the joy and celebration in LGBT2Q+ lives, but also for expressing political commentary.”

Political commentary is centred in many of the works in this year’s art auction, including the brilliantly evocative “In Gay We Trust” by New York-based, Montreal-born Nadine Faraj. The piece is a hallmark of Faraj’s lush, daring watercolour figurative work that reinterprets identity for an age when gender and sexuality is part of a more expansive and colourful spectrum. Alongside Faraj’s work, two smartly sassy comic illustrations by Jaik Puppyteeth, a social satirist with a LGBTQ comical and camp bent to his work, will be featured in addition to key pieces by David Burdeny, Anda Kubis, and Ann Goldberg. Regular contributor Stev’nn Hall, a Hamilton-based artist with a big solo show opening next month in Boston, has also donated a gorgeous waterlily mixed media piece to support the fundraiser to benefit Out In Schools.

“We’re facing unprecedented demand for our programming,” says Gavin Somers, Out In Schools’ Program Coordinator. Out In Schools is booked solid through to December 2018 and is already fielding requests for presentations and tours beyond the Lower Mainland into 2019. “We’re aiming to visit new school districts this year and the money raised at the Fall Gala will help us support those young people.”

Tickets for the November 3 event are just $50, but VIP tickets are available for $100. Premium ticket holders get early access to the venue for an intimate reception and the opportunity to set the opening bid for their choice pieces. Tickets are available online – get yours today!

    

Dear Out On Screen family,

The period immediately after the Vancouver Queer Film Festival is always a time of change and renewal for Out On Screen. So it is with love in our hearts that we say both thank you and farewell to one of our Co-Artistic Directors, Amber Dawn, and congratulate Anoushka Ratnarajah on her appointment as our Artistic Director moving forward.

Amber Dawn leaves us after having curated six Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) programs, first from 2009 to 2012, and then alongside Anoushka Ratnarajah in 2017 and 2018. During her most recent tenure, she and Anoushka brought to life an artistic vision that prioritized artistic excellence, representation of LGBT2Q+ identities and stories least seen and heard in film and media, and bringing the best filmmakers from around the world to VQFF audiences.

Amber Dawn leaves behind a legacy of programmatic excellence created with Anoushka, that includes initiating our Artist in Residence program; integrating multidisciplinary programs such as The Root at the 30^th VQFF; and initiating The Coast is Genderqueer, a shorts program exclusively focused on local films centering genderqueer identities.

Amber Dawn will be missed by our Festival audience and Out On Screen family alike. We wish Amber Dawn all the best as she continues to build upon her successful artistic and teaching practices. Her second novel, Sodom Road Exit, was released this year to critical acclaim and she continues to teach at the University of British Columbia.

Anoushka Ratnarajah continues on as Out On Screen’s Artistic Director and will helm the 31^st Vancouver Queer Film Festival. I, and the board of directors and staff, are excited for Anoushka to bring her singular artistic vision to life for Vancouver’s second largest film festival next August 15-25, 2019. In addition to being Out On Screen’s Artistic Director,  Anoushka is a writer, performer, and arts organizer. She works as a playwright, director and performer in theatre, and as an advocate for equitable representation in the arts in Canada.

Please join me in a loving farewell to Amber Dawn as we excitedly move forward with Anoushka Ratnarajah at the helm of the VQFF.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Goodwin

Get Ready to Celebrate!
The 30th Annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival is happening August 9 – 19 – mark your calendars now! This year, we’re also pleased to announce that RBC has come forward as our 30th Anniversary Presenting Sponsor, giving us the support we need to hold up our beautiful communities.

Check back with us mid-June for full film program and event information then watch for tickets to go on sale in early July.

Sign up for our Festival newsletter for exciting sneak peek details and to be one step ahead on the latest #VQFF2018 news.

We’re teaming up with Reel Youth and Love Intersections to offer the third year of the Troublemakers Film Project!

We’re looking for aspiring young filmmakers (ages 14 to 30) and experienced troublemakers (roughly ages 50+) to participate in this FREE 8-session program to capture our local queer, trans, and two-spirit histories.

Youth will get to build their storytelling and filmmaking skills as they partner with local LGBT2Q+ icons to tell their stories through portrait-style documentary short films.

We’ll premiere the films at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival in August!

This is an inclusive program and is open to all identities.

Full program details and applications for youth and seniors are available on the Reel Youth website.

This year we’re celebrating how far queer film has come and all the places stories can take us – to the moon and back.

Anoushka Ratnarajah and Amber Dawn worked with Amelia Sutjiadi from Artovermatter to capture the essence of this year’s theme. Amelia has previously designed the creative for the 2016 and 2017 festivals. Her graphic-pop style re-imagines last year’s iconic pink fist as two hands raised in celebration, outstretched towards the infinite possibilities among the moon and stars. This year’s creative reminds us of how far we’ve come, of how far we can go, and what inspires us to continue to reach out and reach up.

Check out the creative below and save our Festival dates: August 9 to 19, 2018!

 

See Us With Them Hands

Can you spot our posters around town this summer? Snap a pic of our pink hands and share it with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram for your chance to win tickets to #VQFF2018    #SeeUsWithThemHands

We are thrilled to announce filmmaker and multimedia artist Thirza Cuthand as our Visiting Artist in Residence.

Thirza Cuthand (Plains Cree, Scot) has been making short experimental narrative videos and films about sexuality, madness, youth, love, and race since 1995. She is a prolific and well-travelled artist, having screened films at dozens of festivals across the world, including New York City, Sao Paolo, Toronto (Hot Docs and ImagineNATIVE), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Germany, and right here at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.

Thirza was the first Indigenous artist to curate an entirely two-spirit program at the Festival, Indigiqueer in 2005. Festies will remember Thirza’s films 2 Spirit Introductory Special $19.99 (2016) and Two Spirit Dreamcatcher Dot Com (2017). Thirza returns to the Festival this year with an artist-in-conversation screening delving deep into her 20 years of film work. And stay tuned for a future surprise engagement with Thirza at the Festival!

Thirza’s visit is generously supported by Vancity.

Our 30th Festival celebrates our communities’ journeys over the past 30 years. For many queer people, 1985 was a significant milestone in our personal and collective political journey, marking the first time President Ronald Reagan publicly acknowledged AIDS. It is during this milestone year that director Yen Tan sets his fifth feature film, assembling an outstanding cast to bring his critically-observed period piece to life.

Adrian (Cory Michael Smith, The Riddler on Gotham) returns to his small Texan hometown to spend the Christmas holidays with his working-class Christian family. His homecoming is marked by a silent anguish with his father (Michael Chiklis), a wounded attachment to his mother (Virginia Madsen), and a broken relationship with his high school best friend (Jamie Chung). Under Tan’s poignant direction, 1985’s characters bring tension and a strained tenderness into each and every scene. Tan’s unique choice to shoot in black-and-white 16mm film further illustrates the atmosphere of uncomfortable intimacy.

Director in Attendance

Director Yen Tan joins us for our Opening Gala on Thursday, August 9 to introduce his film! Audiences will be able to enjoy a Q&A with Tan following an intimate repeat screening on Friday, August 10.

Be sure to join us in the Queen Elizabeth Plaza following the Opening Gala for our Opening Night Party! Inspired by the film, attendees are encouraged to dress in black and white finery.

Out On Screen is turning 30 and you’re invited!

Come celebrate at our 30th birthday party Saturday, June 2. Everyone is invited…it’s a party for us and for you, our community.

Join us in looking back to pay tribute to the last 3 decades of uplifting queer stories at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. We’re getting nostalgic and will be turning back time to dance the night away to hits from the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s and enjoy performances inspired by each decade from talented local artists including Shay Dior, Maiden China and Indigenous burlesque troupe Virago Nation.

Thank you for being with us on this queer journey… we’ve gone to the moon and back. We can’t wait to clink glasses, eat some birthday cake, and take off into the next 30 years.

Dressing up in the decade of your choice is highly encouraged!

This event is FREE, but requires RSVP. Get your tickets here on Eventbrite and follow us here on Facebook to stay up today with the latest news.

Your RSVP and registration upon entrance will enter you into a draw to win 1 of 3 6-pack tickets to the 2018 Vancouver Queer Film Festival!