Film festival shines light on LGBTIQA+ voices

THE Geelong Pride Film Festival will make its return next week, with a carefully curated program of poignant feature films and locally made shorts.

Now celebrating its eighth year, the festival will be held across three venues – Geelong Arts Centre (GAC), the Pivotonian Cinema and Platform Arts – between Thursday, May 1 and May 11.

“There’s a huge selection of films, which is something that the team that runs the festival is really proud of,” festival director Stephen Ryan said.

“We’re entirely run by volunteers, so it takes a lot of work and build up in the lead-up to the festival to deliver it.

“It’s been really rewarding to see people come back year after year, and it’s also great to meet new people every year that are discovering the festival for the first time.”

For the first time, GAC will host the festival’s opening night event, with the program comprising 10 Australian and international short films, including animated film Clover, which was created in partnership with the Bluebird Foundation and a group of young LGBTIQA+ people in the Geelong region.

Then on May 3, Australia’s only large format LGBTIQA+ concert band will perform a fun selection of film scores and music inspired by films at Platform Arts. This will be followed by the screening of two feature films.

“It’s the first time we’ve partnered with another big organisation like the Melbourne Rainbow Band. They do a few concerts each year and they reached out to us to see if they could come and be part of our festival, which we absolutely jumped at,” Ryan said.

 

“What it means for us is that we can build our festival beyond just the film screenings.”

He pointed to the festival’s screening of Crossing, about a women who travels to Istanbul to find her missing transgender niece, and Sally!, a documentary exploring the impact American feminist and LGBT rights advocate Sally Gearhart had on the rights movement, as additional program highlights.

The festival’s popular “Happy Endings” finale event, which sold-out in both 2023 and 2024, is also back, this time at a larger venue, and will again feature a collection of uplifting and comedic short films.

“We like to always end the festival on a positive note, and that’s a great one there on Saturday the 11th, which we follow up with our afterparty at Platform Arts,” Ryan said.

Ticket prices have again been capped at $10, as the festival continues its mission to bring the community together, elevate LGBTIQA+ stories and provide a safe space where everyone is welcome.

“We just want as many people to come along and enjoy the event as possible,” Ryan said.

“It can be expensive just going to the cinema these days, so we’re really determined to keep the prices as low as we can.

“And if anyone wants to come along and can’t afford a ticket, we can always provide complimentary tickets, and we provide them through a range of organisations we work with, or directly to anyone that would ask.”

For more information, to view the full program, or to secure your tickets to the film festival, head to gpff.org.au