Wednesday, September 16 – QUEER HEROES
7 PM – RE-EMERGENCE (CANADA)
In Manitoba in 1990 the term “Two-Spirit” was coined. The name restored traditional roles and spiritual teachings that were colonially suppressed with homophobic and transphobic policies.
View Trailer
7:15 PM – BARBARA FOREVER (USA)
Driven by her taboo breaking canon of 80+ films, Barbara Forever explores the cultural impact of lesbian experimental icon Barbara Hammer, revealing her lifelong celebration of female sexuality and queer love, unflinchingly examining aging and illness using her own body to explore political power. The biography centres Hammer as a prism of the cultural ecosystems around her—through the feminist and queer movements in 1970s San Francisco, the male-dominated New York art world of the 1980s, the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s, and expanded LGBTQIA+ representation in art and culture in the 2000s.
“My films are often called visionary, but I am no visionary. I am living my lesbian life. I'm not waiting. My life is my vision. By documenting what others would call visionary, what I would call 'actionary,' I hope to spark the imagination of the audience.” – Barbara Hammer
9 PM – UNCLE ROY (USA)
As 93-year-old Roy Blakey tumbles headlong into dementia, his award-winning documentary filmmaker niece races to preserve her uncle’s legacy as a figure skater, ice show archivist and gay photographer. Using nine decades of media and personal archives, Uncle Roy follows the extraordinary life of a globe-trotting figure skater. This heartfelt documentary is a tribute to dreams, family and the preservation of personal histories.
Thursday, September 17 — SOIRÉE CINEMA
7 PM – SOLO (CANADA)
French with English subtitles
Simon is a rising diva on the Montreal drag scene. His life is turned upside down when he falls head over heels for newcomer Olivier. What begins as a passionate romance devolves into a destructive and toxic nightmare. Meanwhile, Simon's mother—a famous opera singer—returns to the country after a 15-year hiatus, forcing Simon to confront difficult family realities. Weakened by the failures of both of these impossible relationships, Simon has no choice but to learn to love himself.
“Solo is far from yet another queer tragedy, making space for the joy of self-expression, rendered through dazzling sequences of thrilling drag performances that range from sexy and political to plain silly... essential and powerful.” – The Guardian
9 PM – AMANTES (FRANCE)
French with English subtitles
Nour, an intense and irritable musician, is involved with two women, both guarded and demanding. Insecure Laura suggests to her two partners that they raise a child communally to strengthen their “throuple”. Gabrielle, a respected therapist is neglected by her workaholic partner who’s too busy to notice her. Set in Paris, the eternally reinvented City of Love, these hopeless romantics ask themselves: should we follow our desires or heed our doubts?
Friday September 18 – CANADIAN PREMIERES
7 PM – IVΆN AND HADOUM (SPAIN)
Spanish and Arabic with English subtitles
In the industrial agri-greenhouses of southern Spain, trans male forklift driver Iván feels attracted to a newly hired beauty, the Spanish-Moroccan Hadoum. Any possibility of romance is put under immediate strain by the expectations of a migrant family, their economic situation and Iván’s career dreams. A take-off on the familiar star-crossed lovers narrative, this accomplished feature draws on potent contemporary issues of culture, gender identity and class. Best Feature Film at 2026 Berlin International Film Festival.
“It’s a small, quiet film, one that surprises in many ways…It’s buoyed by strong performances from two newcomers who bring both tenderness and grit to their roles, and by a sensibility that trusts its audience to put pieces of the past together themselves.” – Journey Into Cinema
9 PM — TIGER (JAPAN)
Japanese with English subtitles
A vivid snapshot of queer life and boy’s town in contemporary Tokyo. Taiga is an erotic masseur, based in the blinding neon-lit bulbs of the youth quake Shinjuku neighbourhood, determined to live life on his own terms. While trying to kickstart his inner sex god and navigate family drama, Taiga wants to parlay his massage skills into on-camera sex work. Will his ailing father and domineering sister cut Taiga out of the family inheritance because of his chosen career path as a sex worker?
“Tiger emerges as a bold and emotionally charged work that presents the lives of gay men in Japan with realism and honesty rarely seen on screen.” – Asian Movie Pulse
Saturday September 19 – SECRET CONNECTIONS
FESTIVAL RECEPTION
The evening session features the Festival’s Reception, held between the films, sponsored and hosted by RBC. In addition, there will be a discussion with director Xiaodan He directly following the showing of Montreal, Ma Belle.
1 PM – 22nd Canadian Short Film Celebration
Canada’s longest running 2SLGBTQ+ Short Films Competition received more than one hundred submissions from various locations across Canada in 2025.
Filmmaker’s shorts most often reveal stories that mirror the life of the Canadian 2SLGBTQI+ culture and their friendships, personal growth, dynamic relationships, and their personal struggles for societal understanding. Awards (chosen by jury) include Best Short. Best Manitoba Short, Emerging Shorts Filmmaker, and 2SLGBTQI+ Community Reflection. As well, the audiences vote for the Audience Choice Award.
7 PM – MONTREAL MA BELLE
French and Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles
Feng Xia is a 53 year-old Chinese immigrant and mother living an unremarkable existence in Montreal. She has spent her life shaped by duty: family, culture, and loveless marriage. Then she meets Camille: a spirited young Quebecoise, and her long-buried desire awakens. During a balmy and joyful Montreal summer, Feng Xia takes the radical step of choosing herself, embarking on a journey of forbidden love and long-overdue self-discovery. Her awakening becomes a profound reckoning with identity, exile, and the steep price of liberation.
“A powerful exploration of desire, identity, and the tension between personal freedom and cultural expectation.” Queen’s Journal
10:00 PM -- PLAINCLOTHES (USA)
Working as an undercover cop in mall washrooms in a midsized American town, Lucas arrests men after seducing them at the urinals. But when he encounters Andrew he gets stung by his own sting operation. What begins as another decoy exercise becomes something far more electric and intimate. As their secret connection deepens and police pressure to increase arrest stats intensifies, Lucas finds himself torn between duty and desire, and Andrew’s secret is even bigger (no spoilers!)
“Plainclothes feels seductively alive when Lucas and Andrew are alone together—either under the warm lights of the movie theater, where their shadows betray them, or as their hands touch the other’s body inside a lonely greenhouse. It’s only there that they can breathe unburdened.”
– Roger Ebert
Sunday September 20 — A HAUNTING FABLE
1 PM – THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO (Chile)
Chilean Spanish with English subtitles
Eleven-year-old Lidia lives with her beloved queer family in a trans brothel situated high atop a desolate mountain mining town in northern Chile. The miners each have their own favourite “ladies of the night” but then an unknown deadly disease spreads, and it’s rumoured to be transmitted via glances, when two people fall in love. While the men in town accuse her family of being super spreaders, Lidia embarks on a journey to discover if this pandemic is real or phantom illness. “Part queer western, part beguiling fable, with some glorious scenes straight out of a Latin soap opera…A touching and moving film.” – The Guardian