SQIFF (Scottish Queer International Film Festival) is Scotland's only active dedicated LGBTQIA+ film festival. Created in 2014, with a series of one off screenings, the festival launched fully in 2015 and became an annual event. The festival arose in response to the amount of queer filmmaking activity in Glasgow, but quickly established an International programme featuring submissions from around the world. It seeks to provide a platform for LGBTQIA+ creativity, as well as challenging barriers to access. SQIFF's goal is to get people watching, talking about, and making more queer films. They want to screen movies that people might not otherwise get a chance to see and create inspiring and informative events across Scotland. Moreover, SQIFF want to support marginalised groups within the LGBTQIA+ community by providing a networking system for queer filmmakers, as well as filmmaking workshops for audiences wanting to start on the medium. They want to challenge inequalities and barriers to accessing the arts.

Festival

The first edition of SQIFF took place between 24–27 September 2015 at the

Centre for Contemporary Arts The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) is an arts centre in Glasgow, Scotland. It is substantially subsidised by Creative Scotland and operates from the former Third Eye Centre in a building purchased in the 1970s by the Scottish Arts Council. ...

, which has continued to operate as the main festival hub. Additional screenings have taken place at venues across the city. These have included:

Glasgow Film Theatre The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is an independent cinema in the city centre of Glasgow. It occupies a purpose-built cinema building, first opened in 1939, and now protected as a category B listed building. History and architecture Predecesso ...

Scottish Youth Theatre Scottish Youth Theatre is a national young artists' development organisation. It designs projects that offer artistic development opportunities for aspiring and early career artists, age 14 to 25. The company was established in 1976 and has a free- ...

, Kinning Park Complex,

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

, and The Space. To connect queer audiences during the Covid-19 pandemic, SQIFF launched Sqifflex, an online platform hosting a collection of LGBTQIA+ films for free, during May and June 2020. The Festival Co-ordinator was Helen Wright, until 2021. Helen co-founded the festival with Marc David Jacobs and Asten Holmes-Elliott. A new programming team started in 2021, introducing Nat Lall and Jamie Rea as Curators, with Indigo Korres as Programme Coordinator.

SQIFF on Tour

SQIFF has also had tours around Scotland, with the most recent being the Trans-Generational Tour from March until June 2023, bringing three screenings focused on trans joy, family, history and intergenerational communities to six venues across Scotland. The venues were

Eden Court Eden Court Theatre (Scottish Gaelic: Cùirt an Easbaig, "Bishop's Court") is a large theatre, cinema and arts venue situated in Inverness, Scotland close to the banks of the River Ness. The theatre has recently undergone a complete refurbishme ...

(Inverness),

MacRobert Arts Centre Macrobert Arts Centre is a multi-arts venue located on the main campus of the University of Stirling, Scotland. The Arts Centre offers a varied programme of events and experiences – cinema, comedy, dance, exhibitions, family, get involved, ...

(Stirling),

(Glasgow), Cornucopia Unit 4 (Hawick),

Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen movie theater, cinema, a printmaking, print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The cur ...

(Dundee), and

An Lanntair An Lanntair () is an arts centre in the town of Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The centre is home to a cinema, and art gallery. Previously located in the Town Hall, An Lanntair moved to its current new building overlooking the harb ...

(Stornoway).

Accessibility

SQIFF modelled a sliding scale 'pay what you can' ticket tier scheme (FREE - £16), inspired by other grassroots festivals, which has since been implemented by Scottish festivals. Descriptive Subtitles was required for all films, and the Festival has a captioning team to assist in this. Events are BSL interpreted. Venues must be wheelchair accessible. Quiet rooms were also available at some spaces. There is an access fund to help people attend.

References

Film festivals in Scotland LGBTQ film festivals in the United Kingdom 2014 establishments in Scotland {{Europe-film-festival-stub

Festival

SQIFF on Tour

Accessibility

See also

References