Vancouver Queer Film Festival

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival is Vancouver's second largest film festival and Western Canada's largest queer arts event that takes place annually in Vancouver, British Columbia.

2016 marks the 28th Annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival, August 11 to 21. The Vancouver Out On Screen Film Society (Out On Screen) began as a small, community-based film festival in anticipation of Vancouver hosting the Gay Games in 1990. Since then, Out On Screen has evolved to become a professional arts organization with three key program initiatives: the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and Out in Schools.

Established in 1997, this juried award is given in recognition of Gerry Brunet, a lifelong contributor to the arts and an early board member at Out On Screen.

Echoing OUTtv's Hot Pink Shorts TV show, this awards recognizes an exceptional short film.

Launched in 2004, Out in Schools brings independent queer films into local high schools in British Columbia. In conjunction with gay–straight alliances, Out in Schools focuses on the serious issues that affect queer youth. The purpose of Out in Schools is to reduce isolation and increase the safety of the learning environment for queer students in the community. Out in Schools aims to increase understanding through education to combat issues such as homophobia and bullying that threaten the safety of the classrooms for both queer and straight students. In 2013, Out in Schools expanded its program reach by 25% into new school districts, delivering 100 classroom presentations focused on queer and anti-bullying education to more than 8,200 high school students across BC!

FirstOUT Video Scholarship Program is an intensive digital filmmaking program for youth aged 16 to 24. This is part of the youth education initiatives which, together with Out In Schools, seeks to give media literacy and production opportunities to queer youth and their allies. It brings independent media artists together with queer youth to work with them on developing their own cultural voice and producing their first video. Since its inception, five films have been produced and exhibited.

Out On Screen had partnered with Pacific Cinematheque to present the first year of the FirstOUT Video Scholarship Program. The application submission ended in November 2006. By mid-December, four participants were selected and were paired in a one-on-one mentorship with celebrated local independent media artists in Vancouver. The training and production period began in February and ended late June. All of the four short films were screened at the 19th Annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival on August 18, 2007 at Pacific Cinematheque as part of the Youth Series. A youth-friendly reception followed to celebrate the accomplishment of the four young filmmakers, as well as the success of the program.

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