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Frameline Returns to Refurbished Castro for 50th San Francisco LGBTQ+ Film Festival

A 140-film program pairs landmark retrospectives with new international work to mark five decades of queer cinema and lift emerging voices.

“The Watermelon Woman” star Lisa Marie Bronson, left, is teased by actor and director Cheryl Dunye at the Castro Theatre on opening night 1996.
The San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival opening night reception at the Castro Theatre in June 1993.
Comedian and actor Margaret Cho, left, stands with San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival founder Michael Lumpkin at the opening party in 2007.
The Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films poster was designed by Silvana Nova in 1977. The festival would later become the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival. 

Overview

  • Frameline announced its 50th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival will run June 17–27 with a program of 140 films from 35 countries.
  • The festival resumes screenings at the newly refurbished Castro Theatre and will also use Bay Area venues including the Roxie, Vogue and New Parkway theaters.
  • Opening night will feature the San Francisco-shot drag film Lady Champagne, the centerpiece is the documentary Barbara Forever about filmmaker Barbara Hammer, and the Pride Kickoff screening is Jennifer Kroot’s Hunky Jesus.
  • Program highlights mix archival repertory films such as Paris Is Burning and Desert Hearts with new features and documentaries that center trans, international and younger queer perspectives.
  • Organizers frame the anniversary as both a celebration of Frameline’s five-decade role in queer cultural life and a platform for stories that could shape future LGBTQ+ representation and activism.