Thirty-five years ago in the early days of New Queer Cinema, THE spot to gather and watch cutting-edge queer shorts was a run-down Mission district bar that hosted .99 Cent Queer Video Fest. Let the original curator (and bartender!) Jeffrey Winter of The Film Collaborative take you back!

With arresting cinematography, 10s Across the Borders delivers a long-overdue snapshot of ballroom culture in Southeast Asia through the art and work of three trailblazing performers. Not so much a companion piece to Paris Is Burning, Chan Sze-Wei’s exhilarating documentary is like the beautiful offspring of Jennie Livingston’s landmark film.

Art, activism, and female-powered performance explode onto the scene in 1970s Los Angeles. Centered around the Woman’s Building, a tight-knit community of artists including the director Cheri Gaulke — alongside voices like Lily Tomlin — forged bold, groundbreaking work that reshapes the art world and echoes across generations.

“I love watching time unfold.” Amy muses as she watches a caterpillar form into its chrysalis. Always with a camera, Amy has been documenting time unfolding as her transgender child, Adam, grows up – even more so over the last eight years while the two have been filming this documentary together. This beautifully intimate film is the story of three characters: a trans kid, a mother, and the ever-present march forward of time.

Start your day off right with this tantalizing collection of steamy films.

Written by and starring The Comeback and Hacks’ Dan Bucatinsky and featuring a rich ensemble cast that includes Richard Ruccolo, Sasha Alexander, Adam Goldberg, Christina Ricci, Andrea Martin, Doris Roberts, and Lisa Kudrow, All Over the Guy is a hilarious rom-com about a mismatched pair of gay men set up on a blind date by their mutual straight friends. Come revisit the Closing Night film of Frameline25 on the big screen again!

Carole Pope, legendary frontwoman of Rough Trade, shaped Canada’s punk and new wave scene in the 1970s and ’80s. Bold, unapologetic, and openly queer, she electrified audiences with hits like “High School Confidential.” Antidiva celebrates Carole, now in her 70s, as a trailblazing LGTBQ+ icon who continues to make music her own way.

A poetic supernatural horror film from Two-Spirit director Bretten Hannam filled with ominous dread and ambitious narrative time leaps, At the Place of Ghosts follows two estranged Mi’kmaq brothers who venture into the wilderness to exorcise a demon that is stalking them and to mend a division between the siblings from years ago.

Pioneering lesbian filmmaker, former San Franciscan, and Frameline Award winner Barbara Hammer takes center stage in Brydie O’Connor’s Teddy Award-winning film. Bolstered by exquisitely edited archival footage, this doc assembles a lyrical portrait of the ambitious visual poet behind Nitrate Kisses and other groundbreaking experimental queer works, illuminating how Hammer’s legacy continues to inspire artists and preserve our shared histories.

Gay chaos ensues when groom-to-be John Michael (Cole Doman) reunites with his best man and old flame Alex (Michael Hsu Rosen) at a lakeside bachelor party weekend that draws the whole wedding party into the drama. Joined by mischievous duo, Luís and Simon, and hunky, bisexual Kit, this quartet of college pals have a time, stir up some mayhem, and find true love in this cheeky rom-com.

Star student Luthando’s world is turned upside down when the charismatic Aydana arrives at her elite all-girls boarding school in this delightfully inventive coming-of-age debut feature from director Sandulela Asanda. Able to bring its protagonist’s comic book-loving inner world to life, this comedy portrays girlhood and first love in all their awkward sweetness.

Suddenly dumped by his boyfriend and totally broke, Nate crawls to the only people that will take him, his sweet, offbeat grandparents, played by Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron who welcome him to their lovely Jewish old folk’s home. Fueled by amusing energy, colorful characters and unique setting, the film digs deeper with big questions about identity and belonging.

The debut feature by Lilly and Lana Wachowski follows a butch handywoman (Gina Gershon) and femme fatale (Jennifer Tilly) as they plan to build a new life for themselves by stealing from a money-launderer for the mob (Joey Pantoliano). Thirty years on, this remarkable film continues to inspire for its dazzling neo-noir visuals and story, and its burning-hot exploration of lesbian love and sex.

One fateful morning, Brittney Griner’s everyday life went from easy dunks and admiring crowds as a WNBA star, to unrelenting fear, malnourishment, and dangerous work conditions in a freezing cold Russian penal colony. With less than a gram of cannabis oil found in her luggage, a careless oversight led to immense repercussions that rocked nations, became a wedge political issue, and would be used as a cudgel against “wokeness.”

When a grieving young woman is sent to a camp for troubled youth, she is welcomed by the outcasts and screw-ups into their literal coven. With their help, Emily discovers the dark and light, ominous and ecstatic magic that her grief can create. This sophomore feature by Avalon Fast (frequent collaborator of Alice Maio Mackay and Louise Weard) is an operatic and landmark new work of queer horror.

Starring Nigel Terry, Sean Bean, and Tilda Swinton in her feature film debut, Derek Jarman’s fictionalized look at Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s life is visually striking, deliciously queer, and lovingly restored and remastered by the British Film Institute. Using the famed painter’s work as a visual blueprint, this unconventional portrait centers on a bisexual love triangle between Caravaggio and two of his models.

Fresh off of winning the Audience Award at Frameline49 with Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps, Louise Weard returns to the Festival with the latest chapter in her epic-in-the-making anthology film series, putting her own spin on the most timeless (and tiresome) of trans film stories: the coming out story.

Cybill Shepherd lends her voice as the narrator for this insightful documentary, which tells the story of acclaimed screenwriter and director Colin Higgins — the man behind classics like 9 to 5, Harold and Maude, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. With wit and warmth, the film’s star-studded cast, including Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Gene Wilder, and Goldie Hawn, share their memories of one of Hollywood’s sharpest comedic talents.

Join us for a conversation with Emmy-winning actor, filmmaker, and playwright Colman Domingo and Variety’s Jazz Tangcay, as they discuss Domingo’s illustrious career, Bay Area connections, and today’s queer media landscape.

Still as provocative and controversial as it was when it hit theatres in 1980, William Friedkin's lurid thriller stars Al Pacino in one of his most iconic roles as a rookie cop who goes undercover in New York City's gay leather scene to hunt a serial killer lurking in the shadows of fetish bars in the Meatpacking District and haunting the public sex hot spots of the city.