Frameline40

Welcome to Frameline40!

Frameline40: The King of Queer Film Festivals, the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, celebrates its 40th anniversary from June 16–26 with a new look and 11 days of groundbreaking films that reflect the diversity of queer stories from across the globe. Frameline, the world’s longest-running and largest LGBTQ film festival, will showcase lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer cinema in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland.

On behalf of Frameline, we are thrilled to introduce San Francisco Bay Times readers, both new and longtime, to our organization’s signature annual event, as we continue to demonstrate the strength of LGBTQ filmmaking, with compelling content that expands the canon of queer film. We know that you will be surprised, educated, motivated and entertained.

Frameline is a dynamic, year-round portal that continues to discover, exhibit and distribute LGBTQ content. Our festival has become increasingly diverse–in our audiences, filmmakers and the images we present–since its beginnings in 1977, and Frameline happily embraces an ever broader demographic in the Bay Area, nation and across the globe. We wonder if the founding fathers (and it was ‘fathers’!) could have ever imagined what the organization would grow into and how important its role would become in building and changing queer culture over the decades and around the world.

This year’s festival features big themes like social justice and youth/teen perspectives, an increased presence in the East Bay, record-breaking numbers of films by women, and exciting statements of fashion, identity, and first-feature filmmakers. With an expected attendance of 65,000, Frameline40 will draw film lovers, media artists, and LGBTQ communities to discover 155 stories that shed light on queer lives in 24 countries, including Ecuador, Cuba, China, Myanmar, The Philippines, Sweden, and Chile.

We are so proud to be able to serve as the world’s largest queer exhibition program with content that continues to stretch us all!

Executive Director Frances Wallace

Dir. of Exhibition & Programming Des Buford

Senior Programmer Peter L. Stein