Seattle gay and lesbian film festival

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Here’s a digital version of our printed program!

Three Dollar Bill Cinema Announces Full Lineup For October Festival

Join us on Thursday, October 10, as we kick off SQFF with the PNW premiere of Ponyboi at the historic Egyptian theater in Capitol Hill.

Directed by Esteban Arango and produced and written by River Gallo, Ponyboi follows a young intersex sex worker in New Jersey who must escape the mob after a drug deal goes wrong, forcing him to confront his past.

Regionally, the festival is also an important venue in the local Seattle film scene, and inspires members of our community to express their creativity through film and video. This gripping film, unfolding over 24 hours on Valentine’s Day, stars River Gallo (2023 OUT 100 list, winner of GLAAD Rising Star Media Award), Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner” trilogy), Victoria Pedretti (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), Indya Moore (Pose), and Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus).

When: Thursday, October 10 at 7 PM (in-person only)

Where: SIFF Cinema Egyptian

Opening night party at Stoup Brewing to follow

Get tickets to Opening Night

Seattle Queer Film Festival

About

Seattle Queer Film Festival, formerly known as The Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, to provide access to films by, for, and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people and their families, and a forum for LGBTQ filmmakers to share and discuss their work with audiences. 

 Seattle Queer Film Festival has been a part of the Greater Seattle LGBT community and beyond since 1996 and has become the largest festival of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

We annually award juried and audience awards to films selected for the festival.

Awards

Jury awards:

  • Best Feature Film
  • Best Documentary Film
  • Best Short Film
  • Most Innovative Short Film

Audience awards:

  • Favorite Narrative Feature
  • Favorite Documentary Feature
  • Favorite Gay Short Film
  • Favorite Lesbian Short Film
  • Favorite Transgender Film
  • Favorite Local Film

Rules

  • Submit via FilmFreeway.
  • Audio language: original
  • Subtitles language: English

Premiere Requirements

No premiere requirement

Jury and Organizers

Danny Tayara (Festival Director).

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That means iconic shorts and features from festivals past, a brand-new lineup of trans-made and trans-led short films, and a spotlight on the brilliant local voices that shaped our scene.

No virtual fest this year—so mark your calendar, grab your crew, and get ready to celebrate the stories that made us.

Wanna feel some extra 90s love?

seattle gay and lesbian film festival

This year, Three Dollar Bill Cinema is turning back the clock and turning up the volume with a fierce, joy-filled retrospective at the Queer & Trans Film Festival 2025—July 10–12 at Broadway Performance Hall and Erickson Theater.

We’re uniting the legacy of the Seattle Queer Film Festival and TRANS|lations to celebrate 30 years of queer cinema and 20 years of trans storytelling.

TDBC’s Queer & Trans Film Festival 2025

Get ready to party like it’s 1996! The festival has garnered national recognition for showcasing extraordinary and award-winning work.