Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival
Diverse lineup goes digital and asks you to join the flock
As the 22nd annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival opens, things are going to look a bit different. For starters, it’s taking place in your own living room.
With 38 films from 14 countries that you won’t find anywhere else, you’ll be able to gather with the people in your home and chat online with friends all while watching new, innovative, and unabashedly queer stories!
This online shift was made possible thanks to the festival’s presenting sponsor RBC along with the tenacity of a small team of Calgary advocates for LGBTQIA2S+ audiences and queer film makers.
“The queer community has been finding creative ways to connect and break down social isolation for decades, including through festivals like Fairy Tales,” says James Demers, the festival’s executive director, in a statement. “Shoulder to shoulder, gender and sexually diverse audiences have been coming together to see ourselves on screen, maybe for the only time that year, sometimes for the first time ever.”
It’s your chance to see exclusive films and participate in conversations with artists, filmmakers, and other moviegoers in real-time discussion rooms, before, during, and after the show. Screenings include three shorts packages, a chance to check out amazing documentaries like Stonewall: Paving the Way for Gay Pride, Changing the Game, and The Key of T, and an evening with the Treaty 7 Film Collective.
The festival also includes a mix of live and pre-recorded Q&As with filmmakers and programmers. Confirmed so far are talks with Gregor Schmidinger, Mike MacKinnon, Ash Chugg, Todd Verow, Gary Jaffe, Joao Dallstella, Rubi Gat, and Emma Edwards.
“Over the years we’ve seen a massive shift in the types of queer stories being told. And now we’ve witnessed generations of queer storytellers, passing the torch, even through the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Calgary’s queer community has been surviving and thriving for decades; we weren’t going to let a little pandemic get in the way of connecting our community,” adds Demers. “This year, the screen might be a little smaller, but we continue to hold space in much the same way, still finding ourselves, and our community in those stories.”
Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival runs May 14 to 24, 2020 and tickets are on sale now. Visit fairytalesfilmfest.com for the full schedule.
