The Scottish International Film Festival is filled to the brim with exciting new LGBTQIA stories
BY LANIA HAMILTON, IMAGE BY OCEAN TEAL
The Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) will be returning for its ninth annual celebration of LGBTQIA filmmaking.
Amidst their packed programme, some highlights include a lesbian lyrical documentary, Lesvia, following an epic queer pilgrimage to the small Greek island that once housed ancient Greek poet and “first lesbian”, Sappho. The documentary finds the director’s coming-of-age and situates it in the context of her community, weaving in tensions between sapphic love and the local villagers of the island. Lesvia promises to be a dynamic contribution to the underrepresented lesbian archive. There is an abundance of programmes exploring all aspects of queer life, including celebrations of resistance in Drag And Performance Through Censorship and Music As Resistance, as well as world-bending revelations in Sci-Fi Meets Reality and The Internet Is Inside You.
Some other stand-out programmes include Oska Bright Film Festival’s Wild Women, which features films made by women with learning disabilities and/or autism, including dark humour and queer horror. Wild Women follows a young woman becoming increasingly attached to the taxidermied corpse of her housemate’s cat, and a teenager with Down’s Syndrome helping herself, and others, to escape from accusations of witchcraft.
Indigo Korres, Director, SQIFF reflected on the festival and said: “SQIFF is back and in its 9th festival edition! Reflecting on everything we’ve learnt – and the absolute privilege of working with LGBTQIA folks of so many different backgrounds and experiences over the years – we approached the 2024 festival firmly focused on our core values of community building, accessibility and diversity.”
Katharine Simpson from Screen Scotland added: “The team at SQIFF are taking the festival from strength to strength, working in partnership with LGBTQIA individuals and organisations in Glasgow and across the country to create this fresh, varied and relevant programme. Audiences can look forward to immersing themselves in the films and discussions, and connect with the talented LGBTQIA filmmakers and creatives who bring these stories to life.”
The ninth annual celebration of LGBTQIA filmmaking talent will run at CCA and GFT Glasgow from 8-12 October with all tickets priced on a pay-what-you-can basis. The film festival will also feature a queer craft fair, an accessible filmmakers social, a party with a fresh lineup of local DJs and performers, and a host of workshops and panel discussions from artists, activists and industry professionals. SQIFF aims to be radically accessible, with this year’s access measures including audio description, live captioning, BSL interpretation, descriptive subtitles and more.
Find out more here: sqiff.org/
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
