Celebrating emerging LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and artists from Scotland and beyond, the Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) returns for its 10th year, screening across Glasgow from 27 October - 1 November 2025.
Continuing its legacy as Scotland's biggest and longest-running queer film festival, SQIFF brings together the best of independent LGBTQ+ filmmaking from across the globe. With a line-up of 19 curated programmes screening over 90 short films, four feature films, world premieres, a special Halloween horror event, as well as a queer craft fair, the Best Scottish Short award competition, industry events and networking for filmmakers, panels, performances, and more.
This year’s festival will take place across screens and venues in Glasgow’s Merchant City, including The Social Hub, GMAC, Listen Gallery, and The Boardwalk, with a late-night party at the iconic Art School. All SQIFF screenings and events continue to offer pay-what-you-can tickets, starting from free.
SQIFF are also launching a fundraising campaign for year-round costs, inviting people to donate “a tenner for ten” to celebrate a decade of SQIFF.
Explore the full programme on the SQIFF website.
Overlooking the Clyde throughout the festival run, Listen Gallery will host The River and The Glen, Camp Trans Scotland: The Exhibition, an exhibition and screening of The River and The Glen, a documentary on the first Scottish Camp Trans, which happened in September 2024, near Aberfeldy. Cradled by the mountains, far away from cis-society for a weekend, this exhibition charts how Camp Trans was a coming together of trans people to rest and restore strength.
The queer craft fair features local artists selling a diverse spread of goodies, including unique artworks, handmade ceramics, flower arrangements, collectables, jewellery, and more. Artist stalls include: Greenbananas_420, PJ Harper, Croissant Cat Studio, Art of Birdie Studio, Nina Candido, Wild Hopes Studio, and more.
The Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) is Scotland's only active queer film festival and charity focused on uplifting emerging queer filmmakers, a BAFTA Qualifying festival now in its 10th year.
SQIFF aims to build community through queer films, with an ultimate goal to get audiences watching, talking about, and making more queer films, by creating inspiring and informative events across Scotland. Moreover, SQIFF supports marginalised groups within the LGBTQIA+ community by providing a networking system for queer filmmakers, as well as filmmaking workshops for audiences wanting to get a start in the medium. SQIFF aims to challenge inequalities and barriers to accessing the arts.
Supported by Screen Scotland, the BFI Audience Projects Fund and Film Hub Scotland (part of the BFI Film Audience Network), all awarding National Lottery funding.
Indigo Korres, Director of SQIFF says: “We are so excited for SQIFF’s 10th edition. We can’t wait to share our ambitious programme with you, including everything from queer heartbreak to camp horror. SQIFF has a fantastic audience and we look forward to coming together again to celebrate queer film, art and community."
Katharine Simpson from Screen Scotland said: “The team at SQIFF have done a wonderful job of creating a strong community around the festival. It’s a much-loved event, with a growing audience, demonstrated by the success of last year’s festival which sold-out the majority of it’s screenings. SQIFF has also served as an inspiration to many other film festivals in how to deliver accessibility and care for your audiences. Likewise, the exciting programme not only shines the light on international LGBT+ stories that might not otherwise make it to our cinema screens, but also provides a supportive platform for homegrown filmmaking talent.”
More information
Image credit
Still from Late Bloomers, courtesy SQIFF