SQIFF (Scottish Queer International Film Festival) is a charity formed with the aim of showcasing diverse queer cinema and uplifting creative voices from the LGBTQIA+ community in Scotland and beyond. The organisation runs an annual film festival in Glasgow, pop-up and year-round events, and community-focused programmes across Scotland.
Our journey started in 2015 with a group of volunteers who were passionate about the power of queer storytelling. Over the past 10 years, SQIFF has grown to become one of the largest queer film festivals in the UK, and remains the only festival of its kind in Scotland. Each year, SQIFF presents a vibrant and inspiring programme of films from across the world. By showing work that people might not otherwise get a chance to see, the festival aims to facilitate a space for conversations on LGBTQIA+ topics and issues.
Community is at the heart of SQIFF. We believe that cinema is for everyone, and SQIFF has been a champion in creating an accessible festival environment. We were one of the first festivals to adopt a pay-what-you-can (sliding scale) pricing model for our events, a practice that has since been embraced by many other festivals and institutions across the nation. As a leading advocate for accessibility, we implement various measures including large-print text, live captioning, BSL-English interpretation, descriptive subtitles, audio description to ensure that all audience members can participate in SQIFF, regardless of their needs. Our goal is to challenge inequalities and remove barriers to accessing arts and culture. We aim to support the sector to be better equipped with knowledge about accessibility to serve a wider audience.
SQIFF has been collaborating with partners across the UK to initiate programmes and projects that empower emerging filmmakers and amplify grassroots voices. Our initiatives include Filmmaking Workshops, Queer Filmmakers Group, and SQIFF Queer Talent Directory, among others. Beyond film exhibition, we aim to support marginalised groups within the LGBTQIA+ community by providing a networking system for queer filmmakers to further develop their skills and inspire those who want to share their stories through moving images. We currently run a Discord server with over 130 members who work in the film industry in Scotland.
SQIFF is a BAFTA-qualifying festival, which means that British short films screened at our event may be eligible to enter the British Short Film and British Short Animation categories at the annual EE BAFTA Film Awards. Our team will notify the filmmakers who qualify to submit.
Please contact [email protected] with any enquiries. If you like the work we do and would like to support us in bringing impactful projects to life, please consider donating to SQIFF. You can do so by making a one-time donation through our PayPal page or becoming a supporter with regular contributions via our Patreon programme.
Policies
SQIFF has many policies in place to ensure the care and wellbeing of all its audiences, staff, participants, and volunteers. We review these regularly and we welcome any comments and suggestions that can help us to develop any of our policies. Please email [email protected] if you have any comments or suggestions. All of our policies are listed below for transparency:
Delegated Authorities Limit Policy
Environmental and Sustainability Policy
Ethical Partnerships & Sponsorship Policy
Representation at External Events Policy
Trans, Non-Binary and/or Gender Diverse People Inclusion Policy