SQIFF

Queerly Beloved
2025-11-01 16:00 - 18:00 UTC | The Social Hub, The Social Hub, Candleriggs Square, Glasgow, G1 1TQ
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Join us for a vibrant collection of short films that dive into queer experiences with wit, warmth, and a generous dose of heart. These stories celebrate the everyday absurdities, quiet triumphs, and unapologetic joy that shape queer life. In a world that so often focuses on queer pain, this programme shifts the spotlight to laughter, love, and the resilience found in connection.
Expect a dynamic mix of voices and perspectives. From awkward firsts to bold declarations, from moments of celebration to quiet self-discovery, each film brings its own spark. What unites them is a spirit of humour that uplifts, disarms, and gently insists on being seen.
The evening opens with a stand-up set by the brilliant Kathleen Hughes, whose sharp comedy sets the tone for what’s to come. After the films, stay with us for a live performance by the electrifying Craig Manson.
Come laugh with us. Maybe cry a little too. This is queer storytelling at its most joyful, defiant and alive.
Curated by Huss.

Click here to book your ticket for this event
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £4, £8, £12, £16, or £20, in order to make SQIFF more accessible to those on a low income. You can choose what you pay based on your circumstances – you won’t be asked for any proof/ID. We just ask that you are honest! Please find the ‘What Should I Pay?’ guidance here.

Accessibility
This programme has:

Audio Description
English and French audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
English-BSL interpretation for introduction and performance. The interpreter for this event is Lisa Li.
Live Captioning for introduction and performance

This screening is 77 minutes long and has an age recommendation of N/C 18+.
If you require access seating please get in touch. Access seating includes: wheelchair spaces, bean bag seating, sitting in the front row / in the aisle / at the back. If you need any other provisions, please let us know by emailing info@sqiff.org with your name, ticket information and access request. If you are attending with companions and they need seating with you please also let us know. We will provide one free PA ticket for people who require any type of assistance (all tickets are pay what you can). We will do our best to work with you whilst also managing the capacity of each venue. Thank you for working with us on this.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2025 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2025, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org or by phone on 07873 331 036.

Films in this programme include:
Bury Your Gays, Dir. Charlotte Serena Cooper, 2025, United Kingdom, 20 min
Bury Your Gays follows actor Grace, who can’t understand why every role she lands ends in her untimely death—until a mysterious agent explains the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope. Now, trapped in a genre-hopping battle for survival, Grace has one mission: do not die.
Content notes: Depiction of comedic death.

ASL, Dir. Cal Freeman, 2024, United Kingdom, 5 min
Rulf (19) meets Ziggy (38) for a car hookup, but attraction turns awkward when Ziggy’s internalized homophobia clashes with Rulf’s progressive views. After confronting contradictions and guilt, a flamboyant radio ad breaks the tension. They reconnect through laughter, reconsidering their desires before finally embracing their mutual attraction.
Content notes: Discussion of sex.

Bi-Nocular Panic, Dir. Anouk Witkowska Hiffle, 2024, United Kingdom, 7 min
Cass and Jane spend their afternoon doing what every normal teenager does on a sunny day: spying on boys. But when the captivating Melody appears, Cass realises she might be interested in more than just boys.

Gender Reveal, Dir. Mo Matton, 2024, Canada, 13 min
Rhys, a dedicated people pleaser, winds up at their boss’ gender reveal party with their two partners. The trans throuple soon realize that they are dealing with more than they were prepared for and their ability to survive the event comes into question.
Content notes: Depiction of blood, cigarette use, death, strong language use.

Sriracha, Dir. Weili Hsing, 2024, United Kingdom, 10 min
In a chaotic London kebab shop, Asian drag king Li clashes with traditional Turkish chef Hamza over sriracha. When drunk British lads arrive seeking trouble, a simple condiment dispute erupts into a full food fight. Through the mayhem, Li and Hamza discover their shared experience bridges cultural divides, forging unexpected friendship.
Content notes: Depiction of transphobia.

Principal Boy, Dir. Maz Murray, 2024, United Kingdom, 22 min
Principal Boy follows the audition, rehearsal, and performance of British pantomime’s traditional lead—a male hero conventionally played by a woman in drag. Using and subverting pantomime conventions, it explores trans and gender-nonconforming representation in mainstream culture, examining presence and absence in film and theatre.
Content notes: Discussion of discrimination, gaslighting, violence towards Trans people.
Access notes: Brief use of laser.

Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨

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.

Image Credit: Gender Reveal, Dir. Mo Matton, 2024

Closing Film: Dreams in Nightmares - SOLD OUT
2025-11-01 19:00 - 21:00 | The Social Hub, The Social Hub, Candleriggs Square, Glasgow, G1 1TQ
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**Please note this event is now sold out – we may be able to release more tickets nearer the screening. We are operating a waiting list for sold out events on the platform Ticket Tailor, where we sell our tickets for SQIFF 2025 – please add your name to the waitlist and you’ll be notified by Ticket Tailor if any tickets become available!**

Three queer black femmes embark on a road trip across the Midwest United States in search of their missing friend. The trio face challenges as they encounter different communities along their journey and this prompts reflection on the group as friends, as well as individuals.
Expect tender friends and lovers, open country roads and a chance to dream in a world of nightmares.
The winner of Best Scottish Shorts will be announced at the end of this event.
Curated by Nat Lall.

Click here to book your ticket for this event
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £4, £8, £12, £16, or £20, in order to make SQIFF more accessible to those on a low income. You can choose what you pay based on your circumstances – you won’t be asked for any proof/ID. We just ask that you are honest! Please find the ‘What Should I Pay?’ guidance here.

Accessibility:
This programme has:

Content notes: Depiction of alcohol use, distressing argument scenes, nudity, sex. Discussion of racism and transphobia.
English audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
English-BSL interpretation for introduction. The interpreter for this event is Sula Brookes.
Live Captioning for introduction

This screening is 128 minutes long and has an age recommendation of N/C 18+.
If you require access seating please get in touch. Access seating includes: wheelchair spaces, bean bag seating, sitting in the front row / in the aisle / at the back. If you need any other provisions, please let us know by emailing info@sqiff.org with your name, ticket information and access request. If you are attending with companions and they need seating with you please also let us know. We will provide one free PA ticket for people who require any type of assistance (all tickets are pay what you can). We will do our best to work with you whilst also managing the capacity of each venue. Thank you for working with us on this.
You can find out more information about accessibility at SQIFF 2025 here. If you have any questions about accessibility at SQIFF 2025, please get in touch with us at info@sqiff.org or by phone on 07873 331 036.

Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨

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.

Image Credit: Dreams in Nightmares, Dir. Shatara Michelle Ford, 2024

NIÑXS (Dundee)
2025-11-08 18:00 - 20:30 | Steps Theatre, Central Library, The Wellgate Dundee, Dundee, DD1 1DB, United Kingdom
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In the rural small town of Tepoztlán, Mexico, fifteen-year-old Karla gets to tell her own coming-of-age story as she navigates the joys and complexities of trans adolescence. Irresistibly warm and funny, NIÑXS bursts the seams of documentary convention by dissolving the distance between filmmaker and subject. Director Kani Lapuerta and Karla reflect together on their transness as they watch eight years’ worth of footage documenting this formative period of Karla’s life: from trying out for the cheer team, playing with makeup, to being embarrassed by her loving and supportive parents. In an era where trans kids are spoken over and spoken for, NIÑXS sparkles with confidence, wit, and magic: a joyous demand that trans youth get to narrate their own stories. Presented as part of Take One Action Film Festivals 2025!
Grasping with both hands the joy, tenderness and tenacity that jumps through the screen in NIÑXS, stay on after the screening for a celebration of trans life lived to its fullest.

Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £5, £10, £15, or £20. To book your ticket for this event, click here.

Accessibility
This programme has:

Content Notes: Discussions of transphobia, gender dysphoria, death and surgery. Contains two brief depictions of fake blood.
Access Notes: Mix of explanatory dialogue (in Spanish) and visual storytelling. Mainly bright images, with a short sequence of darker images towards the end of the film.
Spanish audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
English-BSL interpretation for introduction and workshop
Live Captioning for introduction

This screening is 86 minutes long and has an age recommendation of N/C 15+.

Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨

Image Credit: NINXS, Dir. Kani Lapuerta, 2025

¡Quba!
2025-11-16 17:00 - 19:00 | The Boardwalk, The Boardwalk, 105 Brunswick St, Glasgow, G1 1TF
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¡QUBA! chronicles the raw, revolutionary fight of Cuba’s LGBTQIA+ activists as they battle deep-rooted homophobia to achieve a historic victory.
¡Quba! documents Cuba’s extraordinary journey toward LGBTQIA+ equality, culminating in one of the most unexpected civil rights victories of the 21st century – the historic 2022 referendum that overwhelmingly approved the new Family Code, legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption.
Against the backdrop of Havana’s sun-drenched streets and the countryside’s conservative heartlands, the film traces the decades-long struggle of activists who turned a revolution within the Revolution into reality.
At its heart are two iconic trailblazers: Adela Hernández, Cuba’s first openly transgender elected official, whose quiet perseverance broke barriers in rural Caibarién, and Ramón Silverio, the subversive theater director who transformed his cultural hub, El Mejunje, into a sanctuary for queer art and resistance. Through their friendship, we witness how Cuba’s LGBTQ movement took root—from the dark days of UMAP labor camps to the defiant drag performances that challenged homophobia in Santa Clara. Ramón’s rainbow caravan of artists brought radical acceptance to Cuba’s most isolated towns, proving that change could bloom even in hardened soil.
Their legacy fuels a new generation of firebrands. In Santiago, the lesbian collective Las Isabelas —Maritza, Ana, and Isel—combat machismo with radical visibility, conducting educational campaigns to empower women and girls. In Havana, young activists like Ulises push boundaries through relentless advocacy, while Mariela Castro, head of CENESEX, navigates Cuba’s political machinery to bridge grassroots movements and government policy. Their efforts collide with a rising evangelical backlash, setting the stage for a cultural battle that divides families and tests the nation’s revolutionary ideals.
Archival footage reveals the shadows of state persecution and religious bigotry, but the film pulses with the defiant rhythms of resistance—drag spectacles, underground queer gatherings, and clandestine activism that kept hope alive. As the campaign for the 2022 Family Code reaches its climax, activists hold their breath: will Cuba, a nation that once imprisoned its LGBTQ citizens, now embrace them?
Set to the defiant rhythms that fueled this movement, ¡Quba! captures a paradox shattered: in a nation that had already overturned capitalism but still wrestled with patriarchal traditions, the people themselves became the vanguard. This victory—won through art, organizing, and unapologetic joy—proves that revolution is never finished. From Adela’s trailblazing resilience to Ramón’s artistic insurgency and the bold fury of Las Isabelas, the film is a testament to love’s power to rewrite history.
In collaboration with Havana Glasgow Film Festival.
Followed by Q&A with Director Kim Anno, SQIFF Director Indigo Korres and HGFF co-Director Hugo Rivalta.
READ HGFF’S INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR KIM ANNO.

Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of £2, £4, £6, £8, £10, or £12. To book your ticket for this event, click here.

Accessibility
This programme has:

Content Notes: This documentary contains mature thematic material including discussions of discrimination, homophobia, and political conflict. Suitable for mature audiences.
Spanish audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
English-BSL interpretation for introduction and Q&A

This screening is 70 minutes long.

Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨

Image Credit: ¡Quba!, Dir. Kim Anno, 2025

Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps
2025-12-06 13:00 - 18:00 | Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
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Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds
Dir. Louise Weard | 2025 | 300m (incl. intermission) | DCP, Digital
Certificate: 18 | Abusive behaviour, strong sex, nudity, drug misuse
Castration Movie Anthology i. The Fear of Having No One to Hold at the End of the World
Dir. Louise Weard | 2024 | 275m (incl. intermission) | DCP, Digital
Certificate: 18 | Strong sex, nudity
Castration Movie is a labyrinthine post-modern epic about gender. The first part of this four-part film includes Chapter i. Incel Superman and Chapter ii. Traps Swan Princess. Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds contains one chapter, Chapter iii. Polygon!!!! Heartmoder. The final two parts are due for release in 2026.
In Chapter iii. Polygon!!!! Heartmoder, Circle (Alex Walton) tries to leave a trans separatist cult in New York. Castration Movie Anthology ii.‘s cast includes Alex Walton (Pomp and Circumstance), Ivy Wolk (Anora), Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Lea Rose Sebastianis (In a Violent Nature), Hesse Deni (Brain Death), Theda Hammel (Stress Positions), Alexandra McVicker (The Serpent’s Skin), Betsey Brown (Actors), and Peter Vack (Assholes), amongst a mix of other emerging talent and weird and wonderful cameos.
Incel Superman follows Turner Stewart, a production assistant who sees his world spiral out of control as he uncompromisingly attempts to shape his life into the one he feels he deserves. Traps Swan Princess follows a trans woman named Michaela “Traps” Sinclair, a sex worker in Vancouver who splits her time between seeing clients and hanging out with her group of trans friends, who finds her relationships strained when she decides to pursue motherhood.
Written and Directed by Louise Weard, the film’s cast includes Vera Drew (The People’s Joker), Ada Rook (Black Dresses), Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers), Avalon Fast (Honeycomb), John Paizs (Crime Wave), and Lea Rose Sebastianis and Nate Wilson (The All Golden) amongst a mix of other emerging talent and weird and wonderful cameos. The original score was composed by Aoife Josie Clements/Ravine Angel, with additional music by Magda Baker, Alex Walton, and E_DEATH.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £4, £8, £12, £16, or £20. To book your ticket for this event, click here.

Accessibility
This programme has:

English audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles

This screening is 276 minutes long.

Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨

Image Credit: Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps, Dir. Louise Weard, 2024

Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds
2025-12-12 18:00 - 2025-12-13 00:00 | GMAC Film, 103 Trongate, Glasgow, Scotland, G1 5HD, United Kingdom
🔊 Listen to this Event Page

Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds
Dir. Louise Weard | 2025 | 300m (incl. intermission) | DCP, Digital
Certificate: 18 | Abusive behaviour, strong sex, nudity, drug misuse
Castration Movie Anthology i. The Fear of Having No One to Hold at the End of the World
Dir. Louise Weard | 2024 | 275m (incl. intermission) | DCP, Digital
Certificate: 18 | Strong sex, nudity
Castration Movie is a labyrinthine post-modern epic about gender. The first part of this four-part film includes Chapter i. Incel Superman and Chapter ii. Traps Swan Princess. Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds contains one chapter, Chapter iii. Polygon!!!! Heartmoder. The final two parts are due for release in 2026.
In Chapter iii. Polygon!!!! Heartmoder, Circle (Alex Walton) tries to leave a trans separatist cult in New York. Castration Movie Anthology ii.‘s cast includes Alex Walton (Pomp and Circumstance), Ivy Wolk (Anora), Jack Haven (I Saw the TV Glow), Lea Rose Sebastianis (In a Violent Nature), Hesse Deni (Brain Death), Theda Hammel (Stress Positions), Alexandra McVicker (The Serpent’s Skin), Betsey Brown (Actors), and Peter Vack (Assholes), amongst a mix of other emerging talent and weird and wonderful cameos.
Incel Superman follows Turner Stewart, a production assistant who sees his world spiral out of control as he uncompromisingly attempts to shape his life into the one he feels he deserves. Traps Swan Princess follows a trans woman named Michaela “Traps” Sinclair, a sex worker in Vancouver who splits her time between seeing clients and hanging out with her group of trans friends, who finds her relationships strained when she decides to pursue motherhood.
Written and Directed by Louise Weard, the film’s cast includes Vera Drew (The People’s Joker), Ada Rook (Black Dresses), Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers), Avalon Fast (Honeycomb), John Paizs (Crime Wave), and Lea Rose Sebastianis and Nate Wilson (The All Golden) amongst a mix of other emerging talent and weird and wonderful cameos. The original score was composed by Aoife Josie Clements/Ravine Angel, with additional music by Magda Baker, Alex Walton, and E_DEATH.
Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of FREE, £4, £8, £12, £16, or £20. To book your ticket for this event, click here.

Accessibility
This programme has:

English audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
Live Captioning for introduction and Q&A

This screening is 300 minutes long.

Donate:
Donate to SQIFF via PayPal or sign up to one of our four Patreon tiers to support our work and show us you’re a big SQIFF fan 🌈✨

Image Credit: Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds, Dir. Louise Weard, 2025

Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds - SOLD OUT
2025-12-13 13:00 - 18:30 | Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
