Queer as Punk + intro + pre-recorded Q&A
2026-05-13 20:30 - 22:30 UTC | Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
Listen to this Event Page
Cinetopia:DOC in collaboration with SQIFF presents this Scottish special preview of Queer As Punk ahead of its wider UK release with T A P E Collective. The screening will have an introduction by artist Kai Khidir Hassan (fka Aki Hassan) and the film will be followed by a 20-minute pre-recorded Q&A.

Faris is a transman and the lead singer of “Shh..Diam!” (meaning “shut up!” in Malay), an openly queer punk band in Malaysia. Together with his bandmates Yon and Yoyo, they use their music to fight for LGBTQI+ rights in a country where conservative Muslim policies and society severely curtail human rights and freedom of expression. As discrimination against them intensifies, Yoyo chooses to leave the country. However in the face of the many challenges, Faris opts to stay, determined to continue using their music as a platform to advocate for freedom and equality, refusing to let the pressures of society silence their voice.
Director Yihwen Chen followed the trio for several years as they toured, documenting their gigs, experiences, and wide-ranging discussions. Queer As Punk continue to use their nonconformist live performances to fight for justice, in the face of intense pressure to and threats to silence their voices.
Kai Khidir Hassan (fka Aki Hassan) is a visual artist, researcher and organiser who primarily works with expanded sculpture, drawing and self-publishing. Rooted in collaborative inquiry and community-building, Aki’s practice extends beyond the studio into organising spaces that foreground collective knowledge, mutual support, and slower modes of active engagement.
Cinetopia:DOC is a monthly club bringing audiences together around exceptional documentary films alongside filmmaker Q&As or conversations, followed by continued discussion and networking in the Filmhouse Bar. Cinetopia:DOC is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI and the Scottish Documentary Institute and produced by Cinetopia, a hub of activity around filmgoing and filmmaking based in Edinburgh.
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.
T A P E Collective: Reppin’ could-be-cult classics, T A P E is a UK-based film company working across exhibition and distribution to platform the works of global majority filmmakers. Cross-curatorial, but firmly rooted in film, T A P E creates ties with art, music, talks and more, to bring exciting and subversive filmmaking to new and established audiences. With a focus on representation, identity and heritage, we champion the forgotten could-be cult films of the festival circuit.
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 and Malay audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
Text on Screen for the introduction

This screening is 88 minutes long.

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, awarding funding on behalf of Screen Scotland and the BFI National Lottery.

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: Queer as Punk, Dir. Yihwen Chen, 2025

SQIFF x The Social Hub Movie Night: Nina's Heavenly Delights (20th Anniversary)
2026-07-14 18:00 - 21:00 | The Social Hub, The Social Hub, Candleriggs Square, Glasgow, G1 1TQ
Listen to this Event Page

SQIFF are excited to announce another collaboration with the Social Hub for this year’s Pride Hub event. This year we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of a queer, South Asian classic set right here in Glasgow, Nina’s Heavenly Delights. The film follows Nina’s return to her hometown of Glasgow to save her late father’s struggling curry house. Nina pairs up with childhood friend and chef Lisa to save the business and let’s just say things get a bit ‘spicy’. Expect laughs, bright colours and a celebration of Scottish Asian cuisine.

Alongside this feature we will be screening the short Bhangra Jig also by director Pratibha Parmar. This short film captures the high energy music genre of Bhangra being enjoyed, again, right here in Glasgow.

The films will be followed by a pre-recorded Q&A with Pratibha and SQIFF curator Nat Lall. We would love for you to join us for a celebration of the rich culture right here on our doorstep.

Tickets are Free with a donation option. To book your ticket for this event, click here.

Accessibility
We aim to be as accessible as possible, please get in touch if there’s anything we can do to make this event more accessible to you. This programme has:

An age recommendation of N/C 16+.
English language descriptive subtitles for the films and pre-recorded Q&A.
Text on screen provided for the introduction.
The Social Hub is wheelchair accessible, with gender neutral toilets.
Please let us know at check in if you don’t want to be in pictures or video.

This screening is 98 minutes long with an introduction and pre-recorded Q&A.

Films in this programme include:
Bhangra Jig, Dir. Pratibha Parmar, 1990, United Kingdom, 4 min
A young South Asian woman walks through the city of Glasgow, once the second largest city of the British Empire. Her eyes reflect on the wealth symbolised in the textures of the city’s architecture. Signs of Empire ever present in the stone freizes, imposing cast iron statues of dead colonialists, ornate pillars and the opulence of marble. Against histories of colonial carnage, Asian people build our communities and cultures, forging identities of self-affirmation. Against echoes of colonial memories is the living memory of today’s cultures of resistance: through dance and music, young Asian people celebrate desire and self pride. Bhangra Jig disrupts dominant notions of European culture and offers new meanings of what constitutes national cultures and identities, of what it means to be Asian, British and European. It was a four-minute television intervention piece, commissioned by Channel 4 celebrating Glasgow as the European cultural capital for 1990.

Nina’s Heavenly Delights, Dir. Pratibha Parmar, 2006, United Kingdom, 94 min
A feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father’s curry house.

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: Nina’s Heavenly Delights, Dir. Pratibha Parmar, 2006

Bouchra + intro
2026-08-07 18:15 - 20:00 | Edinburgh Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ
Listen to this Event Page

This film contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

This screening of Bouchra is hosted by SQIFF, and will have an introduction from SQIFF Programmer, Huss, which will be accompanied by text backing slides for accessibility. The film itself will be screened with Descriptive Subtitles.

We have a Reduced Rate ticket option to make this screening more accessible to those on a low income. If cost is a barrier please email info@sqiff.org for a complimentary ticket.

Bouchra (35), a queer Moroccan coyote living in NYC, is wrestling with writer’s block for her first film. As she begins a series of difficult yet long overdue phone calls with her mother, Aicha, in Casablanca, forgotten memories begin to resurface. Balancing the precarity of working as an artist in New York, the rift in her identity between her two homes and an array of friendships and romantic interests, Bouchra’s emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression.

With a lived-in granularity and unmistakable visual style, Bouchra, the debut feature from acclaimed visual artists Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki (best known together from their 2020 web series 2 Lizards), is a singular portrait effortlessly towing the line between documentary, visual art and resonant family drama. Deeply felt, surprisingly sexy and formally adventurous, Bennani and Barki’s distinctive debut forges new ground.

Tickets are on a pay what you can sliding scale of £7.50, or £13, with an Access Ticket at £5 and a Senior Ticket at £11.50. To book your ticket for this event, click here.

Accessibility
This programme has:

Arabic, English and French audio with English language Descriptive Subtitles
Text on Screen for the introduction

This screening is 83 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: Bouchra, Dirs. Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani, 2025

BSL Film Club x SQIFF: Reconnection + Close to You + Q&A
2026-09-20 14:30 - 17:30
Listen to this Event Page
This screening will have an introduction and be followed by a Q&A with Reconnection director Amy Helena, moderated by BSL Film Club co-programmer Charlie Little.

BSL Film Club are delighted to be collaborating with Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) on a partnership screening with Filmhouse.

BSL Film Club is Deaf Action’s monthly community screening, programmed by Charlie Little and Tomas Gerrard. These screenings are designed for all deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing audiences with an interest in British Sign Language. Our screenings are presented with on-screen descriptive subtitles, and all fluency levels of BSL are welcome.

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.

Join us afterwards for a Q&A with Reconnection director Amy Helena, moderated by BSL Film Club co-programmer Charlie Little.

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 and British Sing Language with English language Descriptive Subtitles
BSL-English Interpretation for the intro and panel discussion.
Live Captioning for the intro and panel discussion.

This screening is 110 minutes long.

Films in this programme includes:

Reconnection (dir. Amy Helena, UK, 2026, 11 mins, British Sign Language w/ English subtitles)

A couple’s argument is interrupted by a blackout. In candlelight, silence gives way to honesty, helping them reconnect and bridge the emotional distance between them.

Close to You (dir. Dominic Savage, Canada/UK/USA, 2023, 99 mins, English and American Sign Language w/ English subtitles)

Elliot Page stars in this gentle romantic drama alongside co-star Hillary Baack (Sound of Metal). Close to You follows a trans man as he returns to his hometown, facing family tensions and complicated dynamics. He reunites with a former love interest, and begins a journey of self-acceptance.

This event is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, awarding funding on behalf of Screen Scotland and the BFI National Lottery.

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: Close to You Dir. Dominic Savage, 2023
