KINGSTON ONTARIO’S QUEER FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 25 YEARS THIS FEBRUARY

The ReelOut Queer Film Festival in Kingston, Ontario is celebrating their 25th anniversary between their festival dates of February 1st to 10th, 2024.

ReelOut was founded by community activist & artist Marney McDiarmid back in 1999 as a working group project with Kingston OPIRG (Ontario Public Interest Research Group). The goal was to raise the profile and visibility of the 2SLGBTQ+ community; as well as the queer, independent media artists making these works in Canada and abroad; and creating a space open to the larger community to create dialogue and build bridges. It is now a 10-day affair, the 2nd largest queer film festival in Ontario and the longest-running film festival in Kingston (just a year older than Kingston’s exciting Kingston Canadian Film Festival).  

This year, ReelOut will be showcasing over 85 films from 35 different countries/diasporas between February 1-10, 2024.  There are 28 unique film programs at The Screening Room Cinema and 1 fun-filled opening gala evening at The Broom Factory with emcee, drag king performer Dare De LaFemme.  All films for the festival are chosen by a local programming committee beginning in the spring of 2023.  This year ReelOut had over 400 submissions from around the world.   Executive Director, Matt Salton chose to market the official selections through thematic frameworks used in past festivals in honour of their silver anniversary.

The Reel Peeps doc series delves into the lives of some truly fascinating people; the RealOut documentary series spotlights a broader range of subjects, events and histories; & the ReelOut in the Dark series focuses on queer horror and thrillers.  In addition to these special series, Reelout is also offering feature-length narratives and a bounty of shorts preceding quite a few of the feature films and others presented in thematic packages that include spotlights on families; the diversity of gender; women’s shorts; activism; song & dance; and stories from the African continent that center around migration. 

ReelOut is pleased to welcome guest curations from The Agnes Gallery including a shorts screening and performance around the themes of rejection and failure (Sorry I’m late I Didn’t Want to Come); a short film made by Queen’s students (Kenopsia); and Queen’s Film Professors Dan Vena and Tamara Lang have curated a 34th anniversary retrospective of the feature-length lesbian romance called Dreamers of the Day by Patrica Rivera Spencer filmed mostly in Kingston and a 29th retrospective anniversary of the psychological drama Skin Deep by Midi Onodera with both filmmakers in attendance.

In addition to Midi Onodera, Patricia Spencer and Maneet Shergill (director) & Griffen Penney (producer) of Kenopsia– ReelOut has confirmed visiting the following guest artists: NYC filmmaking collaborators Michael J Ahern, Ryan Miller, Brandon Perras-Sanchez (Saint Drogo); American actor and filmmaker Tanesha Morris (A Tender Date); Vancouver-based Michael V Smith (The Floating Man); Loveleen Kaur (Leilani’s Fortune); Ayo Tsalithaba (Atmospheric Arrivals); Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller (EITR); Katia Cafe-Febrissy (Still Waters); Haui (Private Flowers); & Todd “Max” Casey (tOuch kink).  All of these artists will be engaging with ReelOut audiences at their respective screenings. 

Ticket and Passes are now on sale: https://reelout25.eventive.org/passes/buy

Schedule of Films can be found here: https://reelout25.eventive.org/schedule

More info about ReelOut’s mission statement and history: https://www.reelout.com/about/introduction/