LGBTQ film festival coming to Birmingham

Funded by BFI FAN Film Hub Midlands and supported by Centrala Art Gallery, Midlands Art Centre, and Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen, CineQ Queer Film Festival aims to make safe spaces for cinema and discussion surrounding social change within the LGBTQ community.

The event will put the focus on new stories, and 'QTIPOC (Queer Trans and Intersex People of Colour)' perspectives, while introducing ‘new queer cinema’. The festival aims to showcase some of the best underrepresented LGBTQ film both past and present.

After the film festival, CineQ will specially curate a selection of queer films representative of the LGBTQ community which will tour cinemas, film festivals and film societies in the region.

CineQ founder Rico Johnson-Sinclair said: "Queer cinema has often been a blind spot in the region’s best independent and multiplex cinemas.

"Not to say that there isn’t an offer. Love Simon, Call Me By Your Name and God's Own Country were notable successes in recent years, but there’s a plethora of films from a variety of perspectives that are being made, but just not shown in cinemas.

"Often the only places to watch queer films are streaming services, we want to change that by bringing audiences across Birmingham and the Midlands, more opportunities to see these brilliant titles on the big screen.’

CineQ was previously operating as a community cinema supported by Flatpack Projects. They’ve screened many titles such as The Wound, Closet Monster, and Check It as well as short film programmes at Centrala Art Gallery and Cafe, Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen, and Flatpack Film Festival.

The group has also worked with cinemas outside of Birmingham such as Phoenix Cinema in Leicester and was recently awarded a commendation by Cinema for All, Britain’s leading authority for community cinemas and film societies.

CineQ Film Festival will take place from March 22 to 24.

For more information, click here.