Alan Cumming, Dylan Mulvaney and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Headline 2026 Vancouver Queer Film Festival Lineup
The 38th Vancouver Queer Film Festival has unveiled a 2026 programme of 87 features and shorts, with new films starring Alan Cumming, Dylan Mulvaney, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Matthew Morrison among the headline titles, Deadline reported on 14 August.
The festival runs in person from 10 to 20 September across Vancouver venues, then shifts online for a streaming window from 21 to 27 September. Organiser Out On Screen, a registered charity operating on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, has themed this year's creative "A Seat at the Table" (queerfilmfestival.ca).
Cumming leads Kiloran Bay, directed by Michael Bruce, which receives its Canadian premiere at the festival. Rodriguez stars in Beba From 5 to 9, while Morrison appears alongside Brock Yurich in Test. Mulvaney features in First Death, sharing the screen with Kimia Behpoornia and Vic Michaelis. All four titles are new to the festival circuit this year, according to Deadline.
The programme reaches beyond those marquee names. Again Again, starring House of the Dragon actor Abigail Thorn, counts Lilly Wachowski among its executive producers. The short film She's Nonbinary — written, directed and produced by Jess McLeod — carries executive-producer credits from Bob Odenkirk and Jane Schoenbrun. Each credit brings its own audience into the festival orbit, and together they sketch the breadth of what 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmaking looks like in 2026.
Beyond screenings, the programme layers in filmmaker Q&As, workshops, parties and community events. The festival also operates year-round through Out In Schools, an initiative that engages youth across British Columbia, and it awarded $62,350 in prizes to 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmakers at its 2025 edition (queerfilmfestival.ca).
Out On Screen functions under a shared leadership team: Eli Morris oversees strategy and programmes, fanny kearse heads development and communications, and Piper Fawkes runs operations and finance. Artistic Director Mary Galloway, appointed in February 2025, shapes the festival's curatorial direction.
For audiences, the split format widens access considerably. Those in Metro Vancouver can catch the eleven-day in-person run, while a week of streaming extends the festival's reach to viewers across the province and beyond. With 87 films on offer, the programme is dense but navigable — and the names attached make it one of the more high-profile 2SLGBTQIA+ festival lineups on the autumn calendar.
Tickets and the full schedule are available through the festival's official site.
