Queer Lisboa turns 30 with 94 films and a new family strand
Lisbon's oldest film festival has turned 30. Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival is marking its 30th anniversary in 2026 with 94 feature films, documentaries and shorts, running 18-26 Sept at the Cinemateca Portuguesa and Cinema São Jorge, according to Variety.
The festival launched in 1997 at the Cinemateca Portuguesa as the Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Its first screening was the 1950 short "Un chant d'amour," the only film ever directed by French writer Jean Genet.
That history matters. The Cinemateca, Portugal's national film archive and repertory cinema, remains one of the two venues for the anniversary edition. Cinema São Jorge, a central Lisbon cinema, is the other.
This year's edition opened with the Portuguese premiere of Ira Sachs's "The Man I Love," starring Rami Malek. A premiere here means the first showing of the film in Portugal. It closes with "Tangles," an animated drama by Leah Nelson.
Sachs has a link with Lisbon audiences. His earlier films "Passages" and "Peter Hujar's Day" both previously screened in the city.
Artistic director João Ferreira oversees a programme built around five competition categories and six non-competitive sidebars. A sidebar is a separate strand that sits outside the main prizes.
The new strand this year is Queer Family. It is dedicated to children and their families, with a focus on independent films exploring inclusion and identity. The line-up includes Allan Deberton's Berlinale award-winner "Gugu's World" and Priscilla Kellen's animated short "Papaya."
What makes this stand out is the mix of forward look and archive. The anniversary retrospective, titled Lisboa 30, is framed around reclaiming futures, according to the festival's film guide, with work by Kenneth Anger and Kim Longinotto listed in the guide.
The festival site also lists retrospective work by Marlon T. Riggs, Lana and Lilly Wachowski and Sally Potter, alongside Panorama titles including "Stop! That! Train!" and "Outerlands." Other highlighted titles include "Amarga Navidad (Natal Amargo)," "Julian," "Maspalomas," "Prosecution" and "Public Access."
Lisbon is the main stop, but not the only one. The festival lists Lisbon dates of 18-26 Sept 2026 and Porto dates of 3-7 Nov 2026 on its website. The complete line-up, programme and screening schedule are available to download there.
