The LGBTQ+ Film Festival That Started on a Bedsheet Just Turned 50

It began as an evening of Super-8 film shorts made by a bunch of gay hippies and projected on a bedsheet.  50 years later, the Gay Film Festival of Super-8 Films has expanded in size and scope to become the highly venerated Frameline LGBTQ+ Film Festival (hereafter “Frameline”).

Running from June 17-27, 2026, Frameline continues to show films of various genres and lengths about the LGBTQ+ experience around the world.  Short films, documentaries, and even a complete TV mini-series can be found among this year’s offerings.  Equally importantly, there are more places to catch Frameline films this year.  The Roxie, the Vogue, and the New Parkway Theaters have once again generously opened their doors to become Frameline festival venues.  For this banner year, two other venues make their debut: the BAMPFA and the newly refurbished Castro Theatre.  Finally, for one night only, Hamburger Mary’s (531 Castro, SF) aka the Festival Hub will serve as a screening venue.

Yes, by this point tickets for many of the suggestions listed below will have gone to At Rush status.  But if you want to know some of the films worth trying to score a last-minute ticket, here you go.

Frameline 50 kicks off with the look back shorts program  “Frameline From The Beginning: It’s All Coming Back To Me Now (5:00 PM on June 17, 2026 at the Castro).”  The program ranges from remembrances of the very first Frameline festival from the people who were there to a greatest hits collection of Frameline festival trailers over the decades.  If the greatest hits compilation does not include the “Jesse Helms In The Afterlife” trailer, consider calling for a riot.  

For those wanting to look forward, they can start off with D’Arcy Drollinger’s new film “Lady Champagne (7:30 PM on June 17, 2026 at the Castro).  In this Opening Night sequel to “S**t & Champagne,” the San Francisco drag legend plays the title character.  She’s a notorious dancer who winds up in Lady Prison after being framed for her recent hubby’s death.  Trying to clear her name means clashing with the villainous Pixie Pardonnez Me (Matthew Martin).  Imagine 1970s grindhouse cinema mixed with John Waters, and you get the idea.

Making a return to the film screen after a dozen years away is prior Frameline Award recipient Gregg Araki.  His new film “I Want Your Sex (6:15 PM on June 19, 2026)” could be described as an irreverent sex-positive comedy for Generation Z.  Sexually frustrated Elliot belongs to this cohort.  He thinks he’s lucked out by becoming an assistant to anti-woke art star Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde).  But his job duties soon include “erotic muse” and “sex slave.”

It wouldn't be surprising if Araki’s film had shown up on Manhattan Cable Television.  As David Shadrack Smith’s entertaining documentary “Public Access (3:30 PM on June 21, 2026 at the Castro)” shows, this New York City-based public access television station would broadcast censorship-free programs made by the general public.  Manhattan Cable TV’s programming would be particularly notable for its impact on local pop culture, music, and art. 

Speaking of New York City, summertime in this metropolis provides the setting for Lucio Castro’s drama “Drunken Noodles (6:30 PM on June 21, 2026 at the Castro).”  Handsome art student Adnan is in the Big Apple to intern at an art gallery and cat-sit for his vacationing uncle.  In the meantime, he seeks out intimate encounters, whether it’s a tryst with a delivery boy or a bit of moonlight cruising.

Jeffrey Schwarz’ new documentary “Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders (5:15 PM on June 24, 2026 at the Roxie)” reclaims another piece of queer cinema history.  The William Friedkin thriller “Cruising” is now considered a queer cinema classic.  But its original release was marred by queer community concerns about the film’s sparking homophobic violence.  Schwarz’ film recounts the complicated history and legacy of this Al Pacino-starring vehicle, including the real-life murder that inspired the film.  “Cruising” screens after Schwarz’ documentary.

A different sort of cinematic remembrance of an influential queer-themed movie occurs in Stephen Winter’s “Jason & Shirley Revisited (3:00 PM on June 21, 2026 at the New Parkway).”  It’s a fictionalized re-telling of the making of Shirley Clarke’s controversial Oscar-winning documentary “Portrait Of Jason.”  Supposedly a confessional documentary about nightclub performer Jason Holliday, debate continues over whether the subject’s on-camera unraveling was planned by him or a product of Clarke’s baiting him.  

Speaking of revisitations, one of the themes of this milestone festival is looking back at the festival’s past.  On the shorts side, there’s: “Objectionable Content: Banned Retro Shorts (5:30 PM on June 18, 2026 at the Roxie), which features queer cinema classics “Flaming Creatures” and “Un Chant D’Amour”; “99 Cent Queer Video Fest (5:00 PM on June 20, 2026 at Hamburger Mary’s) provides a tribute to the long gone weekly Mission District shows of local New Queer Cinema shorts and queer classics with the admission costing only 99 cents; “Nineties & Zeros Fucks: Sexy Frameline Shorts Of The ‘90s And 2000s (6:00 PM on June 21, 2026 at the Roxie), includes a celebration of being the bottom, a hardcore gay safe sex PSA, and a musical comedy fantasia from Jennie Livingston

It should be mentioned that Livingston will be appearing in person for a retrospective screening of her classic ballroom culture documentary “Paris Is Burning (1:30 PM on June 19, 2026 at the Castro).”  But she’s not the only Frameline alumnus who will be returning.  Lilly Wachowski will be here with her classic lesbian film noir “Bound (8:45 PM on June 20, 2026 at the Castro).”  Donna Deitch is coming for the screening of her classic 1950s-set sapphic romance “Desert Hearts (8:45 PM on June 18, 2026 at the Castro).”   

But attention should also be given to a couple of lesser known retrospective films showing at this year’s Frameline.  Lino Brocka’s uncensored “Macho Dancer (8:30 PM on June 18, 2026 at the Roxie)” tells of a small-town hustler whose hopes of scoring big in male strip shows collides with sexual exploitation.  Kortney Ryan Ziegler’s experimental documentary “Still Black: A Portrait Of Black Transmen (2:45 PM on June 19, 2026 at the New Parkway)” consists of conversations with half a dozen Black transgender men living in the United States and talking about their intersectional lives.

Louise Weard returns to Frameline with a new chapter of her Frameline Audience Award-winning film series “Castration Movie.”  In “Castration Movie Chapter iii. Junior Ghosts-Premorphic Drift (8:15 PM on June 20, 2026 at the New Parkway),” cishet Izzy takes the news of her partner’s coming out as trans very badly.  While the partner leans into becoming Tiffany, Izzy falls down the TERF rabbit hole and tries to return things to their old relationship.  You don’t need to have seen the earlier installments to enjoy this one.

Centerpiece honors go to Brydie O’Connor’s Teddy Award-winning documentary “Barbara Forever (8:45 PM on June 25, 2026 at the Castro).”  It’s a biography of pioneering lesbian experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer..  Her more than 90 visual works presented life-affirming depictions of sapphics during a cultural period when such cinematic images were rarities.  Hammer’s inspirations would be her body, her lovers, and her lesbian identity.

Cheri Gaulke’s wonderful semi-personal documentary “Acting Like Women (3:30 PM on June 21, 2026 at the BAMPFA)” recounts the woman-led 1970s-1980s performance art scene at the famed Los Angeles cultural center The Women’s Building.  The venue would provide connection and collaboration to women artistically exploring the social and political aspects of being a woman in America in that period. 

Another example of lesbian artistic excellence is the subject of Sasha Waters’ biographical portrait “Mary Oliver: Saved By The Beauty Of The World (5:00 PM on June 23, 2026 at the Roxie and 7:00 PM on June 26, 2026 at the BAMPFA).”  The titular poet drew on her close observation of nature, love, and language to create transcendent poems that garnered  such fans as Stephen Colbert and Oprah Winfrey.

Lesbian excellence in the far different field of sport is demonstrated in Alexandria Stapleton’s documentary.  “The Brittney Griner Story (5:45 PM on June 20, 2026 at the Castro)” recounts the WNBA superstar’s life and how she came to be playing basketball outside the U.S.  That innocent act would unexpectedly lead to a 295-day ordeal of fear, malnourishment, and freezing cold inside a Russian penal colony. 

Liz Garbus & Elizabeth Wolff’s “Give Me The Ball! (5:30 PM on June 27, 2026 at the Castro)” captures the personal cost of becoming a trailblazer and a feminist icon.  This documentary biography of Billie Jean King’s life has King herself narrating her account of an existence marked by her fights for recognition of female excellence in sports and her concealing an eating disorder and her sexual orientation. 

Jacqueline Doorey’s “The Hockey Player (1:00 PM on June 20, 2026 at the Castro)” delivers a biographical portrait of Luke Prokop, a Canadian-born NHL hockey defenseman who publicly comes out as gay.  Prokop’s coming out feels monumental given that hockey culture is often homophobic and he had no gay role models in his career.  But it’s the relationship between Prokop and his father Al, the player’s mentor and sometime coach, that’s the heart of the film.  

A different father-child challenge gets chronicled in Luchina Fischer’s documentary “The Dads (4:00 PM on June 19, 2026 at the Castro),” an expansion on the Emmy award-winning short of the same name.  It follows over the course of a year fathers of trans and nonbinary children forced to choose between country and family thanks to the open transphobic and queer-phobic hostility of the Demented Orange Dotard-controlled government.

The Orange Tyrant’s ongoing campaign to culturally expunge queer artistic contributions is a foolish yet hateful one.  Duncan Lance Black’s bopping documentary “Rock Out (8:45 PM on June 26, 2026 at the Castro)” shows how the rock, punk, and heavy metal genres have always had a queer subtext.  There’s been the on stage glamor of such well-known names as Elton John, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury.  But there has also been the significant behind the scenes work of people such as Brian Epstein, the manager who guided The Beatles to worldwide stardom. 

Rock and roll does not appear to be the jam of Luthando, the protagonist of Sandulela Asanda’s coming of age story “Black Burns Fast (5:30 PM on June 19, 2026 at the New Parkway and 3:00 PM on June 26, 2026 at the Roxie).”  This South African comic book nerd is a star student at an elite all-girls boarding school.  However, when she develops a crush on charismatic new girl Aydana, her obsession endangers both her scholarship and her long-time friendship with Jodie.

Laetitia Jacquart and Corinne Sullivan’s powerful slice-of-life documentary “Fire Within (2:00 PM on June 22, 2026 at the Roxie)” takes viewers into the Glide Memorial Church community of the San Francisco Tenderloin District.  The film follows over the course of a year such community members as Tony (who’s Black, gay, and unhoused) and Dawn (a single mother separated from her children because of her drug habit).  They deal with such challenges as mental health issues and being unhoused in an insanely expensive city.

“San Francisco On The Queer Screen: 50+ Years Of Gay By The Bay (5:15 PM on June 22, 2026 at the Roxie)” is not a feature-length documentary.  This program is a talk given by Frameline programmer Peter L. Stein as he shows clips from films depicting San Francisco through a queer lens.  The familiar titles such as “Tales of the City” and “Milk” are here, but so are scenes from 1950s private home movies, delightfully weird shorts, and even arresting images from the likes of Marlon Riggs, Jenni Olson, and H.P. Mendoza. 

Pride Weekend kicks off with the new Jennier Kroot documentary “Hunky Jesus (6:00 PM on June 26, 2026 at the Castro).”  Its title comes from the annual Easter Sunday contest held in San Francisco’s Dolores Park.  But the film’s ultimate subject is the contest’s organizers, the beloved San Francisco branch of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and their long fabled history of community service and laughter.

Efrain Mojica & Rebecca Zweig’s documentary “Jaripeo (3:30 PM on June 20, 2026 at the Castro)” shows viewers another mix of gay dressing up and tradition.  The title refers to the rodeo in the Michoacan town of Penjamillo.  It may be an annual celebration of cowboy testosterone poisoning, but there’s also a hidden gay side to the event that both defies and honors cowboy tradition. 

Srdan Karanovic’s “Virgina (7:00 PM on June 24, 2026 at the BAMPFA)” is a period drama set in 19th century Serbia.  In this time period, families lacking a male heir are considered cursed.  Stevan is the fourth daughter of a poor family.  When her father decides to raise Stevan as a boy, she blossoms into a handsome youth.  But what happens when Stevan develops erotic tension with both a boyfriend and a girlfriend?

In Kai Stanicke’s Out In The Silence award-winner “Trial Of Hein (5:45 PM on June 25, 2026 at the Castro),” the title character receives a far less than welcoming reception after his return to his small North Sea island village after a 14-year absence.  Practically everybody in the village, even his family and his friend from his teenage years, treat Hein as an impostor.  Soon a community trial will be held to determine “Hein”’s identity.  But what secrets will be revealed?  

Adrian Chiarella’s “Leviticus (9:00 PM on June 17, 2026 at the Roxie)” is also set in a small isolated conservative community.  A religious order’s sin-cleansing ceremony goes awry, unleashing a violent entity that takes the form of the person the victim desires most before attacking them.  Teen lovers Naim and Joe need to escape both the entity and their stifling community.  But can they fully trust one another?

Indigenous horror is served up in Bretten Hannam’s “At The Place Of Ghosts (8:30 PM on June 20, 2026 at the Roxie).”  When Mise’l encounters a terrifying spirit at his workplace, he calls on his estranged Mi’kmaq brother Antle for help in traveling deep into the forest known as the Place of Ghosts to exorcise the spirit.  Accomplishing that task may mean reliving the shared horror the two brothers buried, but it could also mean finding the path to mending their emotional split.

Closing Frameline 50 out in style is the new film from “I Saw The TV  Glow” director Jane Schoenbrum, “Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma (8:15 PM on June 27, 2026 at the Castro).”  This year’s Queer Palm winner concerns young queer filmmaker Kris (Hannah Einbinder), who’s been hired to helm a reboot of the “Camp Miasma” slasher film franchise.  Kris’ big idea is to have Billy Preston (Gillian Anderson), the legendary final girl from the original “Camp Miasma” movie, star in the reboot.  But as the two women begin working together, the line between director and actress starts to blur.