This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival
Wednesday, 06 May 2026 until Sunday, 10 May 2026
Over the last 27 years, Fairy Tales Queer Art Film Festival has grown from a fledgling, volunteer-run off-shoot of The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, to become one of Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQIA+ film and art festivals. As of 2024, the festival was expanded to include other art forms that connect to the countries and cultures connect to each film.
Programmer's Choice Award: Short
Programmer's Choice Award: Feature
People’s Choice Award: Canadian Short
People’s Choice Award: Canadian Feature
People’s Choice Award: International Short
People’s Choice Award: International Feature
2026 films...
Programmers Choice Shorts Package
Bingo
Directed by Fanny Ruwet, France
Fanny is a bookseller by day and a soft-hearted person the rest of the time. She is in love with her friend Louise, and to repress the sadness of this impossible love, she has a series of one-night stands with uninteresting men. One evening, at a literary gathering she’s hosting, she invites Louise to come along. Fanny may be about to have a bingo.
Brief Somebodies
Directed by Andy Reid, Canada
While rehearsing a sexual assault scene, a pair of actors form a connection they’ll be forced to reconfigure once filming begins.
A Priest Walks Into a Bar
Directed by Timothy Lenko, Canada
Scandal, grace, and mistaken identity collide when a priest approaches a man day-drinking alone.
The Shade of Chlorine
Directed by Clément Dezelus, France
Bilal lives off odd jobs he gets from the BOY application, but his head is filled with dreams of music. Hired to clean a luxurious villa, he falls under the spell of the mysterious Ulysses, the owners’ son. This encounter will widen his horizons.
The Blame Silence
Directed by Israel Cordova, Brazil
After his father’s death, Mauro, a rural farmer, finds himself facing a freedom he never dared to live. Caught between guilt and desire, he confronts his fears to finally embrace who he truly is.
Time for a Eulogy, Bitches
Directed by Andrew G. Cooper, Canada
It’s time for a show. A drag queen puts on her makeup in front of a mirror as she prepares herself for her next big performance.
Luz Diabla (animation)
Directed by Patricio Gabriel Plaza, Paula Boffo, Gervasio Canda, Argentina and Canada
Martin, a flamboyant urban raver, is involved in a strange accident on the road on his way to a party in the middle of the Argentine Pampas. Finding refuge in a mysterious country grocery store and sheltered by two strange locals, Martín’s paranoia begins to take over him. As the hours progress, his perception begins to distort, unleashing disturbing visions that will lead him to confront the supernatural forces that hide in the night. Trailer
Don’t Take My Joy Away
Directed by Omar Gabriel, Lebanon
Set in Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, two friends revel in the small joys of life until violence suddenly disrupts their world. Forced to flee, they embark on a dangerous journey of survival, confronting fear, chaos, and the stark realities around them. Along the way, they must choose between remaining in the shadows or seeking the light.
Kanekalon
Directed by Sara J. Asprilla, Columbia
Teyo, a trans girl, gets ready to start at her new all-girls school. As she journeys through Quibdó, a warm and vibrant city, she navigates the rhythms and gazes that greet her before stepping into class.
Children of God
Directed by Joewackle J. Kusi, Ghana
Following his father’s sudden death, a young man returns home for the funeral and closure as his father embarks on a magical journey into the afterworld. Nyame Mma explores how lack of space for queer men and male grieving makes their loss very isolating.
Coming and Going
Directed by Andy Johnston, Australia
Following his father’s sudden death, a young man returns home for the funeral and closure as his father journeys to the afterworld. Nyame Mma explores how lack of space for queer men and male grieving makes their loss very isolating.
Coyotes
Directed by Said Zagha, France, Jordan, Palestine, State of, United Kingdom
Two men playfully agree to be ‘boyfriends’ for a week but when lust unexpectedly turns into love, their broken hearts are given a chance to heal and their lives an opportunity to change.
This count-down-to-farewell drama is a love letter to the queer male experience and the beauty and intimacy that can be found in transient connection. In a world of transactional sex and hookup culture, when two men meet it can often mean nothing but sometimes it can mean everything.
Flutters
Directed by Louise Chauvet, France
At the end of summer, Nine spends a few days in Béhuard, her grandmother’s tiny village. Planning to take some time off to paint and prepare for the Beaux-Arts entrance exam, she meets Aurore, a young nun her own age.
Kokohaku
Directed by Adrià Guxens, Spain
During an interview, Tadashi, a young Spanish-Japanese actor who plays female characters in a theatrical practice similar to kabuki, will return to the past to relive his most intimate memories.
Linger
Directed by Thiago Kistenmacker
João and Vitor used to be paramours but haven’t spoken to each other for 30 years. At 70, they reunite and reconcile past, present, and a possible future after the passing of Vitor’s wife, at a moment when so much of their lives seem to have reached an end.
Daphne and Pol
Directed by Sergio Checa
Dafne and Clara are two classmates in high school who are bullied because of their sexuality. Clara tries to stand up to her classmates’ homophobic criticism by normalizing her relationship with Dafne. However, the bullying doesn’t stop.
I Hate Helen
Directed by Katie Lambert, United Kingdom
I hate Helen. I hate the way her fat ass jiggles when she’s excited. I hate the way she looks at the boys with gooey sex eyes. I hate her wet spitty mouth. She is a slag and I hate her.
“I hate Helen” is a snapshot of teenage life, a short film about the tidal wave of gay lust some girls feel in school and letting those feelings just wash over you. But our protagonist Priya isn’t going without a fight. She hates Helen, and she hates the way she is feeling.
Shaping a Dress
Directed by Aaren Rackett, Canada
An early 19th century tailor going through the process of making a dress for themselves as a way of coming out to their family.
My Dear Watson
Directed by Jacob McKee, United States
When he receives a mysterious love note, a teenage Sherlock Holmes must step outside of his comfort zone in order to uncover the identity of his secret admirer.
Part of the Band
Directed by Jacinta Gaspar, Canada
When insecure and lonely Charlie stumbles upon a local band’s show in Toronto, he becomes obsessed with the lead singer. What is perceived as a crush turns Charlie’s life upside down when he comes to realize he’s trans instead.
Needle Tips
Directed by Cassidy Civiero, Alanna Schwartz, Canada
Needle Tips is a documentary examining the intersection between trans health care and reproductive health care, as a transgender man helps his friend undergo IVF injections. Information on navigating the health system in Canada is interwoven with intimate interviews based on the filmmakers’ lived experience. Rooted in friendship and care for one another, Needle Tips gives a behind-the-curtain look at how to strive for bodily autonomy in the current sociopolitical context.
MDB
Directed by Mila Aquilia, Argentina
Summer of 2005 in Mar del Plata. The ‘Bikini Open’ and the ‘Ladies Night’ heat up the season. Pilar (14) and her family spend their afternoons at an upscale health resort in the city. There, she meets Camila (14). They fall in love amid photologs, ringtones, love letters, and plenty of ‘punchy, punchy’ noise. The spa starts to spread rumors that they are girlfriends. The teenage girls experience their first love secretly from a society that doesn’t accept them.
A Friend of Dorothy
Directed by Lee Knight, United Kingdom
A lonely widow’s quiet life is upended when a teenage boy accidentally kicks his football into her garden.
Salsa
Directed by Antonina Kerguelen, Columbia
In between prejudiced gazes, Margarita, a free-spirited woman and salsa music lover, walks away from her marriage searching for her identity. Her path crosses with Liana’s, a deaf tourist who arrives at the party’s peak. Seeing in Liana a world foreign to her own, Margarita finds the perfect company to explore her true being and decides to teach Liana how to dance, understanding her deafness as an opportunity for a different type of communication, tactile and corporeal. Trailer
From You To Me
Directed by Behrad Sahebgharani, Canada
In a quaint religious village, two young girls discover their budding romantic relationship. As they muster the courage to reveal their love, they grapple with the daunting consequences that await them.
“62% of LGBTQ+ individuals in Iran have experienced violence even death not from strangers, but from their own immediate families… And still, they chose love.”
First Shave
Directed by Ande Brown, Canada
Anticipation and apprehension abound as a trans man prepares for his first hot towel, straight razor shave
Invincible Summer
Directed by Arnaud Dufeys, Belgium
One hot summer evening. Alone at home, by the pool, 16-year-old Clément is killing boredom by swiping guys’ profiles on a dating app. Determined to lose his virginity, he lies about his age on his date with Naël, a young man 8 years his senior. As the moment of intimacy approaches, Clément is rushing things… But it is by discovering a body completely different from Naël’s that Clément will grow up. Trailer
Breaking Away
Directed by Simon Helloco, France
Noé dreams of breaking away from the countryside. With Tom, his best friend, he spends time shooting whimsical DIY videos. When a real film shoot comes to the area, he sees a chance to escape… And to reveal to Tom the true nature of his feelings. Trailer
A Beach
Directed by Juanqui Soto | Luis Paredes, Spain
Two best friends visit the north of Spain and one day they woke up at a nudist beach. Pablo feels some strong sexual attraction for one of the naked men but his friend Dani doesn’t even know he is gay.
DTF
Directed by Jess McLeod, Canada
Young queer writer, Jonah, is forced to confront his insecurities when he ends up on a date with his former English professor. Through a heated night of laughter, emotion, and vulnerability, the two unpack what it means to be a gay man in search for a real connection. Trailer