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Rainbow Visions Film Festival
Friday, 19 June 2026 until Sunday, 21 June 2026
RAINBOW VISIONS is Edmonton’s LGBTQ2S+ film festival! Launched in 2015, join us for our 11th great year, taking place spring 2026!
Our mandate is to showcase new & emerging filmmaking talent, and we program an equal number of narrative and documentary films, with shorts screening before most features!
RAINBOW VISIONS is produced by the Global Visions Festival Society, a non-profit society that produces 3 Edmonton-based festival each year: Rainbow Visions, NorthwestFest International Documentary Festival, and NorthwestFEARFest Genre Festival.
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature
Jury Award for Best Canadian Short
Jury Award for Best International Short
2026 films...
Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most—each other. From the producers of The Babadook and Talk To Me, come watch one of the buzziest films from this year’s Sundance and SXSW film festivals!
MY BROTHER'S KILLER details the remarkable effort by members of the queer community in Los Angeles to solve the 1990 murder of adult film performer Billy London.
Preceded by the short film: A FUN NIGHT OUT*
When Nate moves in with his grandparents after a bad breakup with his boyfriend, the two generations collide in exasperating, funny, and heartbreaking ways when it comes to life experiences, values, and philosophies.
FINGER IN THE DYKE: The Films of Shawna Dempsey & Lorri Millan
Described by Guy Maddin as "the iron fist of feminism in a fun-fur glove," the Canadian performance duo Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan have an impressive filmography that includes numerous classics, screening as part of this program!
A Day in the Life of A Bull Dyke (10 min)
Lesbian National Parks and Services (24 min)
We’re Talking Vulva (5 min)
What Does A Lesbian Look Like? (1 min)
Good Citizen: Betty Baker (27 min)
BARBARA FOREVER is an immersive, archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of the iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.
SHORTS FOR BRUNCH - SHORTS COMPETITION
Our Monsters
Directed by Mia Mango (Petrovic) | 2025 | 9 min | Canada
OUR MONSTERS is a playful short film about two kids, Daniel and Peter, who team up to defeat the monster in Daniel's closet.
The Blame Silence
Directed by Israel Cordova | 2025 | 20 min | Brazil
After his father's death, a rural farmer finds himself facing a freedom he never dared to live; caught between guilt and desire, he must confront his fears.
Clutter
Directed by James Card | 2025 | 15 min | United Kingdom
CLUTTER is a moving drama about a grieving drag queen and the emotional fallout of loss and prejudice, exploring how people find the strength to heal and move forward.
Stimulants & Empathogens
Directed by Mateusz Pacewicz | 2025 | 25 min | Poland
This short follows a closeted teen whose romantic pursuit of a drug dealer spirals from awkward comedy into sharp social satire and an emotional confrontation with family, class, and identity.
Kiloran Bay
Directed by Michael Bruce | 2026 | 13 min | United Kingdom
KILORAN BAY is a musical short film starring Alan Cumming and Jack Wolfe. After decades away, a gay man returns home to Scotland to attend a traditional wedding and faces the past he’s spent a lifetime avoiding.
As 93-year-old Roy Blakey battles dementia, his niece works to preserve his remarkable legacy—as a figure skater, ice show archivist, and pioneering gay photographer whose male nude photography left a lasting mark on history—before his final curtain call.
Panel discussion to follow!
MINESHAFT: THE CRUISING MURDERS
Cruising, the controversial 1980 thriller directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, is the focus of MINESHAFT: THE CRUISING MURDERS, which explores the controversy surrounding the film’s original production.
SHE'S THE HE is an outrageous, uproarious, teen comedy for the ages following Ethan and Alex as they decide to pose as trans women in a last-ditch effort to quell gay rumours. It's all a joke until Ethan realizes she really is trans.
Star (Dilan Chiblow), an Indigi-Queer, Two-Spirit, lonesome callboy is introduced to a popular drag house and embarks on a journey toward becoming who they genuinely are: Starwalker.
SHORTS for BRUNCH - FESTIVAL FAVS
Tsismosa (Gossiper)
Directed by Mark David Daoang | 2025 | 10 min | Philippines
In an Ilokano village in the Phillipines, a simple plan for a traditional serenade spirals into comic confusion when gossip turns a love song into a town scandal.
Ornithomancy
Directed by S. Vollie Osborn | 2025 | 17 min | United States
The anxious Winona turns to ornithomancy, the ancient art of reading omens from birds, to guide his life choices before a crucial job interview.
Cat Sitters
Directed by Claren Grosz | 2025 | 12 min | Canada
Four friends reunite to watch scary movies while cat-sitting, but an unexplained power outage and a lingering suspicion that they're not alone threaten to kill the vibe.
Almari ka Achaar (CUPBOARD PICKLE)
Directed by Raakesh Rawat | 2026 | 20 min | India
ALMARI KA ACHAAR is a warm and heartfelt short film about a middle-aged same-gender couple navigating the tension between their enduring love and the pressures of family expectations and tradition.
WE ARE PAT is a tale of obsession, transness, and how art ages over time, told through the thick spectacles of the 1990s Saturday Night Live cult character Pat.
THE BIRDCAGE - 30th Anniversary
THE BIRDCAGE is a classic comedy in which a gay nightclub owner and his drag performer partner scramble to appear “straight” when their son brings home the daughter of a conservative senator for a chaotic family dinner. Starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
DEPARTURES is a bold, emotionally charged debut feature in which Benji and Jake’s instant attraction spirals through intimate encounters in Amsterdam fraught with complex power dynamics. One of the brashest debut features in ages!