Alan Cumming, Dylan Mulvaney among stars featured at Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Alan Cumming stars in Kiloran Bay, which will make its Canadian premiere as part of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival’s opening presentation Sept. 10.
Photo: Kiloran Bay/The Film Collaborative.
Films featuring Alan Cumming, Dylan Mulvaney, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Matthew Morrison are among 87 titles headed to Vancouver this September for the 38th Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
The B.C. festival runs in person from Sept. 10 to 20, followed by online screenings from Sept. 21 to 27. This year’s program includes nine world premieres, five international premieres, eight North American premieres and 25 Canadian premieres.
Cumming appears in Kiloran Bay, one of seven short films included in the festival’s opening presentation, Ecosystems Not Empires.
The 13-minute film follows a gay man who returns to Scotland with his partner for a wedding, where memories of a difficult coming-out experience resurface. Kiloran Bay will make its Canadian premiere as part of the Sept. 10 opening program at the Vancouver Playhouse.
Elsewhere in the program, Mulvaney appears with Kimia Behpoornia and Canadian comedian Vic Michaelis in First Death, while Pose star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez appears in Beba From 5 to 9.
Former Glee star Matthew Morrison and Brock Yurich appear in Test, and House of the Dragon actor Abigail Thorn stars in Again Again. The latter is executive produced by filmmaker Lilly Wachowski.
The recognizable names are part of a much broader program built around this year’s theme, A Seat at the Table, which organizers say focuses on belonging, community and the range of queer experiences across generations, identities and borders.
The festival’s centrepiece presentation is Apolo, a Brazilian documentary following trans couple Ísis Broken and Lourenzo Gabriel as they navigate an unexpected pregnancy. A post-screening question-and-answer session is planned.
The festival’s Closing Presentation is Gugu’s World, a Brazilian film about a queer boy caring for his grandmother as she begins experiencing Alzheimer’s while he tries to hold onto his own ambitions.
B.C. filmmakers also have a prominent place in the lineup.
The Coast Is Queer returns for its 26th year as a showcase of queer filmmaking from the province. Among this year’s selections is Vancouver filmmaker Jess McLeod’s She’s Nonbinary, a short about a nonbinary person who finally reaches the top of the wait-list for gender-affirming surgery.
McLeod’s film carries some recognizable names behind the camera as well. Bob Odenkirk and I Saw the TV Glow filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun joined She’s Nonbinary as executive producers.
The 2026 festival also includes documentaries, workshops, filmmaker Q&As, parties and other community events alongside its feature and short-film screenings.
The appearance of well-known actors in the lineup should not, however, be taken as confirmation that they will attend the Vancouver festival in person. VQFF has previously announced visiting artists and special guests separately closer to the festival.
Special-presentation tickets are already on sale, with festival passes and the full ticket release scheduled for Aug. 17.
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