Film fans are heading to Fire Island for the inaugural Grove and Pines Film Festival, a three-day celebration of queer cinema, comedy and community across Cherry Grove and the Pines. With features, shorts, panels and even an underwear party, the September event promises a relaxed, proudly local alternative to the usual big-city festival circuit.

Essential Takeaways

  • Festival dates: The inaugural event runs from 18 to 20 September across Fire Island.
  • Big programme: Four feature films and 42 shorts are planned, alongside talks, comedy and awards.
  • Very Fire Island: Expect screenings mixed with ferry logistics, walking routes, local venues and community events.
  • More than film: Highlights include an underwear party, ocean soundbath, rooftop gatherings and a closing pizza party.
  • Book carefully: Accommodation is limited, so visitors should plan travel and rooms well ahead.

A new queer film festival finds its natural home

The Grove and Pines Film Festival is arriving with an unusually strong sense of place. Rather than borrowing Fire Island as a picturesque backdrop, organisers are building the weekend around the two neighbouring LGBTQ+ communities that give the festival its name.

That matters because Cherry Grove and the Pines aren't interchangeable. Each has its own history, personality and social rhythm, yet both have long offered queer visitors a rare feeling of belonging. The festival's organisers see the event as a thank-you to the island that helped shape their own creative lives, according to Queerty.

The result should feel less like an industry conference and more like an especially glamorous weekend away, where a film screening might be followed by a walk along the boardwalk, a drink with strangers or a familiar face appearing for the fourth time that day.

What to watch at the Grove and Pines Film Festival

The programme brings together four features and 42 short films, giving attendees plenty to choose from without making the weekend feel overwhelming. The selection spans comedy, documentary, horror and stories focused on love, identity, loss and resilience.

The festival's stated mood is nostalgic but hopeful, which sounds like a welcome counterpoint to relentlessly bleak cultural programming. There are films about difficult experiences, but the emphasis remains on pleasure, connection and the messy, funny business of being human.

Several screenings are set to take place at Whyte Hall in the Pines and the Cherry Grove Community House and Theater. The latter is particularly significant: Fire Island Association describes the Cherry Grove venue as a landmark of the island's long-running queer cultural life.

The schedule goes well beyond the screen

Film festivals can sometimes leave visitors shuffling between dark rooms, surviving on coffee and wondering what day it is. This one is deliberately more sociable. The weekend includes panels, stand-up comedy and an awards ceremony hosted by Brad Loekle and Busted Queen.

Then there's the headline-grabbing underwear party at the Ice Palace. It's an unmistakably Fire Island addition, but the wider programme is designed to include different ways of taking part. A Saturday morning soundbath by the ocean offers a calmer option, while rooftop meet-ups and after-parties keep the social side moving.

The closing pizza party is another charming touch. It nods to Cherry Grove's local history and gives the awards night a relaxed finale, rather than sending everyone straight into a formal reception. Honestly, pizza after a long festival day is hard to argue with.

Fire Island logistics are part of the experience

The island's car-free layout is one of its biggest draws, but it also changes how visitors need to plan. There are ferries to catch, venues to locate on foot and no convenient taxi waiting outside every screening. The official festival app is expected to include the timetable, venue map, tickets and pass-scanning details, according to the event's FAQ.

Accommodation is the trickier issue. Organisers have warned of limited housing, with some hotel capacity already heavily booked. The Grove Hotel has supported the event with discounted rooms, while some private homes in the Pines are also offering deals, but last-minute visitors may find the island less forgiving than a conventional festival city.

If you're attending, check ferry times before booking individual screenings, leave extra time between venues and pack shoes you can genuinely walk in. Fire Island glamour is wonderful; Fire Island blisters are less so.

A festival built around community, not just branding

The strongest idea behind the event is its attempt to make the festival belong to the island. Cherry Grove has a rich live-performance tradition, while the Pines has its own artistic and social history. Bringing film into both communities gives the weekend a chance to connect those worlds rather than creating a temporary bubble for visiting cinephiles.

That approach also reflects a wider appetite for queer stories made and presented on their own terms. The organisers' frustration with stereotypical background roles and limited representation is familiar, but their answer is refreshingly practical: create a platform, invite in filmmakers and make the audience part of the setting.

It may be the first Grove and Pines Film Festival, but the ingredients for a repeat event are already there. A distinctive location, a clear identity and an audience that can enjoy a short film in the afternoon before heading to an underwear party at night is a pretty compelling formula.

It's a small island, but the festival's ambitions are anything but.

Explore the programme and plan your Fire Island weekend early.

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