Film fans are heading to Chicago for Reeling 2026, where an ambitious Spanish drama leads a packed programme of LGBTQ+ cinema. Running from 17 to 27 September, the festival brings international stories, documentaries and shorts to three venues, offering audiences a thoughtful, joyful and long-overdue celebration of queer filmmaking.

Essential Takeaways

  • Opening film: La Bola Negra launches the festival with a Cannes-recognised Spanish drama.
  • Big-screen ambition: The nearly three-hour film connects three gay men across Spain’s turbulent modern history.
  • What’s showing: Reeling features 36 narrative and documentary films, plus 59 shorts from 22 countries.
  • Where to go: Screenings take place at the Music Box Theatre, Landmark Century Centre Cinema and Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema.
  • Ticket price: General admission is listed at $15, although some high-profile screenings may sell out quickly.

Reeling opens with a major queer film moment

There’s a sense of occasion around this year’s Reeling opening night. La Bola Negra, a sweeping Spanish-language drama with subtitles, is the first major gay film to headline the 44-year-old festival, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

That matters because queer film festivals have often had to fight for access to films that distributors believed should be marketed to a broader, less explicitly LGBTQ+ audience. Reeling’s founder and executive director Brenda Webb told the Sun-Times that high-profile titles were historically difficult to secure, even when their themes clearly belonged in a queer cinema programme.

Now, Netflix has chosen the festival for the film’s Chicago launch. The Music Box screening is sold out, giving the opening night a suitably electric atmosphere.

Why La Bola Negra is attracting Oscar attention

Directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, La Bola Negra follows three gay men in stories unfolding before, during and after the Spanish Civil War. Its three-hour-plus running time sounds substantial, but the film’s ambition is part of its appeal: this is queer cinema presented as an epic historical drama, not a small-scale side story.

Federico Garcia Lorca, the Spanish poet and playwright killed during the Civil War, also plays a significant role in the narrative. The film draws on a lost gay-themed manuscript attributed to Lorca, blending personal desire with questions of memory, repression and cultural history.

The directors received a joint best director prize at Cannes, while the film has continued to build momentum on the festival circuit. El Pais reported that Calvo wanted the film to demonstrate that LGBTQ+ stories could command the scale and emotional reach of mainstream cinema.

Netflix will give La Bola Negra a limited theatrical release from 16 October, followed by streaming from 2 December. The reported 47-day cinema window is unusually generous for the company, suggesting real confidence in the film’s awards prospects and audience appeal.

A festival built for discovery

Reeling’s wider programme is just as interesting as its headline attraction. The 2026 edition includes 36 feature-length narrative and documentary films, alongside 59 shorts from 22 countries, with screenings spread across three Chicago cinemas.

The programme’s range is part of its charm. You can move from historical drama to comedy, sport documentary, experimental film and horror, often within the same weekend. Choose Chicago lists the festival as one of the city’s key annual LGBTQ+ cultural events, and that variety helps explain why it attracts both dedicated cinephiles and curious newcomers.

The festival began in 1981, when its mission was straightforward: show Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community the films Hollywood was overlooking. Four decades later, that purpose remains visible, but the scale has changed dramatically. What started with a small 16 mm cinema now brings work from around the world to established venues.

Three films worth adding to your list

For a lighter option, Meeting Marsha offers a comedy about queer ambition, family complications and a disrupted lesbian marriage proposal. Writer-director McKenzie Goodwin’s film centres on a struggling playwright and her mother, an ageing television star whose arrival causes emotional chaos. It screens on 23 September at Landmark Century Centre Cinema.

Sports fans should look out for The Brittney Griner Story, a documentary profile of the professional basketball player whose detention in Russia became an international news story. The film goes beyond the headlines, exploring Griner’s career, identity and the pressure surrounding her imprisonment and eventual release.

Closing night brings a 30th-anniversary presentation of The Celluloid Closet, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s landmark documentary about Hollywood’s treatment of gay, lesbian and trans characters. Narrated by Lily Tomlin, it remains an essential piece of film history, especially for viewers interested in how representation has changed, and where it still falls short.

How to plan your Reeling 2026 visit

With events at the Music Box Theatre, Landmark Century Centre Cinema and Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema, it’s worth checking the venue before setting off. The cinemas are in different parts of the city, so a little planning will save a rushed dash between screenings.

Book early for opening and closing nights, as well as films with recognisable names or strong festival buzz. If you’re choosing from the broader programme, look for documentaries and shorts blocks. They’re often the best way to discover emerging directors, unusual perspectives and films that may not receive a conventional theatrical release.

The festival’s appeal is ultimately simple. As the organisers put it, queer cinema doesn’t merely offer an escape from the world; it can sharpen the way we understand it. That’s a useful reminder in an age of endless streaming choices, where seeing something collectively on a cinema screen still feels special.

Reeling runs from 17 to 27 September across three Chicago venues, with tickets priced at $15.

Explore the programme and choose a screening that brings a little more colour to your cinema calendar.

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