Queer film fans in Salt Lake City have 11 features and 25 shorts to look forward to at the 23rd Utah Queer Film Festival. With in-person screenings at the Utah Film Center and an online programme to follow, this year’s line-up pairs joyful storytelling with films that preserve queer history and make room for fresh perspectives. [2], [3]

Essential takeaways

  • A big programme: The festival features 11 feature-length films and 25 shorts across three curated programmes. [2], [3]
  • Two ways to watch: Screenings take place at the Utah Film Center in Salt Lake City, with an online programme afterwards. [2], [3]
  • A hopeful theme: The line-up celebrates queer stories, community, history and possibility. [2], [3]
  • A nature-minded opener: Second Nature explores same-sex behaviour and other forms of diversity in the animal world. [3], [4]
  • A cult-film finale: Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror closes the festival with a look at the enduring film phenomenon. [3], [7]

Queer stories take centre stage in Salt Lake City

The Utah Queer Film Festival makes a strong case for storytelling as a way to connect, remember and imagine what comes next. This year’s programme includes 11 features and 25 short films, with international work alongside a showcase for Utah filmmakers. [2], [3]

For the first time, all in-person screenings are scheduled at the Utah Film Center’s Geralyn White Dreyfous Building in Salt Lake City’s Marmalade District. The festival also offers an online programme, giving audiences another way to catch selected films beyond the cinema. [2], [3]

A hopeful line-up, from nature to family

Opening the festival is Second Nature, a documentary narrated by Elliot Page. It draws on research into animal behaviour to challenge assumptions about what is “natural”, offering a lively, accessible start to a programme built around broader ideas of identity and belonging. [3], [4]

Elsewhere, Brazilian documentary Apolo follows a transgender couple as they navigate parenthood and the obstacles society places in their way. The story gives the festival’s theme of queer futures a particularly intimate shape: not an abstract possibility, but a family making a life together. [3]

Films that keep queer history in view

The programme also looks backwards, and for good reason. By Hook or By Crook, the 2002 feature at the festival’s centre, returns to a San Francisco whose neighbourhoods have changed dramatically. Its archival value comes not only from the story on screen, but from the city it captures. [3]

Closing-night documentary Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror explores the film’s long cultural life and the communities that have gathered around it. The director, Linus O’Brien, is expected to take part in a post-screening conversation, adding a personal perspective to the festival’s final screening. [3], [7]

Short films give local voices room to shine

The Utah Filmmaker Showcase Queer Shorts brings locally made work into the mix, including stories about friendship, recovery, family and love. Among them is After You Get Back, a short about the fragile period after a friend leaves hospital following a suicide attempt. Its subject is difficult, but its focus on care and connection sounds quietly powerful. [3]

Two further programmes widen the lens: International Queer Shorts and Sapphic & Trans Shorts. Together, they offer a brisk way to discover emerging filmmakers and varied styles, from magical realism to music video and intimate character studies. [2], [3]

Make the most of the festival

With features, shorts and post-screening discussions on the schedule, it’s worth checking the official programme before choosing a session. Look out for talkbacks if you enjoy hearing filmmakers explain how a story came together, and consider mixing a feature with a shorts programme for a fuller sense of the festival’s range. [2], [3]

The best starting point may simply be the film that catches your eye. Whether you’re drawn to documentary, narrative fiction or a cult classic, this year’s programme treats queer cinema as more than a night out: it’s a chance to share stories and find your people. [2], [3]

It’s a festival with plenty to watch, and plenty to talk about afterwards.

Source Reference Map

Story idea inspired by: [1]

Sources by paragraph: