QCinema launches RainbowQC Pride Film Festival

In celebration of LGBTIQ+ Pride Month, QCinema International Film Festival introduces the QCinema RainbowQC Pride Film Festival. Formerly a section within QCinema, RainbowQC now takes center stage with its own curated program, reinforcing the festival’s ongoing commitment to inclusion, diversity, and authentic representation in cinema.

The inaugural RainbowQC Pride Film Festival, happening from 25 to 27 June at Gateway Cineplex 18, Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao, Quezon City, presents a compelling lineup of international and local films that reflect the richness and complexity of queer experiences. The festival is part of Quezon City’s official LGBTIQ+ Pride Month celebration.

Leading the program is the Southeast Asian premiere of The Wedding Banquet by Andrew Ahn, a contemporary reimagining of the Ang Lee classic that explores themes of identity, family, and the evolving dynamics of modern relationships. Also featured is the Philippine premiere of Some Nights I Feel Like Walking, a co-production between the Philippines, Italy and Singapore. Directed by Petersen Vargas and starring Jomari Angeles, Miguel Odron, Gold Azeron, Argel Saycon, and Tommy Alejandrino, the film follows a group of young hustlers who come together to fulfill the final wish of a friend.

The festival also showcases Cocoon (Kokon) by Leonie Krippendorff, a tender coming-of-age film set in Berlin, and Consequences by Darko Štante, a Slovenian drama that examines power, desire, and masculinity in a youth detention center.

Feature films are programmed by QCinema artistic director Ed Lejano. Tickets to Cocoon and Consequences are priced at P150 each, made accessible through the support of cultural partners Goethe-Institut and the Embassy of Slovenia. Tickets to Some Nights I Feel Like Walking and The Wedding Banquet are available at P300 each.

Rounding out the festival is the free screening of RainbowQC Shorts: The First Water is the Body, a program of Filipino queer short films curated by Jason Tan Liwag. Taking its title from the 2020 poem by Natalie Diaz, the program is composed of shorts films whose intimacies are tied to images of water, as they explore queer temporalities, fluid identities, and the invisible longings that shape the lives of LGBTIQ+ individuals.

It includes Abutan Man Tayo ng House Lights by Apa Agbayani, which follows a middle-aged gay man finding one last dance in a future Manila rave scene; A Catholic Schoolgirl by Myra Angeline Soriaso, where a 15-year-old student confronts her feelings for a nun in a conservative Catholic school; the river that never ends by JT Trinidad, featuring a middle-aged trans woman who serves as a companion-for-hire amid a decaying city; Microplastics by Lino Balmes, a poignant look at a boy’s search for connection in a world filled with artificiality; and concludes with Water Sports by Whammy Alcazaren, a post-apocalyptic romantic comedy in which two high school students try to survive climate catastrophe through the strength of their love, featuring the late Ricky Davao.

RainbowQC’s debut as a standalone festival is an invitation to celebrate Pride with films that give voice to the many sides of the LGBTIQ+ community. Visit qcinema.ph.