Reel Out Charlotte Film Festival

An All Access Pass to Reel Out Charlotte (The Queen City’s Annual LGBTQ Film Festival) will get you access to all festival screenings, including the paid and free shows. Free tickets are first come, first served and must be reserved.

All-Access Pass holders must arrive 15 minutes before each screening or your seat will be released.

Kick off your film festival experience with us for The Reel Deal: Musical Movie Trivia, presented by the Hispanic Federation and hosted by our 2023 Charlotte Pride Drag Court at Divine Barrel. Doors open at 5:30 pm for a night of fierce competition and fabulous prizes. The show starts at 6 pm, featuring an hour of musical movie trivia challenges. Whether solo or with a team, all are welcome to join in the fun. Don't miss this electrifying kickoff to a week of LGBTQ+ cinema celebration!

Suggested donation of $5 at the door.

Join us for our FREE Annual LGBTQ Shorts Night to kick off Reel Out Charlotte at the Independent Picture House on Wednesday, May 15th at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7pm. Mix-and-mingle with community members and indie film lovers. With popcorn and drinks in hand, take your seat in the screening room and your place as a judge for the annual LGBTQ Shorts Night. An eclectic mix of LGBTQ short films will grace the big screen, with audience members voting at the end of the night for Best Short. Shorts Night is one of the most popular and well-attended events of each year's film festival. Don't miss out — grab your free tickets today!

Our Annual LGBTQ+ Shorts Night is FREE to all attendees thanks to a generous grant by the Arts & Science Council's Culture Blocks — a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County.

During a summer in a village house linked to beekeeping, an eight-year-old and her mother experience revelations that will change their lives forever.

This showing is FREE to all attendees thanks to a generous grant by the Arts & Science Council's Culture Blocks — a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County.

A unique queer horror set in Egypt with an Egyptian filmmaker and all Middle Eastern cast and crew, THE JUDGMENT follows a gay couple returning from the US to Egypt for a family emergency, which forces them back into the closet and to attempt to pass as just friends. As the pervasive tension of dangerous homophobia rises around them, they begin to fear that they have fallen prey to witchcraft as punishment for their “homosexual sins”, causing one of them to fall into religious terror and exposing his unhealed past. Directed by Marwan Mokbel.

F.L.Y. is a slice-of-life comedy about two exes, Max and Rafael, who get stuck in a house together. Having not seen each other in five years and with a new boyfriend in tow, things get off to a rocky start as Max navigates the situation with Raf, who just moved to LA with the dream of becoming the next drag superstar.

This showing is FREE to all attendees thanks to a generous grant by the Arts & Science Council's Culture Blocks — a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County.

The life of a disciplined high school athlete begins to unravel when his queer identity competes against the idea of who he was supposed to be.

This showing is FREE to all attendees thanks to a generous grant by the Arts & Science Council's Culture Blocks — a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County.

Based on Makoto Takayama’s semi-autobiographical novel, director Daishi Matsunaga’s EGOIST is a uniquely sexy and heartfelt drama about family. Kosuke, a fashion magazine editor in his mid-30s, revels in the blessings of his comfortable lifestyle. When he hires Ryuta, a personal trainer, in order to get into shape, he gets more than he bargained for. The two fall in love, but when Kosuke discovers Ryuta secretly works as an escort to provide for himself and his mother, the two men strike a financial agreement. However, when tragedy strikes, Kosuke and Ryuta’s mother grow closer and must confront a new future together.

Seven friends go away for the weekend and and up trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge or horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not.

KOKOMO CITY is a raw depiction of the lives of four black trans sex workers as they confront the dichotomy between the black community and themselves.

DOUBLE FEATURE

TURTLES: Since Thom and Henri met 35 years ago, their love for each other has never faltered. The seemingly perfect life they had built in Brussels started to go awry when Henri retired from being a police officer. Now, Henri’s days seem to stretch endlessly, each one as bland as the next while his feelings for Thom are fading fast. They drift away from each other a little more each day, to the point that their house has become a battleground. Thom’s love for Henri remains strong, though, and he is not ready to give up. He will do anything to save his relationship and rekindle their love, even if that means asking Henri for a divorce.

OLD LESBIANS: For the last quarter century, Houston native Arden Eversmeyer journeyed across the country to record hundreds of oral "herstories" with a mostly invisible population that is rapidly disappearing. Old Lesbians honors Arden's legacy by animating the resilient, joyful voices she preserved in the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project, from first crush to first love, from the closet to coming out, and finally from loss to connection.

This showing is FREE to all attendees thanks to a generous grant by the Arts & Science Council's Culture Blocks — a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County.

FEMME follows Jules, who is targeted in a horrific homophobic attack, destroying his life and career. Some time after that event he encounters Preston, one of his attackers, in a gay sauna. He wants revenge.

In this garden, snakes aren’t the only secret. Peek into the world of a group of transmen in NYC navigating the journey of learning manhood, overcoming family drama, and surviving the mean streets on their way to success.

The pilot episode to Eden’s Garden focuses on a group of men who are tied by a choice of no return in transitioning from female to male. Will CJ overcome his demons that ties him to cycles? Will Gino see the truth he is scared to admit? Will Rico achieve his true desires? Will Chaz accept what he is no longer willing to hide? The introductory episode covers the dynamics of life from the shoes of men learning what manhood is when you make the choice of transition. In the midst of this journey, they are also influenced by their life’s environment that leads each character to a different fate. Will they be brothers or foes?