Founded in 1977, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival is the longest-running, largest, and most widely recognized queer film exhibition event in the world. As a community event with an annual attendance of more than 63,000 (89,000 virtual attendance in 2020), the Festival is the most prominent and well-attended LGBTQ+ arts program in the Bay Area. In 2021, Frameline's Festival was named by MovieMaker one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World. In 2023, Frameline was ranked #8 in USA Today's Readers Choice poll of the 10 Best Film Festivals in the US. Frameline is a BAFTA Qualifying Festival. In 2024, Frameline made MovieMaker’s annual list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. Frameline is also a BAFTA Qualifying Festival.
Frameline49: the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival will return to the Bay Area with its signature showcase of the world’s leading queer cinema. Frameline unites diverse communities for 11 days of innovative and socially relevant content. Discover emerging talents and embrace an unparalleled community of festival-goers at the world’s largest celebration of queer media. The Festival pays tribute to LGBTQ+ experiences through pioneering documentaries, gripping features, delightful shorts, cinematic classics, engaging episodics, and more.
Each year, Frameline hosts at least 400 official Festival guests, including directors, producers, actors, programmers, distributors, and buyers that range from small, independent entities to studios such as A24, Neon, Strand Releasing, Wolfe Video, The Film Collaborative, TLA Releasing, HBO, Showtime, and Warner Bros. The Festival is one of the largest annual business meeting places for theatrical and educational film and video buyers in Northern California.
Committed to showcasing the best and most diverse work by, about, and of interest to the LGBTQ+ community, we strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, transgender people, intersex people, asexual people, non-binary people, disabled people, and other underrepresented people and communities. The Festival is produced by Frameline, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the exhibition, distribution, funding and promotion of LGBTQ+ media arts.
Frameline49 will be a competitive film festival with three juried awards for Outstanding First Feature (Narrative), Outstanding Documentary Feature, Outstanding Narrative Short, and Outstanding Documentary Short. Frameline49 will also have cash prizes attached to the two Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature. Introduced in 2022, the Out in the Silence Award is an annual honor conferred to an outstanding film project that highlights brave acts of visibility, especially in places where such acts are rare and unexpected because of the dominant systems that make it difficult for LGBTQ+ people to live authentic lives.
Frameline47 introduced The Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Grants which are presented by Frameline centered on providing LGBTQ+ youth filmmakers with financial support to continue their work. Eligible applicants must be LGBTQ+ filmmakers under the age of 25 who currently reside in the United States. Up to three cash prizes of $15,000 each will be awarded in conjunction with the Frameline Film Festival. Frameline will curate up to 10 short films from which the Colin Higgins Foundation (CHF) Board will select up to three grantees.
Since 1983, our audience has been responsible for selecting the Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature of the Festival. Putting the power in the audience's hands, the Frameline Audience Awards offer cash prizes to the awarded titles.