GAZE International LGBTQIA Film Festival returns for its 32nd edition showcasing the best in new Irish filmmaking and in queer international cinema
Dublin | 1st – 5th August 2024
Lead Sponsor Accenture, Funded by The Arts Council and Screen Ireland
Today the GAZE International Film Festival today (26 June 2024) announce an exciting new line-up of queer film screenings for 2024 while supporting a new generation of Irish and international LGBTQIA filmmaking talent. This year’s festival runs for five days over the August Bank Holiday at the Irish Film Institute and Light House Cinema, Dublin, whilst continuing their digital festival offering ‘GAZE Online’ for the whole of Ireland to also take part.
With 100 films from across the world, GAZE 2024 will screen 25 international feature films, ten eclectic shorts programmes, seven world premieres, a dozen European premieres and over 50 Irish premieres across the five-day festival.
Opening GAZE 2024 is director D.W. Waterson’s high-octane lesbian cheerleading drama, Backspot, executive-produced by Elliot Page. D.W. will join the festival in person to introduce the film and will host a DJ set following the screening. To bookend the festival, the Closing Gala feature sees Elliot Page starring in Close To You; a superbly naturalistic pull-at-the-heart-strings drama, in which Page portrays a trans man in a feature role for the first time.
Also at the festival, Berlinale award-winning documentary Teaches Of Peaches follows the iconic queer musician twenty five years into her astonishing career. Contemporary gay screen icon Felix Maritaud (120 BPM, Knife & Heart, Sauvage) stars in the thrilling new drag dramedy, Solo. The groundbreaking feature Photo Booth makes a brilliant artistic plea for Palestine solidarity with a masterful blend of satire, activist documentary and fantasy. Elsewhere, the shorts programme variously centres queer black artistry in Axé, themed programmes Taboo and Resistance, as well as films that defy genre, and work that celebrates Irish and International LGBTQIA talent.
This year, GAZE continues to partner with key cultural Irish organisations including TENI, Sporting Pride, Bealtaine, Belong To, Small Trans Library, Leathermen of Ireland, MOTHER, and Gay Health Network to co-present features and shorts that speak to their diverse communities, with curatorial partnerships with Queer Spectrum Film Festival, Iris Prize and aemi bringing depth to strands of the programme.
Greg Thorpe, Festival Director, GAZE International LGBTIA Film Festival comments:
“With almost 100 films in the programme, I’m hopeful there’s something for all cinemagoers at GAZE 2024, from both inside and outside the LGBTQIA community. I’m proud that our programme can support high-profile makers like Andrew Haigh, incredible emerging talents like D.W. Waterson, and the next generation of filmmakers via our vibrant shorts programme. Thanks to all our supporters, old and new, I can’t wait for us all to be together again in the cinema.”
The festival’s long-standing partnership with lead sponsor Accenture goes from strength-to-strength, and the festival team are hugely grateful for their support this year with an added excitement to be partnering together in new ways around the country.
Enda King, Executive Sponsor, Pride Network at Accenture in Ireland said: “As the lead sponsor of the GAZE International Film Festival, we’re very proud to support the LGBTQIA+ community both in the workplace and in our local communities. At Accenture, we proudly support our people to bring their authentic selves to work each and every day and we’re delighted to support GAZE in shining a light on these thought-provoking, inspiring and entertaining stories that champion inclusion and diversity.”
This year, the festival demonstrates its commitment to supporting and developing LGBTQIA talent through a unique professional development programme: starGAZE. starGAZE will support six emerging LGBTQIA filmmakers, giving them access to the festival and providing them with a year-long mentorship programme. starGAZE is supported by The National Talent Academy Film & TV Drama, is an initiative of Screen Ireland and is managed by Ardán. Screen Ireland is also a new sponsor for the festival this year, enabling a dynamic expansion of their artist and audience development activities.
“There has been a growing pool of amazing LGBTQIA talent in Ireland for some time. It is great to see queer artists getting support to take their careers to the next level through the starGAZE scheme. I am excited to see a new wave of LGBTQIA makers create new and exciting stories that reflect a modern Ireland”. – Kate Dolan, Director (You Are Not My Mother; 2024 IFTA winner for Kin; and recently announced director of Universal Pictures new erotic thriller, Soulm8te, a spin-off of 2022 sci-fi horror M3GAN.)
A long-standing advocate, supporter and friend of GAZE, the festival will pay tribute to Irish LGBTQIA pioneer Edmund Lynch. As part of the programme, there will be a celebration of his life and achievements with a screening of his film A Different Country.
For the full programme and ticketing information, go to gaze.ie
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