While completely coincidental, it’s kind of awesome that Fort Worth’s only queer film festival has come back after a six-year hiatus on the heels of our state turning blue. It truly feels like the tide has shifted. Today thru Sunday (Nov 13-15), Trinity Pride Fest is reviving the Q Cinema Film Fest for its 30th anniversary, with acclaimed films that have graced the screens of Cannes, Santa Barbara, Sundance, and other well-known film festivals.
Q Cinema takes place on the Near Southside, home of the annual Trinity Pride Fest, at the performing arts theater Amphibian Stage (120 S Main St, Fort Worth, 817-923-3012) from 7pm to 11pm Fri and 10am to 10pm Sat-Sun. The LGBTQ+ movies screened include locally produced films, plus there will be filmmaker conversations and community gatherings.
Founded in 1996, Q Cinema has served as a space for LGBTQ+ storytelling and connection in Fort Worth. The festival is entering a new chapter, transforming Amphibian Stage’s 100-seat theater into an intimate digital cinema. As Tarrant County’s only queer film festival, Q Cinema continues its legacy while welcoming a new generation of filmgoers in a curated, noncompetitive format. Audiences can expect international features, documentaries, short films, retrospectives, and regional Texas films.
This year’s showcase films include Bookends (starring F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron), Clarissa (starring Sophie Okonedo and David Oyelowo), and more, like Jaripeo, a documentary exploring tradition and queer identity in Mexico. Including the various short films, there are 15 screening opportunities. For festival passes ($125), individual tickets ($20), and more information on the films above, visit Zeffy.com.
Fri, Nov 13
The festival kicks off with an opening-night screening of the 2026 narrative feature Bookends. When Nate (Noam Ash) is forced to leave his fabulous city life behind and move in with his grandparents after a bad breakup with his boyfriend, he is determined to escape the confines of retirement community life and his meddlesome grandparents’ relentless attempts to “improve” him. But when his Holocaust-surviving grandfather, Saul (F. Murray Abraham), shows signs of cognitive decline, and his grandmother, Miriam (Caroline Aaron), refuses to acknowledge her husband’s early dementia, Nate finds himself torn between his desire to flee, family responsibilities, and an unexpected romance with his grandparents’ handsome doctor (Charlie Barnett). There will be a post-screening Q&A with writer and star Noam Ash and director Mike Doyle.
Sat, Nov 14
Today begins with a 10am screening of 1996’s The Celluloid Closet, followed by a talkback with journalist/festival founder Todd Camp, whose journalism career spans more than two decades, including both with the Fort Worth Weekly and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. This exuberant, eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role that gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Lily Tomlin narrates as Oscar-winning moviemaker Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman assemble fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s. Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Harvey Fierstein, and Gore Vidal are just a few of the many actors, writers, and commentators who provide funny and insightful anecdotes.
Starting at 1pm, narrative short films at Q Shorts include Fly, Callback, Julie Takes a Walk, Waking Up from a Nap on a Long Day of Doing Nothing, Pismo Beach, and Kiloran Bay. Then at 4pm, it’s 10s Across the Borders, preceded by the short Get Ready with Me, co-presented with CinéWilde (@CineWildeDallas), America’s longest-running monthly LGBTQ+ film series, hosted at the historic Texas Theatre in the Oak Cliff.
Then at 7pm, the main event features a screening of 2026’s Clarissa. This narrative feature starring Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo, plus David Oyelowo and Ayo Edebiri and directed by Arie and Chuko Esiri, is a lyrical adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway against the backdrop of modern-day Lagos, Nigeria. Over the course of a single day as she prepares for a high-society party, Clarissa is confronted by long-lost loves, past choices, and taken desires that resurface to reshape her present.
Sun, Nov 15
Sunday begins with more Q Shorts. Today, it’s the documentaries Something in the Air, about transgender stormchaser Raychel Sanner, and Pride KelSo: No One Left Behind.
Directed by Logan Mulligan, Pride KelSo: No One Left Behind chronicles the struggles of the LBGTQIA+ community in Keller-Southlake. In the face of local opposition, the married couple of queer advocates April and Shaina Dreyson prepare to host their inaugural Pride Kel-So Festival (“Pride Arrives in Kel-So,” Jun 18, 2025). With the help of a local pastor, the Dreysons bring the queer community together for a day of acceptance and pride. There is a post-screening talkback with leaders from Pride Kel-So.
The festival’s closing-night film, Jaripeo, begins at 7pm. Co-presented by North Texas nonprofit Texas Latino Pride, this documentary directed by Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig journeys into the hyper-masculine world of traditional Mexican rodeos in rural Michoacán. Beneath the dust and spectacle of cowboy culture, the film exposes a secret, sensorially rich subculture of queer desire, memory, and belonging.
About Q Cinema
Founded in 1996 by Todd Camp (and Shawn Moore, who joined in 1999), Q Cinema is Fort Worth’s premier LGBTQ+ film festival. For decades, the festival has connected audiences through bold, thought-provoking, and entertaining stories celebrating the full spectrum of LGBTQ+ experiences. For more info, visit TrinityPrideFW.org/About-Q-Cinema.
About Trinity Pride
Trinity Pride is a nonprofit whose mission is to connect, empower, and bridge the gaps within our Greater Fort Worth and LGBTQ+ communities across all generations by providing resources, education, and inclusive spaces that inspire authentic self-expression. For more info, visit TrinityPrideFW.org or follow them on sociaL (@TrinityPrideFW).
