Seattle Queer/Trans Film Festival Is Next Week!

July 1, 2025• byMichael Strangeways

Sadly, it’s a very small version of what it used to be, but if you love film and Three Dollar Bill Cinema, the producers of the Seattle Queer and Trans Film Festival, then do try and support them! This year, they’ve combined the annual Translation Film Festival, (normally in May), and the Seattle Queer Film Festival (normally 10 days in October) into one short 3 day festival happening Thursday, July 10th through the 12th. It’s taking place at Broadway Performance Hall and the Erickson Theatre, both on Capitol Hill. Tickets/passes at https://threedollarbillcinema.org/2025-queer-and-trans-film-festival

Highlights include screenings of vintage works like Oscar winner Sean Baker’s 2015 TANGERINE, and from the very first Seattle LGBT Film Festival in 1996, Hettie Macdonald’s BEAUTIFUL THING and Céline Sciamma’s 2019 acclaimed film, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE.

A bit more info:

Get ready to party like it’s 1996! This year, Three Dollar Bill Cinema is turning back the clock and turning up the volume with a fierce, joy-filled retrospective at the Queer & Trans Film Festival 2025—July 10–12 at Broadway Performance Hall and Erickson Theater.

We’re uniting the legacy of the Seattle Queer Film Festival and TRANS|lations to celebrate 30 years of queer cinema and 20 years of trans storytelling. That means iconic shorts and features from festivals past, a brand-new lineup of trans-made and trans-led short films, and a spotlight on the brilliant local voices that shaped our scene. No virtual fest this year—so mark your calendar, grab your crew, and get ready to celebrate the stories that made us.

Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez Sean Baker’s “Tangerine” (2015)

Thursday, July 10

Beautiful Thing (Opening Night)
Saving Face
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Opening Night After Party

Friday, July 11

Tangerine
Song Lang
Rafiki
Chance Encounters Shorts (Our steamy shorts collection returns)

Saturday, July 12

TRANS|lations Shorts (Celebrating 20 years)
Homegrown: 30 Years of Queer Film in the PNW
Big Eden
The Happy Sad, and more!
Plus, Our Closing Night Party

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.