The QCinema Pride Film Festival returns this June with a lineup of seven acclaimed LGBTQIA+ features from nine countries, bringing together stories of love, identity, desire, belonging, and resistance from some of the most exciting voices in contemporary cinema. The program features recent winners from film festivals in Berlin, Busan, Jeonju, and Manila, spanning romance, psychological drama, comedy, animation, and thriller.
“Now in its second year, this special Pride edition of QCinema returns as a natural extension of our year-round programming and a response to the growing popularity of queer stories,” says QCinema artistic director Ed Lejano. “These seven remarkable films invite us to reflect on diverse experiences across cultures, contexts, and eras in a program that can both provoke and entertain, challenge and soothe, and can come from anywhere in the world. Let’s all celebrate QC Pride month as we join the queer community in marking the progress we’ve made and the potentials that lie ahead.”
Among the highlights is “Iván and Hadoum,” the Teddy Award winner for Best Feature Film at Berlinale 2026. Written and directed by Ian de la Rosa, the Spanish-German-Belgian co-production follows a trans man working in a greenhouse in southern Spain who falls in love with his newly hired Moroccan-Spanish co-worker. As a long-awaited promotion begins to reshape his ambitions and relationships, the film examines questions of class, migration, masculinity, and the difficult choices that accompany personal advancement. The one-time screening opens the festival and is co-presented by Instituto Cervantes.
The festival also marks the big screen return of the Philippine feature “Dreamboi,” written and directed by Rodina Singh. Winner of nine awards at the CineSilip Film Festival 2026, including Best Film and Best Director, the erotic psychological drama follows a trans woman who becomes consumed by her fascination with an underground audio porn performer. Drifting through the neon-lit streets of Quezon City, she finds herself caught between fantasy and reality in a journey of longing, obsession, and self-discovery.
Another Berlinale standout, “Trial of Hein,” received the Teddy Jury Award in 2026. Written and directed by Kai Stanicke, it centers on a man returning to his remote island village after fourteen years away. When the community refuses to believe he is who he claims to be, Hein is subjected to a trial that forces the villagers—and the audience—to confront questions of identity, memory, and social exclusion.
The program also includes “3670,” a South Korean drama from Park Joon-ho that won four awards at the Jeonju International Film Festival 2025, including Best Actor for Kim Hyun-mok. The film follows a young North Korean defector navigating loneliness and secrecy while taking his first steps into South Korea’s queer community. Through a tender yet heartbreaking romance, the film explores displacement, chosen family, and the fragile connections that shape our sense of self.
Representing animation is “Lesbian Space Princess,” the science-fiction comedy from Australian writing-directing duo Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese. Combining irreverent humor, vibrant animation, and a proudly queer sensibility, the film follows a sheltered princess on an intergalactic mission to rescue her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend from a group of dangerous incel aliens. The film has won over 19 international awards, including top prizes from festivals in Berlin, Sitges, Sydney, Atlanta, Adelaide, Lund, and Madrid.
Japanese filmmaker Anshul Chauhan brings a darker perspective with “Tiger,” winner of the Hylife Vision Award at the Busan International Film Festival 2025. The thriller follows a gay masseuse whose escalating dispute with his sister over family property pushes him into increasingly fraught moral territory, blurring the line between victim and perpetrator.
Completing the lineup is Mike Nichols’ beloved comedy classic “The Birdcage,” which remains one of the most enduring and influential mainstream queer films of the 1990s. Featuring an all-star cast led by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, the film follows a gay couple forced to perform heterosexual respectability when meeting the conservative parents of their son's fiancée, resulting in a sharp and affectionate satire of family, identity, and social expectations. The film was nominated for Best Art Direction at the 69th Academy Awards and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 3rd Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Together, the seven films offer a wide-angled portrait of contemporary queer life that crosses generations, genres, and cinematic forms.
The QCinema Pride Film Festival will take place from June 24 to 26 at Cinema 17 and Cinema 18, Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao, Quezon City. Full screening schedules, ticketing information, and festival updates will be announced through the festival's official channels.
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