41st Annual Reel Q Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Reel Q returns for 2026 with 14 feature films and 5 diverse shorts programs.
Pay what you can admission on all films.
2026 Festival Screenings
2026 Features
Apolo
Barbara Forever
Bearcave
Black Burns Fast
Bookends
First They Came for My College
Flesh & Fuel
In a Whisper
Mineshaft
Niñxs
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Watermelon Woman
Time Warp
Uncle Roy
2026 Shorts Programs
Short & Sweet
Short Circuited Shorts
Messy & Beautiful
Teen Shorts
Queer Fear
2026 Festival in the Press
Queer on the Big Screen
WRCT: Forbes Avenue
October 6, 2026
ReelQ board member Ximena Rodriguez told Forbes Avenue about Pittsburgh’s longest running film festival and the the 6th oldest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world! The 2026 film festival is running until October 10th with screenings across the city, including at Carnegie Mellon University. We had a fascinating conversation with Ximena about the relationship between ReelQ and CMU, how to watch international films, and the power of representation. Tune in to hear more about Pittsburgh’s diverse film scene!
Arts & Culture
This weekend: Prostburgh, Jeff Goldblum at Heinz Hall, Festival of Combustion, Reel Q Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival
90.5 WESA
October 1, 2026
The Reel Q Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival returns for its 41st year with 14 feature films and five shorts programs from the U.S. and around the world.The features include South African coming-of-age film “Black Burns Fast”; “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” with the Junior Chamber of Commerce Players; “Time Warp,” a documentary about a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” shadow cast in small-town Wyoming; and a 30th-anniversary screening of pioneering indie film “The Watermelon Woman.”
Reel Q film festival opens Friday with LGBTQ+ features, shorts and international films
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 30, 2026
Moving to Pittsburgh after attending Middlebury College in Vermont, Valdivieso won a filmmaking and post-production fellowship fromThe Warhol Academy. The fellowship was pivotal to the making of her funny, loose-limbed short documentary, “Pittsburgh Is Freezing,” about the House of Medical Malpractice, a Pittsburgh band of drag comedy performers.
Queer films at a sapphic cafe, Reel Q 2026
The Tartan
October 5, 2026
In its 41st season, Reel Q has shown (and will be showing) films at Row House Cinema (Lawrenceville and Hollywood), The Soft Spot Coffee, Melwood Screening Room, Harris Theater, Club Cafe, City of Asylum, and Carnegie Mellon’s very own McConomy Auditorium. The festival runs from Oct. 2–10. There will be five different films shown in McConomy, two on Oct. 9 at 6:30 and 8:30 pm and three on Oct. 10 at 2:00, 4:00, and 6:00 pm.
Here are 5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Oct. 2-4
Trib Live
October 1, 2026
This year, Reel Q will present its 41st LGBTQIA+ film festival. The festival runs from Friday to Oct. 10, including 14 feature films and five short film programs. This weekend, festivalgoers can view films including “Bookends” at Row House Cinemas Lawrenceville, “First They Came For My College” at Carnegie Mellon University, “Flesh and Fuel” at the Harris Theater in Downtown, and “In a Whisper” at the Soft Spot.
Reel Q Opening Night at Row House Lawrenceville and Bierport
Next Pittsburgh
October 1, 2026
Friday’s opening event is not to miss with two films and a party in between. Watch the acclaimed gay rom-com “Bookends,” featuring Pittsburgh-born actor F. Murray Abraham. Then gather for libations downstairs at Bierport before a screening of the coming-of-age film, “Black Burns Fast.” Throughout Reel Q, audiences can expect a range of subjects and themes, from a lesbian love story set in a Greek mountain village to a film exploring the controversy surrounding the 1980 serial killer “Cruising."
Reel Q Takes Over Pittsburgh for Its 41st Season
Q Burgh
September 22, 2026
Reel Q returns for its 41st season October 2 to 10, expanding across Pittsburgh with screenings at seven venues and a lineup stretching from lesbian romance in the mountains of Greece to queer truck-stop desire, trans and nonbinary coming-of-age stories, horror, documentary, and a midnight trip back to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Poster design by Emma Benacquista /// Logo art by Wilmer Gonzalez