Overview:
Reel Out Charlotte, the Queen City’s LGBTQ Film Festival, has officially wrapped its 16th season, celebrating our loves, lives, and triumphs on the big screen. With a diverse lineup of films, we aimed to reflect the multifaceted experiences of our community. As we transition into Pride Season, we carry forward the spirit of unity and resilience that defined our festival.
Reel Out Charlotte, the Queen City’s LGBTQ Film Festival, has officially wrapped its 16th season. We are truly grateful to everyone who came to celebrate our loves, lives, and triumphs on the big screen. We take pride in the diverse films and stories we showcased, and we hope attendees saw themselves reflected in these narratives while gaining insight into others’ perspectives.
This year’s film festival boasted an impressive lineup, thanks to the generous support of the Arts & Science Council, along with sponsors like K&L Gates, Hispanic Federation, and Gilead. We were also able to screen one film each day for free, courtesy of the Arts & Science Council’s Culture Blocks — a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County.
We kicked off the festival on Wednesday, May 15, with an opening party at Divine Barrel Brewing, followed by the popular annual LGBTQ Shorts Night. On Thursday, we screened the Spanish film “20,000 Species of Bees” in partnership with Ciné Casual. The film tells the tale of an eight-year-old girl and her mother, whose lives are forever changed by revelations encountered during a summer in a countryside cottage immersed in the world of beekeeping. Ciné Casual, Hispanic Federation, and PFLAG Charlotte participated in a lively panel after the film.
Friday featured screenings of “The Judgment” and “F.L.Y.,” with the writer, producer, director, and star of the latter film, Rafael Albarran, joining us for a Q&A and meet-and-greet. Over the course of five days, we showed nineteen short- and feature-length films, culminating with a screening of “Eden’s Garden,” starring Charlotte’s own Rell Lowery. It was an exciting week of LGBTQ cinema and a great way to transition into Pride Season.
In just a few short days, June will be upon us, and Pride will be in full swing across the country. On June 1, we will kick off Pride Month in Charlotte with community auditions at Divine Barrel Brewing, where entertainers will vie for a spot on the Charlotte Pride Festival stage. Later in June, we will support our friends at Salisbury Pride for their annual festival, as well as The Drop’s Pride in the Park. In July, we will support our sibling organization, Charlotte Black Pride, as they host a week of events with the theme “Pride on Purpose: Make it Pop.” Once July wraps up, we will make final preparations for the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade Weekend on August 17 and 18.
While we’re proud of all the upcoming Pride events in and around Charlotte, we also recognize the legislative and political threats to our state’s LGBTQ community—from attacks on drag performers to those on educators, healthcare providers, and trans youth.
As we continue our work to make LGBTQ lives visible and look forward to celebrating the vibrant diversity of our community, we are keenly aware that this is a consequential election year. Along with the Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, Charlotte Pride has partnered with the Freedom Center for Social Justice to amplify the importance of voting through the “Clack the Vote” campaign. Voter registration and candidate information will be available throughout our Charlotte Pride festival zone, and information will be shared via our festival stages. Our annual celebrations are a reminder that there is joy and power in community. Let’s use our collective power to keep Pride alive, ensure every voice is heard, and make sure every person is seen and included in our democracy.
With another successful chapter with Reel Out Charlotte coming to a close, we look forward to an exciting Pride Season and remain committed to celebrating and advocating for the LGBTQ community. The stories we share and the events we host are not just moments of joy and reflection, but also acts of resistance and empowerment. Thank you for your continued support. We eagerly anticipate seeing you at our upcoming Pride events, where we will continue to honor our diversity, stand against adversity, and march forward together with unity and purpose.
