Welcome (back) to QUEER ISLAND!
The 2nd annual Queer Island Festival of the Arts is excited to present our 2026 program: Queer Island Film Festival!
Building on the outlandish success of last year’s inaugural program that covered the waterfront (wink), we’re aiming for a more intimate experience this year with a three day film festival in downtown Victoria.
This festival brings dynamic titles from queer film / video artists working across documentary, shorts, features, and more, and is being presented free of charge / by donation.
All films will be screened at The Scene (716 Johnson Street).
Doors open 30 minutes prior to film start time.
Seating is limited, first come / first served.
**If you require reserved seating please email us 1 day in advance**
QUEER ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM 2026
Friday 26 June, 7:30PM
WINTER KEPT US WARM (1965)
by David Secter
With a post-screening chat by Chris Dupuis
Widely considered to be English Canada’s first queer film, Winter Kept Us Warm explores a romance between two young men at the University of Toronto in the early 1960s, a moment when homosexuality was still a crime in Canada.
Winter Kept Us Warm follows two students, Peter (Henry Tarvainen), a shy freshman, and Doug (John Labow), a popular senior, who form an unlikely bond over two semesters at university. Arriving from a small town in Northern Ontario, Peter initially struggles with campus life. After an ill-fated first meeting, Doug takes him under his wing and a fast friendship quickly develops. But when Peter begins dating Sandra (Janet Amos), sparks of jealously fly. At the same time, Doug's girlfriend Bev (author Joy Fielding, who started her career as an actor) becomes suspicious of the boys' friendship, suggesting their connection is more romantic than platonic.
Winter Kept Us Warm is a 1965 Canadian romantic drama film written and directed by David Secter. It stars John Labow, Henry Tarvainen, Joy Tepperman, and Janet Amos. It was the first English-language Canadian film shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Although not widely remembered among the general public, Winter Kept Us Warm is considered a major milestone in the Canadian film industry as one of the first Canadian films ever to attract international attention. In 2023, Telefilm Canada announced that Winter Kept Us Warm was one of 23 titles that would be digitally restored under its new Canadian Cinema Reignited program to preserve classic Canadian films. The restored version premiered at the Inside Out Film and Video Festival in May 2024, before being screened at various film festivals in 2025, including the International Film Festival of Ottawa, BFI Flare, and the Queer North Film Festival.
In 2024, Chris Dupuis published a book about the film as part of the McGill–Queen's University Press Queer Film Classics series. Dupuis will be in-conversation following this special screening of Winter Kept Us Warm in Victoria as the opening night of the Queer Island Film Festival
SATURDAY 27 JUNE 7:30PM
MONSTERS MYSTERY MOVIES
curated by Zo Walde
Sam Langille’s Yellow Shoes is an animation marvel that’s years in the making. Combining video game elements and personal experience this short is experience unlike anything else.
They’re the Dyke Detectives!! There’s a heartbreaker on the loose, and there’s only two dykes that can solve the case before it’s too late (and she breaks another heart).
Spookable is Trans werewolf story we’ve all been waiting for. When a T4T vacation goes awry, shirtless T-boy werewolves come out of the woods. Can this romance turn around or is it over?
Donavan McJoynt’s American Jackal is a reflection/therapy session on the time the Artist spent homeless: the fear, hopelessness, and invisibility that comes from running for your life with no place to run to.
Saturday 27 June, 9PM:
Twilight (but much worse) 2026
Directed by: Audrey Moore, Jack Cameron, Brianna St Laurent, Moreno Olic
Bella Swan is not like other girls, when she gets embroiled in a supernatural romance with Edward Cullen everything about her world changes forever. This completely unofficial parody film was created with nearly no budget all in Victoria, BC.
You’ll laugh, You’ll cry, This masterpiece is playing for one day and one day only. Hold on tight spider monkey, you’re in for a wild ride.
Sunday 28 June, 3:00PM
Celestial Queer: The Life, Work and Wonder of James MacSwain (2024)
Directed by Sue Johnson & Eryn Foster
Cinematography by Sue Johnson
Edited by Kaija Siirala
Music by Scott Harwood
Sound Design & Editing by Ryan McCambridge
Winner of Atlantic International Film Festivals 2023 'Best Atlantic Documentary Award' and Silver Wave Film Festival 'Best Feature Documentary' Award.
Celestial Queer is a 72 minute documentary celebrating James MacSwain (1945-2025), Nova Scotia's beloved and beguiling queer artist, animator and gay-rights activist.
Born and raised in the “backwater” of Atlantic Canada, James MacSwain made ground-breaking experimental films, animations, and provocative art performances for more than half a century. A quietly outspoken feminist, naturalist, and gay rights activist, Celestial Queer introduces audiences to a charmingly obscure and prolific Canadian artist.
Sue Johnson and Eryn Foster will be in-conversation following this special screening of Celestial Queer in Victoria as the clpsing event of the Queer Island Film Festival
Queer Island Film Festival
Kegan McFadden, Producer
Zo Walde, Guest-Curator